[pct-l] Keeping feet dry in the rain.

[Austin Williams]

Hi,

I hate having wet feet too, and I've spent a great deal of time, money, and
energy trying to figure out how to keep them dry in the rain.

Here are some things I've tried:

Water proof socks.  SealSkinz makes water proof socks.  They work well for
certain activities (hunting, camping, fishing, etc).  I found they did NOT
work well for long distance hiking.  First of all, they have "patented
wicking technology" or whatever - in order to pull the sweat away from your
feet.  But the slow wicking is not match for a thru hiker's foot sweat -
especially when the hiker is wearing a thick sock.  Second, these waterproof
socks will break down after even just a day of rigorous hiking.  I just
think they were meant to withstand the abuse that thru hikers put them
through.  The seals broke in short time, and between that and foot sweat, my
feet were just as wet as usual - except I was out about $40 and had to carry
the extra weight for no reason.  After a day's hike (25 miles) I found the
waterproof socks to be no more effective than the next thing I tried:

Plastic grocery bags.  I tried putting on a pair of thin socks - then
covering my foot with a plastic grocery bag, then putting on another pair of
socks on top of that (to keep the bag from sliding around as much).  It was
less fancy than the waterproof socks.  It also made for a tight fit of my
shoe (since I was wearing two pairs of socks).  That worked reasonably well
at first, but the bag eventually rips, slips out of posistion (ie: falls
down by my heel), and/or rips.  They are a lot lighter than the waterproof
socks and they are free.  But on a thru hike, they don't stand up to the
abuse.

Gators.  I wear running shoes on the trail.  I figured waterproof gators
might have worked.  But I found that even with the gators, water soaked in
through the sides of my shoes when walking through tall grass or brush.  I
still use gators to stop debris from falling in my shoes, but I found they
don't help me much in the way of keeping my feet dry.

Waterproof boots with gators.  This does work (I use this set up when doing
trail maintenance).  But then, you have to hike in boots - something I am
positively not willing to do on a thru hike (I'd rather have wet feet).

I've heard goretex socks work well, but haven't tried them out myself.
Tyvek booties sound like they might be a good candidate (tyvek is
ridiculously strong).  Like you say, they don't wick... but in my
experience, footwear that "wicks" rarely performs well anyway - and that can
be addressed simply by changing your socks.

I found that trying to keep my feet dry was not worth the effort.  I
eventually just let go, embraced the wet feet, and hiked happily ever
after.  I was fortunate in that I only had to deal with wet feet maybe 10 or
12 days out of my entire hike - and never for more than 6 hours at a time.

Here is an article about SealSkinz water blocker socks:

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/184833/sealskinz_waterblocker_submersible.html?cat=46

Good luck!
-Austin