Toenails

[wren again]

Suggestions on how NOT to lose one's toenails?

[staehpj1]

Wear shoes that have more toe room.

[Danl]

Cut them short

[JAK]

And make sure your shoes fit right so your toes don't get scrunched forward on downhills.

[Malto]

All the above and also that your socks aren't too small and then you have have purdy toes.

[fiddlehead]

I've lost plenty of toenails from hiking.
Every time it was because my shoes were too tight.
But, also I didn't keep them trimmed enough (I don't carry a toenail clipper, but have one in my drop box)
But I believe if your shoes are a size (or two) too big, you won't lose them even if you don't cut them back.

I know this. Once you lose them, the pain goes away.
Who needs em?

[Another Kevin]

Last summer, I lost a couple of toenails because my boots were laced too loose at the angle of the instep. My feet shifted on a long downgrade, jamming my toes repeatedly. This was on Catskill Crud, which is a lot like Pennsylvania Rocks (it's pretty much the same geologically). It didn't help that I was motoring at much greater than my accustomed speed on the slope, because I'd switched to hiking with poles and my knees weren't complaining for once.

So too loose can be just as bad as too tight.

And for what it's worth, the problem was just in the lacing - I've been out in the same boots before and since, without any of that sort of trouble. http://www.backpacker.com/gear/5245?page=3 was the fix.

[Del Q]

Absolutely positively, buy your hiking shoes, boots at least 1/2 size longer................learned that one the hard way.

[AllenIsbell]

Keep them trimmed as short as you can, but not so far that they get tender.

[QiWiz]

Keep them trimmed on the short side.
Keep shoe laces snug over the foot when going downhill.
Use hiking poles on downhills.
Get shoes 1/2 to one full size larger than normal as your feet WILL swell and get larger/longer when hiking day after day.

When you do all these things and still lose the same toenails every year, as I do, accept it as part of the suffering that builds character.
The more I suffer, the more of a character I become.

[Lyle]

Keep them short and straight.

Tighten your laces for long downhills.

Make sure your shoes fit properly.

[Lyle]

Was going to add to use poles, but see Qiwiz beat me to it. I agree.

[Seldomseen]

It because your shoes are too small. I thought I was an 11 and I lost toenails. In fact I am a 13 in hiking shoes.

[cliffordbarnabus]

without the unnecessariness of them, you will no longer have a worry, and you'll be lighter by at least 0.28 grams

[kolokolo]

Cut them short

Definitely agree with the advice to keep them short, but that will not always be enough. I tend to lose a toenail or two if I do an especially long day (25+ miles) without enough prior conditioning, especially on rough sections (like the PA rocks).