Trail Runners vs Boots vs Sandals For Backpacking (plus Socks, Camp Shoes, Gaiters, etc.)

hey y'all Dixie here today I want to talk to you about backpacking Footwear and I'm not just talking about boots vs. trail runners but also can't choose insoles socks gaiters in [Music] when it comes to backpacking people get pretty excited about gear especially when it comes to tents and sleeping bags but they often don't put as much thought into their Footwear which can lead to some problematic times on trail because your feet get you from point A to point B so it's good to treat them well and keep them happy and healthy the two types of footwear that you will usually see on trail are the traditional boots and trail runners so first let's talk about hiking boots when I first started my third hike of the Appalachian Trail which also happens to be my first backpacking trip I thought that I would want a traditional leather boot so that's what I picked out and I started with because I knew boots would offer me stability ankle support and protection from brush also I was starting in the spring but it was early spring so I knew that I would have colder weather and a boot would help keep my feet warm boots are pretty durable compared to trail runners and I knew that they would last me nearly twice as long as a pair of trail runners would so I was hoping to save a little money along the way to what I learned while backpacking in a traditional leather boot is that they take forever to drive they get wet which can be a pretty inviting environment for bacteria and fungus to form on your feet nobody wants trench foot while on the trail and also they were kind of clunky and heavy and just weren't comfortable because generally boots need a break-in period and I had started wearing them a month or two before I started my through hike just in everyday life but your feet do things on the trail that they don't do in everyday life and and the boots were just not formed to my feet for backpacking I've always heard that a pound of weight on your feet is equal to five pounds on your back and apparently the Army Research Institute did a study on this so if you're interested in reading that I'll put a link in the video description after my first 40 mile stretch on the Appalachian Trail I not only had heard that was true but I felt an experience that it was true and also from the high ankle on the boot from the ankle support that I thought I needed but I really didn't I ended up developing tendinitis in my right achilles and I decided that it was time to transition to trail runners does this mean that boots are horrible and I'm that nobody should ever backpack in them and that you should avoid them no I'm not saying that at all because I do think that hiking boots certainly have their place for example in the first stretch of the Continental Divide Trail Aaron had he been wearing boots might not have cut his ankle on a rock because the first couple stretches are kind of Bush wacky you're in the desert in some rough terrain he cut his ankle and later had some swelling issues in his leg that a nurse said might have been related to the cut because he kept opening it while he was walking with one of his shoes he had hit that spot that he had cut and it just kind of kept being a persistent issue now could he have bandaged it and potentially wore a higher sock to help protect it yes but sometimes boys will be boys and he didn't fool with it now had he had on a higher ankle boot to help protect his feet and more rough terrain and in brushy areas then he may not have ever had that issue so rugged terrain is a good place for hiking boots also if you're gonna be carrying a heavy load say you're going out to a trail and doing some trail maintenance and you know you're gonna have a lot of equipment on your back to take out there then that might be a place for a more stable footwear also maybe you know that you do need that extra stability and ankle support or maybe you're gonna be going somewhere completely off trail and not on a clear well beaten path those are all instances where boots might be more useful than trail runners or maybe you just prefer the feel of a boot that is okay too if you're in the market for hiking boots you'll probably see two main options either a leather boot or a synthetic boot and they do have some mixtures and and different types of leather something you might see our full grain leather split grain leather and then nubuck leather some of these leathers might be a little more durable and water resistant than others well on the other end of the spectrum you'll have a softer leather that is more breathable regardless leather boots are not going to be as breathable and probably not as comfortable as a synthetic boot however the synthetic boots are not going to last as long as the leather boots on the synthetic side of things you'll probably see boots made out of nylon and polyester they'll be lighter and probably won't require a break period or at least not as much as the leather boots but again they might not be as durable or you know last year's long if you're going to go with a leather boot I highly recommend that if the boots get wet that you do not try to drive them by a fire or out in the Sun I mean it seems like the common-sense thing to do this is wet I want it to get dry but with leather heat or you know baking in the Sun or by the fire can cause shrinkage and then you end up with a very tight uncomfortable boot if any of you all have ever had work boots you may have experienced this before because I've done that where I used a set of boots they got wet and then I threw them up in the bed of my truck and they no longer fit as comfortably it's also a good idea to all and treat the boot to keep it supple and not so hard and brittle with hiking boots you're gonna have a wide variety of options you may see things like a low-cut boot so a boot that looks more like a trail runner but it is still you know a more rigid shoe but it'll be low-cut on the ankle then you'll also see mid cut boots that may offer more ankle support and then high cut boots which are going to be your most stable and sturdy and give the highest support and the highest cut of course would be for more off trail or dangerous type terrains well I have occasionally seen people out on trail backpacking in boots the most common type of footwear seen out on trail now is the trail runner and they're basically like a sneaker but with more aggressive tread and I think the reason that things have trended towards trail runners is because as backpacking gear is getting more lightweight and more compact the need for such a stable rigid shoe is just not really as necessary as it used to be some of the things that I love about trail runners is they're lightweight they're breathable they drive much more quickly than a boot they're comfortable out of the box and they're versatile I'm much more likely to wear a trail runner in day-to-day life because they're comfortable like I would a tennis shoe than I am a more rigid leather hiking boots Wow I love trail runners they do have their limitations they're not going to be as supportive or as protective of your feet as a hiking boot will and they aren't gonna last as long because they're just not as durable I tend to replace my runners at about 500 miles anyway I have had some that wear out before that but I've also had some that would last longer it's just that I tend to develop plantar fasciitis and I feel like the support in a trail runner is gone after about 500 miles and my arch tends to hyperextend if you're a boot wear who has been considering switching to trail runners there is a mid trail runner made by ultra so like a boot it comes up higher on the ankle and I know that there have been some people that were a little leery of switching and then they tried the mid and then they ended up going to the full-on short ankle trail runners so that's just something to consider if you're interested in trying out something different and I bring up ultra because Ultra is the most popular brand of footwear on the trail right now almost everybody that I passed on the Pacific Crest Trail and the Continental Divide Trail was through hiking was wearing ultras by far the majority ultra was actually founded by two fellows that were trying to help runners solve some issues they were having with their feet they realized well running shoes generally have this little wedge in them that allow a drop from the heel to the toe but when we walk around barefooted we don't have that you know our toes are level with our heels so what if we just cut that wedge out and create a zero drop and see what happens and a lot of the runners who are having issues no longer had foot issues anymore another thing I love about ultras is they are known for a wide toe box and this allows your toes to spread out in the shoe where a lot of other shoes I feel like kind of cramp everything up around the toes and that can get real uncomfortable and cause more issues especially with blisters while you're backpacking now if you're used to wearing normal tennis shoes that have a drop from your heel to your toe then I would caution you to just be mindful that the zero drop shoe takes a little getting used to sometimes when your calf is used to being elevated and kind of more bunched up and then you suddenly drop it and it's stretching more it can cause a little discomfort so ultra suggest that if you're transitioning to a zero drop shoe that you do it gradually you could maybe wear the new shoes for a few hours a day or if you go on walks in the evening maybe start wearing it for your walks but during the day continue with your normal Footwear however you want to do it but it's just something to be mindful of I'm not saying that you will definitely have any kind of issue or discomfort because actually on the Pacific Crest Trail in the middle of my thru-hike is when I made the transition from a Salomon shoe that had a drop in it to an ultra shoe with a zero drop and maybe it's because I was already sore from through hiking in general but I didn't really notice any difference and it didn't cause me any issues Wow I love ultra they are not the only brand of trail runners so if you end up giving them a go and they don't work for you that doesn't mean that all trail runners are terrible sometimes it takes trying a few different things to figure out what works for you I just want to say a quick word on gore-tex I'm not gonna go into too much detail because I actually just did a video recently on this topic alone so I will drop that link in the video description also of this video so that you can watch that if you're interested in learning more but gore-tex is basically a technology that's designed to be breathable yet waterproof to keep your feet dry however gore-tex will also keep your feet warmer and stickier and can be a breeding ground for bacteria and fungus and it's just not as breathable as I think the idea of it was meant to be plus if you're gonna be out in the rain for a while your feet are going to get wet so gore-tex just kind of inhibits that drying process and I think that gore-tex Footwear has its place in winter hiking this video is more about three season backpacking but in the warmer months I am personally not a fan but some people are again it's all about personal preference but if you're interested in learning more about that or waterproofing of footwear in general then check out that video next up let's talk about sandals and if y'all are thinking what sandals for backpacking yes a friend of mine named South Pole who I met on the Appalachian Trail hiked in sandals and at the time I met him he was going a little bit slower because he was actually suffering from a broken toe while sandals aren't going to be as protective of your feet obviously they do have their benefits for example if you're going to be going through an area that has a lot of water crossings then instead of having to either pull off your shoes in your socks and and Ford and then put the back on or just go ahead and trudge through and get your shoes soaked and then have the chance of getting blisters or having other issues it's just really nice to go through with sandals that allow your feet to drive very quickly because there's a lot of breathability in those also if your feet tend to swell a lot it might be nice having that extra space for them to expand there are several brands of hiking sandals out there but two of the ones that I've seen on trail our bedrock sandals and chocos while shoes are certainly important and I think to have the best experience while backpacking at least for your feet to have the best experience it's good to get something like a trail runner or boot or sandal whatever you prefer something that's designed for being out on the trail however if tomorrow you had all of your gear to go on a backpacking trip and you realize oh man I don't have Footwear specifically for the trail all I have is a pair of sneakers and I spent all my money on the rest of my gear and I don't have a hundred dollars to go throw down on some new boots or trail runners then that's okay I mean certainly be more careful on slippery rock sand and things like that where your tennis shoe may not have the tread that trail runners or boots will but if you've got a well-fitting sneaker that has some decent tread on it then don't not go have fun and have an experience because you don't have the exact saying that you think that you need so as long as you're you know basic needs are taken care of shelter food water I'm not saying don't go just because you don't have one of these expensive types of footwear in fact my friend perc who I met on the Appalachian Trail started and completed most of his through hike of the 80 and a regular pair of New Balance running shoes so just something to keep in mind and I think grandma Gatewood through hikes and a pair of kids I think the most important thing is making sure that whatever you have on your feet is comfortable so with that I want to talk about proper fitting Footwear there are two rules of thumb that I usually go by to make sure that whatever I have on my feet is going to properly fit my foot and that is the thumb test which is where I make sure that I have a thumb width between the tip of my toe in the end of the front of the shoe and then also the toads hop test where I lace up my shoes like I normally would if I was gonna go backpack in and then tap my toe on the floor and if I feel my toes hitting the front of the shoe it's a no-go unless you want to lose some toenails and ask me how I know because my big two toenails turn black and fell off on the PCT because of that issue exactly of course the best thing that you can do to ensure that your shoes are gonna fit properly is to go into a store where there are professionals that can measure your foot with a brand new device and help you select something now everybody lives near a place where that's possible so there's always the option of ordering from Amazon so that you can get in the shoe try it on walk around your house with it and you have 30 days to return it pretty much hassle-free from what I've experienced with Amazon and then also you can order from REI and with REI you can keep something up to a year and if it doesn't work out for you then they allow you to return it if you're a member I think is the only requirement now that means that you could actually get a pair of footwear try it on you think it's gonna work you get out on the trail and you hate it then you can go ahead and return it and the thing with REI is it doesn't just go into a landfill at that point they generally take the more gently used items and then they'll do an REI garage sale if you're not familiar with those you should definitely check them out you can get great gear at a discounted price if you do end up in a situation where you're out on the trail and your feet start giving you some kind of problem because your shoes aren't necessarily fitting properly there are some lacing diagrams that you can look at so I'd either save it to your phone or print it out if you're going out for the first time and a new pair of footwear and that way if you're in a pinch then some of those lacing techniques might help you out a little bit but this is definitely a band-aid and not something that I would consider as a permanent fix you want to get some kind of footwear that feels good when you have it on the way that it is and you're not having to do little fixes like that let's talk about insoles the insoles that come factory in whatever Footwear you get may be fine for your foot for me they were not I found that I needed a little more support so I went with dr. Scholl's for plantar fasciitis and unfortunately that's not the first thing I tried I actually went with the sole brand of inserts first and I thought they were cool because you can put them in the oven and then put them down in your shoe and put your foot in there and they kind of mold to your foot another popular brand among backpackers is super feet and with super feet they have different styles for different types of feet but it's not a one-size-fits-all so I can't tell you exactly what will work for your feet but if you are noticing a little discomfort then it may be something that can be solved with a different type of insult and what comes Factory in your shoe also the best option is to go to a podiatrist if you're having issues and get custom made orthotics but it's kind of pricey and not something that everyone can afford to do so there are other options that are gonna be cheaper I think super feet and soles run about fifty dollars or so and then the doctor Scholl's for plantar fasciitis if you have issues with plantar fasciitis usually run about twenty dollars and you can pick those up in a Walmart or sometimes at drugstores just a little tip that I want to add that I found out about on the Pacific Crest Trail during my thru-hike out there is the wonderful invention of lock laces they're basically just elastic laces that you thread through in place of your shoelaces and then there's an adjustable plastic piece that slides on on the end you can just tighten the little plastic piece if you want era laces tighter or loosen it if you want them more loose and I think that they are wonderful because I'm sure that I've wasted hours of my life tying and even double knotting the laces on my shoes I replaced my lock laces every time I replace my trail runners that way I don't have to worry about on dry riding and braking or anything like that and as long as I replace them each time I haven't had any issues the final type of shoe I want to talk about today are camp shoes a lot of folks when they go backpacking will take some sort of lightweight sandals or crocs that way when they get to camp they can put a different type of footwear on and still have their feet protected around camp but allow their feet to breathe and that is so important when you're on trail to take care of your feet and allow them that time to kind of air out this will help with blisters and also preventing any type of trench foot or any kind of gross stuff going on with your feet and just to have a different type of footwear on it feels very very nice after a long day of hiking camp shoes are also very useful to have not only on trail but in town so if you're going on an extended trip where you're going to go into town for a resupply then it's nice to have something different to walk around in especially if your boots or trail runners got rained on in the previous stretch and they're kind of gross and wet and you don't want to keep walking around town and those so you can give them time to air out then camp shoes / town shoes are nice to have on the Appalachian Trail I carried a lightweight pair of Tevas but I was really looking for any way to shed some weight so I decided to get rid of my camp shoes even though they're not uh necessity it is a nice luxury item to have it just depends on personal preference and if it's worth the weight to you an extremely lightweight but kind of hiker engineered option that I saw people doing on the 80 and PCT is they would take a factory insole that they would either get out of their own shoes or find in a hiker box somewhere and then they would take laces and poke holes on the insoles where they could kind of fashion a sandal type deal or some way to tie the insole to their foot and their leg that way they kind of had makeshift sandals for a round camp nothing fancy by any means but it's more about functionality than fashion when you're on trail now let's talk about socks first let's go over some materials it's definitely suggested that you avoid cotton because cotton absorbs moisture and it takes a while to dry and the saying goes on trail that cotton kills and this doesn't mean that Cotton's going to come up and strangle you in your sleep or anything like that it's just that when a material holds moisture and stays wet then there's a higher chance of hypothermia if temperatures drop the most common type of material that you will see in socks on trail is merino wool and this is a specialized wool from a New Zealand sheep that is just extremely soft it's not your granddaddy's army blanket it's also odd or resistant and wool keeps its insulating properties even when it's wet synthetic socks are also common you might see spandex nylon polypropylene just basically as long as you're avoiding cotton you're doing good when you're selecting socks for backpacking or hiking you want to pay attention to the thickness of the sock the thinnest type sock that you will see is actually a sock liner and these are designed to go up under your sock it's real thin material that just helps wick moisture away from your foot and then also it takes some of the friction between your regular sock and the soft liner that way you don't have the friction of the regular sock on your foot directly a common brand of sock liner is in gingy and actually and gingi socks are pretty cool because it's like a glove for your foot so it also protects in between your toes where people tend to be plagued with blisters just the way they walk it seems that their toes rub together and again it helps take that friction and put it between the material instead of the skin between your toes and gingi makes the sock liners and then they actually have socks that go up you know fromthe in a regular sock to thicker socks so from whiners the thickness obviously goes up you'll have lightweight socks mid weight socks and then heavy socks personally I prefer the lightweight socks in the summertime they just help keep my feet cool I'll go with mid weight socks sometimes in the summer but especially in early spring and late fall that way I have just a little bit of added warmth but the heavy weight sucks the real thick warm wool socks I usually only use while I'm sleeping at night I just don't like the bulkiness of them while I'm hiking but again with everything else it's all about personal preference in summer I may use a mid weight sock if I know that I'm gonna go through an area where my feet are kind of sore anyway so real rocky terrain or something like that when I get to the next town I might reward my feet and add a little bit more comfort by going to a mid-weight sock you'll also see a variety and lengths of socks usually anything from an ankle sock all the way up to a regular crew cut longer sock I personally prefer ankle socks in the summertime when it's warm the only time that I found this to be problematic is if I'm in a real sandy area so sometimes in the desert or especially in snowy areas I know a lot of folks who have videos of me hiking in the snow are like how are you wearing shorts and ankle socks in the snow isn't it cold out well it might be in the middle of the summertime but there still happens to be snow on the ground but what I found in those areas is that either sand or snow might get trapped in around my ankle and it's real abrasive so I've had my ankles bleed just from hiking and ankle socks in the snow in those areas I try to keep that in mind and move to a longer sock whether that's mid ankle or you know regular crew-cut but for the most part in warmer temperatures I do wear either a loca ankle or a mid-cut ankle sock then when it transitions to colder weather I usually go with mid ankle to a longer soft I generally just mix it up that way I have a variety and I can go with whatever I'm feeling that day and I usually carry two pair to hike in and one pair to sleep in when it's colder out and I don't really enjoy putting on cold wet socks on a chilly morning then I might have three pair to hike in and one pair to sleep in it's really not something to stress over as long as you have a couple of pair with you you'll figure out what your personal preferences are with the weight of the sock and the length of the sock it just takes getting out there and giving it a shot if you're wondering how I do a several day trek with only two pair of socks to hiking what I do is I'll wear a pair of socks for a day or two and then I'll rinse them out with some water and hang them on my pack to dry and then wear my second pair as the first pair is drying and then if I need to I'll take the second pair off put the semi clean pair back on and then rinse out the second pair of socks but I just keep rotating them out like that and I know that they're not as clean as if they came out of a washer and dryer but as long as you're getting that salt and some of the debris off the socks then it helps out with your feet a lot I've tried several different brands of socks I've used in gingy's right socks smart wools and darn Tufts my personal favorite are the darn Tufts I think that smart wools are a little bit softer and more comfortable than darn tough socks some of them but darn Tufts are the most durable sock that I have seen on trail by far they've lasted me longer than any other brand and I have a lifetime guarantee so while they cost sometimes fifteen to twenty dollars a pair if you wear a hole in them darn tough we'll replace them without any questions asked the last piece of footwear I'm going to cover is gaiters gaiters are little sleeves that slide over your foot and up your leg and attach to the top of your shoes you can get real tall waterproof gaiters but most of the time for backpacking in three season weather so spring summer and fall most backpackers just use little soft short gaiters to help keep debris and junk from getting in their shoe so if you've ever had to stop and take off your shoes and knock some pebbles out of them or sand then you might be interested in gaiters gaiters could have probably helped me with the situation that I was talking about with the sand in the snow but myself personally I just found that Gators were kind of a hassle just something else that I had to deal with and I don't really have to dump out my shoes often enough that I felt like Gators would be useful enough for me but some people swear by them they usually come with a little piece of velcro that either sticks or glues to your shoe but if you have ultras there you have a built in Gator trap on them and then there's a little hook that attaches to the front part near the laces and then the other part is just up fitted around your ankle some of the more popular brands that I've seen on trail are dirty girl gaiters which can actually be very colorful and interesting and then Outdoor Research has some for those of you who don't want something quite as loud Gators aren't a necessity but they are something that many people have found useful so I felt like it was worth mentioning in the topic of footwear alright y'all well that is all I have for you today on the topic of footwear and if you have any questions about what I talked about if I wasn't clear enough please feel free to leave that in the comments below because again I want to help some of y'all who are just getting into backpacking and are like what do I do with Footwear I don't know how to pick what I want to wear and for those folks who are watching today that do have a decent amount of backpacking experience if you have finally found footwear some kind of system that works for you if you don't mind please share that in the comments below because I'm hoping that some of the folks who are just getting into the can learn from some of the mistakes that us more experienced folks have made and things that we've learned about our feet and maybe you know when they're going through different trials and tribulations with Footwear because I feel like nobody ever gets you know the perfect setup the first time so anyway thank y'all so much for watching and if you enjoy the content of this channel don't forget to subscribe and we will see y'all next time you

Channel: Homemade Wanderlust

Views: 417,995

Rating: 4.9189835 out of 5

Keywords: backpacking, feet, trail runner, thru-hiker, hike, hiking, hiker, dixie, CDT, PCT, continental divide trail, pacific crest trail, appalachian trail, gear, footwear, socks, darn tough, smartwool, merino wool, boots, hiking boots, leather boots, gore-tex

Id: ImyyphwhZJM

Length: 27min 28sec (1648 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 06 2019