[pct-l] Socks and stuff

[Montedodge@aol.com]

 I now use smartwool socks for all climbing and hiking. For me , they hold up 
well and are very comforable. As far as a water barrier goes, you can do well 
still with the old bread sack trick. When my son was younger and his were 
growing fast, I would just buy him cheap hi-tec boots for our hikes. You 
could spray these with water-proofing which would work for awhile. The 
problem was many trails in our backyard Olympics look more like creeks in the 
spring than trails. Before gore-tex showed up on the shelves, many hikers, 
boy scouts and outdoor people would just put bread sacks over their socks, 
then put their boots on. Your feet may sweat more, but your can just swap 
socks. Its amazing how good this works even though the cheap boots were 
totally soaked.   ( of coarse, it's hard to beat a good leather greased up 
quality boot ) This is just a tip, if you take lightweight, fabric boots 
hiking, throw in some bread sacks in your pack. I'm sure the new gore-tex 
socks from REI work well and are more durable, but this will work in a pinch 
and the cost is zippo.
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