Felt boots will be a game changer. I persisted with rubber and studs for years, but the difference in safety is enormous. I still have my rubber boots though, for trips to Montana.
I had some Weinbrenner Borger felt sole boots in the 70s. But they slipped badly on snotty rocks. *I've never tried studded felt but one day my son took a fall on a steep muddy bank while wearing studded felt and using a wading staff but fortunately didn't go over the 4' ft vertical drop into 3' of water* so I bought a pair of bar cleat (Dan Bailey?) overshoes. They work well but were hard to get on & off.
I bought some Chacos with rubber soles when the felt ban was raging but kept losing the studs so I relegated them to salt beaches after a couple of years.
Korkers give you the option to switch out between soles. My pair have been holding strong with many days on the water. Just replace soles and laces as needed.
+1. I bought Korkers Guide boots with the previous generation soles that come standard with rubber non-studded Kling-On and non-studded felt, but for $10 more got the optional
studded Kling-On soles instead of felt for wading. They worked well. After two years I had lost some studs but couldn't replace the soles because sole version had been discontinued and replaced with the current Omnitrax sole.
I bought some Devil's Canyon boots plus additional
studded King-On soles and later their
Bar Cleat Kling-On soles. I wore through two sets of Bar Cleat soles over 5 years with my Devils Canyon boots but they were the best traction I've ever experienced back to the Borgers. Korkers discontinued those soles and came out with the Triple Threat that have replaceable Bar Cleats on a Vibram sole. It weighs 3X as much. I also found out that for some reason they slipped more.
So I went to switching out from the stock
non-studded Kling-On soles for long hike-ins to the stock
non-studded felt for wading. There are *three* problems. *I need to have somewhere to put the extra soles that wouldn't get the rest of my gear muddy or wet (my tactical sling pack has a water bladder pocket that I use for that),* I have to take the boots off to change soles (takes too much time), and
non-studded felt still slips on real snotty rocks.
So I purchased another pair of
studded Kling-On soles for wading and hiking. In two trips to a particular river 1 week apart, a treacherous section that is always in shade in (non-studded) felt was very slippery. The following week in studded King-On soles I stuck like glue. The studded Kling-On soles are relatively cheap; about the same price as the felt replacement soles I researched for the other thread
and lightweight so now I'm using them for hike-ins too.
