Just like there are tons of things that a hiker needs to learn to complete a track, learning how to tie hiking boots to prevent blisters is also an important part. Enjoying hike will depend a lot upon how nicely you know lacing boots for comfort. Without feeling comfortable you will ultimately feel exhausted and all the things that you have planned will not be executed with accuracy.

Hence, to ensure that your feet do not get any blisters while you are setting out to enjoy hiking with your family and friends, we have listed down some essential hiking boot lacing techniques. As for how you will be tying your hiking boots will affect the factor that whether or not your feet will catch blisters. So let’s not blabber any more, check out the following boot lacing techniques to save your feet from getting blisters.

4 Ways to Tie Hiking Boots to Prevent Blisters:

Surgeon’s Knot:

A lot of hikers are familiar with how to tie a surgeon’s knot; However, we will still teach you about it so that you don’t miss out if you are a beginner. It is very simple and you are quite familiar with it as you have used this knot tying technique for preparing Christmas presents or for preparing your rod for fishing.

This surgeon’s knot is tied to strongly secure something so that it does not slip off. And if you are still about how to tie this knot, simply follow these two simple steps:

1. Like how you normally make laces of boots cross each other, this one is different. You have to simply wrap the strands of the laces around each other. Do this twice.
2. The next thing is once you have done wrapping the laces twice, you will see a knot forming. Simply pull that knot to make it tight.

A Surgeon’s knot ensures that the laces of the hiking boots do not loosen over time because of sliding against one another. to add more, this knot ensures that you get stability and stronghold on your hiking shoes. Your feet will not move around inside the shoes making it very unlikely to get blisters.

Heel lock lacing technique:

Heel lock lacing hiking boots is a great technique to use to prevent your heel from getting blisters as they will not move around inside the hiking boots much while walking. So to learn how to lock your heels in place to prevent blisters, follow the steps listed down below.

1. Create a lace-like you normally do while wearing on hiking boots on the top part of your foot. Make sure that your tying gives the perfect fit and does not apply any pressure.
2. You need to find two pairs of eyelets or hooks present at the base where your ankle is situated.
3. Take the ending of one of the laces and then thread it across the point of your ankle beneath where the base is situated. Then connect the end to the two eyelets present there.
4. Take the other lace and just wrap that one twice around the previous one by taking it across the top part of your foot. Then, thread in the lace with the hook in the base and then move it across to thread it with the upper hook.
5. Use the first lace whose ending you chose. And then wrap that across the next one for two times from one side to the other of your foot before to tie the lace-like you would do normally.

Make sure that you follow the steps correctly and connect the heel lock lacing with two other surgeon knits to prevent your heel from slipping as you walk.

Toe–Relief Lacing:

Having enough toe room so that you don’t feel comfortable during your entire hiking trip is very important. So, use this toe-relief lacing technique that lets you have enough room for your toes so that no pressure is applied to them.

Also, there will be no issues of rubbing the inner walls of the shoes with the toes so no blisters will be formed. Follow the detailed steps below for forming the toe-relief lacing.

1. Untie the laces of your boots entirely and remove it.
2. After doing so, skip the first row. And start re-lacing from the second row and thread the lace into the pair of hooks of the second row.

The reason for skipping the first row is to increase room for your toes. This also creates less pressure on your toes and also the toes do not rub against the inner walls so no blisters will form.

Window lacing technique:

To reduce pressure on the top part of your foot you need to follow the window lacing technique. If you are someone who has a high arched top on their feet, you need to go for this technique. Do the same if your feet are very swollen. Now, to create a window lacing follow the steps listed down below.

1. Identify the row of hooks or eyelets where you feel a lot of pressure is applied.
2. Now unlace the hiking boots up to the pair of hooks that are below the point where you feel a lot of pressure.
3. Now, don’t cross the laces over the point where pressure is felt. Thread the laces up to the side and up into the hook that is present above the point where you feel the pressure.
4. Once, you are done with threading into the hook above that pressure point, start crossing the laces and threading it back into other rows of hooks as you do normally.

Some tips to prevent blisters:

Other than just learning various lacing techniques to tie your hiking boots to prevent blisters, there are other tips you should know about to prevent blisters. We added some of these small tips so that you don’t face any pain or difficulty during your hiking trip because of blisters. Have a look at them.

• Buy boots that fit you:

Don’t try compromising while you buy hiking shoes. Take time, do a lot of trails and check a lot of shops to get a hiking boot that fits you perfectly. If your boots are too tight you are bound to get blisters no matter how many lacing techniques, you try.

• Make sure that you keep your free dry:

Moist and wet feet are easily prone to get blisters as it will be rubbing against the inner walls of your shoes causing peeling off your skin. So keep your feet dry by feeling in your socks with powder. Or just when you take breaks remove your hiking shoes and socks to let your feet get dry in the air.

• Carry extra socks:

Once, you see your socks are soaked up in sweat and moisture, remove them and change to wear new ones. For that don’t forget to carry extra socks with you on your hiking trip.

• Wear breathable footwear:

Wear hiking boots that are made up of breathable material. This ensures that your feet dry up whenever they are sweaty so they don’t get blisters. Also, keep in mind to wear lightweight hiking boots. If they are too heavy, you will see a lot of pressure being applied to your feet that increases the possibility of getting blisters.

• Adjusting laces:

Keep in mind about how you feel while walking on trials. If you feel uncomfortable and a lot of pressure on your feet, it is better that you adjust your laces from time to time. And also apply the lacing techniques depending on where you feel uncomfortable and a lot of pressure.

• Tape hotspots:

Carry a good number of band-aids with you. whenever you feel a hot spot developing on any spot of your feet. Stop immediately. Tape that spot using a band-aid to prevent it from peeling off. The tape will protect that spot from rubbing and will prevent any form of blisters.

And if by chance if you have previous blisters do not leave them open. Tape them up as well with band-aid along with some healing ointment.

Final Thought:

To sum up, we hope that by learning how to tie hiking boots to prevent blisters will help in making some of the difficulties that you face during a hiking trip easily. Applying the techniques will depend on how capable are you to realize where you are feeling comfortable and on what point of your feet you feel the pressure.

Depending on that, you will just need to follow the steps of each of the techniques that we mentioned. Other than just following the lacing techniques carefully, make sure that you follow the tips as well. without following the tips, you will still have possible chances of getting blisters.

So keep all the factors in mind and you will be able to enjoy walking the trails, enjoying the nature and environment of the place where you went hiking. Lastly, you will enjoy the feeling of accomplishing a hiking trip without any painful blisters bringing it down.

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