Sock Advice

[Brad P]

Our feet are different and this is probably a very HYOY subject, but I’m curious about your thoughts on what makes the ideal summer hiking sock.

I have a pair of Dirty Girl gaiters, but still think the no-shows are too low for any debris protection plus I’ve had my ankle rub the show with no shows.

How about cushioning?  Will a sock with no cushioning still be comfortable?  It will certainly be cooler and dry faster.

These Darn Tough Graphic 1/4 Ultra Light Bike Socks socks are on sale right now.  They’re a good compromise height between no show and crew.  Obviously they’re marketed for biking, but would they be a good option for hiking?

[Todd T]

I agree there’s a lot of HYOH here, but there’s one factor that’s almost universally applicable yet frequently ignored:  socks should never be tight.  If they push your toes together, or even just make it difficult to splay your toes apart, you’ve got a prescription for toe blisters.

Sadly, a lot of socks, especially expensive wool ones, are tight or get tight as they are laundered over time.

You don’t want them so loose they fold up around your toes, of course.

[Diane “Piper” Soini]

I’ve seen some people get bloody ankles wearing no-show socks.

I love 1/4 bike socks. That’s my favorite kind of sock.

Personally, I will bring three different weights of socks so I can have a choice each day.

What I would do if I were you is buy the socks and then do some day hikes (or urban hikes) to make sure you like them.

[Brad P]

No question, I will try before taking them out on a longer hike. With the sale right now, I think they’re a good deal.

I’ve tried no shows, not for a hike, but just walking around outside and had chafing and debris. A longer sock, particularly if treated with Permethrin, provides more tick protection than a lower sock.  Not complete protection, of course.

Shorter socks are cooler in the summer heat.

Weighing the pros and cons.

[Matt]

I will share my preferences for your consideration.  I enjoy Injini Trail Mid-Weight Mini Crew socks.  The toe pockets prevent blisters 100% for me.  Plenty of cushion and not hot, at all.  I pair these socks with dirty girl gaiters that I secure at the top with a piece of thin shock cord and mini-pinch lock.  Very little trail garbage sneaks in.

Regarding Darn Tough, tread cautiously.  They absolutely DESTROYED, DESTROYED, DESTROYED my feet with blisters from the first day I put them on until I wisened up and took them off (for Injinji).  In discussions with hikers, I’ve learned others have had similar results.  No universal damnation here though, I as know some swear by them.  And that’s awesome.  Results just seem to be real hit or miss.  I was a miss. I hope you are a hit.

[Arthur]

Quite to the contrary, Darn Tough were the first socks that did not give me blisters.

Discussions with other hikers about feet seem to be fruitless to me.  Feet are so individual, i have given up on taking other’s advice on socks, shoes, inserts, etc.  Just got to walk the walk and see what works.

[J R]

I think it’s impossible to talk about socks without talking about shoes. Socks don’t give you blisters, it’s the rubbing from the shoes that does, and socks may or may not help to prevent that. IMO.

[Charles L]

Piper Soini wrote:
“I’ve seen some people get bloody ankles wearing no-show socks.”

That happened to me.  A lot of tired, a little embedded sand, a lot of rubbing over the course of a day.

I wear taller socks because of that, and if for some reason I switch boots/shoes, I’m still good to go.

[Brad P]

I guess this is about what I expected.  I’ve never had blister issues, fortunately. I tried the Injinji liners with Smartwool socks.  It was OK, but a bit warm.

[Todd T]

Socks don’t give you blisters, it’s the rubbing from the shoes that does

Not entirely true.  Too-tight socks can give you toe blisters regardless of the shoe.  And too-bulky socks create little toe-rubbing creases in just about any shoe.  And many blisters owe more to pressure than rubbing (i.e., it can actually be the inability to rub that causes the problem).  There’s lots of blister guilt to go around.

[SIMULACRA]

@brawndo- “How about cushioning?  Will a sock with no cushioning still be comfortable?  It will certainly be cooler and dry faster.”

Cooler and dry faster, yes. Cushioning may depend on shoe, due to insert padding and stiffness in the soles. For me, it was very minimal.

@brawndo- “I tried the Injinji liners with Smartwool socks.”

I tried just the Injinji liners myself for the same reason above that you were curious about. After 24 miles I wore holes straight through all the pressure points.

@mhr- “I enjoy Injini Trail Mid-Weight Mini Crew socks.”

I switched to these as well for the Summer months and they seem to work well. They will take up more room in the toebox though due to the extra fabric around the toes.

[Brad P]

Cooler and dry faster, yes. Cushioning may depend on shoe, due to insert padding and stiffness in the soles. For me, it was very minimal.

I use inserts to prevent plantar fasciitis.  I suspect the cushioning does little to help the bottom of the foot since it’s compressed, but might provide protection from the rest of the foot rubbing the shoe and causing blisters.  This is only a theory.

[Anonymous]

Depends on the climate some.  Here, it tends to be hot and humid, even fairly often in the hills and mountains to some extent (mid central East Coast of US, south of Maxon Dixon line). When hiking here, I try to wear the coolest sock-shoe combo I can (sometimes sandals or those hybrid shoe-sandals, both with socks), when rarely doing summer hikes (my hiking season is primarily from mid fall to early spring, unless going to a different, cooler and/or drier climes for a trip).

For socks, that is often a thin, but not sheerly so, flax-linen with as much synthetic blend as I can find. So far, the highest synthetic to linen blend I’ve seen, is a 12% nylon and 2% spandex to 86% linen blend.  These have been some of the coolest (and lowest odor and fairly quickly drying) socks I’ve found.

Thin nylon socks with copper are ok, but do not wick as well as the above, and tend to be too tight because they are often sold for “compression” (so I always get a larger size than what is recommended for my shoe size). They last longer and dry a bit quicker though.  I like tencel-nylon/nylon-tencel blends in certain ratios, but they are hard to find in the blend ratios I like (from about half and half, to as low as 30% tencel).

If in a cooler and/or drier climate, I would be ok with a thinnish, about half merino wool half nylon or so sock. That’s what we primarily used on the CT.

Agree with some others, fit is important. Don’t want too tight nor too loose.

Way before I knew about BPL,and also before I put a lot of thought or analysis into backpacking stuff, I did some fairly stupid/illogical (in hindsight) things.  For an example, we hiked the Camino in Spain about a decade ago. I don’t know what I was thinking, but for some reason, I decided to go with a pair of stout, Ecco, Gtx lined hiking shoes, and some medium thick wool socks.  The saving grace is that I also brought some hiking sandals.

I would wear the shoes first thing in the morning till Siesta time, then during same, I would take off the shoes and socks, turn the socks inside out, let them and my feet dry, then once ready to hike again, don the socks and hiking sandals for the rest of the day.  In hindsight, I didn’t need the Gtx shoes at all.

The odd thing was that I was the only one that I knew of that didn’t get any blisters the whole time (blisters often were talked about at some point). And silly as it was bringing those Gtx shoes– I distinctly remember seeing a number of Germans wearing full on boots–some of which were those very high military like boots.

While feet are pretty individual, some things just aren’t all that holistically logical and wouldn’t work well for most, most of the time, like Gtx lined shoes or heavy duty, high boots in summer.

P.S. If I was hiking in a desert/highly arid climate during warmer seasons, I would go with a combo of light colored mesh shoes and medium thickness, primarily cotton-spandex blend socks (ok if there is a little nylon or polyester for durability). When I’ve been in those climes, I’ve found that I actually prefer clothes and fabrics that hold onto moisture as much as possible to extend the evaporative cooling effect. Things dry too fast in those climes. Except for shoes, I don’t wear anything that contains a lot synthetics or wool at all when in those climes, but primarily linen-cotton and high cotton-other blends.  Cotton with a fair amount of spandex blended in (10%+), seems to hold onto moisture the most/longest.

Cotton saves when it’s consistently hot and very dry!

[Diane “Piper” Soini]

Do people really get ticks in their ankles? Every tick I’ve ever gotten crawled up to my groin (or tried to) or fell from above into my shirt and nestled into my back or my breast. I’ve had two ticks bite me on my boob.

[Todd T]

A lot of ticks start at the bottom and work their way up. I’ve removed at least one tick from my bony shin of all places, though they certainly do prefer a cozy groin or “innie.” It helps if they have to crawl across a treated sock (or in my case, Dirty Girl gaiter) before heading on up.

[Brad P]

My brother in law had a ton of ticks attach to his ankle area one time.  I assume that the ankle is the most likely starting point for ticks, so the more sock coverage, if treated, the better.

[Greg F]

I like the Massdrop fitsok hiker Sock.  It’s in between the the ankle height and full height sock.  Reasonably thin.

[AK Granola]

I have frequently gotten ticks attached to my scalp or behind my ears.

I love Darn toughs, but they’re too warm for summer for me. I just switched to Balegas and they’re my new favorites. I’ve only done 11 miles in them though. So far so good.

[jscott]

I find that my feet sweat in smartwool socks.

Darn Tough are my favorites. They last forever and don’t bunch. Fit very smooth to the foot.

[Author]

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