Gear Review: Creepers Socks or: How I Learned to Stop Foot Pain and Love Hiking Again
Introduction
You may recall that I have had wild foot problems associated with my hiking habit. Until last year, I had tried every sock I could find, from American made Darn Tough (which are indeed tough) to an obscure brand from Norway. The foot problems included blisters, lumping of the toes if there be such a thing, and straight-up removal of skin.
I tested whether it was just my shoe, or just my sock, thinking that it must be a combo of both. One thing became clear: the sock was the most critical point of failure. I finally stumbled across Creepers socks and fell in love. You can read my old review here. Please be warned that it shows NASTY images of the suffering my feet used to bear before I started using Creepers. Ok, I’ll hide one picture below if you want to see my foot after hiking in water with some different socks. It might make you feel a bit sick.
Don’t Click Here Unless You Want to See a Gross Picture
TL;DR
But it’s 2024 and the socks have been updated. They now seem thicker and perhaps sturdier, so I’m here to offer a new review. I can review the socks in one statement:
Just get them.
Recent Experience with Creepers New, 2024 Sock Version
But it’s important that I say more than that, so I will. So far this summer I’ve hiked around 160 miles on the 2024 version of the socks, and they are indeed sturdier, yet the comfort has not increased. I have noticed a little less sliding and pinching during descents, but I changed my backpack and my gait might be a little different. You can see some of the terrain below; I included a picture of rocks in my Altras (hate them) to show that the socks, while not designed to stand a 155mm shell, are more resilient than you might expect.
I don’t yet have the hiking reviews up (I dictate my adventures to my phone while I’m out, then have to correct the wild mess that I’ve produced, then have to refine my pictures, then do the actual review–and as of 20 August 2024, one of the important features I use on my website is broken by an update, so I’m delaying), but man did I do some pretty rough hikes through inhospitable terrain this summer. Some pictures from trips in the Wind River Range are below.
From left to right: Iceberg Lake, tent at Little Sandy, some random place by Slide Lake Canyon, and unnamed Lakes above Lake Heebeecheech.
During these hikes, it got below freezing, I scaled vertical faces, I went through insane deadfall, through cheatgrass fields, and even took one for the team and waded streams, soaking the socks and then riding them 8 miles out to see if the moisture would cause foot pain. Nothing stopped these socks from working! You can see that I didn’t get any blisters, even after hiking for 8 miles post-stream. That is worth the cost!
Below: Miles and miles of hiking. No blisters. No hot spots. No missing dermis. EVEN AFTER HIKING THROUGH A RIVER!
A sampling of a few of the hiking tracks I took them on are found on the maps below:
Benefits of Creepers Socks
I still have more hikes left to go, and like some of the ones I’ve already done this season, I won’t be posting all of them, as I’m sacrificing self and re-doing old tracks so that my daughter can experience some of the joy I felt in years past. Still, one thing’s for sure: despite being older, the duplicated hikes are so much easier than they were when I first did them, because my feet aren’t screaming out in anguish with every step I take. I can quickly summarize the benefits of my Creepers socks as follows:
- No more taping feet!
- No more blisters.
- No more low-mile days from limiting foot pain.
- No more carrying friction-reducing foot goop.
- No more stopping routinely to adjust my shoes in hopes of finding a better “feel.”
- No more popping naproxen sodium to limit the agony of my bipedal existence.
- No more wasting $$$ experimenting with every sock in the world, hoping, just hoping, that maybe the new variety will work.
Caveats to My Outrageous Enthusiasm
I honestly want to proselytize the entire world so that I can convert all hikers to Creepers hikers, but I know that’s an insane goal. Yes, it does come from the heart, but it’s not realistic. With that in mind, I will say that there are some moderating factors to the enthusiasm others might have. These factors are:
- You don’t experience foot pain when you hike. (Then you may not receive as much benefit.)
- You am concerned about pinching between toes on the downhill! (I have to adjust my socks maybe once/day, and that’s less than I’m getting rid of detritus from my shoes, so it isn’t a factor.)
- You don’t want to wear toe socks every day or want a sock that is also nice for skiing. (Don’t. I just use these for hikes. It’s ok to have specialized equipment.) Note: I got my wife a number of pairs of Creepers recently and she now wears them exclusively. Such is not my proclivity, but she says they’re incredibly comfortable, so maybe you’ll feel the same.
- You want the most robust sock in the world. (The tradeoff with Creepers is that you save money on leukotape, save weight, and save ANGUISH, so to me the scales are pinned solidly to the ground underneath the weight of the benefits of Creepers socks.)
- You derive an unusual pleasure from being miserable. (I can’t argue that one with you.)
Conclusion and Rating
I now exclusively use Creepers socks for hiking. My mileage/day has increased and my spirits are much higher. No longer do I find myself literally just hoping for the hike to be over. No longer do I find myself making excuses to get out of the mountains a day earlier. Creepers socks are a specialized tool and one that I couldn’t replace. I rate them 5 out of 5 stars.
Also, just so you know, I am not part of an affiliate program with Creepers or anything like that, so I can’t offer you any discounts. I think it’s probably best to order directly from their site and order 4-6 socks so that you get the reduced price/pair. As I type this, I just finished emailing Shaun, the owner and founder, a correction to my address, as he proactively reached out to me–talk about good customer service. Anyway, I simply love this company, and my only complaint is that they don’t make them small enough for my daughter!
