Keeping Your Feet Dry
Fabric/leather hiking boots are ubiquitous on dry, summer trails, but that doesn't mean they're perfect. Their central weakness is that they're scarcely more waterproof than a pair of running shoes and there's no practical way to waterproof them for very long. You can apply various wax-based waterproofing compounds to the leather, which will enhance their waterproofness for a time, but there's nothing that's comparably effective that you can do to the nylon. Silicone sprays, which some manufacturers recommend, last for about a day or less.

The easiest, cheapest solution is an end run. Give up on trying to keep your boots dry; instead, keep your socks and feet dry by wearing plastic bags over your socks. True, the bags only last a day, then become wholly worthless. A higher-tech solution is to buy vapor-barrier socks made of waterproof coated nylon or, even fancier, the waterproof/breathable Gore-Tex socks currently offered by at least one supplier.

When I obtained my first pair of Gore-Tex socks, I tested them by going running on some very wet, snowy and muddy trails. I put a polypropylene liner sock on both feet, then donned a waterproof but non-breathable vapor-barrier sock on one foot, a Gore-Tex sock on the other. During the run, I didn't notice any difference in the temperature of my feet. The Gore-Tex didn't breathe enough to provide noticeable evaporative cooling. When I finished my run, however, I noticed that the Gore-Tex-clad foot was considerably drier than the foot encased in the non-breathable, waterproof sock. The Gore-Tex sock had allowed some sweat to escape. I found the same pattern when I compared non-breathable, waterproof gaiters to Gore-Tex gaiters while snowshoeing. One caution: The Gore-Tex socks I've used add significant bulk, making my boots feel somewhat tighter. You may need to wear a thinner sock combination to allow room for the Gore-Tex socks.

Gore-Tex is also incorporated permanently into the linings of many fabric/leather hiking boots in the form of a seam-sealed Gore-Tex bootie. In my experience, Gore-Tex is a highly valuable addition to a fabric/leather boot. In one test I conducted, I immersed several pairs of Gore-Tex boots in three inches of water for four hours. None of them admitted a drop. Then I tested a nearly-new, all-leather hiking boot without a Gore-Tex liner. At the end of four hours I poured half a cup of water out of the boot.

Despite that discouraging result, all-leather hiking boots that rely strictly on the waterproofness of their leather to keep your feet dry are still your best choice in a heavy-duty boot designed for hauling a multi-day load. Well-made models that use good leather, if given regular applications of a waterproofing compound, are certainly far more water-resistant than any non-Gore-Tex fabric/leather boot. All-leather boots also last much longer than fabric/leather boots because good leather is more abrasion-resistant than fabric. Every thread in a woven fabric comes to the surface. Break one thread, and you've got a hole. Leather's densely matted fibers tolerate much more abuse. In addition, bootmakers using leather can cut the upper from a single, seamless piece. A boot with a one-piece upper will outlast any boot that's pieced together, whether the pieces are leather or fabric. All-leather boots usually provide much better support when you're hiking with a heavy load, and have a certain time-honored aesthetic appeal. Application of the same running-shoe technology that allowed the creation of lightweight fabric/leather boots has also stripped pounds off the weight of the new all-leather boots. A few all-leather models back up their leather with a Gore-Tex liner, providing two barriers against the wet world outside. On the down side, all-leather boots cost considerably more than fabric/leather boots.

As you extend your mountain hiking season into spring and fall, you'll find that waterproof boots become more and more important. In the spring, in any mountain range that gets significant winter snowfall, the trails become mud-banked rivers filled with icy snow melt. In the fall, early storms often dump just a few inches of snow that makes the footing cold and soggy. Waterproof footwear not only keeps your feet dry, it allows you to stay on the trail with impunity rather than walking around the wet spots, which widens the trail and promotes erosion. I'll have more to say on this in the trail etiquette chapter.

Next Page: Winter Hiking Boots

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