What Is Your Foot Care Regime?

Dry feet at night, put on Hydropel/Guerney Goo and bed socks. In the morning wet socks go back on. I will give socks, if they are wet, a rinse every day or so. No blisters yet after years of using trail runners. When I was a kid I used to get terrible blisters in boots.

Once I found a footwear combo that fit well, I haven't needed much of a strategy. No more blisters or calluses.

Injinji performance lightweight crew socks, merrills trail gloves wide. Great wet or dry.

I just put on dry socks before bed. If I have it, I sometimes give myself a foot massage with hand sanitizer for cleanliness and drying. Probably doesn't do anything, but it feels nice at the end of the day.

take off shoes at night
take off socks, wipe dirt off a bit with hands,esp in between toe dirt.
Put socks in my kangaroo pocket on my hoody so will dry better from body warmth.

In morning, put socks on, then shoes.

---

Similar to mine. Sometimes I leave the socks on. Was different when I used leather boots though.

Jase,

1.) Keep nails trimmed.

2.) Ample room in the toebox to allow for comfortable downhill sections.

3.) Thin sythetic low cut socks.

4.) Loosely tied low trail runner/hiking shoes.

5.) Low gaiters to help keep scree out of shoes.

Of late my socks are "tabbed" low shoe liner style synthetic socks. They are form J. C. Penny's department store. 4 pair for 10 dollars. I wear 1 pair and carry 2 pair to rotate out when needed. I really only need 2 pair since I can usually walk them dry.

As far as shoes I have used and like Merrell Moab Ventialtors, Columbia Aztecs and just this weekend Champion C9 Motivate trail runners from Target ($29.99). I have to say that the Motivates performed well this past weekend. I don't use hikers or trail runners that have any waterproofing system or treatments like Goretex.

My gaiters are Dirty Girl normal height.

On the trail, hand wash feet with plain water to remove dust/dirt accumulation that gets in through the mesh. Dry feet and put on fresh or rotated socks. Socks can be washed with plain water and dried as necessary on the pack front while hiking.

I use no creams or ointments on my feet. On the trail I have almost zero problems with blisters so I use little or no tape. I do carry a small amount of Leukotape and moleskin just in case. Curiously at home walking on bike paths and such my Merrells blister me on the balls of my feet. None of my other shoes do this. ;-?

Party On,

Newton

Using slightly oversized trail runners (~1/2 size too big) with a relatively wide toe box coupled with thin injinji wool socks has successfully prevented blisters for several years now. During colder hikes I can layer other socks over the Injinji socks as needed without creating blister problems.

As far as other on trail foot care goes, I tend to try to take my socks/shoes off during long breaks to let my feet air out and dry a little. In camp, I will wash and dry my feet before slipping into clean sleeping socks.

If going for more than one night, I will carry one extra pair of hiking socks and switch out each day. One pair of socks gets rinsed and hung on the pack to dry while the other pair get worn.

This generally works well for me although I do get pretty bad maceration of the skin on my heels during prolonged hikes in the cold/wet. Even with thin merino socks and mesh trailrunners, I think because I run hot and tend to sweat quite a bit, my feet end up being damp for prolonged periods of time even in relatively normal conditions.

The maceration has never become bad enough on a trip to have to do anything about, but I notice it usually a day or two after getting home when the skin will be a bit sensitive. I should probably start exploring ways to keep the skin drier in these conditions. Does applying BodyGlide work for this or do I need to look for something different?