Hiking Advice (Was Blister Prevention)

[Phantasee]

I'm curious: how well do construction boots (with steel toes and steel plates in the sole) do as hiking boots? Mine are nicely worn in, they have a 6" shank, leather.

[Broomstick]

Yeah, the answer really is to wear your boots in properly.

Moisture-wicking socks. Serious hiking/camping/sports stores sell that stuff. Actually, you can also find low-end versions at places like Target and Wal-Mart. Some also have anti-microbial stuff incorporated into them.

Other things are baby powder, corn starch, or even antiperspirant on your feet.

[Broomstick]

I'm curious: how well do construction boots (with steel toes and steel plates in the sole) do as hiking boots? Mine are nicely worn in, they have a 6" shank, leather.

Well, that's my 30 year old pair of boots right there, which, although not sold as "construction boots" do have steel toes and plate in the sole - given where I was going massive protection for my feet was important. They must fit well, they must be properly broken in, and they must work well for you. Because they're heavier than regular shoes you also need to get used to them.

There isn't one boot ideal for all people and all occasions. The rougher the terrain the more protection you need for your feet, and the more weight you carry the more important ankle support is.

[weemadando]

Just out of curiosity, what preparations would you recommend for someone like me, whose feet sweat excessively?

Take multiple pairs of socks per day and change them at every rest stop. Dry them overnight.

[eion]

Body Glide. your thighs will thank you.

[Death from the Sea]

I've never used that before. How does that work?

Edit: FYI, I am aware of it's existence, I'm just not familiar with it beyond knowing it's for blisters.

Edit the second: Besides, I don't have any moleskin and I do happen to have Petroleum Jelly

sorry for the late reply. Moleskin basically acts as another layer of tougher skin that you adhere over areas that have increased friction on. It really does work great, the adhesive is strong enough to last a long time and hold on even when sweating would cause most other adhesives to slip off. That is really the only drawback to it is that the adhesive is really good and can be tough to remove sometimes.

[The Spartan]

Apologies for the necro, but I have an update and it was small enough of a thread that I figured I'd go ahead raise the dead.

I've switched footwear and no longer do this with my cross trainers. I actually tried a couple different pairs of boots that I had and even tried on a couple at the local outdoors store and ended up going with the old hunting boots I already owned. They seemed to have worked well enough except for the little patch of skin between the pads on the balls of my feet. First time I tried them I ended up limping home, but by applying moleskin to that little area after the blisters healed I've been able to get back on track for my training.

That said, I've come to realize that I'll need to replace some of my gear after I get back to work. My tent and sleeping bag together weigh 17 pounds, a significant amount when you're going to be trying to carry it 15 miles in addition to food and water and first aid kit and flashlight and camera, etc., etc. Especially when you consider that, if I make the right choices, I can get that 17 pounds down to around 5 or 6 pounds.

[Broomstick]

My personal opinion is that, if you must make a choice, sink money into a fantastic sleeping bag and get a tent adequate to keep you out of the wind, because that's what's most important, rather than splurging on a tent and getting cheap with the bag. Of course, if you can, buy the absolute best and lightest gear possible. If you're going to be doing this on a regular basis it's well worth the money to buy great gear.

[Phantasee]

Get a good and light bag appropriate for the climate at the time and place of your trip, and then just use a tarp for your tent. All you need is some rope, a knife, and the tarp, and you can rig up a nice little shelter for yourself without too much work. If you feel like putting in the time to collect the pine boughs you can do without the tarp and use it solely for your ground cover, and use the pine boughs on a wood frame as your shelter. You just have to know which way the wind generally blows and you'll be golden.

[His Divine Shadow]

Just out of curiosity, what preparations would you recommend for someone like me, whose feet sweat excessively?

I was told to take an antiperspirant stick and rub it over my feet.

[The Spartan]

My personal opinion is that, if you must make a choice, sink money into a fantastic sleeping bag and get a tent adequate to keep you out of the wind, because that's what's most important, rather than splurging on a tent and getting cheap with the bag. Of course, if you can, buy the absolute best and lightest gear possible. If you're going to be doing this on a regular basis it's well worth the money to buy great gear.

What I'm currently looking at is the small one person tents that weigh in at 3 to 4 pounds and a summer season sleeping bag. It'll also allow me to get the weight down under 8 pounds. When I'm going it's not going to be particularly cold and may in fact be quite warm so I'll could even get by with a blanket, though the sleeping bag would give me a contingency option and would itself provide some cushioning so even a light weight summer bag would be a good idea. My current bag is meant for winter and just by itself weighs a good 8 pounds and is very bulky.

The tent I'm considering will be something along the lines of these, just to show what I mean.

and then just use a tarp for your tent.

I had considered that, and probably would were I doing what the parks department calls primitive camping, but the hike that I'm currently thinking about is from one campground to another inside a state park. Here's a PDF of where I'm talking about. So I'll have to rent a campsite and sleep on the tent pad which may or may not be set up in such a way that would allow me to string a rope for a tarp tent. They especially don't like it when you go dragging pine boughs onto their campsites. Now when I head to the Big Thicket and do some back woods camping I might be up for that.

[The Spartan]

Just wanted to add: I haven't quite worked out my exact equipment list nor, consequently, run the numbers on weight, but my goal is to get my starting weight for this hike down below 30 lbs, including food for two days and water for one. (I'll resupply water when I reach the second campsite, but I have to carry enough of my other supplies to reach that campsite and hike back to the first.)

[The Spartan]

Speaking of food, what do the hikers here tend to carry when you take a trip?

My mind is currently going back and forth between freeze dried items like what Mountain House produces and something that requires no extra water to eat, like an MRE. Now, for this first trip needing extra water to make something is okay once I get to the campsite, but for future hikes where things may not be so neat and convenient, do ya'll prefer carrying extra water to rehydrate things or items that need no rehydration? Somehow I'm guessing the answer is going to be a variation on, "Well, it depends."

Of course there are also things that don't need water at all that are not MREs like dried fruit*, trail mix (aka GORP), pop tarts, fig newtons, granola, Ultralight Joe's Moose Goo with a couple tortillas and so on, but I can't live off of those things, I need something else once or twice a day for variety, plus, and more importantly, other nutrients I might not get out of the kind of things like what I just listed.

Which comes up with two new questions from me. First, what other kinds of things do you take with you for sustenance? Aside from morale boosters like gum or a few pieces of hard candy, that is. Second, I'm a sweating machine. You get me exerting myself like I'm going to be and the sweat is going to flow, especially where the pack is against my back, so, powdered Gatorade, yea or nay? (I would actually be taking the low cal G2 variant)

*I like raisins, cherries and maybe dry sundried tomatoes depending on where I get them, myself. Apple or banana chips are nice, too. Of course, the problem here is that if you eat dried foods like these you need to drink extra water to aid digestion.

[Broomstick]

Whatever you do, don't eat a big pile of dried food and then drink a lot of water - you'll be sorry...

More on topic, watch out for excess sodium in the dried foods, that will cause you to get really, really thirsty which is bad any time but worse when you're exerting yourself and obtaining water takes some effort.

[The Spartan]

That's part of why I'm asking, even undried foods that are good for hiking are often excessively salty. Which requires extra water. Which requires extra weight and/or exertion. Etc.

You see the dilemma.

[aerius]

The closest I've come was packing food & water for weekend mountain biking trips in a national park. There was a hut system where people can sleep and drop a #2 so I didn't need to pack a tent, but food, water, and everything else needed to be packed in.

I loaded up on Clif Bars, smoked meats, and dark, dense rye bread along with some oranges. For water I had my Camelbak plus a water bottle and used one of those small hand operated purifiers that makes clean water out of anything. There were enough lakes & streams in the park so I could refill with fresh water, and since I was easily going through 6L a day just for drinking it would be pretty impractical to pack it all in. The meats & oranges went right next to the water bladder so they stayed reasonably cool so they wouldn't spoil.

If you're going to use powdered Gatorade, mix it way below the recommended strength or it'll make you thirsty. I was mixing it at around 1/3 to 1/2 of the concentration that's recommended on the package.

[The Spartan]

If you're going to use powdered Gatorade, mix it way below the recommended strength or it'll make you thirsty. I was mixing it at around 1/3 to 1/2 of the concentration that's recommended on the package.

Really? Cause Gatorade has only ever quenched my thirst. And that's mixing it at the full recommended amount.

[aerius]

Weird. When I mixed it at full strength I went through about 2L in a bit over an hour and I was still thirsty, and this was on a day when the temperature was about 20-25°C. Generally I go through water at about 1L/hour under those conditions.

[The Spartan]

Well, I've had times where I was depleting myself enough that water wasn't quenching my thirst, I was sweating that much. I had to drink Gatorade to get my thirst to go away. Even when I'm not sweating quite that much, Gatorade only helped my thirst.

I could see that if I were just sitting around drinking, but when I work up a good sweat, well, sometimes water just isn't enough.

[Knife]

Well, I've had times where I was depleting myself enough that water wasn't quenching my thirst, I was sweating that much. I had to drink Gatorade to get my thirst to go away. Even when I'm not sweating quite that much, Gatorade only helped my thirst.

I could see that if I were just sitting around drinking, but when I work up a good sweat, well, sometimes water just isn't enough.

Eat something salty with the water.

[The Spartan]

Yes, there's that, too. I'm just looking for ways to reduce weight.

Of course, since most of the things that are portable also tend to have a high salt content...