BS: wearing two pairs of socks

Subject: BS: wearing two pairs of socks
From: steve in ottawa
Date: 16 Apr 04 - 07:06 PM

I just read Freda's recent post and feel a bit braver myself. Judging from the lack of bi-socking in the sandals/socks thread, I fear that many catters live in ignorance. I say:

When you go for a long walk, wear two pairs of socks.

An inner, friction-lowering polypropylene pair. (Your sweat goes right through this pair to the outer pair.)
An outer, wicking, wool pair that extends above the boot to where the moisture can evaporate from the sock.

Got that advice from Colin Fletcher's The Complete Walker, and it works. True, I never face extreme heat, but Colin does, and still wears two pairs of socks.

Cotton socks don't wick as well, so they are only good in sandals, or for very short periods. Nobody should ever wear nylon socks (or poly socks without an outer wicking sock).

And as soon as you stop walking, take off both your shoes and socks; keep something else to slip into if you can't go barefoot.

Subject: RE: BS: wearing two pairs of socks
From: freda underhill
Date: 16 Apr 04 - 07:11 PM

walking in australian rainforest, not only do you need socks, long trousers, but the socks either over the trousers, or boots with long laces that wrap around the trousers/socks to seal theme so that ......












leaches don't crawl up your legs and go frantic...

anyone for some rainforest trekking?


freda (still obsessed with blood)

Subject: RE: BS: wearing two pairs of socks
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 16 Apr 04 - 07:26 PM

Nah! Bisocking is the tip of the iceburg in a multilevel consumer abuse conspiracy! Sock makers want people to wear two pairs of socks so they'll buy twice as many socks. Shoe makers want people to wear two pairs of socks because it will make all their old shoes too tight and they'll have to buy new ones. Laundry detergent makers want people to wear two pairs of socks so they'll use more detergent. Washing machine makers want people to wear two pairs of socks so they'll use their washers more often so they wear out faster.

Fight this conspiracy! Go barefoot!

Better yet, go naked!

Bruce

Subject: RE: BS: wearing two pairs of socks
From: Joybell
Date: 16 Apr 04 - 07:38 PM

What a great idea. Must try it.
Mind you, freda, if you're talking leeches the ones down here in temperate Australia just find extra layers more fun because there's more chance to hide. And they use your lace-holes as a handy doorway into your feet. Maybe it's because it's colder down here and they like to snuggle. Joy

Subject: RE: BS: wearing two pairs of socks
From: GUEST,petr
Date: 16 Apr 04 - 07:47 PM

been doing that for years when hiking.

definitely reduces blisters.

Subject: RE: BS: wearing two pairs of socks
From: freda underhill
Date: 16 Apr 04 - 09:29 PM

..eek! didn't know they went down that far, Joybell! will take full body cover to Nariel next time..

Subject: RE: BS: wearing two pairs of socks
From: Mooh
Date: 16 Apr 04 - 11:38 PM

Well...under the waders I gotta wear two pair or they fill up with my own sweat and then get real clammy and ruin a good day of fishing. Often wear two pair under my snow boots too, especially out on the ice, or shovelling snow.

My favorite pair of heavy wool socks has one red and one green as if every day is Christmas. Weird thing is...I got another pair just like them!

The bride has been known to wear two pairs to bed, which is more clothes than I've worn to bed in 30 years...except when I sleep by the streamside.

Peace, Mooh.

Subject: RE: BS: wearing two pairs of socks
From: Metchosin
Date: 17 Apr 04 - 12:45 AM

another recommendation for two pair, especially if you are going to get wet feet. My daughter and I hiked this trail a few years ago when sections inland, which we we're forced to take, were considered impassible. A few scrapes and bruises and knee deep muck, but no blisters....and definitely no leeches....yuk.

Subject: RE: BS: wearing two pairs of socks
From: Little Hawk
Date: 17 Apr 04 - 12:49 AM

Bruce - Going naked in Australia would be showing kindness to the big crocodiles that live there, because shoes and clothing stick in their teeth.

freda - Wow! Sounds like quite a place to hike. I would love to see Australia once in this life.

Are there many skepticeamaniacs there?

- LH

Subject: RE: BS: wearing two pairs of socks
From: LadyJean
Date: 17 Apr 04 - 12:51 AM

My friend Tim Smith is a hiker. He likes wool socks, so I knitted him a pair, in his favorite colors red and black. Tim likes them, but he wears cotton socks under them. According to my book "Folk Socks from Around The World" (Which I call Everything You Ever wanted to know about socks but were afraid to ask.) Bisocking was all the rage in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

Subject: RE: BS: wearing two pairs of socks
From: wysiwyg
Date: 17 Apr 04 - 12:53 AM

Well, wait-- if it's 2 pair socks with sandals, it's this: skin, then sock, then sandal, THEN the second pair of socks OVER the sandal. Two pairs will not fit inside the sandal till it's so old and stretched it's just looking for an excuse to break. Hm, in that case the second pair would hold the broken sandal on... or if worn next to the other pair of socks, you would not NEED sandals, you'd be shod so thickly!

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: wearing two pairs of socks
From: freda underhill
Date: 17 Apr 04 - 01:12 AM

Australia is the home of skeptics, LH. Not many people go to church, religious beliefs are in the minority, the main religions here are football and cricket. the defining australian characteristics are resentment of authority, and suspicion of religious types.

it is a very beautiful country, tho very spread out. stark, very old, and with many remote and beautiful parts.


best wishes

freda

Subject: RE: BS: wearing two pairs of socks
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 17 Apr 04 - 01:10 PM

Double socks in climbing boots is almost manditory. Cotton against your skin, then heavy wool. Wool stays warm even when it is wet, and the cotton absorbs sweat.

I wonder if gaiters would help against the leeches? They'd have to fit around the boot snugly enough to keep anything from crawling under. Gaiters in mountaineering are essential. They keep the snow out of the tops of your boots and the bottom of your pants.

I didn't have my gaiters with me on one trip, up Monte Cristo in the Cascade Mountains of Washington. We climbed the peak, and that afternoon enjoyed a nice long glissade (sit down and slide) off of the peak. I stood up once to find that the back of my pants legs and seat were completely packed with snow, and had to do considerable stomping to get it out. The next time I stood up I was surprised to find there was no snow packed in my pants, until I realized the seat had ripped and snow going up my legs was traveling out again at the top of the legs! I had to wrap my windbreaker around my waist for the rest of the hike out. ;-D

SRS