Margaret and I hiked out to Big Salmon River on Monday. Sunny day, -5C, about 2-3" of snow on the trail. We both opted for our sneakers and wool socks. I managed to keep her feet dry and mine wet. I don't mind wringing out wool socks now and then, but I wish the trail runners themselves wouldn't absorb so much water. I think the only real way to compare footwear is when fully saturated and drip dried for 60 seconds. Next time I go shopping for shoes, or fleece, I'm taking a bucket of water and a stopwatch.

Thinking about ripping all the padding out of my old trail runners, maybe even ripping the uppers right off and rebuilding.