Keeping feet warm?

[gmcpcs]

Good suggestions from all. I had the same problem this past weekend, it got down to 22 degrees. All the rest of me was warm, but my toes. My feet do tend to stick up more, so the circulation issue could be it. I did wear wool, (Or what I thought were wool) socks. The reason I say that, is the next morning warming them by the fire, they melted. I thought wool would not melt.

Someone else told me that they sleep with warm feet WITHOUT socks. I will have to keep experimenting.

By the way, I had this heavy mega sized army sleeping bag as my top quilt. I used a PLUQ with a wool blanket, and in between the blanket, one of those vinyl survival aluminized blankets for the bottom layer. I use a full length poncho liner to cover all the hammock

Take it easy,
gmcpcs

[FLRider]

Good suggestions from all. I had the same problem this past weekend, it got down to 22 degrees. All the rest of me was warm, but my toes. My feet do tend to stick up more, so the circulation issue could be it. I did wear wool, (Or what I thought were wool) socks. The reason I say that, is the next morning warming them by the fire, they melted. I thought wool would not melt.

Someone else told me that they sleep with warm feet WITHOUT socks. I will have to keep experimenting.

By the way, I had this heavy mega sized army sleeping bag as my top quilt. I used a PLUQ with a wool blanket, and in between the blanket, one of those vinyl survival aluminized blankets for the bottom layer. I use a full length poncho liner to cover all the hammock

Take it easy,
gmcpcs

Wool won't melt. They were probably acrylic...which is good, but not quite as good as wool. It's also possible that they were a wool blend (often, Spandex is added to make wool socks stretchy), but a blend that had more synthetic in it that wool.

The warm feet without socks is a circulation thing. Hence my advice for making sure your sleep socks are loose.

Hope it helps!

[KC8QVO]

Good suggestions from all. I had some more suggestions on another forum for down booties so I may investigate that route a little bit.

The double layer of socks was a bit of a tight fit, not real tight but tighter than normal fitting socks for me. That could have been more of a factor than I think.

I always (ALWAYS) have a dry pair of socks packed in, as well as dry underwear and a full base layer in the cooler months. I hate sleeping in nastyness so I usually will wipe down with a bunch of baby wipes and change clothes before going to sleep.

I will look in to some hand warmer options. I didn't know there was a bigger pad type. That may be what I need.

Several pairs of my socks are Wigwam's. I have had good luck with them.

The only problem I have had with socks on the trail is getting them too close to the fire. I burned through a pair of some nice Redwing merino wool socks several years ago while drying them out on a rock next to the fire. i was doing something else and the wind shifted directions enough to get the flame too close. They didn't catch on fire but with the holes in them they were useless. Lesson learned I guess.

Steve

[hcdc11]

I've had my foot end of the hammock raised up too high and lost circulation in my toes and they almost froze off on a measly 30* night. Haven't had that problem since then after paying attention the the hang height of the foot end

[KC8QVO]

hcdc11, and everyone else, how much time do you spend setting up your hammock?

Reason I ask is when I was a ground dweller there was one way to set up my tent - throw it up, roll out my pad(s), and throw my sleeping bag on top. Of course, I would pay attention to where I put it as best I could but there is only so much you can do when you are dependent on the ground.

That having been said, since going to the hammock I generally try to level out the hammock but because tree spacing changes I don't always get the lay the same every time. Hence my question - I don't worry about how the hammock hangs too much. I understand what all the adjustments are - raising and lowering the suspension on the trees, adjusting tension in the suspension (flattening out the lay, curving the lay, pulling up one side, or dropping the other, etc). With so many possible adjustments I just don't work on it much. As it is my hammock set up takes longer to rig than putting up my tent did, so packing miles this is a bit of a challenge = one more thing to delay the relaxation time in camp setting up and tearing down.

[Geektechnica]

I know it was already mentioned in the thread but I have to throw my $0.02 in and suggest the hot water bottle. I was at the NJ hang this weekend, first night was down to 5F and I forgot to throw the bottle in there, second night was down to 3F, nothing else changed but I was way warmer the second night. It makes a very big difference I've found.

Also I ALWAYS make sure I change into fresh dry socks right before slipping into the bag.

[Gavin1999]

wool socks work good for me of you can put your jacket around your hammock by your feet like shug love his videos but that is not the point. but thats just what works for me
.

[creativeKayt]

Yep. I'll fourth, fifth, and sixth....

Dry socks.
Down booties.
Sit pad.
Hot water bottle between legs.

These options are all filled with warmy goodness.

[Marlin]

These are all great comments, and right on the mark, but in my case there was an additional factor. So here's my $0.02.

Don't forget the wisdom of mothers everywhere in this... "If your hands or feet are cold, put on a hat!" Or more likely, since you are probably already wearing a hat, put on some warmer headgear. Despite my thick fleece balaclava, this issue has bit me more than once in the hammock, until I figured out that I could still use the hood in my mummy-style sleeping bag when necessary, even if it's unzipped as a top quilt. (I simply run unzip it from the bottom, so there's both a foot box and an enclosed hood end. It's not exactly centered on the quilt, but has worked well enough for me.)

The issue is that if there isn't enough heat to keep your entire body warm, your body will restrict blood flow to your extremities to keep your core temperature warm (including your head). And it can't cut back the blood flow to your head (thank goodness - you might never wake up!) even if that's your biggest source of heat loss.

I know, it's obvious when you think about it, but I'm pretty good at missing the obvious sometimes. And my head wasn't complaining about the cold, just my feet were!

[BIG JEFF]

Checking the hat is a good idea. I have a pair of wool knitted bootees my Grandmother made for me 40 years ago. I wear them without socks they fit very loose so my feet stay dry and warm.