Your Boots Won't Dry Out There

I once did a four-day walk in Tasmania in October and left my gaiters in the car.

By the end of the first day my boots were full of debris. Twigs, bits of scrub, grit, all working their way down past my ankles. Add the wet, and every step reminded me I'd made a mistake. Four days of that, and it was not an experience I'd repeat.

It's October again. The walking season is opening up here, and plenty of you are heading out on your first longer walks for the year. So this week is about wet feet, and mostly about stopping them from wrecking a trip, because in a lot of places you can't stop them from getting wet.

Wet feet are hard to avoid where I walk. Rain, mud, wet scrub first thing in the morning, the odd creek crossing. You can do everything right and still have wet boots before lunch on day one.

And once your boots are wet on a multi-day walk, you are pretty much assured that they're not getting dry. There's no drying room out there. Leave them in the vestibule overnight and they'll be just as wet in the morning.

So I've stopped chasing dry footwear. What I chase instead is two things: keeping the water out for as long as I can, and keeping my feet dry at camp. Those two things are what decide how your feet feel on day three.

The first job is buying time, and there are a few things that help with that.

Gaiters. This is the lesson from that October trip. Gaiters keep the scrub and grit out of your boots, and when you get a good fitting gaiter, they slow down the water coming in over the top. When I'm putting a kit together, they sit in the same group as my rain jacket and overpants.

Overpants. I carry waterproof overpants on pretty much every walk, mainly to protect my lower legs. Water running down your legs ends up in one place.

Boots or trail runners. One reason I still wear boots on longer walks is that my feet stay drier for longer. On day walks and the track walks I do with my kids, I'm usually in trail runners and I just accept they'll get wet. Plenty of people do long walks in trail runners and go well, so that comes down to what works for you. People say trail runners dry faster, and they might, but on a wet trip in Tassie it's often not warm enough for anything to dry, so you can end up with wet feet either way.

Waterproof socks. I've used SealSkinz. My feet got wet anyway, and I found them clammy. These days they only come on winter walks.

None of this keeps you dry forever. It just pushes the wet further into the day, and on a long walk that matters more than it sounds.

This is the habit I'd tell anyone starting out.

I keep my camp clothes dry and separate from everything else, and that includes one or two pairs of socks that are for camp only. They never go inside a walking boot. I also carry a spare walking pair to swap into after a few days.

That means in Tasmania I often put wet socks back on in the morning. It's not pleasant for the first few minutes, but wet wool socks usually warm up once you're moving. On really cold days it can be a battle, and I won't pretend otherwise.

I don't swap into dry socks at lunch either. The boots are still wet, so the dry pair is wet again within the hour, and then you've used it up for nothing.

Wool, or a wool and synthetic blend, is what I wear. I'm not too fussy about the brand, because there are plenty of good ones.

The reason this works is simple. Your feet can put up with being wet while you walk. What they can't put up with is being wet all day, all night, and all day again. Dry feet at camp break that chain.

Most people don't get this wrong because they're careless. They get it wrong because the dry socks are right there, and the wet ones are cold and horrible at 7am.

So the camp socks go on for the walk, just for today. By the next morning there's no dry pair left, and that's when feet start to go downhill.

It's the same with gaiters. They're easy to leave behind on a nice morning in the car park, and I can tell you from experience that the car park on a nice morning is not the bit that matters.

Put your camp socks in their own dry bag, separate from your walking spares, and make a deal with yourself that they don't go in a boot.

Then check your gaiters are in the pack, not the car.

That's it. It won't feel like much standing in the car park on day one, but by day three your feet will be in noticeably better shape than they would have been.

THAT’S ALL FOR THIS WEEK

Thanks for reading Mowser’s Musings. I hope this helps you hike further and happier.

Until next week, keep exploring.

Mowser

Discover more. Hike further.

P.S. Bookings for Patagonia with Mowser: Journey to the End of the World open soon. Early bird spots are limited. If you want one, sign up on the trip page now and you'll hear the moment bookings go live. No obligation but it will keep you in the loop: see the Patagonia trip page.