Feet Protection

[BobW]

What do people do/bring with them to protect their feet. I took a few days this week and early weekend and hiked in the Whites. It was rainy and muddy and after only a few days my feet were starting to peel and get itchy...what do people carry with them to for weeks/months of this???? I only brought one pair of extra socks and I rotated them daily. Is anti fungal cream something I should keep in my first aid kit? Gold bond powder? Corn Starch? Thanks

[ScottP]

You hike in gore tex boots?

[BobW]

Leather with Goretex liner.

[LDog]

Leather with Goretex liner.

Those puppies have their place, but when it's raining hard, or we make stream crossings, water gets down in our shoes, the goretex locks it in, and the leather takes forever to dry. Lots of folks are using trail runners without goretex liners. Your feet may get wet faster, but they drain and dry out faster too. They are also an order of magnitude lighter.

Make sure they're long enough that your toes won't get jammed on downhills, that the toebox is wide enough for your toes to spread, and that your heel is not slipping around too much in the heel cup. Bring the socks your going to wear to try on shoes.

Wear socks that wick moisture and dry quickly. Merino wool is good. Coolmax or other synthetic fibers are good. Cotton is not.

Carry a third pair of socks that you never hike in - your sacred socks. Keep them with your sleeping bag so that they're always dry to sleep in.

Bring something like Spenco 2nd Skin Adhesive Knit, or Kinesio Tex tape to cover any known trouble areas before you hike, or hot-spots before they turn into blisters. Some carry Hydropel to eliminate friction between toes, or to rub into their feet at night.

Learn to treat any blisters that get by all those defenses. You'll probably want to carry a sewing needle, and ether some scissors or a razor blade.

[Blissful]

Hikers are notorious for NOT carrying enough socks! Carry socks, air your feet out and dry out your insoles every chance you get. My feet aired much better with trail runners.

[MuddyWaters]

I have hiked for days with soaking wet feet in total comfort in trail runners. Allowing feet to dry at night is enough.
A cool airy and soaking wet foot, is much better than an a warm sweaty damp one anyday.

[ScottP]

Leather with Goretex liner.

There's your problem.

Get some non-gore tex trail runners.

[rocketsocks]

I have gortex all leather boots,love em,especially in the rain and mud.But then I'm not walking in them day after day after day and if they did get wet inside,I just switch to a my trail runners.So far they have served me well and I've made a point of traveling though standing water,just under the top,and thus far........Dry.

[WIAPilot]

I have Merrell hiking sandals that offer a ton of support. They aren't for everyone but because I hike in the desert and my feet are accustomed to them, they work for me. When it starts raining, I'll be wearing them unless it is simply too cold.

[jakedatc]

http://andrewskurka.com/2012/why-wat...your-feet-dry/

Non goretex shoes, multiple pairs of socks

for big water crossings where i might go full in i take my socks off and inserts out to make it easier to dry off.


Rocketsocks, you carry trail runners with you? and wear full leather boots? "you need to put the new coversheet on the TPS reports..."

[rocketsocks]

Negative on the extres,in lou of.Just saying me boots is dry,cause I don't do distance,day after day after day,like many here were not all in for a thru hike.What is TPS?

[jakedatc]

Not for a thru hike necessarily but even multiple days having wet shoes is not fun or good for your feet. what happens if you go in over the tops of your boots and they get soaked?

for day hikes you can wear fuzzy slippers if you wanted and would probably be fine.

[rocketsocks]

Not for a thru hike necessarily but even multiple days having wet shoes is not fun or good for your feet. what happens if you go in over the tops of your boots and they get soaked?

for day hikes you can wear fuzzy slippers if you wanted and would probably be fine.

Ah yes,if the water came over tops I would indeed be wet footed,and would also expect them to dry.....slowly.Now about them slippers,....HaHaHa.But I still don't know what TPS is.

[BrianLe]

In the conditions described, consider hydropel.
http://www.amazon.com/Genesis-C31863.../dp/B001FU5CEI

[Deacon]

+1 on non-goretex boots. Your feet are going to get wet, so why trap moisture in as noted above? Quick drying porous trail runners will keep feet dryer in the long run (or long walk as it were)


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[jakedatc]

Ah yes,if the water came over tops I would indeed be wet footed,and would also expect them to dry.....slowly.Now about them slippers,....HaHaHa.But I still don't know what TPS is.

go watch Office Space the movie.

[wookinpanub]

I'm probably old school, but I still use thin polypro liners with ragg wool socks over them. The polypro does a fantastic job of wicking moisture away and the ragg wool has a loose enough weave to quickly get rid of excess water. I find the smartwool and thorlo type socks to stay wet longer. With pack weight down, trailrunners would be the way to go, as well, as long as they offer adequate rock protection. I'm a "rock-kicker" so I need a hefty toe bumper. 15 of the first 18 days of my southbound thru-hike had some form of precipitation and I still managed to go the entire distance without a single blister.
Another thing to consider is foot prep before the hike. I wore my trail shoes with no socks at home pre-hike and noted the hot spots. Rubbing feet with alcohol each night and morning can dry them out and toughen them up. Most importantly, I roughed up the known hot spots with a pumice stone to try and toughen up those specific areas. I started doing this about 2 months before my start date.
It might seem a little overkill, but it worked.

[quilteresq]

I bought a pair of light weight hiking boots from EMS in Concord this past week. The guy first said he didn't have any boots without Goretex, then tried to talk me out of them when he realized he had a pair in my size. He said "everyone" used Goretex. I just smiled and told him that I wasn't going to be one of them.

Other than that, The site "Fixing Your Feet" recommends "Lubricants are next on the list. Most runners grew up using a lubricant, usually the age-old standby, Vaseline. Many runners also use Bag Balm, a salve with healing properties. Newer, state-of-the-art lubricants may contain silicone, pain-relieving benzocaine, or antifriction polymers. The trick with lubricants is to reapply them frequently, being sure to clean off the old layer before another application. If your skin becomes too tender from the softening effects of the lubricant, then a powder may be in order. "

The purpose of the lubricants is to keep out moisture - your feet shouldn't macerate if you use them in wet weather. (Note: untried by me as of yet.) An antiperspirant will help with sweating if that is what is keeping your feet wet, but persistent rain the Whites is pretty common. We seem to be making up the spring rain deficit pretty quickly.

[quilteresq]

Hydropel! That's the name of the stuff I couldn't remember.

[pyroman53]

Getting out of wet shoes and air drying at night seems to work for me. If I'm on day 2 or 3 of constant wet, its real important to air out my feet. Gotta get rid of the prune-skin by morning.