My friend got me a pair of gaitors for christmas. I have never hiked with them. My longest hike was 65 miles on the AT. I figure if when hiking 40, 50, 60 miles and never thought about gaitors, I probably don’t need them. Anyone think I should use them when we hike 1000 miles? Would like to hear what you think. Thanks
bctoOz
I’ve gone with and gone without gaiters. I can’t say that my opinion is set in either direction.
When I hiked the AT in 2003 I used gaiters for every single mile of the trail. Some times I was grateful I had them. Like in NJ when I had no ticks on me even though they were all over the place. Some days I had to open them up because it was too damn hot.
In NZ I wished I had them more then once when walking through high grass and having my legs scratched raw.
My advice, try them for a couple of days and see, the wight isn’t that bad, and if you find you don’t need them? get rid of them 
Tunnel
I’ve never used gaiters, but would try short ones if they would keep my feet dry in wet weather (or in dense underbrush in the mornings).
So, will they keep your feet dry?
Conan
Conan
Hi Conan, you’ve given me countless amounts of advice in all my posts, so I was wondering if you’ve ever considered using sealskinz to keep your feet dry? I don’t own any yet, but I’ve heard they do keep your feet dry, but don’t breathe as much as a regular sock.
Michele
Hi Michele I know I’m not Conan but for what it’s worth; Your feet sweat quite a bit, no matter who you are, now if you’re me they sweat a lot nothing to do about it just live with it. When you hike you sweat, so wearing Seal Skinz will keep the water out, but keep the sweat in. If you are doing some sort of exercise that doesn’t really involve your feet, lets say kayaking, then sure they are great, your feet aren’t sweating all that much and are around water that cools them off. But hiking in Seal Skinz you sort of marinade your feet.
Now that I’ve said all that. I haven’t hiked with Seal Skinz. But I have hiked with some one that has, and he was hiking in sandals. He gave up the Skinz because at the end of the day his feet were wetter in the Seal Skinz then in regular socks.
So really it depends on what you plan on doing with them, but my two cents, when hiking in normal temps, leave the Seal Skinz at home.
bctoOz sorry for hijacking your thread, we were talking about gaiters no??
Tunnel
I found gaiters really hot. The only time I wear them is when I expect to be postholing in deep snow. Otherwise - no. But some of the folks I was traveling with liked the short gaiters because they kept duff out of their boots. I didn’t find that to be a big problem, especially since I like to stop and take my shoes off whenever I can to let my feet cool off.
As to Sealskinz - they are thicker than regular socks and won’t fit under your shoe/boot unless you get a larger size. We bought some for snow hiking but ended up not wearing them. Jim plans to try them in the Gila with its hundreds of stream crossings - but he’ll wear them with Tevas, not boots.
Ginny
bctoOZ, It seems that about half of the hikers we know use gaiters. We have some light weight ones we wouldn’t go on the trail without. They keep trash out of my boots. I wear my socks usually 2 or 3 days and they never got dirty. Hard from sweat yes, not trash. Also, the inside of my boot is clean. The lining in a clean boot seems to last longer. I went through 3 pair of boots on our thru hike and finished on the fourth pair and the inside liners were clean on all of them. Plus, in GA you have knee high Poison Ivy everywhere. It has no leaves on it March but can still get you. I’m very allergic to it and didn’t get a single out break the whole trip.
Like Tunnel said, try them and if you don’t like them… send them home.
Michele, my feet only got wet twice and that was because I slipped and stepped in some high water. We had a dry year in '02 not like '03. When it was warm or hot we would stop and take our boots and socks off and let them air dry while we took a break or ate lunch. When we got into camp we took our boots off and put on our sandals and let our boots and feet air out. It felt so good!!
Have a great hike.
Papa Smurf
I hiked the A/T in 04, and started with long gaiters, which helped with my mental state about ticks, and the ten inches of snow thru the smokies. They got to be too much trouble, I sent them home. However I did the last half of the trail with short gaiters just to keep trash out of my boots. They were worth the effort.
Tank
I found my short gaiters very useful to keep dirt and debris out of my trail runners. I suppose if you are wearing boots they may not be as helpful but it gets pretty annoying to have sticks and stuff in your shoes. The straps that went under my shoe broke frequently so that was a downside. I never considered tall gaiters as I thought they would be hot and not of much value to me. But I’ll continue using short ones as long as I’m wearing sneaker like shoes.
Bluelight
Thanks you all. I am going to be hiking Maryland again so I’ll give 'em a shot before the big hike. It just seemed when I got them and tried them on they seemed like a pain in the butt, and I thought they may just get on my nerves. Sounds like they are good for keeping debris out of the boot. Something I always get :oh
bctoOZ
I think full gaiters would be overkill, too hot and too much weight and trouble for most normal hiking. Short gaiters (in many varieties) are great though. The debris stays out, as does mud and water when you walk through a puddle etc. and it splashes. It’s good for dense brush around your ankles- it protects your sock, shoes, and legs a little from scratchy plants. Give a low gaiter a shot, I bet you’ll like it.
zach attack
Back on my hike I didn’t carry gaiters, didn’t even know what they were. However I saw may other hikers using them and decided I had to do something about all the twigs, sand and pebbles that dropped into my boots each day.
So I used an ace bandage cut in half and wrapped around my ankles. This worked all the way to Virginia where I picked up a pair of low gaitors.
CitySlicker