Blisters and Boots, bad fit or deal with it?

[Wapiti1]

I always have issues with blisters for the first few hikes in my well broken in boots every season. My feet get soft over the winter. Come turkey season, I put on the hunting boots, and break my feet back in.

Liners can go a long way toward being blister free. Think of it as a foot care system. Liner, insulation sock, boot. Injinji's work pretty well as do Lorpen coolmax liners. The ultimate is the Armaskin sock. Slick nylon exterior with a silicon coating on the inside to literally stick to your skin. They are weird and hard to put on, but work like nothing else I have seen.

Jeremy

 

[sneaky]

I was looking at those Armaskin socks just the other day. Wondered if anyone had used them. Thanks for the feedback.

I always have issues with blisters for the first few hikes in my well broken in boots every season. My feet get soft over the winter. Come turkey season, I put on the hunting boots, and break my feet back in.

Liners can go a long way toward being blister free. Think of it as a foot care system. Liner, insulation sock, boot. Injinji's work pretty well as do Lorpen coolmax liners. The ultimate is the Armaskin sock. Slick nylon exterior with a silicon coating on the inside to literally stick to your skin. They are weird and hard to put on, but work like nothing else I have seen.

Jeremy

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[flippertn]

I tried a couple different brands of stiff soled mountain boots before my first trip out west and hated them. I thought how in the heck do guys ever get used to that. Got a pair of salomon 4d and never looked back. On my second pair now. Light and comfortable and little to no break in time. They’ve seemed to offer enough support for everything I’ve done so far and my feet are never sore and never had a blister.

 

[Laelkhunter]

I tried a couple different brands of stiff soled mountain boots before my first trip out west and hated them. I thought how in the heck do guys ever get used to that. Got a pair of salomon 4d and never looked back. On my second pair now. Light and comfortable and little to no break in time. They’ve seemed to offer enough support for everything I’ve done so far and my feet are never sore and never had a blister.

How are they holding up as far as waterproofness? I have two pair, and love them. I have read here from several people that they leak pretty bad, although both pair I have keep my feet dry. You are right, they are really comfortable.

 

[FURMAN]

There are a lot of great suggestions in the thread and I would repeat some of them. Make sure you have high quality socks and liners. I have had boots that took awhile to break in and eventually became comfortable to wear but is not the case when you find the "right" boot. I have found a couple pair that did not blister my feet with zero break in. Now, I would not strap 75 plus lbs to my back and expect a new set of boots to be good to go but I have done it with 30lbs. My personal opinion is that in order to avoid heel slip you need the right boot for your foot. I always use lathrop and sons foot beds. I have found that with different boots I may need to play with how tight I lace the boot to avoid blisters on the bottom of my boot but that is rare.

 

[Rthur]

I had a set of lowa Camino gtx's that we're extremely comfortable,just wanted something a little stiffer and boy I got it. Might have been a mistake..

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Just wondering what convinced you you needed a stiffer boot than the Camino?

R

 

[snopro176]

Once they we're broken I didn't feel they're very stiff at all and on steep hills with a heavy pack I just felt like my foot was getting worked a little too hard. My Scarpas are great in that situation, but you're not always in that situation either. Looking back I wish I had both boots for certain hunts, those would come in handy on certain days.

Just wondering what convinced you you needed a stiffer boot than the Camino?

R

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[SloMoPete]

I would say bad fit. I tried a pair of stiff soled boots for the first time last year and hated them, blisters/super uncomfortable. I replaced the insoles with superfeet (green) but it made a minimal difference.

I recently purchased a pair of Schnee's (Beartooth Mid). So far they seem to strike a great balance between support and flexible/comfortable soles. I went on a decent hike with zero break-in and they were great. No blisters/no smashed nails.

 

[snopro176]

So I did the leukotape and it took care of my heel problem. Then I got a constant rubbing on the pink toes. Not sure why it hadn't happened in prior miles but it did. After having my feet 3d mapped at Fleet Feet (it's free and they email you the measurements) and found that my feet are on the border of being wide. Long story short I ended up with the crispi Thor in a 10.5 regular but because the toe box isn't narrow as the Scarpas, they're awesome! Thanks for the help everyone!

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[bivouaclarry]

I'm no boot expert, but I think you identified your problem in your original post. You said the boots are a half size to big. That is very difficult to overcome because the extra space allows slip. Further, the liners pack out some with break in allowing more room. Which would be about right with 30 miles. I would suggest trying on the correct size and see how they feel. You'll know immediately if you are oversized now that you have some time in the boots.