[pct-l] socks

[kentr-lists at sbcglobal.net (Kent Ryhorchuk)]

Three pairs of Smartwool hikers mated with three pairs of Fox River
X-Static liners lasted me 1700 miles. Provided you don't ever walk
around in just your socks, Smartwools can last a very long time indeed!
Other anecdotal accounts I have heard also indicate that you can finish
the whole trail on half a dozen pairs of good socks. Just have some new
ones mailed to you at Chester - the 1/2 way point.

Also, when it comes to budget I would not be stingy on anything related
to your feet. Your feet will hurt bad enough without having to deal with
blisters and chafing. Bad feet stopped or hobbled many people in
sections A and B the year I hiked, mostly due to blisters - even some
experienced AT hikers.

My shoe/sock system is:
Montrail Vitesse shoes $80
Flat Spenco green insole $9
Birkenstock blue footbed $50
Smartwool low-cut hiker $13 (x3)
Fox River X-Static liner sock $9 (x3)

I expect to go through 4-5 pairs of Vitesses and two rounds of socks.
The footbeds and insoles should last the whole trip.

It took me a while to figure this out over several years of hiking,
trail running and adventure racing but I went from getting blisters all
the time to hardly ever getting blisters at all. The point is that I
spent a lot of time on it, not that this system is necessarily right for
anybody else. Everybody's feet are different.

Good luck,
Kent.


-----Original Message-----
From: pct-l-bounces@mailman.backcountry.net
[mailto:pct-l-bounces@mailman.backcountry.net] On Behalf Of Steve Setzer
Sent: Tuesday, January 13, 2004 9:29 AM
To: pct-l@backcountry.net
Subject: [pct-l] socks


What kind of socks are most thru hikers using?  It seems like people
rotate through a ton of socks so they must not be smartwool ($16 per
pair!).  Are you all really using nylon dress socks?  I love smartwool
socks but I don't want to buy enough pairs to make it through a
thru-hike.
Maybe a few pair would last the whole way but I doubt it.

Steve


On Tue, 13 Jan 2004, Jon Lovejoy wrote:

> Jim, I didn't see socks on your list. I carried 2 pair and had a fresh
> pair in every resupply box. I left a few in hiker boxes along the way
> and threw out a few, but it was worth it to me to always have fresh
> socks entering into the rotation.
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