Shoes at night & in or out

[strollin]

Has anyone found crawly things in your shoes in AM? Shoes in the tent or outside?

[Odd Man Out]

Shoes out, unless it's really cold. The crawly things are the ones who should be affraid.

[renais]

I keep my shoes inside always. In 2012 I was hiking the AT with someone who kept their shoes outside the tent. A few hundred miles into the hike they put them on with a baby rattlesnake inside one shoe. The bite on the ankle was enough to end their hike for the year. In the west it isn't that unusual for critters to chew on the shoes for the salt, or even to steal them.

[Hikingjim]

Shoes usually come in the tent. I put them under my mat at the top to prop up my neck more. Unless they're particular gross and i don't feel like dealing with 'em.
Everything ends up in the tent other than food. I put my pack at the end of my sleeping mat to extend the mat (i'm 6'4 and my feet tend to dangle)

[Strategic]

Outside, but they're hanging from the suspension strap at the foot end of the hammock and under the end of the tarp. I've never had anything get into them during the night, since nothing really climbs down the straps that far. Certainly makes sure that no snakes get in. :D

[Astro]

Shoes always inside tent inside a plastic bag.
Considering starting to put poles in tent too, so no animals are attracted by the salt on the cork handles. Currently just put poles between rainfly and tent.

[lonehiker]

For over 3 decades I have left shoes outside my tent. Every morning I religiously shake them out. But, I have yet to actually see anything fall out of my shoes. Do they get a visit during the night? Not that I am aware of but who knows.

[Hatchet_1697]

The one night I left my poles laying on the ground, a herd of teenage mutant ninja mice chewed through the grips all the way to the carbon fiber to get the salt from my sweaty hands. Now my poles always stand upright under my hammock tarp. My shoes go on top of them. Keeps both safe from evil critters. Helps air them out too.


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[globetruck]

I’m typically a hammock sleeper and keep my shoes under my hammock at night. Back in 2014 in the Dolly Sods, I woke up to some animal noises, decided to go take a leak, and couldn’t find my shoes. I found one of them a few feet away and eventually found the other one about 20 yards away... in the mouth of a skunk. I eventually got my shoes back with nobody getting hurt or sprayed. I guess the skunk either fell in love with my stinky feet or maybe just wanted the salt from my sweat. Weird.


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[Slugg]

Surprised how one-sided the responses have been. I keep mine outside the tent, shake them out in the morning. Never found anything.

[JNI64]

Shoes usually come in the tent. I put them under my mat at the top to prop up my neck more. Unless they're particular gross and i don't feel like dealing with 'em.
Everything ends up in the tent other than food. I put my pack at the end of my sleeping mat to extend the mat (i'm 6'4 and my feet tend to dangle)

This is exactly what I do as well. Though not a strict camp habit for me. sometimes I'll leave them right outside the tent door under the fly, cause I usually have to get out to pee a couple times. ( especially if they're particularly gross).:eek:

[RangerZ]

I put my boots in a plastic bag inside at the foot of my tent. If you leave them outside the gremlins might get them.

I’m an “everything inside the tent” guy.

:banana

[HooKooDooKu]

When I hiked the JMT, I had heard of reports that marmots might do things like chew shoelaces of boots left out.
Since I carry a sitting pad that doubles as a knee pads to help get in and out of my tent, and I use a two man tent for solo hiking, I simply brought the knee pads inside the tent, places it on the tent floor "dirty side up" and placed my boots on the mat

[Leo L.]

Since my first desert trip in 82, I learned myself into the habit of shaking out the shoes whenever I put them on.
Aside of the occassional spider that hid itself in the shoes back home, I've never found anything falling out.
When hiking, I put the shoes under the fly, inside the tent only when freezing.
A fox stole my wife's socks once while cowboy camping in the desert.

[Bubblehead]

:bananaI have a Zpacks Duplex tent with plenty of room inside, so I keep everything inside with the exception of my food, which I put in my bear canister and place it in the woods at least 100 ft. from my tent...I left my shoes outside in my vestibule one night in SNP, and a critter chewed off my shoelaces...

[Five Tango]

Simply Light Designs makes a boot hammock,a gear hammock,and various zippered bags for just such an occasion.I have used them and they work just fine for hammock campers.The boot and gear hammocks also have zippers so everything is relatively secure from the creatures.

[garlic08]

Marmots definitely chew shoes and eat socks. And pole straps.

If I can stand the smell, I keep them inside. If they have to stay outside, I check them before I put them on.

46563

[Gambit McCrae]

Shoes always go inside the tent for me

[martinb]

In the vestibule. Tap them out in the morning to see if something crawled in. Never had a problem.

[LazyLightning]

I always kept them right outside the tent under the vestibule and I always took out the insoles to air out and to help disturb and notice anything when I put them back in and shook them out. I might reconsider in the future cause the salt is a good point and my trekking pole handles were always right next to the shoes...

[LazyLightning]

sorry don't know why the double post

[double d]

This is actually a very good quesiton-I always want to put my shoes outside of my tent at night to air them out and reduce clutter in my tent at night,but as others have indicated, lots of interesting issue can develop! I made this mistake one night at Glacier NP and in the morning, had numerous bit and claw marks on my hiking shoes-not good! Best to keep them in the tent.

[4eyedbuzzard]

Lots of small critters will chew shoes for the salt. Raccoons, porcupines, opossoms, mice, etc. Spiders could be a problem as well. Here in TX and other southwest states we have scorpions as well, and a sting from one of them can make for a very unpleasant time, especially the Arizona bark scorpion. Best to bring them inside imo.

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[TNhiker]

and a sting from one of them can make for a very unpleasant time, especially the Arizona bark scorpion



so their bite is worse than their bark?


(sorry, lack of sleep makes for some bad jokes)

[QiWiz]

Out, but shake em and check em in the morning. Worst I've found so far are slugs.

[4eyedbuzzard]

so their bite is worse than their bark?


(sorry, lack of sleep makes for some bad jokes)
:D Credit me for the straight line.

On a serious note, if you need scorpion antivenom (most people/stings don't), it's incredibly expensive - $5K or so per dose in the US (but only about $100 in Mexico) and often requires multiple doses.

[Pringles]

In the tent with me. I try to carry a plastic grocery store bag to put them on, or in, because they’re usually muddy or dusty.

[Slow Trek]

In the vestibule. Any critter that can stand the smell deserves whatever salt they can find...

[oldwetherman]

I used to keep them outside...then a few years ago at a campsite in Virginia a fellow hiker woke up and his shoes were gone. Several of us searched the area and found them a short distance away. They were chewed so badly that they were useless. Fortunately a fellow hiker had a flimsy pair of camp shoes that fit....those...and a significant amount of duct tape got him to the next town.

[Puddlefish]

About once every ten years, I get a crawly thing in my shoes in the morning. Then the next few mornings I check carefully, then I forget until another ten years goes by. My tent's pretty small, so I let that be the determining factor and leave the shoes in the tiny vestibule.

[jimmyjam]

Shoes go inside a plastic grocery bag and then inside the tent or bug bivy. Same with my hiking clothes,but in a different bag. Then I put them down by feet. Cuts down on the funk factor too.

[T-Rx]

Shoes go in the vestibule of my tent. Check them in the morning.

[liteweight]

I had always had them out with no issues. Then I ran into a hiker coming down from Campaite 113 in the Smokies with Crocs on. She said a bear had ran off with one of her trail runners. Chances are slim of that happening, but now keep them in my tent.

[garlic08]

Out, but shake em and check em in the morning. Worst I've found so far are slugs.

Bad memory there.

[CalebJ]

Mine always stay outside. Give them a quick shake before sliding them on in the morning.

[D2maine]

out - upside down never an issue.

[Mikerfixit]

Jam hiking poles into ground or two sticks and place the shoes upside on the handles next to the hammock.

[George]

depends on the level of stink

[greentick]

Tap-tap-tap the heel on the ground then upend and shake. If they don't fall out hopefully they're stunned enough that they get squished by my foot.

Speaking of slugs... Just finished a book on the OSS in Burma in WW2. Said a 6 inch long leach could squeeze through the eyelet on boots to get at some flesh.

[English Stu]

shoes kept in the vesitibule, have rarely aired shoes off by balancing them, toe up, on twigs shoved in the ground.

[Puddlefish]

So, a few days ago, I got ready for my morning walk. I grab a shoe, and a 3" garden spider starts scurrying up my arm. Should I store my shoes outside the house, maybe in the garden?

I'd like to say that I recognized it as harmless, caught it and released it into the wild... but I panicked and squashed it flat.

[Miner]

As I often Cowboy Camp or use a tarp, shoes are always outside. I do have the habit of picking them up and banging on the front and bottom of them while holding them upside down to dislodge anything that might be in them. Someone once told me about scorpians or some other desert critter getting in them as I often camp in the southwest. Never seen anything fall out other than ants though. At home, stored inside, my feet did find a few bugs inside over the years when I lived more outside the city.

[randy.shopher]

Bad memory there.Who cares what a slug remembers?

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[Five Tango]

So, a few days ago, I got ready for my morning walk. I grab a shoe, and a 3" garden spider starts scurrying up my arm. Should I store my shoes outside the house, maybe in the garden?

I'd like to say that I recognized it as harmless, caught it and released it into the wild... but I panicked and squashed it flat.


If you have brown recluse spiders in your area then you seriously cannot be too careful.My brother in law was spreading pinestraw without wearing gloves and one bit his finger.He nearly lost the finger.The pictures I saw were showing the BONE where the dead flesh from the bite had been cut away by the surgeon.It eventually healed and he still has the finger.So I keep my shoes in a 1.8 oz boot hammock from SLD when I camp for that reason.Hammocks are not for everyone but you will be above the spider,tick,and flood zone if you can find two safe trees from which to hang......

[English Stu]

In the vestibule for me. I have placed them upside down on small branches stuck in the ground outside the tent.
On the JMT, the last mile or so upto Mt Whitney the path is narrow often icy/snowy, for safety`s sake you leave your pack at, from memory Junction point/trail. They say at that point Marmots lie in wait to get at packs for the salt or food. It`s a bummer if they chew through your shoulder straps.

[MichaelK7]

In the tent, inside a plastic bag, down by my feet.
Since most of my camping now is done in snowy cold conditions, I probably don't need to, but old habits die hard...