For a couple years now I’ve been hyping Bedrock Sandals’ Mountain Clogs with the cheery relentlessness of a grindset influencer. I’ve pitched them to editors who might be in a position to pay me to write about them, and to passersby on the street who might be in a position to buy a pair themselves. And now, I’m pitching my offroad footwear obsession to you.
Bedrock started as a side project in 2011, when its founders began making sandals by hand in California. You can still buy their first model, a low-slung minimalist thong with a daisy chain heel strap and a Vibram Megagrip outsole that could make tank treads jealous. My love, the Mountain Clog, didn’t arrive until early 2023.
Courtesy of Reed Nelson
I bought a pair almost immediately. I live in New York but spend a lot of time outdoors, the byproduct of going to high school and college in Utah, as well as developing a rock-climbing habit in my 30s best described as “ill-advised.” Bedrock’s Mountain Clog was a heat-seeking missile aimed straight at my shoe rack.
When I first took them out on trails, I expected them to be good…for a pair of clogs. Instead they were good, no qualifiers necessary. They handled moderate scrambling as capably as any pair of Vibram-soled boots, staying locked in place. They were as comfortable strolling around camp as my crag Crocs, but withstood the seven miles I put on them that day without any break-in period.
In the two-plus years since, I’ve probably logged 500 more miles in my Bedrock Sandals Mountain Clogs (I walk a lot), and have fallen for them even harder. I’ve also been seeing them around NYC with increasing frequency, and on the feet of some of my most outdoors friends—with no convincing on my end. I swear.
“I did a solid 30 miles at 11,000 feet of elevation, ran ’em fishing and camping for four days, and then back out,” Derek Wheeler told me after I saw the clogs on his stories. He’s a lifelong Utah resident, outdoors enthusiast, and certified Good Taste-Haver. “I’ve never had a shoe run like that, it’s crazy.”
