I often wear bunny boots for hiking and snowshoeing (and snow machining) and they are pretty much vapor barrior boots - I love them and they are WARM but your socks are wet - and they aren't recommended for all day daily wear for weeks on end because of feet issues (prune feet is the best of the issues.) I don't know where you are hiking, but I wouldn't do gore-tex boots in the winter here. Socks at least I can throw in my sleeping bag or in my jacket and they might dry out - wet boots are really not good... you could lose your toes and/or feet (Keep in mind it is -20F today here.)