Hiking Boot Care

Next to a GPSr, a good pair of light- to medium-duty hiking boots is probably the most essential piece of equipment a geocacher owns.  Even if you tend to stick to the urban caches, long walks and uneven terrain require good footwear to keep your feet healthy, comfortable, and free from pain. 

When you select your boots, a good rule of thumb is to give a back-seat to your fashion sense and choose a pair offering good fit, comfort, and durability.  It’s always best to shop somewhere that will let you not only try on the boots, but walk around in them for a while before making a decision.  There are a lot of considerations for making a selection, so if you are buying your first pair of boots getting them from a place with a knowledgeable sales staff can be very helpful.  Be sure to be honest with yourself about the type of hiking you will be doing.  Don’t buy a heavy-weight pair of long-distance backpacking boots if you’re mostly planning to do day hikes.  A light-weight pair of boots will be much more comfortable for short distances, and who needs to carry around more weight than you have to? 

Some stores will let you return boots even after you have had them for a while if they haven’t been worn outside, so doing some “mall-walking” in the new pair is a great idea.  After you have broken in the new pair with a mile or two of indoor hiking, you will have no doubt about whether they are right for you.  It can also be a good idea to ask fellow geocachers or hikers if they prefer a particular brand and what they like about them.

Investing in a high-quality pair of hiking boots can run you almost as much or maybe even more than the price of a GPSr these days, so you are going to want to give them proper care to extend their life as long as possible.  The care they need depends on several factors, but some things are common to all of them, such as cleaning.  The dirt and mud that clings to your boots is abrasive, so it is essential to keep your boots clean to prevent the dirt from grinding away at the life of your boots with every step.  You should remove all the dirt from your boots daily.  Using a damp cloth is usually sufficient, but a soft nylon brush and some mild soap (saddle-soap is excellent) can help with more heavily soiled boots.  After cleaning, be sure to allow your boots to dry naturally.  Removing the insole will speed up the drying time.  It is very important not to expose your boots to heat sources which will dry out and crack the leather as well as harm the synthetic materials in newer boots.  The heat will also cause glued-on soles to separate from the uppers, since they are attached with heat-activated glue.  It is usually safe to place your boots in a warm place (68 – 74 degrees F), such as a sunny porch or on top of the clothes dryer, but never use the direct heat of a hair dryer, oven, or campfire to speed up drying.  In most cases, doing so will void the manufacturer’s warranty for your boots.

This cleaning process should be safe for just about all boots, but the best bet is to always check with the manufacturer’s recommendations for care.  Today’s modern boots usually don’t require a whole lot more than just being kept clean.  If the boots are waterproof, they probably have a GORE-TEX® lining.  Older boots without GORE-TEX® needed the leather waterproofed but these days it is that synthetic lining keeping your feet dry, not the leather.  If you have a good old pair of boots without the waterproof liner, there are plenty of waterproofing products available, so check the manufacturer’s recommendations and take your choice.  I’ve always found SNO-SEAL® to offer effective waterproofing on my older boots.  You can, and probably should, apply some waterproofing product even to boots with a waterproof liner to help the leather repel water, but do so with the utmost caution since many of these products can harm your boots if applied incorrectly.

Occasionally the leather uppers of even modern boots may need conditioning, which will also give some water protection to the leather, but be careful not to overdo it.  Silicon products, mink oil, Neat’s foot oil, and other conditioning products will soften the leather.  While some softening is good, too much will cause your boots to become too flexible, weakening the support of the boot and hastening wear.  Those types of products can even accelerate the separation of the sole from the uppers, so use them sparingly and always follow the manufacturer’s guidelines.

One of my pet peeves about many hiking boots is the laces they come with.  Most of those “round” type of bootlaces won’t stay tied, even with a double knot in them.  My personal opinion is to pull out those round laces and replace them with a good set of the flat type.  Stick the round ones in your pack to use in case of emergency, or just throw them away.  Another tip is to add a pair of orthotics for additional support, especially if you have any sort of special foot problems.  Even if you don’t need a prescription pair, some of the off-the-shelf brands of orthotic inserts from most sporting goods stores can make a tremendous difference to your walking comfort.

Take good care of your hiking boots, and they’ll give you many miles of comfortable hiking enjoyment!