What footwear is best for long days in rain?

After getting numb feet after a cold downpour on the JMT, I nowadays use the following setup:

– La Sportiva Lycan GTX shoes

– Injinji socks

– Rocky Goretex liner

On my PCT-Washington hike, I was planning on using the Goretex liner only when it was raining hard. But, a few days, I forgot to remove them and since I didn’t have any adverse effects, I just used them the entire day – for a good 300 miles. I also used this setup for the entire CT this year. What I have found is that my feet are super clean at the end of the day. No sweat issues. My socks are also pretty clean – not grimy. On the JMT, I used to wash my legs everyday in evening. My socks would be dusty and after couple of days, the socks would become stiff. No more. Clean feet. Clean socks. And dry feet all the time! On the CT, we hit temperatures of 90+ on many days. Never felt hot in the feet.

Only care you have to take is make sure is that you don’t dunk your feet during river crossings as it will take a while for the shoe to dry if water enters the shoe.

Constant wet feet is a recipe for blisters……

I also apply generous amounts of Gold Bond powder to my feet, underarms and other areas:-)

Constant wet feet is a recipe for blisters……
Sorry, but WRONG. There are plenty of BPL members who often have wet feet and never get blisters.

Blisters are usually the fault of poorly-fitting shoes. After all, under a thin layer of a few tens of microns of dry dead skin cells, ALL your flesh is WET.

Cheers

yeah, well, I’m a bpl member who definitely gets blisters when my feet are wet.

There’s a great book called Fixing Your Feet that presents strategies for all sorts of situations, and covers blisters extensively–marathon runners in particular. My point now is that there’s a WIDE spectrum of responses mentioned in terms of how serious runners and others deal with blisters. People’s feet vary widely in terms of what works for them. One person’s fix is another person’s disaster.

In the same pair of shoes, I can go blister free for 70 dry miles and then blister in an hour if I cross a river and do nothing about it but continue on.

So my strategy is far more like Murali C’s above. People here hate gore-tex; I don’t. Moreover, I use super light weight high fitting Event gaiters in spring weather. These allow me to cross brief and/or shallow creeks and streams without wetting out my shoes.

Of course, this wouldn’t work in the sorts of situation shown in Roger’s photo above. Here, I would have removed my shoes and then dried my feet before continuing–assuming there wouldn’t be another crossing like this ten yards further on.

I HATE blisters. I don’t get blisters in my verboten Gore Keen boots (gasp!) with Event gaiters in wet Spring conditions. If I did, I’d change strategies.

Lots of hikers including me remove their shoes/socks during lunch to dry out their shoes, socks, liners etc – all in an effort to get rid of sweat, moisture.

A simple google search yielded the following article:

https://www.podiatrytoday.com/how-to-manage-friction-blisters

Its a good article. Here are some relevant quotes:

“Socks can reduce friction blisters on the feet by reducing moisture content and friction loads on the surface of the foot. In general, sock fibers that wick moisture from the foot surface are also the fibers that have the lowest CoF.”

“In my clinical experience, most friction blisters suffered by running athletes are not due to improper shoe fit. ”

“One problem I have observed in running races is the practice of pouring a cup of water over the head when the athlete passes through an aid station. This water runs down the legs, into the shoes and greatly increases frictional forces of the sock against the foot. When it comes to blister prone athletes, some simple advice is to avoid getting their shoes wet during training and racing.”

I think there’s a good range of ideas on this thread.

See which works for you.  It depends on conditions and your body.

See which works for you.
+1

Cheers

I have had a variety of experiences with wet and footwear.

28 days in eastern Oregon in January snows wearing Micky mouse rubber boots and the same two pairs of wool socks inside the whole time. Hiking and snow shoeing 4 to 20 miles a day. Warm feet from the boot’s insulation, damp socks were dryed out in my bag at night. Warmest 4 weeks my feet ever spent backpacking in winter. Not light footwear.

1 week on the Olympic coast beach hiking in January. Wore $12 gum boots and 1 pair of thick wool socks. Hiked up to 14 miles a day on sand and dirt with stream crossings aplenty. Again, warm, slightly damp feet, no blisters. I would do this again for that trip.

2 weeks in the Sierra Nevada in April snows with mid top breathable boots with neoprene sock liners with wool socks then bread sack liners over them. Warm and lighter than the other options. Duct tape over the instep of the bread sacks and the insoles inside the bread sacks keep them from sliding down the foot or wearing holes in the toes. I did this again for a climb of Mt Olympus a couple of years ago, but without the tape and the sacks slid down and my feet got very soaked, tho the cold was tolerable.

I have owned several pair of “Goretex” boots and none have held up to even wet grass. Only rubber or plastic really works.

Light rubber overshoes can work on smooth trails. I glued on some cord for the front gaiter hooks. Not a lot of traction.

Each Spring 10-15 hardy souls set out on a 100-ish mile “race” across a large wilderness track- between constant fording, rain and wet snow- your feet are wet the entire day (well some less hardy folks do stop shortly at night for a break- me for one :)).  I haven’t taken an official poll, but my belief is nearly everyone is wearing rather meshy trail runners.  There is no way to avoid wet feet in these conditions.

Airing your feet out at lunch and supper definitely helps, ditto if you camp at night (donning dry socks after air drying).  A foot salve is helpful as well; I still have a (desperately shrinking) supply of Hydropel that will eventually have to be replaced with another product.  It’s applied in the morning before donning my wonderfully wet and cold socks!

If cold feet, on top of wet, is a real concern, I’ve found the thin neoprene socks (NRS Hydroskins 0.5) to work well and knock on wood no blisters (and this is with 25-35 mile days).

I do own a couple of goretex boots and shoes, I and find them useful in the Winter- not so much for their ability to keep my feet dry, but the waterproof liner does make them warmer than a non-waterproof shoe.

I lived in a rainy roadless valley for 4 years, where I mostly hiked around in ‘tabis’ (taw-bees).  They’re felt-soled sock-like shoes.  Illegal in many parts of the world due to their ability to spread invasive algae from stream to stream, but not illegal where I was.  While living there and searching for an upgrade, I was told that Kiwis hike around in modified rubber boots with wool socks.  They drill holes in the bottom of the rubber boots for drainage, add a screen to the bottom of the boot under the insole so rocks don’t get stuck.  I thought this was brilliant.  Never got around to trying it, but I’d like to.

I saw a guy once hiking in thin flip flops with what looked like a fully packed 100L bag. Walking really slow but had a smile on his face. Feet were super grimy so it didn’t appear to be a temporary change out. I’ve been on both sides of the fence. Honestly, GTX works great as long as your not wading through streams, but they will be a heavier shoe as well.

Not requested but another data point. If hiking in hot humid conditions I use a completely different regimen than in temperate climates. If the rain is hard and sustained which is common in tropical wet seasons rubber goulashes are what everyone uses. I actually prefer leather gtx boots but the mud is too much. If the rain is periodic I use mid leather gtx boots. One big reason to always use boots in these environments is venomous snakes especially if off trail. That trumps all other factors in areas where snake bites are still fairly frequent. Turtleskin gaiters provide additional protection and I personally don’t find them overly hot though I’m sure others not adapted to the tropics might. While I’d heard lots about them wetting out I actually work in them 40hr+ a week year round on a farm and haven’t actually ever gotten wet yet, though when its raining super hard we take shelter under trees or structures. We cross puddles and streams all the time, stay in tall wet grass, mud, leaves in an equatorial rain forest. It’s made me question the orthodoxy that I believed against gtx. I’m not sure if leather + gtx is the key or what. I have a set of trail runners that are gtx I’ve run in snow and go out in tropical rains and similar haven’t gotten my feet wet to speak of. That said I’ve never done extended trips like that so grain of salt.

FWIW I have used the same leather gtx boots in winter hikes to good effect. I’m tempted to try it out in PNW spring for similar reasons.