Cold Feet...Wet Boots! ©

 

Cold Feet...Wet Boots!

 

It is late winter and it’s cold and wet, the temperature outside is in the upper 30 degrees Fahrenheit (2 to 3^o C).  You are stranded, it doesn’t matter why; but it is almost nightfall, the sky is clear and the temperature wills going to plummet another 10 to 20^o degrees Fahrenheit (a drop of 6^o to 11^oC) by morning! 

 

Causes of cold feet.

Worse yet, your feet are wet, again it doesn’t matter why.   So, what are you going to do to dry your boots and socks and warm-up your feet?  You were able to get a fire going, but how do you use it to dry your boots and socks, and warm your feet?

 

An excerpt from Flying magazine, June 1987, page 13, HERE.

The trainers at the USAF Survival School, Fairchild AFB, Washington state, asked this very same question in the June 1987 edition of the Flying magazine.

 

So, how would you dry your boots?  Would you, a) hang your boots right side up besides the fire, b) hang them right side up over the fire, or c) set them right side up on the ground near the fire?

 

An excerpt from Flying magazine, June 1987, page 13.

The Air Force survival experts said that a) hanging your boots right side up besides the fire was the best answer, because it was the safest and fastest choice.  Choice b), hanging your boots or other wet gear over the fire is never a good idea, if it blows or falls off the line, or the line falls into the fire, you are going to have some burnt gear and burnt gear can kill you!  Choice c) is a better choice than choice b) but boots and other gear placed near a fire to dry could be knocked into the fire.  This happened to me once about four decades ago, I had set my boots near the fire to dry, and they got pushed to close and the toes burnt off – it was a long walk home!  Also, leather if dried to close to the fire it can shrink and it is also a tripping hazard and could cause a fall into a fire.

 

An excerpt from a World War II pamphlet on the right way and the wrong way to dry socks and boots.

You could also dry you boots by using the “Buzzacott method”, but beware, I remember about ten years ago or so, on a canoe trip down the Allegheny River, telling someone about this way of drying foot gear, unfortunately he heated the rocks and pebbles so hot, that he melted his sneakers!

 

Don’t forget to come back next week and read “Trench Foot!...Scald Feet! ©”, where we will talk about what happens if your feet get wet and cold and how to care for them.

 

I hope that you continue to enjoy The Woodsman’s Journal Online and look for me on YouTube at BandanaMan Productions for other related videos, HERE.  Don’t forget to follow me on both The Woodsman’s Journal Online, HERE, and subscribe to BandanaMan Productions on YouTube.  If you have questions, as always, feel free to leave a comment on either site.  I announce new articles on Facebook at Eric Reynolds, on Instagram at bandanamanaproductions, and on VK at Eric Reynolds, so watch for me.

 

That is all for now, and as always, until next time, Happy Trails!

 

 

Notes

 

¹ Wilderness Survival states that the heat loss is 32 times and A Pocket Guide to Cold Water Survival says that the heat loss from being wet is 25 times that of when you are dry.

 

From Wilderness Survival, by Ministry of Forests, page 46; and A Pocket Guide to Cold Water Survival, by Coast Guard, Department of Transportation, page 12.

 

 

Sources

 

 

Buzzacott, Francis Henry; The Complete American and Canadian Sportsman's Encyclopedia of Valuable, [The American and Canadian Sportsman’s Association; Chicago, Illinois, 1905], page 32 & 36, https://books.google.com/books?id=mFcCAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA36&dq=pebbles+heated+dry+boots&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwint_n_sfj8AhUzkYkEHQ_lATUQ6AF6BAgDEAI#v=onepage&q=pebbles%20heated%20dry%20boots&f=false, accessed February 3, 2023

 

Coast Guard, Department of Transportation, A Pocket Guide to Cold Water Survival, CG 473, September 1975, https://books.googleusercontent.com/books/content?req=AKW5QafxNJBmiIml6O4jiudRpr2rz8pLfodQOiq-4gZNh4xa5uIN_rq05C2yAes1AYw67Ziq189QaQaFDHBHE0SJivfCxjMW1DReANLjFqw1qX6jEl2mz1HPKXj4BRQJv8zAOcO6oDE70Dcv__VE2uPh4tEqLSzMxDRiWOv3p6ssyQjE2bevJMX7-Ol2KDtIPQVcVuaJudJMLaOOuSUVs8qYS1Nlaxnm47GVOCXLR79KzL6nV3R0zZG4DxRt9hoYrIRGugXm6RVfbU2gxeix7JLKbxpvQsNB9w, accessed May 1, 2022

 

Ministry of Forests, Wilderness Survival, [Ministry of Forests, British Columbia, 1978], p. 46

 

United States Army, “Baby Your Feet”, Army Talks, Vol. III, No. 5, February 10, 1945, page 7-9, 18, http://www.90thidpg.us/Reference/Army%20Talks/foxhole.pdf, accessed January 18, 2023

 

United States Army Medical Service; Cold Injury, Ground Type, in World War II, Medical Department of the United States Army in World War II, [The Office of the Surgeon General, Washington, D.C., 1958], https://books.google.com/books?id=FGcwAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA122&lpg=PA122&dq=%22War+Department+Circular+No.+312.+section+IV,+dated+22+July+1944%22&source=bl&ots=BA1svMxtQ9&sig=ACfU3U1mOBWMsSPXvQ1GCQ2N3WQGQb4yYQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi0sOnI7vr8AhV4QjABHdSEBrwQ6AF6BAgIEAM#v=onepage&q=%22War%20Department%20Circular%20No.%20312.%20section%20IV%2C%20dated%2022%20July%201944%22&f=false, accessed February 3, 2023

 

USAF Survival School; “Survival Tip: Cold Feet”, Flying, Volume 43, Number 6, June 1987, page 12, https://books.google.com/books?id=ROu_fa-3ndwC&pg=RA6-PA12&dq=%22believe+it+or+not%22+flying+1987&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiTofnt7Y79AhVOFlkFHULtDKMQ6AF6BAgCEAI#v=onepage&q=%22believe%20it%20or%20not%22%20flying%201987&f=false, accessed February 3, 2023