Hercules Glades Wilderness

A couple of weeks ago, we had some nice weather, but the trails were covered in wet and melting snow. I realized I didn’t have the right footwear for the conditions, and as a consequence, I missed out on an opportunity to go backpacking. I don’t need snow boots for the once in ten years that it snows here, but I do need something I can wear when it all starts to melt, but the ground is still too cold for bare feet.

A quick bit of searching reminded me of Sealskinz socks, which we first tried out ten years ago. Back then we bought the original versions of these socks to wear when kayaking in the cold. They kept our feet warm and dry while getting in and out of the Kayaks. The originals were a bit big and floppy. The current Sealskinz socks look just and fit like an ordinary pair of socks.

The advantage of waterproof socks is that I didn’t have to buy another pair of hiking shoes. The disadvantage was that they are expensive ($54), but at more than half the price of a pair of hiking shoes, I guess it’s arguable if that really is a disadvantage. Provided, that is, they continue to work well. From what I can tell, based on my initial six miles of very wet trail testing, these should be great for the few times I need them.

Although it was only six miles, I think the hike was long enough to prove that there were no major blistering or other issues with them. My next purchase needs to be, waterproof toe socks! From a quick look online it looks like such things do exist!

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