Ive had a couple pairs of walking boots in the past and none of them have survived more than 6-8 3 day hikes and I’m sick of replacing them. What are some points to look for in good walking boots, where should I look to buy them from in the UK, how much should I look to be spending as a rough guide?
Cheers!
Do you use synthetic, cotton, or wool socks?
Wool socks help with odor control because of how they wick away moisture and although they advertise synthetic socks also being good at that they tend to get the stinky funk going on. Cotton just holds moisture and gets stinky too, but somewhere between the two.
If nothing else has helped and you are not already wearing wool socks, I would give that a try. A lot of brands do a blend of wool and synthetic so they might end up being stinkier than 100% wool. Wool is expensive, but holds up really well and is totally worth it.
Hard agree. Wool is amazing. The good stuff doesn’t scratch, either.
That’s a great suggesion. Unfortunately, I already wear either smart wool, or my own hand knit wool socks with these boots.
I just caught that you live in Florida, and the humidity could be the issue. If you have a spare fan, putting the boots in front of it to circulate the air might help since the waterproofing means the only moisture exit is where your foot goes in. Doesn’t need to blow into the boot, just across it so the air gets moved around.
Or you may want to invest in one of these:
https://a.co/d/3ppV1jY
When working the boats in Alaska, arguably one of the wettest environments around, every stateroom had one. Fishermen swear by them.
Great suggestion!
I’ll have to look at those. Might be what I need.
Happened to see boot driers at the grocery store for 15 bucks. Bought them and now i’d say they’re a must. Wore my boots and put them on for 2 hours… they don’t smell anymore. They smelled when I out them on. My boots will now live on these when they’re not on my feet.
Seriously. I sought out boots I thought would last a long time and i’ve been seriously bummed because I can’t imagine keeping them when I can’t get them to stop smelling. I figured boot driers would only work preventatively, but they zapped the smell right away. If you intend to keep your boots for a long time, get some boot driers.