Originally Posted by
Miner
Forgot to mention another advantage to loosening your laces up at night, if you had to do a ford towards the end of the day where there is no chance they will dry out before dark, and the overnight temperature drops below freezing so your shoes freeze stiff, with the laces loosen up you can still manage to work your feet into them in the morning, tightening them up after hiking a shortways when they have regained some flexibility. Much better than the alternative of dunking your shoes in water to defrost them before putting them on in the cold morning. Of course, others will try to mumble something about water shoes, but for something that so rarely happens, it's not worth planning for.