I've looked at a lot of threads, but wanted to get a short list of the best trail runners for ease of draining. A recent trip in the Olympics reminded me that my current pair won't dry in 48 hours. . .or possibly longer.

Thanks!

Are they goretex?

Sorry, that's about all I can add to the thread.

I've used quite a few pairs of light trail runners over the past couple years and the New Balance MT101's have been hands down the fastest drying for me. There's other reasons those shoes don't work for me, but lots of people like them.

Really something like this needs to be the subject of a big test by BPL, as you'll likely get all sorts of subjective and partial info so accurately comparing is tough. How fast shoes dry in Utah may not be comparable to the PNW, so I wouldn't pay too much attention to the actual times people mention and just focus on the shoes people agree dry quite quickly compared to their contemporaries.

Solomon XA's do not dry that well. They take 8-12 hours. Montrails were far better in drying (about 6 hours), but didn't hold up that well. Keens are slow to dry. Merril water shoes were about the best for drying, I found, but are not really designed for hiking (about 3-4 hours.) My hikers (leather boot) take about 16 hours for comparison.

Inov-8's take a while to dry too. All that padding in the upper takes a long time to dry completely.

Surprisingly, my leather & fabric 8" non-goretex work boots I used for trail work last summer dried pretty quick. At least with how I used it. We might break around 5 pm. As soon as we returned to camp I'd lay my boots, socks and insoles under the sun on a big slab of granite. I'd flip them over occasionally, and then bring them to my tent for the night. I'm not sure how dry they were right then, but they were dry the next morning.

in warm dry weather,shoes can dry out fast

in damp, cool, or humid weather, they will not. Neither will socks.

doesnt matter what shoe it is. Idea is that minimal water is retained in the shoe.

Its relative. They hold less water. Nothing wrong with damp shoes, Ive walked for days with damp shoes and socks without issue.

I think this really would be a good topic for a sciencey, gear review.

@ mb, i appreciate everyone has different sensitivities to wet shoes/feet but some of the issues that I don't like are:
-funky smelling shoes/socks
-more likelihood of blisters
-increased wear on shoes
-colder feet
-that thing that happens to your skin after it has been submerged for a day or two

I'm seriously considering some of the watershoes that have more of a trail running look. I would like something that held no or almost no water. Sandals with watersocks are the other option.

My LaSportiva Wildcats drain well and dry faster than my Montrail Masochists. I originally bought them to hike the Subway at Zion; ten miles mostly in the water in "cool" (but dry) weather. They were slightly damp the next day but, with dry wool socks, I couldn't tell and hiked comfortably.

The Wildcats were so versatile that Zion trip, I've been wearing them for most of my hiking ever since. I wear them through any and all stream crossings and, in most cases, they dry overnight or are only slightly damp the next morning. Good traction on wet rocks. No issues with smell, material shrinking, etc.

I can appreciate that everyone may have different feet in some ways, but in some ways they are also the same too.


What makes you think wet shoes and socks smell? What smells is sweaty feet and sweaty shoes and socks, not damp ones.

Who says that wet socks cause blisters? Old wives, thats who.

No idea what is meant by increased wear.

Colder feet is a godsend much of the year. When you are hot , it feels fantastic to walk into a cold stream, and stand there for 5 minutes. Your feet are the most vascular part of your body, and this cools you rapidly.

Feet get to dry out at night usually, not a problem either.

Honestly, damp shoes and socks are not a cause for concern, at all. That is different from being waterlogged though. Just being wet, and holding water against the skin, are two different things.

My own experience is that after days of hiking in wet shoes/socks due to numerous water crossings (30+) , my feet were perfectly normal. In fact, they were BETTER than hiking in socks that accumulated quite a bit of dirt. The first time, I was amazed. My son and I laughed about how scared we used to be to get feet wet. Now we will plod into water every chance we get if its hot.

Others may have different experiences, but neither my son or me worry the least bit about wet shoes, socks, or feet anymore, it simply is not an issue.

Edited by livingontheroad on 07/14/2012 18:22:57 MDT.

I guess everyones feet are different. Not to get into it, but having just had my feet wet for the majority of a two night trip, I'm speaking from my personal experience. One that isn't the end of the world, but one I would like to minimize.

I'm sure I'm not alone on this front.

after a trip into the Gila that saw my wife and I making over a 100 stream crossings in two days, we both also came to the conclusion that wet feet aren't going to hurt you. we did use hydropel, which I've become a firm believer in for wet conditions

we also dried our feet thoroughly and put on dry socks in camp-this is very important imo, in the morning our shoes and socks were nearly dry- but still a little damp- didn't hurt a thing

when we hit the higher country, we actually missed the cooling stream crossings

we both used thin Darn Tough socks (Merino Mesh) and trail runners- Montrail for me, Mizuno for her

we use asics polysters running socks, defeet wooleators, and simple thin polyester starter running socks from walmart. No difference, all work great, except the toe area on the starters is a bit small for me, makes my toes feel sort of tight.

As long as socks are thin, i really dont thinnk it makes a difference.

What does make a difference, is a cuff on the sock. Walking in a single-track that is a bit below ground level, like on the AT where water may run downhill and cut the narrow trail tread 6-8" into ground, makes shoes scrape the ankle of other foot sometimes, will make ankles raw quickly without cuff there for protection.

Try hiking here in NZ - you'll be in and out of rivers all day. Waterproof boots are a joke. After river crossings they don't drain and you are now carrying an extra 1Kg plus. I had to laugh when doing the JMT. I saw Americans stop at rivers, put on aqua shoes, and then on the other side, put their boots back on - this was summer and about 28c!!

Wet feet aren't always terrible, but why not get shoes that fit well and dry faster if you can?

I'd also like materials in the upper to be more slippery to mud. It's no fun when ultralight shoes pick up a couple pounds of mud.