Hiking without liners.

[Helios]

If there was a magic bullet, I think we would all have it by now.

Just ordered my magic decoder socks, to go with my magic ALDHA decoder AT patch. Together I'll have all my answers for hiking....as soon as the post man delivers them that is.

[bigcranky]

I used to wear liners with my big leather boots. Now I just wear a pair of thin or medium wool socks with trail runners. I would think that if the boots fit well with the single pair of socks, that would work fine.

[Mags]

For three-season hiking, I wear light socks only.

For winter (heavy leather touring boots with thick socks) I do use liners.

[chili36]

Just ordered my magic decoder socks, to go with my magic ALDHA decoder AT patch. Together I'll have all my answers for hiking....as soon as the post man delivers them that is.

If the answer is how to thru hike the AT with 5 pounds, or less, of gear, let me know where you ordered the socks and patch!

[grayfox]

Liners work in some shoes. I would say that if your shoes are loose, like in the morning, try liners to take up the extra space and then shed them as your feet swell during the day. If your shoes are snug to begin with, liners will only make them worse.

My favorite hiking socks in trail runners are smartwool light liners by themselves. They are quite durable, wick well, and are warm enough/cool enough for the walking I get to do.

[johnnybgood]

Got a pair that's never seen the light of day. I haven't had any blister problems (knock on wood) , can't see ever wearing them.

[mad4scrapping]

I just started wearing liners because of blisters. I think it's because my boots stretched out with continued use (either that or my feet shrunk when I lost weight).
In any case, do whichever results in no blisters.
Personally, I'm finding that the liners keep my feet warmer in winter.

[bobgessner57]

Liners as the only sock in hot weather with trail runners; light merino sock alone in chilly weather with trail runners; liner and wool in subfreezing weather with boots or runners. In the summer the liners keep my feet drier and cooler than smartwool and are easy to rinse out and dry to get rid of crusty sweat and foot funk. When wearing the liners and a wool sock I often find the liner quite dry and the outer sock very damp with sweat.

[fredmugs]

My blister problems went away when I ditched the liners and all of the hiking socks (smart wool, etc). Nothing but cheap gray walmart socks for me.

[sixguns01]

I find them useful in the winter as does almost everyone else. During warmer weather, I wear Wigwam Cool-Lite Hiker Pro socks. One of the fastest drying socks that I have found. Wick fast too. I am going to try merino wool socks by FIT (I think that's the Brand) that I bought at Campmor. Picked them up last week but haven't found that warmer weather yet. My wamer weather shoes are either Garmont Eclipse 3 XCR's or Salomon XA Pro 3D's. Both do an excellent job and blisters haven't been an issue.

[buz]

Liner guy all the way. Very thin poly sock, thicker smartwool, or other choice over. For me, my feet sweat a lot, and the liner passes the sweat to the other sock, as noted by other poster(s), which I think is a huge help for me. Never had problems, this choice works perfect for me, you might be different, experiment is likely the best choice.

[map man]

I agree with bobgessner57. If it's above freezing I wear just a pair of liner socks inside my trail runners. The type I like is the thermolite Lorpen liner socks. Have not had a blister since I started using them.