Blisters: bad boot or growing pains?

imported
#1

Great forum–thanks to all contributors. Planning Thru-hike for '05 with my wife. Went this weekend on a 3 day backpacking trip as a trial run. I bought the new Lowa Tempest and hadn’t worn them until this hike. The fit and comfort are great and i didn’t have any real discomfort hiking. However, now, 1 day after finishing, I am forming some serious blisters around the balls of both feet. Here’s my question: should I assume this is normal growing pains of breaking in new boots, or should i explore the possibility these boots (they’re really low-tops) are a bad choice for a 200 lb person carrying 35 lb load? The loop we did was pretty rocky (Tye river to Reeds Gap and back) and up-and-down.
I thought I had tough feet (play a lot of blacktop hoops)–but obviously I don’t.

Any input would be appreciated

Kyle

p.s. yes, i wore a sock liner with my smartwools

Kyle

#2

Are you sure that the Tempest Lowas aren’t too narrow? If they are, you will get compression friction on the ball of the foot with each step. Try a wider shoe.

Andrea

#3

I’m thinking his foot is sliding in the toe box a little and at his “packed” weight he may be sweating a tad and grinding his foot pad like walking on the beach in wet sand. If what your describing, Kyle, isn’t painful but is just skin shedding, not a problem. I loosen up skin after a hike all the time. Three times a year I do this snake skin thing where it all comes off. If you’re getting hot sore spots with fluid you have some nasty blisters, but you should of had some warning of pain before they formed. May just be caluses shedding. You can feel if your foot ball is scrubbing when you walk or slidding around. The extra heat built up from hiking may also have broken loose the hoops caluses too. It happens. Bottoms of my feet look like swiss cheese some times as the skin peels off. Looks like blisters but isn’t.

Bushwhack

#4

Kyle… footwear is such a personal issue and is different for everyone. Personally Im making the transition from boots to shoes. Ive had some Lowa Tempest’s in the past but found them heavy… within ounces of my Vasque Sundowners, so I ended up just wearing the boots. This year I got some Montrail Vitesse’s. They are superlight and have a roomy toebox, plus a little ankle-ish support. They breathe incredibly well and dry out fast also. Ive heard this is a staple shoe of many thru-hikers. Something you should remember is that a new pair of trail shoes will last about 1/2 of the AT and will need to be replaced. This isnt much of a problem as you can have some shipped in a mail drop or an outfitter along the way. Also, something to keep in mind is as your feet get tougher the shoes will be easier to wear. Currently I can only wear trail shoes on a superlight overnight or two sub 20lbs trip with medium mileage/terrain. The bottoms of my feet will begin to sting as theyre not toughened up enough for the trail. The few thru-hikers Ive talked to have said it takes about 100-200 miles for your feet to toughen up, and at that point its a good time to transition to a trail shoe. Personally, I would start the AT with boots and switch to shoes after you get outta the Smokies… thats about 3 weeks. Something else to consider is swollen feet. Another thru-hiker I talked to said he and his friends purchased trail shoes about 1-1.5 larger than normal for their feet to swell. You may want to try this as your feet will swell up from long 15-20 mile days on the AT. Hope any of this helps! Good luck.

scott

#5

Kyle:

Like Scott said…boots are a very personal thing.
When I purchased my Vasque Sundowners ( i did a lot of research) i wore them every day to work for about 60 days to get “normal” wear out of them & have my feet get accustomed to the boot. My first trek in my Vasques were to the desert(Red Rock country: Sedona AZ area)for 3 or 4 hikes. Then the Grand Canyon rim hikes & into the canyon & back.
I joined a hiking club (Tennessee Trails Association) to do some weekend hiking…(more miles for me & the boots!)

I’ve never had a blister with my boots because i broke them in properly.

Do your homework before you buy boots…ask others about fit, sizing, etc.,etc.

If you tend to have “sweaty feet” get a lite hiker sock…make sure the boots fit…toe “wiggle” room but firm on the heel.

hope this helps…& good luck on your 95 adventure!

p.s.: a Merrell boot user (& 2 time thru-hiker)suggested i buy Vasque boots! (now THATS a recommendation!)

“Jaybird”

“Jaybird”

#6

Certainly, boots is a personal thing. But, one thing I learned the hard way is that you feet need to be conditioned as much as your boots need to be broken in.

On my first long distance hike, I replaced boots in Gorham. Put them on straight out of the box and continued on through Maine. No problem with blisters or anything else. In the fall, I put the boots away, and didn’t wear them until I arrived at Springer the next April. Then I got blisters. I hadn’t worn the boots in about 6 months. So, the boots were broken in by Maine, and but my feet were not in condition.

I would not recommend buying a second boot ahead of time and shipping it to a mail drop. Everyone feet expand differently. When the first pair wears out, go into an outfitter and get something that you know fits, not something that you think might or should fit.

Peaks

#7

some great input, folks–thanks.
now two days after the hike my feet seem to be cooling down and healing.

Kyle

#8

It is very likely your feet are getting used to the weight and the hiking. I would try some more trips with the shoes before looking for something else. I have experience this problems in well worn boots that are broken in and still in good shape but I hadn’t hiked with a pack in a year. Try wiping your feet down with rubbing alcohol at the end of the day. This helps to tough and dry your feet for hiking. It also feels good after hiking all day. I like to care wintergreen rubbing alcohol.

Darth Pacman

#9

Blisters on the bottom of the feet can mean your feet are sliding forward - as in either the boots are too long or the laces got loosened. Try different ways of tieing the laces so that your feet are laced firmly, but not too tight. As others have said, it does take time to toughen the feet if they aren’t used to a lot of walking. Also, some people sweat more than others. Gold bond powder can help, or anti-perspirant (though some people are allergic to the anti-perspirant and break out in a rash). You have time to experiment.

Spirit Walker

#10

Deodorant on your feet.

On trail I keep my feet clean as possible, rub them each night (after a wash) with alcohol and always rub them with deodorant (which I crumple from the stick into a little baggie and just use pieces to rub my feet.)

http://www.backcountry.net/arch/pct/9809/msg00110.html

Vasque skywalk and/or Saucony running shoes for me. Never a blister with either.

Jane

#11

Imporant things to remeber is that feet are so personal…what works for you will not work for anohter. Things I have found are:

Shank. I rigid shank is important over long distances. That is the rigid support in the bottom of the footware. A rigid shank (as found in heavy boots) stop many foot injuries by stoping the foot having to flex in differnet directions as walk over uneven ground (eg PA rocks). However heavy boots are heavy and somewhat clumsy therefore have a huge disadvantage.

Size: Some people find that their feet grow on the trail. Wether this is from feet flatting out or something else I don’t know. But I would recommend when buying boot s or shoes for AT half a size at lease bigger.

Blisters: Shoes to small often result in blisters on the back on the heels and on top of the toes. Keeping excess sweat out of shoes will help to reduce blisters. I found coolmax liners on of the most important things I brought for the AT.
Check your feet as soon as you feel hotspots. Tape them tight before blisters occur and it will help! Guys who are about to do there SAS selections tape there feet for blisters before they even start so as to provent them.

Mongo

Mongo

#12

Kyle, there has been tons of stuff written here in the forum on boots, shoes, and blisters. Do a search and read all of the stuff. I think you will find it pretty informative and interesting.

I agree with some of the others, who said what you had were not blisters----a blister you will feel as it forms and you said your feet were confortable throughout the hike. A blister will be a hot spot as it forms and you can feel it start forming, in which case you duct tape it or moleskin it immediately once you feel it forming.

Boots to me are a lot like an old pair of jeans, when they fit and are confortable, you know it and love it. I hate wearing out a good pair of boots, which have given me no problems or blisters, etc. Because then I have to start from scratch getting the right fit, breaking them in (and me into them, I might ad)----boots are ready to go right out of the box, but we are generally not tough enough and ready for them----so this breaking a boot in is really breaking us in to the boot.

Try to go barefoot as much as possible around the house and yard. Also at your high school quarter mile track, try walking some barefoot laps at night after the blacktop cools. This will toughen your feet.

If problem is on ball of foot near toes and in center of ball, then it is due to foot sliding around a little in shoe. Try tightening laces and knotting tightly near bottom of laces and also at top. Shoes need to fit snugly so feet will not dance around in them. Also two pairs of heavy socks, or sock liners and one pair of heavy socks to absorb moisture because feet will sweat a lot when hiking and in shoes.

Anyway, hope all of this helps. Read the forum history files on boots, blisters, shoes, etc. :cheers

Maintain

#13

Thanks for all the advice.
Several of you suggested that blisters may be caused by the foot sliding around in the shoe. Isn’t sliding a good thing? I thought the purpose of the liners was so that when your foot does slide as a result of plenty of room, that the friction caused by sliding is absorbed b/w the liner and the sock instead of the foot and the sock?
Kyle

Kyle

#14

Kyle, sliding is not a good thing and it is something that you want to avoid if possible. The boot or shoe should fit snug, if it doesn’t sliding between boot, socks, and feet will occur and this sliding produces heat (friction) and that causes blisters, etc. If feet slide around in the shoe, then wear an extra pair of heavy socks and/or tighten those laces down or both.

Blisters are similar to chafing, both are caused by friction between things sliding in relation to each other—add a little moisture and the right conditions and bingo you’ve got one heck of a blister or chafing problem.

So sliding is not a good thing of a foot in a shoe or boot. But also neither is too tight, especially as feet swell up a bit after getting hot and sweating. So the exact right combination (neither too tight or too loose) is difficult to find, even for real experienced hikers. So don’t be discouraged, just keep working on it and eventually you’ll get something that works right for you . And happy hiking. :cheers

Maintain

#15

When I went to EMS to buy my Hiking Boots the salesman measured my feet and then gave me boots 1/2 size larger. I tried them on, walked around the store and then used their incline testing stand. The heel lifted when I climed and the feet slid toward the toe when I descended. So, I asked for the smaller size. It fit perfectly. The next day I joined a hiking group and walked 5 miles up and down hills and some of the elevated areas were perpendicular so a lot of effort to climb was involved. Still the boots were comfortable and there was no discomfort resulting from the hike.

Now I hear (on this forum) that I should get boots 1/2 to 1 size larger. Is there a way to keep boots from slipping when they are too large? Should I also get different supports to replace what comes with the original boot. Has anyone else had difficulty with fit?

What do you think?

Skylander Jack

Jack