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How to properly dry your shoes while hiking. Dry shoes are good shoes Classic drying of shoes with newspaper
While hiking, your shoes may get wet. Tips on how to and should not dry shoes in natural conditions. The most effective and affordable drying methods. Things to remember if your boots get wet.
Anyone who has been hiking more or less often has experienced the fact that their shoes got seriously wet during the day. Boots or sneakers can get wet even in warm weather, from dew on the grass, or simply from sweat. What can we say when it rains, or you have to cross water obstacles. In a word, no one is safe from wet shoes. Therefore, a few tips on how to properly put your boots in order during a rest stop will be of interest to every tourist.
It would seem that the most obvious way is to dry your shoes by the fire. As a rule, inexperienced tourists resort to it, for which in the end they often have to pay. Placing wet shoes in close proximity to heat, sparks, smoke and fire, or even hanging them on pegs over a fire is an unforgivable mistake. Sneakers, boots or shoes will at least dry out, which can cause them to crack or become completely worn out. It’s also not pleasant that the shoes will smell of smoke, the smell of which will never be removed. In the worst case, it will simply burn from the heat, and you risk being left barefoot in the middle of the hike.
Experienced tourists going on multi-day trips always try to take a spare pair of shoes with them. Let it be even ordinary sneakers. Such foresight will insure you against any unforeseen force majeure with boots, and it’s commonplace that while drying the main pair you won’t sit by the fire in your socks; this is where sneakers come in very handy.
If your shoes are not too wet, then it is best to leave them to dry for a while just under the sun, or at some distance from the fire, where the heat still reaches.
When your boots or sneakers are soaking wet, you'll have to resort to little hiking tricks. First of all, you should remove the insoles and leave them to dry in a place protected from moisture.
Did someone take extra rice with them on a hike? Well, you're in luck. Rice perfectly absorbs moisture, and if you take one pair of socks, pour a couple of handfuls of rice into each, and place the resulting bags in your shoes, then by morning they will be perfectly dry.
There may not be enough rice in the required quantity, but you always take extra toilet paper with you. You unwind a couple of five-meter lengths from the roll, crumple them and put them in your shoes. After some time, the paper will become completely wet, having absorbed some of the moisture. After this, repeat the procedure, and so on until the sneakers or boots are in a digestible condition.
Dry hay absorbs moisture well. You can also use it as a kind of “blotter”. True, after drying, the shoes will have to be shaken out properly; a couple of remaining blades of grass inside can prick and rub your feet, which will ruin your entire hike.
You should never disregard common sense and continue hiking in wet boots, boots or sneakers. Wet fabric and especially leather become very deformed and rub the feet. Within an hour or two, you may develop painful calluses. Not to mention possible colds and more serious diseases that wet feet lead to.
Often during nature hikes there are situations in which your clothes and shoes can get wet. Let's talk about the rules and methods of drying using the heat of a fire.
Before drying clothes by the fire, it is advisable to make special hangers. Suitable for this are 2-3 slingshot stakes driven into the ground with ropes stretched across them parallel to the fire or transverse poles laid on top. They must be located not above the flame itself, but at a short distance from it. In the drying area, the temperature should not exceed 45-60 degrees Celsius. Otherwise, your clothes may lose their original strength, and synthetics may completely melt.
When exposed to high heat, your clothes will not so much dry as they will spoil! It is very easy to check the temperature by placing your hand or face in the drying area. If your skin feels discomfort and is hot, it means that the heat is too high and it would be better to move the “dryer” away from the fire.
During short breaks, when there is absolutely no time to build capital canopies with reflectors, they can be made from raw outerwear, thereby combining business with pleasure: warming your own bodies and drying clothes. Pass the rope through the sleeves of raincoats, jackets, etc., which should then be stretched parallel to the fire behind the backs of the people relaxing around the fire. Also, instead of a rope, you can take a pole, placing it on twigs near standing trees, or make “hangers” - to do this, drive stakes into the ground, to which you tie sticks crosswise, inserting them into the sleeves.
Before drying, the shoes should be unlaced; if they do not hold their shape, they should be stretched to the sides of the boot using small sticks inserted inside. After this, the boots should be laid sideways on a dry stone placed under them, hung on branches stuck into the ground, or tied with ropes over a fire. The ropes should be fire-resistant cotton, and be sure to move your shoes away from the fire.
Very often, most less experienced travelers act with precision, but vice versa. Wanting to quickly get the desired result, they try to push their wet boots almost into the flame itself.
Continuing your journey in boots that have lost their shape and have shrunk by a couple of sizes is not the most pleasant experience. To prevent this from happening to you, try to follow the shoe drying criteria. The heating of the surface of the shoe should not exceed 45 degrees Celsius; this is very easy to check: by touching your fingers, the skin should not feel hot.
Moscow
Hiking in the mountains - where to start
Drying things by the fire
What’s interesting is that years pass, then more years, and in tourism, with all the external diversity, many eternal “rakes” remain in the path of newcomers who regularly stumble upon them every year.
And that is why today I would like to talk about such a problem as camping life around the fire, and how to make it safe and enjoyable.
So, one of the main troubles that almost all beginners, without exception, face is the destruction of their clothes and equipment when drying by the fire.
How to deal with this?
Yes, very simple!
Here are some tips that have been tested many times on yourself and others. One of the main rules is to never leave your things to dry by the fire without personal supervision. Almost every year I see the same picture - despite all my warnings, people hang up and lay out their wet clothes by the fire, after which they go about their business. As a result, after a while we have the same wet clothes, only now they stink of smoke, or some kind of cloth colander, delighting its owner with the cheerful shine of holes of different sizes. :))) The fact is that wet things can safely dry by the fire only in one place - on the side of it, and in close proximity to the fire. To do this, you need to hold them in your hands while being close to the fire.
You cannot dry them over the fire itself, because... If you hang it low over the fire, they will burn; if you hang it high, they will remain damp.
For example, here my tourists did not manage to dry anything properly. But all the things acquired an indescribably strong “aroma”. :)
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(this is how I dried my socks very quickly here)
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Take it in your hands and sit on the side of the fire. After this, bring it to the flame at such a distance that the fire only heats it. Next, you need to constantly check the surface of the fabric with your hand - it should be very hot, but not to such an extent that it starts to melt. If necessary, you need to literally move away from the fire for a couple of seconds (which will allow the overly heated fabric to cool down), and then continue drying again in the same way.
(this is exactly what my interlocutor demonstrates in the previous photo). In addition, remember that sparks and flying embers are much more dangerous for synthetics than for cotton - a hole appears instantly. Therefore, be careful. And perhaps it’s worth mentioning another, fairly safe way - drying a just extinguished fire over hot coals.
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You can be quite close to a normal taiga fire without fear. Although, of course, sometimes some small red-hot abomination flies out of it. :)
But next to the fire, from where sparks fly like a fountain, you need to be very careful and not sit too close.
And in both cases, I want to say that an excellent reaction and quick hands will always help you get your favorite jacket or T-shirt. Over time, this skill will become automatic, but at first you will have to keep yourself on guard around a “shooting” fire, ready to throw a split coal off your clothes in a split second. Another thing worth mentioning separately is shoe drying. Let's start with the fact that boots should be dried by the fire only as a last resort, and also, constantly monitoring this process.
Let me explain the first part of this phrase.
If the boots are leather, then quickly dried by the fire they can shrink so much that you will start crying before you even put them on, just looking at this wretchedness. The second part of the drama will begin after putting them on. And most likely after that you will again run to the river to soak them, realizing that damp shoes in this case are not the worst evil.
I would also like to warn you that some leather shoes, if dried quickly, can shrink significantly and irrevocably. Tested on my own skin, when after one such drying, my shoes began to look quite funny - from under quite normal-looking shoes, the soles stuck out almost a centimeter forward, because... the boots have shriveled and shrunk, but the soles have not. In general, boots are usually not specially dried. They just put up tents under the awning at the end of the day, where they slowly return to normal. And although they will still be wet in the morning, this is not a problem, because... in this form they will fit even better on the leg. And then, it all depends on the area. For example, in Altai there are very frequent fords, incl. even well-dried shoes will still go for a swim quickly enough. And that's not to mention rainy days. Here there is sushi - not sushi, just horseradish - you left the parking lot, and you are again up to your ears in mud and water.
Therefore, there is no need to fight so fanatically with moisture on your shoes. After all, no one has ever died from damp shoes, but it’s easy to kill your feet with boots that have dried out and become stiff by the fire. Not to mention the risk of simply burning them, and generally being left barefoot in the middle of the hike. However, there is another fairly safe way of drying - in the sun (if there is any). In this case, the shoes do not dry as quickly as near a fire, and therefore do not lose their shape. Well, of course, there is no risk of burning it. And in general, in this matter the sun is the safest dryer, not requiring control and constant monitoring. All other methods are only possible with the personal participation of the owner of the wet clothes. Another thing that tourists sometimes have to deal with is drying a wet sleeping bag or down jacket by the fire. Since this is the most valuable thing you have, you need to treat this process very responsibly.
Dry only personally and only in your own hands!
Place the mixture, for example, in an empty tin can and, stirring thoroughly with a stick, heat it in a water bath until a homogeneous mass of liquid consistency is obtained. Then, heating an area of the skin with hot air from a hairdryer or sitting near an open stove so that the skin warms up to a temperature of 40-45 degrees, we successively treat the heated areas of the shoe with a hot compound, including the seams and the connection between the outsole and the upper, applying the compound with a brush. Warming up the skin is necessary to open the pores of the skin. After the mixture is absorbed by the skin, dry the shoes and repeat the procedure several more times (2-3 times at least). It depends on the leather of your boots. The remaining composition can be used as regular shoe polish in a cold form or heated again in a water bath and treated the shoes “hot”.
IMPORTANT! Don't overdo it! You cannot saturate the leather completely, the pores will become completely clogged and it will not breathe, it will become too elastic, and the boot will lose its rigidity. Do not overheat the skin too much, as this can damage it.
There are many options for the composition of the water-repellent mixture; you can search for it yourself on the Internet or in books.
IMPORTANT! Before going on a hike, new shoes must be broken in. To do this, it is usually enough just to walk around the city in them several times for 2-5 km. As soon as you feel that there is no discomfort, the boots are completely ready for combat testing. If you want to check how well the shoes now hold water, test the “upgraded” boots by immersion in water, say, put them on and stand in them for several minutes in a bath filled with water somewhere at the level of the tongue. To enhance the water-repellent effect, you can additionally smear your boots with the remainder of the mixture you took with you (when cooled, it resembles regular shoe polish). The impregnation will need to be repeated before a new trip. You should not perform a similar hot soaking procedure with expensive trekking boots with a membrane (you will clog their pores); at most, you can spread them with a small layer of shoe wax and dry them with a hairdryer.
Advantages. The boots are quite suitable for use on a hike, with or without impregnation. The feet are quite comfortable, because the genuine leather breathes well, and the thick sole absorbs shock loads. Even if moisture gets inside the boots, they are much easier to dry than multi-layer membrane shoes. Ankle boots are several times cheaper than trekking boots. In addition, with active use, the membrane lining inside the boot can wear out in a couple of seasons, and expensive shoes will begin to leak. In the case of ankle boots, even if they become worn out, it would not be a shame to write them off for other purposes (to the dacha, picking mushrooms in the forest, etc.).
Flaws. Berts, of course, are not as comfortable as trekking shoes; they take a long time to lace up, and they wear out much faster.
Conclusion: if funds allow, it is better to buy good trekking boots and care for them in accordance with the manufacturer’s recommendations.
If you have your own impregnation recipes or other useful tips on water protection and shoe care, write in the comments!
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Dimas
Posts: 9
Reply #10 on: Mon January 21, 2019, 00:20:29
For me, as a lazy person who has not gone on long hikes, the main advantage of budget boots is just their budget :)) I bought it and drove it when the slush was ankle-deep, I didn’t clean it, I didn’t lubricate it, I didn’t treat it with anything, it took a season or two or three - I threw it out and bought new ones. At a price of 2000-3000 tr. + discounts/bonuses, you can buy new ones every season :))
admin
Posts: 1
Re: Choosing shoes for hiking. A budget option for hiking boots, or the experience of improving ankle boots
Reply #9 on: Wed August 10, 2016, 19:51:38
It depends on what crosses and what route.
Anonymous
Posts: 9
Re: Choosing shoes for hiking. A budget option for hiking boots, or the experience of improving ankle boots
Reply #8 on: Tue August 09, 2016, 23:11:13
can you just put on sneakers and walk across the open spaces and mountains?? :-)1:-)
Artem
Posts: 9
Re: Choosing shoes for hiking. A budget option for hiking boots, or the experience of improving ankle boots
Reply #7 on: Sun August 12, 2012, 18:30:31
Regarding the ankle boots, I can add the following: not long ago we went hiking, I was wearing boots from Exstreem, my companion was wearing trekking boots (I don’t know the brand), I had to walk in the rain through a clearing with tall grass. After a couple of hours, his boots were completely wet...the boots were 1.5 hours later...But in the parking lot I dried the boots even without fire, but my companion continued to suffer in his damp boots. Draw your own conclusions...
Anonymous
Posts: 9
Re: Choosing shoes for hiking. A budget option for hiking boots, or the experience of improving ankle boots
Reply #6 on: Sat April 14, 2012, 17:14:00
Well, personally, I would like to mention not specific ankle boots, but rather army ointment for ankle boots. 3 years ago I was drafted into the army and given the usual authorized combat boots. At the KMB they had to be rubbed with regular army shoe polish. I suspect that because of him and the design of the boots, they did not get wet. I served in them for 5 months, 4 of which were at the summer training ground. They were not particularly exposed to moisture, but they lost their shape and came unglued a little, which was easily eliminated with a fair amount of Glue-moment :). Next is autumn. I splashed through puddles in them and didn’t think I’d get wet. Then I was given a second pair of shoes: boots. I walked away in them a little, until the spring training ground. The boots got wet, so almost the entire training ground was spent wearing ankle boots. That's when I really fell in love with them for their waterproofness. Because the shoes had to be kept clean (and at the spring training ground this is something of an impossibility), I stood up to the top in a puddle and cleaned them with a brush. Water did not seep in, and this is taking into account the fact that they were already after renovation. If it weren’t for the rapid loss of shape, I would have bought myself the same boots and covered them with something similar to army shoe polish. The main thing is not to overdo it - from a large amount of shoe polish, the boots begin to crack.
Shoes. Legs are the only means of transportation in an extreme situation, not counting movement on a raft (where possible). Therefore, keeping your feet in good condition is one of the main tasks. That is why special requirements are placed on shoes. It should be worn in and not rub anywhere, be loose enough so that you can put an insole made of grass (or wrapped in grass) or dry moss in it.
Ventilation. Any item of clothing that has more than one layer will trap heat around the part of the body it covers to a much greater extent than a single layer, but for this to happen, the top layer must be looser than the inner layer.
Overheating of clothing leads to the release of sweat, and the clothing becomes damp and its insulating properties decrease. During prolonged physical activity in the tropics and desert, it is important to ventilate clothes. The combination of wet clothing and wind has a negative effect on the human body and can even lead to death.
Drying. Wet and damp clothes and shoes can be dried in different ways. In summer, in sunny, hot weather, drying on sun-heated stones and sand is most effective. The clothes are attached to pegs driven into the ground or on tree branches so that they are well blown by the wind, and are periodically turned over so that both sides are evenly illuminated by the sun. Shoes are placed in such a way that the sun's rays enter, the insoles are removed and dried separately.
In cloudy weather, as well as in the evening, clothes and shoes are dried by the fire. All things should be illuminated by the flame, but not too close to the fire. To do this, a special dryer is built from poles, and for shoes, thick branches are stuck into the ground or a log (or stones) is placed. Shoes should not be placed with their soles near the fire, as they may become warped and cracked. After drying, the shoes should remain slightly damp and soft, as if they are over-dried, they will become hard and brittle. Such shoes will rub your feet, and in the worst case, they simply won’t fit your feet. Clothes and shoes should not be left unattended by the fire, and under no circumstances should they be dried directly over the fire. If there is not enough time, it is advisable to light a special fire for drying, so as not to wait until the food is cooked.
Never (especially in winter) dry your clothes and shoes by the fire; this method is not only ineffective, but can lead to burning of clothes, especially the soles of shoes, since you do not feel the heat. And if you are wearing synthetic clothing, this is doubly dangerous - from the heat it can melt on you and burn to your body.
Shoes can be dried by stuffing them with dry objects or materials that absorb moisture: straw, dry grass, hot sand. You can put hot, but not red-hot stones inside.
At sub-zero temperatures, clothes are dried in the cold, subsequently knocking out ice particles from them. If in winter your clothes get wet because you fell through the ice, then roll in the snow - it will absorb some of the moisture.
If in an extreme situation you find the strength to maintain personal hygiene, get food and water, get enough rest, create a shelter with comfort and coziness, orient yourself to the area - your chances of survival and return to people will increase dramatically.
