Gaiters and safety

There is a type of gaiter called the "dirty girl" gaiter that attaches to the shoe with velcro. There are other similar brands as well.

J Willhaus said:

There is a type of gaiter called the "dirty girl" gaiter that attaches to the shoe with velcro. There are other similar brands as well.

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But dirty girl won't keep your socks dry. They do a great job of keeping rocks out, but not water resistent.


My experience with gaiters have been mixed. Sometimes I wear them. Sometimes I don't. And I won't for a Camino, but will for some back country wilderness hikes.

On the Camino - most of the time - even if it rained a lot - my socks stayed mostly dry. I wore non-waterproof trail runners with injinji toe socks and merino wool socks. They did a good job of keeping the moisture away from my foot. I never even had to change my socks mid-day for most rain days. That said - I did have a day where I had to walk through tall wet grass ALL.DAY.LONG. And my other socks hadn't dried from being washed several days earlier (too cold and damp and nothing was drying). So - my solution going forward is to keep my normal sock system for most days. But - I will bring one pair of waterproof socks if it is going to be a very wet day. I will wear them over my injinji toe socks. Works great so far.

As for my legs - I just wear shorts unless it is very cold outside (winter cold), and I don't bother bringing rain pants unless it is winter or I am backcountry wilderness hiking.

trecile said:

But I don't believe that they are waterproof. They are just for keeping small stones and dirt out if your shoes.

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I have worn the other kind, too, but only when snowshoeing.

J Willhaus said:

There is a type of gaiter called the "dirty girl" gaiter that attaches to the shoe with velcro. There are other similar brands as well.

Click to expand...

Dirty Girl gaiters are not for water, they're for sand and little rocks that your shoes throw into each other.
I love mine.

Maybe you can find in a sports shop a spray that would re-apply the water proof capabilities of a tent.

You can make these gaiters from an old sweat shirt sleeve. Do the experiment, you (@cascayal) are about to get on raining season and good time for testing.

Hope this helps.

Iván