Footware for Torres del Paine W-trek and Inca Trail

Gaiters are to keep your lower leg dry. I'm fairly certain that hiking two days in overboots will wear the soles off of them. I've yet to find a way to keep my feet dry when hiking in wet weather or mud. They get wet and I change out my socks. If its continually raining, I wait until I stop for the night and then change out my socks.

Here are some articles for you to read
Why “waterproof” shoes will not keep your feet dry
And Minimizing the effects and aftermath of wet feet

Foremost among the challenges that spring hikers face is the presence of melting snow and the prospect of continuously wet feet. Ryan Jordan presents his two favorite footwear systems for cold or warm spring conditions.

Gear Suited for Wet, Cold Weather Hiking

A Lightweight Guide to Backpacking in Sustained, Cold Rain

Learn To Love Backpacking In The Rain

Fast and Light Shoulder Season Footwear Tips

I was there (edit: TDP) in February, no rain though and the only mud we came across was in the trees before gardner pass. Of course it could be muddier now, those overshoes look overkill, the boots do as well really. I used sportiva wildcats and had some small montbell gaiters. The gaiters were used to keep sand out but since the shoes were mesh and I couldn't cover them completely sand got in anyway.

I did bring rocky gore tex socks like you have. My girlfriend and I had our own pairs. Never needed them for wet weather though, I actually used them to keep the sand and small rocks out of my socks as the bottoms of my feet were slowly being shredded.

My opinion is that the goretex socks with trail runners would do just fine and the gaiters and overshoes are overkill.

EDIT: Just wanted to add that my girlfriend had some waterproof trail runners by Merrell and she never used the small gaiters or goretex socks. Her feet were fine except for one blister which I covered with moleskin for a couple of days.

I've always had problems with mesh shoes and sand, I suppose I may need to get a shoe that allows complete coverage with a dirtygirl gaiter or something similar. Or perhaps get a shoe with less mesh.

I did the Machu Piccbu Inca Trail about 8 yrs ago. I did the hike in Teva saddles. The trail was well groomed, so a fast hike. I got strange looks from some people, but the saddles worked great.
Unfortunately a cloud sat on the ruins when I arrived and didn't get any great pics.

Like Patrick, I was in Patagonia at the TDP in Feb… we had good weather and also only had mud leading to Gardner's pass. Stream crossings are mostly shallow.

I just had mesh trail runners and some icebreaker running socks. Wetness wasn't a big deal for me, but sand and grit was an issue. I'm not sure gore-tex socks are the right solution to this – if I was there again I'd probably just take a shoe with slightly less open mesh. I had inov8 trailroc 235s but would probably think about something like the new inov8 x-talon 200s that they have brought out for muddy obstacle races… I think that would keep feet grit free enough.