Backpacking Discussions

In Colin Fletcher's "The Man Who Walked Through Time," he says he applied rubbing alcohol to his feet during his hike, in part to harden the skin on his feet. Are any of you doing this? What are the results?

After reading Fletcher's, The Thousand Mile Summer, I tried the alcohol foot rub thing. If your feet are hot it's very refreshing. If there's any breeze at all it feels almost like rubbing your feet with ice. But I found that it dried the skin between my toes too much, and caused cracking, if I used the technique too often. I would recommend it for desert or hot weather hiking only.

I've heard about people doing that, but never tried it myself. I'm suprised that you feel anything apart from having a liquid on your feet. I'll have to try that on my next hike, well maybe it isn't hot enough yet for it.

I know Fletcher from being the first to walk the whole Grand Canyon, but I never knew he wrote books as well. Are they good?

I've never heard of this technique before. Sounds interesting, I'll have to try it sometime to. I haven't read anything from Colin Fletcher either, so you guys will have to let us know how you like him.

So I know it's been a few months now, but has anyone tried Rubbing Alcohol on the feet yet?

Ya I did I hike in the middle of June in Arizona and I tried the rubbing alcohol thing. It worked somewhat well. My feet weren't too hot, but I was wearing Chacos, so the breeze got to my feet which was really really nice.

But I found that it dried the skin between my toes too much, and caused cracking, if I used the technique too often.

I didn't find this to be the case, but I'm sure it is different with different people and skin types. Personally i'd reccomend it to others, and I'll keep doing it while desert hiking or just in really hot weather.

Great! Thanks for the report. I will try it on my next hike.

I'll have to try this, but I'm not a fan of cracking skin since my skin is already dry as it is. But now it's winter, so I guess I'll have to wait a few more months before I can try it! Darn snow.