How many socks?

“Hello all
I am new to backpacking so I have a lot of questions about gear.
Can you guys comment about the number of socks you wear with your hiking boots? Is better to use 2 thin socks instead of one thick one?
Thanks for your feedback,
TopQ”

“I have never liked double socks. I hike in one pair and rarely if ever have problems which stem from that choice. Your mileage may vary.”

“I always wear a liner and then my regular hiking socks. Cuts down on the blisters for me!”

“We're all different; there's no one way for anything in life unless Sarge says so.”

“Goodservation Socklessfoot.”

“Nimbles right, wear two, and if you dont like it, take one pair off, depending on the season, you might be stuck with two.”

“Praise be to Sarge.

I did the polypro liners with scratchy wool (Fox River?) for years then switched to a single pair of thick Thorlos about ten years ago.   I tried the liners with the Thorlos once and my feet slid around inside my boots like they were full of vaseline or something.   very strange.

For trips I go with three pair (not all at the same time!):   one pair on my feet, another recently washed and the third almost dry and ready for action.”

“I like boots with liners and hiking socks.”

“thin liners - nylon or poly, slick. with wool outers.

I tried the liners with the Thorlos once and my feet slid around inside my boots like they were full of vaseline or something.

sounds like your boots are too big dude!”

“Bridgedale socks and no liners

some socks work with liners and some don't”

“I tried liners for a while, but I did not like them. I felt the same thing as Tilt, felt like my feet were sliding. After going back to one pair it was fine. I guess everyone is different.”

“Back in the days of thick ragg wool socks and all leather boots, liners were a necessity. I don't wear any of them now.

Since I switched to light boots or running shoes and good acrylic socks, I only wear one pair at a time. On long distance hikes, I found that the liners would lose elasticity. When they sagged, they caused more blisters than they prevented.”

“<====== Jonny One Sock”

“Smartwools....all I wear....”

“who are you pointing at, jc?”

“i tried liners a few times and it did not work for me. one pair only. smartwool or rei. something thick. i might change my mind if i got really really cold, i'm in SoCal afterall :)

everyone's different though.”

“Two pairs of socks can actually make your feet cold if the boots are fitted for one pair. The extra thickness, and it doesn't need much, can hinder circulation resulting in cold feet. I don't do a lot of winter hiking so I can't speak to insulated boots, but I have noticed, the few times I thought maybe two pairs of socks would be a good idea x-c skiing I froze my tootsies until I stripped off one pair and went with what fit my boots.”

“What he said (Ramblinrev)

I prefer 1 pair fitted to the boots. My tele boots are fitted for a pair of medium weight wool socks. With my hiking boots I use a light weight wool sock.”

“I use polypro liners with light or midweight thorlos. If I skip the liners I get hot spots and blisters.

I got some smartwool socks and wear them with my regular cross trainers. Much more comfortable than the thorlos.

Try both ways and see what works for you. But whatever you do, don't go cheap on boots and socks.”

“I've tried liner socks and never liked them. I get more slippage. Smartwool and Thorlo are my favorites. Heavy weight Smartwool for summer, Thorlo Expedition for winter.”

“Thorlos, Thorlos, Thorlos. I am dedicated to my pair and rotate.”

“I wear silk socks for liners covered with heavy wool socks.

I buy cheap boots($13 to 40), even work boots. They wear great and don't cause me blisters. And they seldom require a break-in period. I laugh at people who buy expensive boots and then have long break-in periods and blisters.”

““who are you pointing at, jc?”


My imaginary avatar, ofc.”

“I don't wear two SOCKS. I wear a liner and one pair. Never a single blister and no cold feet while hiking.”

“I am a new believer in liners...not so much for blisters but for warmth. I wore them on the last trip in the Cumberland gap after the first day and my toes stayed toasty the rest of the trip. prior to putting them under my wool socks, my toes were freezing!”

“Thank for your comments.
Has any of you wear one type of configuration in one foot and a different one in the other foot?
I have done it with boots (it looked silly but it was at night since I was stargazing. I figured that was the best way to do determine which boot was warmer.) I am going to try the test with socks in the future based on your comments
TopQ”

“Two socks: one for each foot.”

“I just switched to a thin polypro sock liner with a medium weight SmartWool hiking sock this past summer. Hiked 110 miles on the JMT without even a hint of a blister. First time ever. I'm sticking with that system.”

“Sounds like an interesting experiment,     < G >     Might have to try that sometime.

Thorlo Trekkers

Sidenote about about the circulation issue.... I quit smoking about seven years ago and my feet just don't get cold like they used to.”

“Only greenhorns wear socks!

I'll feed your goshdarn socks to my Number 12!”

“For me, it depends on which hiking shoes/boots I'm wearing. In spring/fall/summer, I wear trail runners and a thin pair of socks. In winter, I wear my cold-weather hiking boots and either thick wool socks or a medium thickness w/ a liner.

But, as a few have said, it really depends on the person.”

“Sidenote about about the circulation issue.... I quit smoking about seven years ago and my feet just don't get cold like they used to.”

Tilt

I don't smoke...just have cold feet and hands in the winter.”

“That totally explains why my hands and feet are always cold...b/c I'm smokin'! As in hot, wink-wink.”

“It also explains why I had to start smoking, cuz I burned up the trail so much my feet were on fire.”

“
    < ARGH >

”

“...Even though I weigh 500 pounds right now.
:-D

That does make a lot of sense, Nimble!”

“I've got blisters on me toes from liners.”

“hey laq, where on your toes did you get the blisters from the liners?”

“Whatever choice you make on the number of socks all I have to say is that after reading Kleetn's survivor story thread never ever where waterproof socks in the winter.”

“The last time I got blisters on my feet was a day I was wearing liners. Trail conditions were very wet from about 2 days worth of rain and I ended up with a sizable blister on the ball of my right foot. When I took my boots off at the end of the day my feet resembles raw roast beef. To be fair, I was also wearing thinner coolmax socks than my typical wool socks that day.”

“hb --

I got'em right between the big toe and the next one over. Would start a little bend the "v" on the bottom of the foot. One good step and bang -- it squirted forward under the skin, raised up and broke.

Never used them again, very low blister count since.”

“bunchadam greenhorns....

blisters.....

i swear; yall don't deserve to be out of doors.”

“one thing to watch out for with using thicker socks - if the shoes/boots are fitted for thinner socks using a thicker sock can result in irritating the nerve that runs between your metatarsals in your foot - this happened to me once - the last mile of the hike was very rough with a sharp pain between my 3rd and 4th toes with almost every other step - by sharp think ice pick stabbing between the toes”

“If the thicker sock results in improper boot fit, just shave a layer off the top of the sock. Next, place the resultant fleece inside your sock so you will have the benefit of a thinner sock without a loss of insulation (old indian trick). A more extreme measure is to shave the epidermal layer of the skin of your feet. This is also an old indian trick, but generally performed on the heads of white people back in the day.”

“Don't wear your socks, pin them to the mantle with little cheery gifts inside for me to STEAL!!!!

MUAH HA HA HA”

“Then there's the old Indian trick of putting curry powder in your socks.....”

“The old indians would put the curry powder in someone else's socks.”

“Really old Indians didn't have socks...unless it was with really old squaws.”