Gear Review: Ahnu Tilden II Sandals

The Ahnu Tilden II's and I near the Puget Sound.

One my favorite feelings in the world is arriving at camp on a long backpacking trip and removing my dirty, stinky, feet from my ankle-protecting, extremely stable and unflexible hiking boots. I love allowing my feet a bit of freedom while setting up the tent, cooking dinner, and organizing things for the next day. 

I bought the Ahnu Tilden II sandals a month or so ago after deciding flip flops weren't cutting it as around-the-camp shoes. They'd slip off, and don't provide any sort of stability. In the Adirondacks and Catskills, we'd cook a few hundred feet from camp to keep the bears out of our campsite, and getting around in flip flops was impossible.

Ahnu Tilden II's to the rescue! I haven't taken the Tilden sandals on backpacking trips yet, but did test them out on lower elevation trails in Washington's Mt. Rainier National Park and this weekend in Pennsylvania's French Creek State Park. 

They're very comfortable, pretty darn cute, and did very well on light hiking trails. I found them to be quite grippy, not like the Vibram soles on my hiking boots, but more than I was expecting from a pair of water sandals. They are extremely breathable and light. The only problems I've found so far are that they don't dry very quickly, aren't 100% friendly to my high arches, and were a little difficult to get on the first few tries. But in general, they're a great sandal. They also contain recycled polyester and bamboo, which makes me feel better about buying them.

I had a chance to test them out both light hiking and mountain biking yesterday at TerraMar's Annual Adventurer's BBQ. It's an event we hold for our members around this time every year to eat cookout food, goof around, and to thank them for spending time with our group. We met around noon at French Creek State Park, and split off into various activities. I led a short, flat hike around the park, then went for a quick half-hour mountain bike ride around Hopewell Lake. I definitely need to get the bike on trails more often, I was pretty out of practice. But I came back dirty and sweaty - characteristics of a successful ride, in my opinion. It was a great afternoon with great people.

Think you'd give the Ahnu Tilden II sandals a try? What are your favorite outdoor adventure-friendly sandals?