Trail runners and gaiters?

Hi Bryan,

Check out Mountain Laurel Designs Superlight Gaitor.
1.5 oz for the medium pair and 1.7 oz. for the large pair.

I don’t know of any gaitor that will cover the entire mesh upper of a lightweight trail runner, so your feet could still get wet.
I looked over gaitors not long ago and ended up accepting that if I’m going to use trail runners and stay away from Goretex, my feet were going to get wet… gaitors or not. I ended up going with a really nice gaitor from Simblissity, the LevaGaitor. Not waterproof, but it’ll keep the crud out.

Mont Bell Stretch gaiters work great with low-tops.

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/montbell_stretch_gaiter_spotlite_review.html

Adam,

Thanks for those suggestions.

I should have said that keeping my feet dry isn't my primary goal (as I know the gaiters won't do that), rather my goals are: (1) keep my lower pants legs (at least from mid-calf down) dry and mud free and (2) keep debris out of the shoes.

Cheers,

Bryan

Dirty Girl Gaiters are amazing for trail running etc.
They get overwhelmed by serious scree and snow, but for general purposes, they are amazing. Not waterproof, but neither are my shoes.
http://www.dirtygirlgaiters.com

Simblissity leva gaiters are working great here in pnw – very durable, stay put, simple, light. Spray w/ dwr and they are highly water repellant.

Any full-length gaiters should work well, especially if they have a strap or cord under the shoe.
.

.
Cheers

I found that the Mountain Laurel Designs short gaiters linked to above work very well with my Montrail Hardrocks. In fact, they stuck well to the shoes even without using the cord under the foot. No gaiter will cover the area over your toes, so you can't expect dry feet.

My first extended backpack with trail runners instead of boots was this August in Wyoming's very buggy Wind Rivers. I found out the hard way that I should have worn gaiters all the time. When I'd sit down, my pants would ride up enough to expose my ankles. Smartwool socks do not keep off mosquitoes! I spent two weeks gritting my teeth and trying hard not to scratch. I read somewhere that if you don't scratch them, the bites won't itch. I have never been able to test this theory (which sounds like folklore anyway), since I don't have that much will power!

Except for the mosquito bites, I found that the trail runners actually give me more support than boots ever did. Thanks to my dog's getting sick, I was carrying most of his load as well as my own, and I know that with the added dog food and water my pack was over 30 lbs. I never once missed the boots!

>I should have said that keeping my feet dry isn't my primary goal (as I know the gaiters won't do that), rather my goals are: (1) keep my lower pants legs (at least from mid-calf down) dry and mud free and (2) keep debris out of the shoes.

Cut the bottoms off your pant legs, they'll stay nice and clean if you leave them at home ;)

None of the gaiters I've used keep out finer sand which settles under my feet over time (probably gets through my shoes I guess). And taking shoes off to rinse them out takes longer with gaiters on, so I've found I don't mind skipping gaiters and just taking my shoes off a little more often over the day.

Of course, the best solution would be to go barefoot though…