Pay Attention to Your Feet!: Shoes and Boots for Alaska

Alaska Packing Tip #4

Shop carefully for your shoes and boots. You don't want to have sore feet and blisters when you are on your Fairbanks vacation! Comfortable, lightweight, and water repellent are the keywords for shoes, boots and sandals. Definitely buy foot gear well before you leave home. Break them in well, especially if they are all leather. Wear them at home for a couple of weeks before you leave.

There are many brands of lightweight hiking boots that don’t cost a lot. You can buy comfortable hiking sneakers for most of your vacation activities. . Do you plan on strenuous hiking? You may want to invest in rugged hiking boots. And be sure to put a coat of waterproofing compound on your boots before you even leave home.

And don't forget your dance shoes! They can double as shoes for occasions when you want to dress up.

Put together a foot care kit.
To prevent blisters, bring duct tape instead of moleskin. It cuts friction better than moleskin and there lots of other ways to use it on your trip. Just put it on your most likely blister locations before the hike. If you do happen to develop a blister, you need to have Spenco “2nd Skin” in your pack.