I remember right at the end of a long hike up CMD Arête to Ben Nevis we required a river crossing to get back onto the main path back to the North Face car park. All the online guides had previously suggested the best thing to do is just take your boots off and roll your pants up. But in honesty, it had been so incredibly wet that day that my feet were already saturated. We waded through the river, boots on, and it made literally no difference to how wet my feet already were.It took me 6 days to dry my boots 🤦♀️And the reality is that it doesn’t matter how water proof your hiking boots are, if you have to wade through a river at any point (or you miss a stepping stone, step in a bog or have to walk through really swampy boggy areas) you’re going to suffer wet feet at some stage.I’ve tried absolutely everything I can think of when it comes to the boot drying game so here are some tried and tested methods on how to dry your hiking boots fast.
Prep First
Don’t just let them dry straight out of the river.- Give them a clean (Boot Buddy for the absolute win here)
- Remove insoles (where they are removeable) and laces
Drying Hiking Boots – My Tried and Tested Methods Rated
So, you want the quick version? Here you go:| Hiking Boots Drying Method | Effectiveness (Out of 10) | Pros | Cons |
| The boot dryer | 9 | Hands down, best method ever. Fast. Machine is portable | Requires electricity to run |
| Radiator | 7 | Relatively fast drying, boots left warm | Who has their radiator on in summer? Seen the price of central heating?! It’s also generally advised by footwear brands not to use direct heat like this to dry them |
| Direct Sunlight | 8 | Can be fast! And it’s free | I live in the UK. Direct sunlight is a luxury we don’t often get. Also, footwear brands generally advise drying shoes/boots in direct sunlight can cause excessive wear |
| Newspaper in your boots | 4 | Cheap. Easily done. | Takes an age |
| Air dry | 3 | Natural drying. Least harm to footwear | Takes 90 million years to dry your boots |
The Best and Quickest Way to Dry Hiking Boots…
It’s the boot dryer.Confession. I didn’t even know this was a thing until 2 weeks ago. 2 weeks! Why had I never thought to look this up until 2 weeks ago.I use this one but others are available:
Pros of the Boot Dryer
- Dries really fast
- Temperature controlled to ensure no damage to footwear
- Portable - can take on holidays etc
Cons of the Boot Dryer
- Needs a plug socket - would love it if it were USB so I could plug it into a power bank
You’ll notice my boots are dirty here… I wasn’t actually drying them in these photos. I was just using the boots to demonstrate how it works and also as a size comparison.The thing I’m most disappointed with it, frankly, how many years I’ve hiked for and never known about these devices. But this really is awesome.I hiked Conival last weekend, staying at a hostel in Inchndamph on my return. I took the boot drier with me because I have one pair of hiking boots I’m truly in love with (and spares I tend to cast aside). I knew the hike back down from Conival would be a bog fest and indeed I had very wet feet on my return. Knowing I’d want my boots the next day meant I was buzzing to have remembered the boot drier.I washed them down in the sink first, but left the laces and insoles in in this case (non removable insoles and too lazy to shift the laces). So they were totally saturate when I put them on the drier and it took less than 2 hours for them to dry.Now, I’ve got an EV with a plug socket in it. So I could use this even without accommodation with electrical sockets. But if you were staying on a campsite with no electrical hook up it would be useful to have a USB option so you could use a portable power bank to run it. Pretty sure if you were wild camping though, no matter how portable it is, you wouldn’t want to lug it.Honestly though, I will never dry my boots another way again when I have this option.Direct Sunlight Method – Second Best
The other way I’ve previously dried my boots is direct sunlight. Now, I know this ruins leather boots but I don’t wear leather hiking boots. That said, most manufacturers will advise against leaving footwear out in direct sunlight because it can cause excessive wear.
However, I do it anyway on the rare occasion that we get enough direct sunlight in the UK (there’s about 5 hours per year I reckon) and it is fast and effective. And it’s also free!
