Can you elaborate a little on Tolio? I'm fairly new to rafting and have never heard of this. Based on a quick google search sounds like it's a bacterial infection (from a couple specific kinds of bacteria) that occurs after your feet get kind of beat up? In regards to wearing muck boots, is this only necessary at sand wash right now or basically rigging on the beaches of any camp?
You are correct. Someone studied it in Grand Canyon and came up with no less than five different causes, bacterial AND fungal. Ask 100 people who have had it and you will get 100 different opinions and ideas. Here's mine---
From our group it looked like it was mostly from Sand Wash --- knee deep muck!! The folks who stayed out of the muck didn't get it and the ones who were in it the most got it worse. On this trip I did get the feeling it was about to happen to my feet after camping on a mucky beach downstream of Rock Creek but was able to stave it off by hiking with a second dry pair of sandals. (edit: in Deso this season none of the crew have gotten any tolio symptoms from rigging/working at camp on sandy beaches)
In my experience it happens most frequently with the fine fine mucky sediment that doesn't come off as easily when you dip your feet in the water or wipe them with a towel. It will pop up when feet have been wet for a while and have a little bit of grit stuck between the toes. If you feel like there's sediment between your toes, get it out fast!! and give a little rinse. If you are hiking and you feel like there's grit.... stop right away and get it out. Don't try to tough it out!! Wet coarse beach sand can cause tolio, too, but I don't think the risk is nearly as high.
If anybody starts getting tolio on a trip, i start taking my shoes/sandals off in the flat water so feet can be completely dry, and only put them on during the rapids. If it's really bad, even gone as far as using muck boots or tennis shoes and socks around camp.
Treatment: at night, rinse well, scrub out all sediment, apply an antifungal AND an antibacterial (I go with tinactin and neosporin), and consider wearing a pair of socks to bed. It often clears up completely in 24-36 hours if you make moves to protect your feet in the ways mentioned above.
edit: There was a great paper on it published in 2020 that was public but is now behind a paywall: "Tolio: Foot Rot in Grand Canyon River Runners" The best article that is currently free to access is from the Boatman's Quarterly Review, link below.
