Feb+March Shoes

[milo]

I've read a few hundred posts about trail runners vs. boots, GTX vs. fast-drying and winter layering systems. However, I haven't been able to find much about the best shoes to wear for a late Feb start. Do people start off in boots and then switch to trail runners after it warms up or do you start off in trail runners but wear socks like sealskinz? I know everybody is different and go with what ever is most comfortable but I'm just curious what the "norm" is in late Feb early March.

Thanks
Milo

[milo]

I should add that I don't have any ankle or feet problems. I run in five-fingers and I normally hike in trail runners. However, I have not done anything in the winter other than day hikes. My primary concern is having really cold feet in just trail runners. I plan on trying some stuff out this winter but I'm just curious what other people have experienced and had success with in late feb/march. Thanks, again. Milo.

[yellowsirocco]

I wear gore-tex trail runners.

[joshuasdad]

Thick wool socks, trail runners, your feet will probably not be cold. I actually soaked a foot in a semi-frozen bog in Massachussetts near Christmas when it was about 10 degrees F out, and was fine for the remainder of the hike (you cannot walk on a bog bridge that is tilted at a 30+ degree angle...I felt like a physics coefficient of friction experiment before breaking my slide with that foot...).

[ChinMusic]

Regular (non-Gore-tex) trail runners with merino wool socks. If I get wet, I get wet. I will dry. Been there, done that.

I don't change my strategy from summer to winter. Well, I do bring Microspikes if there is a chance of ice.

[BrianLe]

I'm not sure there is a "norm". I used trail runners and was fine with that. One of my hiking partners went for goretex "light hiker" boots until Virginia and then switched to trail runners. I don't think I'd care for goretex shoes; low tops means water gets in and the goretex makes it slower to get out, no? But each to their own. On the frozen cold mornings when the footwear got wet the day before, it's painful in either case to put those frozen shoes on and start walking; at least the trail runners are low enough mass that it's not too hard to crack them open to insert feet. But my hiking parner was happy with his goretex light boots in the same conditions, and he's usually a strictly shoe guy.

You could consider goretex socks. I used those on occasion. Ultimately your feet still get wet, it is indeed the decent set of wool socks that are paramount.

[milo]

Thanks everyone!

[bigcranky]

I wear Goretex trail runners in the winter, then switch to mesh when it warms up a bit.