Bushwalk Australia

I was determined to try the lightweight footwear option so popular on in the USA and embarked on the Overland Track with an ultralight pair of mesh trail shoes. Ha ha! Tasmania decided to throw some wonderful weather at us with two days of rain (and mud) and two days of snow (and slush). It took me a bit of figuring it out, but what worked best for me in the end was a pair of Ininji toe liner socks, then my regular thin hiking socks, followed by a pair of Rocky Goretex socks and my shoes. Despite walking through snow, mud and creeks (oh yeah, that was the track), my feet stayed dry. There was only one other person who could claim they had dry feet at the end of the day in the Windy Ridge hut. My husband, with his Goretex lined boots, had wet feet almost every day. One thing to note is that I had to keep moving for my feet to stay warm, but that may be true of any shoe unless they are really well insulated??? I reckon if I'd had a supply of them to sell, I could have made a small fortune on our Overland walk!



For more details see: http://www.rei.com/product/688268/rocky-gore-tex-oversocks-socks I bought them on sale when the Australian dollar was high, so the shoes combined with socks was still far cheaper than buying Goretex-lined boots. There are a few things that are tricky about the socks: finding them, choosing the right size, getting them on and off, and making sure that you don't damage them. Because of their close fitting cut they won't suit every shape of foot.

I'll keep on experimenting with lightweight footwear systems, but so far I'll call the Goretex socks a success.

Hi

Interesting report on the socks. Seal Skins start off great but fail quickly in use. For warm toasty feet nothing can beat Scarpa SL3. As for dry feet. Apart from a leaking boot and "swimming" back from Daisy Lake my feet remain dry on most walks but then still damp from the sweet. But they are always warm. Best socks I have found is the 70Mile bush sock. Very soft on the feet but very tough and very warm. Looks like I will be haunting the internet to find them now.

Anyway be interested how you get on longevity wise with the waterproof sock. Felt for some poor sods that spent six days with constantly wet and cold feet. But for others feet get wet and then dry in mesh shoes and it does not worry them. As usual everyone is different.

Cheers

Yep I wear light 220 gm weight runners and I just let my feet get wet and in 30 minutes they dry out fine. I wear thin socks. As long as I am walking my feet do not get cold at all. It is a joy and it gives you a feeling of freedom to walk right through creeks or even up creeks but this has the disadvantage of having to wait for the guys with boots!