Drying shoes on the trail

[10-K]

Lots of ideas but based on my experience as long as it's raining/wet/muddy you're not going to have dry boots. And if by some miracle you get them dry overnight they'll be soggy again as soon you start in the morning so what's the point. Putting on wet boots in the morning isn't any worse than putting on a wet shirt in the morning.

On the other hand, when it quits raining/drys out then boots dry on their own and stay dry until it rains again.

[leaftye]

I've literally squeezed the water out of my shoes before. Sometimes swinging them around helps, although I swear one of these days I'll end up throwing my shoes off a ridge. Otherwise I just try to place my shoes under some kind of cover like a bush to minimize condensation.

[LIhikers]

What I've decided:
1) Anythig wet - STAYS wet.
2) Anything dry - GETS wet (refer to 1).

Lots of ideas but based on my experience as long as it's raining/wet/muddy you're not going to have dry boots. And if by some miracle you get them dry overnight they'll be soggy again as soon you start in the morning so what's the point. Putting on wet boots in the morning isn't any worse than putting on a wet shirt in the morning.

On the other hand, when it quits raining/drys out then boots dry on their own and stay dry until it rains again.

These both reflect my experience while hiking.
This is one of those things in life you just can't do anything about.

[The Solemates]

I don't agree with putting them in the sleeping bag because as they dry they make your bag wet. I don't see that as an overall improvement.


Panzer

yep. one way that my wife has gotten around this before (at least somewhat) is to put the boots in a ziploc or grocery bag before (and leaving it slightly open) before placing them in the sleeping bag. this gets them 'fairly' dry, while keeping your bag 'fairly' dry as well. the main thing for us is to keep them pliable enough to put them back on the feet in the morning. our shoes are usually wet from frozen snow etc, not from rain. if they are wet from rain we often do not care - and just put wet boots back on in the morning, particularly in bouts of extended rain. we had 8 straight days of rain in VT (the whole state) on our thru.

[theinfamousj]

This is why I prefer breathable boots/trail runners. (Side note: Love to the Solomon Amphibians.) The more mesh the better. Sure, they get wet when you slog through a puddle, but usually dry on your feet within an hour.

Being in the south, and going barefoot all summer as I do, the hour of wet boot/socks does little more for me than exfoliate some of my callouses. Certainly no blisters.

[SullyJoe]

I prefer the change-socks-every-couple-of-hours method. And the quickest way to dry your socks while hiking is to put them on your shoulders between your base layer and t-shirt. Your body heat dries them quickly, and they act as shoulder pads with your pack.

[1azarus]

yep. one way that my wife has gotten around this before (at least somewhat) is to put the boots in a ziploc or grocery bag before (and leaving it slightly open) before placing them in the sleeping bag. this gets them 'fairly' dry, while keeping your bag 'fairly' dry as well. the main thing for us is to keep them pliable enough to put them back on the feet in the morning. our shoes are usually wet from frozen snow etc, not from rain. if they are wet from rain we often do not care - and just put wet boots back on in the morning, particularly in bouts of extended rain. we had 8 straight days of rain in VT (the whole state) on our thru.

I like this suggestion -- especially in the winter, and will try it. i think i'll use bread bags next time -- keeping my trail runners from freezing hard and having a little bit of drying without getting my sleeping bag dirty is all i'd ever ask for. i've never had any trouble with moisture when using my sleeping bag as a clothes dryer. in the past i have just put my wet trail runners on my stomach in my sleeping bag (in my hammock) for a couple of hours prior to waking for the day with good result.

[Canute600]

Thanks all for the ideas and feedback - I guess drying the boots out might be somewhat pointless if they'll just get wet again when I hike. I'm going to go with footwear that is light and drys out easily to increase the drying speed in those rare occasions when I have long dry stretches of trail!

[kolokolo]

Fill them with oats--they absorb a large amount of moisture. Then in the morning you have breakfast all ready!

I tried that last weekend, but the oatmeal just didn't taste very good. I'd rather have wet boots.

[GMTMinusFive]

I second the newspaper idea, if feasible.

[uberart]

Unless you have ankle problems, switch to something that drys fast.. like amphibian shoes or sandals. Waterproof is the devil.. it just takes longer to dry.. and on some sections you will swamp your boots.

[Tilly]

'09 was really wet. My shoes did not dry until it stopped raining and the trail had a few day to dry out. There's no way to effectively dry your shoes in situations like these. Just have to wait until the sun comes out again.

[StorminMormon]

Before I offer my suggestion, I would like to echo the fact that wet boots is something you have to get used to. Like 10-K said, if you do get them dry, they'll probably just get wet again and so "what's the point". You just spent a lot of time, calories, and effort for very little gain.

Having said that. I have tried two methods (both very similar) with some success. Both methods involve hot rocks from a campfire.

Method 1: You'll need a stuff sack or some other bag large enough for your shoes but rugged enough to handle a heavy hot rock. A good pair of gloves or something to cover your hands in order to handle the rock (briefly). A pair of wet boots. Look for a large rock about the size of a football or perhaps a little smaller. Place the rock next to your campfire. Don't use one that is part of the fire-ring, this is a "cold" rock that your starting with. Anyway, place the rock next to the campfire and keep an eye on it. Touch it frequently to see how hot it's getting. Rotate frequently. This should take anywhere from 30 to 60 minutes depending on all kinds of variables. You don't want it too hot because you won't be able to handle it (even with gloves) and it might melt your stuff sack and your shoes. When the rock is just about "too hot to handle" (by this I mean, I can pick up the rock with my hands but only for a few seconds before it becomes uncomfortable - not painful!...that's too hot. Treat your 2nd degree burns and then move onto the next step), place the rock in the stuff sack and set your boots on top of it. Again, we're talking a temperature that you pretty much could handle with bare hands...but maybe a degree or two warmer than that. This will not be hot enough to melt your shoes so don't worry. With the rock at the bottom of the sack, and your shoes sitting on top, sinch the stuff sack closed (but not entirely - there's usually a little hole at the top even when the bag is tightly closed. You want to let these guys breathe some).

So what's happening here? Well, the rock is heating the air inside the bag. We chose a football size rock because once it is heated...it should stay pretty warm for at least 6 hours. The rock is heating the air inside the bag and the air outside is much cooler, so just like a hot air balloon the hot/humid air inside is trying to escape and is replacing that with colder/dryer air. The only real danger here is using a rock that is too hot. You don't have to have this rock "oven hot" - after about 140 degrees which is probably just beyond what the human hand is comfortable touching, you get very little gain and you're getting closer to the 160 degree mark which is probably where you will do damage to your shoes.

Ok, Method 2: Everything is about the same with a couple exceptions. Instead of a larger rock, you use many small rocks. And you place the small rocks in the stuff sack and then the sack goes in your boots. I've had less (although still some) success with this method. The smaller rocks don't hold heat as long, and they also have a tendency to over-heat (user error) and you're only warming the inside of the shoes which is good...but the shoes are wet on the outside, and so through concentration gradient, the wet part of the shoe outside pushes the water to the inside so it really doesn't do that well of a job.

Anyway, the first method works, but only to a point. You're shoes aren't going to be as dry as if they had been sitting in your house all weekend, and if it's raining tomorrow...they're just going to get wet again. Also, it works best in cool to colder environments - it doesn't work well at all in the late Spring and you're just wasting your time in the Summer. There needs to be a good heat differential to stoke the evaporation process.

Hope this helps.