I sympathize – I’ve got a foot held together with metal and hope which can swell as much as an entire shoe size over the course of a day, and constantly have to make choices around it.
However, sometimes we can adapt our gear to work for us instead of us trying to adapt to gear that doesn’t. Have you thought of other alternatives? You didn’t mention what kind of sandals they are. Would a pair of gaiters work for them? Gaiters would be fairly easy to keep in your BOB as well. There are canvas and leather gaiters out there that, if you have a sandal strap in the right place to which they could attach, could offer some protection. (You could also sew a loop onto your sandal strap – I’ve done that a time or two.) Adding gaiters to your pack also lets you switch between your other shoes and your sandals as you needed.
If something like regular gaiters wouldn’t work with your shoe type or you want better protection, gaiters are fairly easy to DIY and you could also make your own that cover the toe area. (Note those are cycling shoe gaiters, so if you made a pair like that the straps over the sole would have to be more robust). Here’s another similar project. Making your own also gives you the opportunity to boost the durability with stronger materials as well as provide some skill or knowledge boosting/practice if you don’t have those skills already.
Another option, but more complicated, would be to keep an eye out for the shoes you like in thrift stores or on sale, and then DIYing your own shoe – modifying or outright creating the upper part to be more protective while keeping the sole that works for you. There are some tutorials out there for how to make your own shoes like this one from Instructables. Here’s one DIY that used soles they already had to make a version of this DIY. And another that used pre-made soles to make their own leather boots. Heckfire, there are even workshops and kits! Even finding cosplay instructions that you could adapt with appropriate materals wouldn’t be too hard. Just musing loud – you could even combine the gaiter/shoe idea by making something that would resemble a canvas slip on that is attached someway to the upper part of the sole. (One reason I suggest this option is that you can modify a separate pair to toss into your BOB without having to give up your sandals around the home, etc.)
You could get really creative! For example: one time while doing some fieldwork which required a lot of water crossings I wanted to wear my Tevas all the time so I wouldn’t have to deal with wet shoes all day, but that would have left a recently broken toe exposed. So I went to the local thrift store, found a pair of silicone mitts for cheap, cut them in half to fit around my toes, poked holes in their tops, and used dental floss to tie them to the mid foot sandal strap (floss because it was thin enough it wouldn’t chafe my foot). They were hot and I wouldn’t have wanted to wear them all the time, but it took me all of 2 minutes to do the modification. Not saying you need to do that exactly! Just providing an example for the different ways you could be creative and think about modifying what you already might have around or can easily obtain that doesn’t take a lot of energy or effort – as long as your solution works long term and is durable, obviously.
To directly answer your question, have you considered biners (as mentioned), cordage (always good to have extra!), or a stuff sack that attaches to the outside of your pack? There’s also a fantastic variety of different flexible gear ties out there that would be super easy to untie in a pinch – your local outdoor store might have some.
Good luck!
Jonnie PekelnyContributor - September 25, 2020
Josh CentersContributor
Josh Centers
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Gideon Parker
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