Getting rid of long sleeping socks?

If your bag/quilt is warm enough you won't miss them. What do you normally wear to sleep in out there?

on a pair of lightweight cotton socks after your moisturize, and wear your socks to bed to promote deep moisturization of your feet while you sleep

Is your comfort and a good nights rest worth it? What temperatures are you expecting at night and what socks are you hiking with in the day? With the constant fluctuation of your pack weight on your thru due to weather, long stretches without resupply, tanking up on water, etc. I think that carrying a dedicated pair of warmer socks for the evenings would be well worth the added couple ounces and hardly noticeable in the pack in the long run. My feet tend to run cold, so I always pack a thick pair of wool socks dedicated for sleeping and camp use, however I'm not a thru hiker, just one who likes getting outdoors as light as possible for weekend-weeklong stints. It's been my experience that a double thick pair of wool calf length socks are far superior in warmth at night to my day use socks which are merely thin merino wool trail running socks of the Darn Tough variety. My good friend who is currently in WA trying to beat the weather on his PCT thruhike told me over the phone that weight is moderately important to him, he doesn't fuss over a few ounces like he does on normal small overnight-weekend trips, his comfort, rest and recovery, and ability to wake up and get through the day is of the utmost importance, not how light he can go. I'd look to cut weight somewhere else if it was my thru, but too each his own.

I agree w/Eugene.

I switched awhile back to low-cut sleep socks, so I could hike in them comfortably if I wanted. In practice, though, there have been two occasions where (since I'm a toss&turn sleeper) my base layer bottoms rode up slightly and that tiny bit of exposed skin near my ankles was noticeable.

I know – "big deal". The problem for me is getting back to sleep after fixing the situation. My mind starts thinking, etc. So, I'm going back to "long" socks for sleeping.

Todd

I use a dedicated pair of ankle height Defeet "Woolie Boolies" to sleep in. They are 2.65 oz or 75 g a pair. They are more medium weight than heavy, but that thick merino wool is TOASTY!

I use the thicker socks I can find for sleeping socks. Not only are they warm, but they do a good job of moving moisture away from your feet, thus preempting foot issues.

I have a similar system. Actually, what I do is carry a pair of "oversocks". I have a pair of fleece socks which are about 2 sizes larger than my regular socks. I wear those over my other socks when I go to bed (if it's cold). On a typical trip, I'll carry two pairs of hiking socks and the fleece pair.

I often get double duty out of those socks. Early in the season, when there is a lot of snow on the ground, I have a tough time keeping my feet and shoes dry. It doesn't bother me much when I'm out and about, but I still want my feet to be dry as much as possible. I carry 1 ounce slippers, which I wear around camp, with the fleece socks. So, the first night, I'll walk around in dry socks and sleep in (too pairs) of dry socks. In the morning, my shoes will still be wet, though (and often, my other socks are still wet). To combat that problem, I'll stick my feet in just the fleece socks, and put them in the shoes. I'll then walk around camp, stretching my shoes. The fleece absorbs the moisture (as any sock would) leaving my shoes much drier. I then hang up my fleece socks (next to yesterday's pair of socks) and stick my dry hiking socks into my dry (or mostly dry) shoes. This keeps my feet dry until I hit the snow. By the time I get back to camp, my fleece and yesterday's socks are dry and I can switch again into dry socks and slippers.

Of course, this only works if it is sunny. If it's wet, then I would have to deal with it some other way. Regardless, though, it is nice to have an extra pair of socks, even if they are a bit too big for hiking. As a gram weenie, I have thought about replacing the fleece socks with puffy socks, but haven't found any that are really light, and I've been too lazy to make my own. Plus, if I do that, I'll have to find a different way to dry the shoes in the morning.

Wow…you guys sleep in socks? I can't remember ever sleeping in socks.

This doesn't sound like a very good use of 3oz to me. You'd be much warmer having an extra 3oz of down in your sleeping bag. If you really must sleep in socks, why not chop the top ankle/calf part off your sleeping socks and use that in combination with your shorter hiking socks to create a taller sock.

Dan,

sleeping socks would be multi-use (pot holder/gloves) where 3 oz of down is not. also, socks will keep more foot oils off your bag i'm guessing. As for just adding 3 oz of down instead, once you add 3 oz of more down to your sleeping bag, you cannot take it out when temps warm….

now you got me thinking about a sleeping bag where you can add/take out down some way…that could be a good idea if you can find a way to keep the removed down intact.

you really dont sleep in socks in the winter?

I'm with Kramer- I use em for keeping my bag clean as well as warmth. Although, in warm climes I just use a clean pair of micros.

My wife has slowly been converting me to 'sleep clothes'. Well, a shirt anyway. I just realized that I have been changing socks to keep my bag clean but, not shirts. Hmmmm…

I teetered on UL but now I'm moving back up. for me about 20lbs base (for both of us) seems to be the sweet spot.

Dan, what do you have around your feet at 32 degree nighttime lows? I think cold feet are a huge issue with backpackers, esp those going lighter. I know nobody that sleeps with no socks in those temps.

"Dan, what do you have around your feet at 32 degree nighttime lows?"

I need to retract my earlier statement about never sleeping in socks. Now that I think about it more, I have slept wearing socks on occasion but usually I don't wear them. Once in a while I'll toss socks on if I happen to have a clean pair kicking around and I think it's going to be a particularly chilly night. If I have them I may use them, but I don't make a point of having dry sleeping socks. With that said, I have slept below freezing (ie. my water bottle froze) without socks.

Usually I only sleep in socks if they are half wet and I'm trying to dry them. This technique works well with fairly quick drying socks (ie. lightweight synthetic) but it doesn't work with heavier natural fibres (ie. wool).

I usually hike with 2 pairs of socks. One of those pairs will be dirty after a day of hiking so when I go to bed I've likely just washed them and they are soaked. The other pair would have been worn the day before and it might be dry if it was a sunny day but lots of times they aren't quite dry. If my socks happen to be dry and if the night happens to be a cold one then I may toss them on rather than tossing them under my legs like I do with the rest of my spare clothes. If the socks happen to be half wet and the night happens to be a warmer one then I'll toss them on to dry them.

Usually the combination of my 20F rated down quilt, montbell UL Down inner parka (8oz) and my toasty down pants (7.3oz) is enough to keep me toasty. The down pants in particular keep my legs quite warm and that's likely what helps my feet stay warm. Aside from winter camping experiences, I can't recall having cold feet while sleeping. Maybe it's just me…I'm more likely to feel cold in the torso.

Regarding the best use of 3oz, I already carry wool gloves which serve well as a pot holder, even though I normally don't bother and just carefully use my hands. Your hiking socks (depending on what they're made of) might also serve this purpose. I do agree that 3oz of extra down in the sleeping bag is neither feasible to do for most people, nor is it necessarily the best way. Perhaps the best solution is to find some socks that can double as both hiking socks and sleeping socks. Maybe a longer pair of lightweight fabric would work? You also could try the down pants approach which may work in directly to keep your feet warm as it seems to do for me. I've have to mull this area over a bit more. 3oz just seems like a lot for a little bit of foot insulation. There has to be a better way.

I'm with Eugene and most others on here who say the weight doesn't matter quite as much on a thru-hike. I mainly posed the question out of curiosity and saw it as a way of trimming down a pack that is surprisingly heavier than I expected (blame MLD Trailster instead of poncho-tarp). However, I do like the idea put forth here of using a pair of larger fleece socks to wear over top of another sock to stay even warmer. I have a pair of fleece socks from when I first started backpacking that I haven't worn since. My feet sleep cold, and one thing I've been warned about the GET in fall is that it can get COLD…

Since my feet tend towards dry, cracked, flaking skin, I always wear socks in my sleeping bag or quilt. Wool when its cold, and lightweight cycling socks when its warn. If I didn't, I'd soon have a shredded foot end of my sleeping bag!

>> my toasty down pants (7.3oz) …

Wait a second. You wear 7.3 ounce pants, and you suggest we lose the 3 ounce socks? Using your logic, doesn't it make sense for you to lose the pants and get a sleeping bag with 7 ounces more fill?

Actually, there are a couple of problems with that. First, not all bags can be custom made at exactly the right temperature. If you like the Montbell super stretch system for example (and I do) then you have a pretty limited set of fill options. Second, you may have cold legs around camp or while hiking. Thus, your pants serve double duty. Me, I can get by with my rain pants, so I don't need puffy pants (or long johns). My feet, on the other hand, just get cold. This is a personal thing, and it obviously varies, person to person. My hands and feet always seem to get cold first. Lightweight gloves work well for the hands, and socks work well for the feet. As I said, puffy socks would be nice, but I haven't found any light enough (and I've been too lazy to make my own).

Before someone suggests that I add a hat (a good suggestion) I want to add that if things are cold I sleep with a fleece hat, a hoody and a hooded sleeping bag. For whatever reason, I'm wired such that my hands and feet get much colder than my arms and legs.

Goosefeet down booties weigh less and provide more warmth. Use your other socks for pot holders. An extra foot-long layer of pad beneath the feet would also add warmth and weigh less and it can double as a sit pad.

"Wait a second. You wear 7.3 ounce pants, and you suggest we lose the 3 ounce socks? Using your logic, doesn't it make sense for you to lose the pants and get a sleeping bag with 7 ounces more fill? "

My suggestion to ditch the 3oz socks for 3oz of more sleeping bag fill wasn't really a serious suggestion but just an example off the top of my head of how you could possibly get more for the same 3oz. If you only use the 3oz socks in the sleeping bag and you always use them in the sleeping bag, then you may be better off to add 3oz of down fill instead down in the foot area (if this is something you have the skills to do). If you don't always use them, then the sleep socks are providing the additional function of varying the warmth of your sleep system so just adding down to the sleeping bag wouldn't fully replicate the socks function. This wasn't really a practical suggestion for most people but rather a quick, off the top of my head idea of how you may be able to get more for 3oz. I think you guys understood this, but I just wanted to be clear so we're all on the same page.

With the down pants, they are multi-use because I do wear them under my hiking pants around camp on chilly evenings. They are so toasty. My wife and I jokingly call them the 'inferno pants'. So they act as leg insulation around camp and as a supplemental insulation in my sleeping bag. I've never worn them while actually hiking. If it's that cold while hiking then I'm going to be pretty screwed that night. I also do not take the down pants on summer trips, so that allows me to go lighter in the summer than would be possible if I had another 7oz in my sleeping bag. Also, the down:total weight ratio of my down pants (60%) is actually better than my sleeping quilt (48%) so buying a heavier sleeping quilt might actually cause me to lose insulation in addition to versatility.

Anyways, back to the topic at hand. How can feet be kept warm for less than 3oz? It seems to me that the current standard (3oz smartwool socks) are only moderately warm so the current benchmark (moderately warm for 3oz) isn't that high. One product that seems to exceed it is GooseFeets down socks at 2.2oz (medium) including stuff sack. These seem to be warmer and lighter but they may not be long enough it sounds like, but maybe there is a way to tuck your pants into them or attach them to your pants to prevent a gap?

Another idea is some sort of a foot blanket. Maybe you guys are too restless for this, but a simple 2' x 2' 100 wt fleece blanket wrapped around the feet would likely be lighter than 3oz. You could possibly have snaps on it or something to form a big two foot sock.

That's just a few of my musings….I haven't really been able to come up with a fabulous idea but it does seem like there has to be a better way. Maybe you could make some fleece stuff sacks that work as stuff sacks in the day and socks at night? Make a sundries sack and a pot sack out of fleece and then use the cinch cords to secure them around your feet at night? It might be a bit of a pain to dump out your sundries but the pot should be fine without a bag at night.

My sleeping socks are the same weight and style as the socks I hike in and vary depending on the trip/season. One pair is used when hiking and the 2nd pair, designated for sleeping, are kept dry and clean. The benefit to using identical socks is that if you damaged your hiking pair you have the ability to switch. Also on a longer duration hike your hiking pair can be cleaned and become your sleeping pair…rotating your two pair every few days.

My socks of preferance are:

Summer = Defeet Aireator Socks
Spring/Fall = Darn Tough Wool 1/4 Socks
Winter = Defeet Blaze Socks

A no weight option to foot warmth while sleeping (if you cook/heat water, I do not) is to heat water and fill a water bottle or bladder and place this in the footbox of your quilt/bag. You can either drink the cooled water the following day and or pour it out.

The OP says"My feet sleep cold" So take some socks. Everyone is different. I sleep hot and almost never wear anything other than my normal thin ankle socks to bed. Even at freezing temps. I do like down pants too around camp, but don't normally sleep in them.

Going with your logic, I left behind my sleep socks all summer and was mostly OK. On my most recent trip,though,I really missed them. My shoes and socks were continually wet and my feet became cold while hanging around camp in the evening. They were hard to warm up at bedtime. I would have given anything for a warm, dry, thick, fluffy pair of sleep socks.

Thom said

"My sleeping socks are the same weight and style as the socks I hike in and vary depending on the trip/season. One pair is used when hiking and the 2nd pair, designated for sleeping, are kept dry and clean. The benefit to using identical socks is that if you damaged your hiking pair you have the ability to switch. Also on a longer duration hike your hiking pair can be cleaned and become your sleeping pair…rotating your two pair every few days."

^ exactly this- two pairs (one worn, one in the pack), same ones- I use 1/4 length cushion darn tough merino ones

it doesn't get much easier IMO

Thanks Dan, regarding the GooseFeet tip. I hadn’t heard of those — they are the lightest puffy socks I’ve seen. I may switch to those. Most of the puffy socks I’ve seen have been heavier than regular socks (although quite a bit warmer).

Another idea is to make your own toe cozies from Climashield Combat (or a similar material) as Bill Fornshell did. It wouldn’t be too much additional work, I assume, to just make that as long as you want. Even in a longer length, they would probably be lighter than down socks (although they wouldn’t be as warm).

The big advantage of using socks for extra warmth is that, in a pinch, you can use them as socks. For example, on the last day, if your other socks are wet, it makes sense to just use the sleeping socks.

If you are just going to sleep in them, not hike in them, then consider getting something with greater warmth-per-weight than sheep's wool:

Down booties (without the heavy padding on the bottom),
Angora socks,
Lambswool socks, or
Alpaca socks.

My dedicated sleeping socks are now angora socks, which are easy to find at a sort of mid-length: a little taller than ankle-height, but not up to your mid-calf. They're very non-bulky, too. In a pinch, the angora socks could be hiked in (though they don't look so durable).

– Elizabeth