I’m planning on taping my feet in order to prevent blisters. But river fording in the Sierras threatens to mess up my nice taping job. How do you deal with this? Do you know of tape that holds up to wet feet well?
Bob
Foot taping & river fording
system
#2
I find that taping is more likely to cause blisters than prevent them - for me. But I can never keep it from slipping (oily feet). When I get blisters I usually only tape for a day or so and then take it off because the tape causes more problems than it cures.
Ginny
system
#3
I agree with Ginny. I get blisters really bad and tape would irritate my feet after a few days. It would also not stick very well after my feet got sweaty/wet which in turn would make the blisters worse. IMHO the best thing to do is wear sandals when you know you will have river crossings. I started carying Chacos and alternating every other day with light hikers, switching to the hikers when the terrain would get bad or had to cross streams and now I hike almost exclusively in sandals. I have been unable to find any other cure for blisters.
Things that did help when not wearing sandals were wearing light weight breathable shoes (and I don’t mean waterproof/breathable), wear sock liners and use some kind of chafing stick on my heals before I put on the shoes. Hope this helps.
pct05
system
#4
Here’s the thing about the Sierra: yes your feet will be wet from the fords, but that doesn’t really matter because they will be wet ALL THE TIME. Postholing, wet trail, and fords mean your feet will be wet for about 2 weeks. You may have a few 4-5 hour time periods when your shoes get almost dry, but don’t count on DRY being the norm.
yogi
yogi
system
#5
I had the exact same situation in previous Sierra hikes.
Then I found Injinji socks (coolmax toe socks). No more tape.
Steve
geokite
system
#6
Movement causes friction. Friction causes blisters.
Either you’re wearing ill-fitting footwear that allows you to slide around too much or you’re not lacing tight enough. I see entirely too many people come into my shop, try on a new pair of boots and hardly lace them up tight. When they start hiking, they blame the boots when it’s their lacing. Of course, this is a large generalization. There are lots of reasons for bad feet.
My advice is to find some light trail hikers or trail runners (with lots o’ mesh and well-broken in), wear good wool socks, suck it up and hike through the streams.
That’s what I plan on doing, and it’s never been a problem yet.
Cap’n
system
#7
I started having blisters when I bought Goretex lined boots. My feet just sweat too much for Goretex.
The only way I can wear the Goretex boots is to wear liner socks which claim to be the most wicking (current ones are Wigwam Coolmax) and outer socks with the tops of a lightweight (almost open mesh)knit (Fox River).
My next pair of boots will not be Goretex
Turtle Walking
system
#8
Just checking out the site and came across this a little late… I’m a horse person, and when we have new riding boots that cause blisters, we stuff plastic grocery bags in our boots to cushion our feet. Maybe that would help with your blisters. If not, you can always take them out.
horsechick