[asdf]

I had a week long backpacking trip this summer I had to cut short because I got blisters on the bottom of my big toes. I tried to add padding and blister protection to them, but it was too late. It took me 10 miles to early out of my trip and every step was pain, downhill especially. The boots otherwise fit great and I've never had this happen before and I'm wracking my mind as to why it occurred. So I can prevent in the future. I was walking 20 miles/day with a loaded pack and lots of elevation so there was stress, but my whole body handled it well except for the big toes. Any advice? What should I be doing or look for in a new boot?

[Pyrites]

Paper first aid tape, before.

[Randito]

Tincture of benzoin applied to the skin will improve the adhesion of tape/moleskin/etc and also toughen skin. Also sweat tends to loosen tape/moleskin/etc and soften skin. Antiperspirant spray applied to feet helps keep socks and ski dry.

[PowderPawn]

Too much time without any hiking in them recently? That would certainly not help. Moleskin is definitely something you can bring on a long hiking trip and has worked for me quite a bit, or at least helped.

[zimmertr]

The only time it ever happened to me was after walking in wet shoes for a couple days while backpacking in nonstop rain. The pads of my toes were sore for a month afterwards. Like the friction had rubbed most of the outer layers of skin away.

[Navy salad]

I hiked heavily all summer, including a 71 miler, without a hint of blisters, although I got fairly thick callouses by summer's end. Then after buying a pumice stone to grind off some of the callouses in the shower, I got my first blister in over 10 years from a day hike! And ... right on the pad of my big toe. And no, I didn't try to grind off the callouses in one session, there were probably 3 or 4 sessions. But I suppose that by removing the thick callous, it exposed the more tender skin underneath.

[Bowregard]

I got talked into playing pickup basketball (when I was not in shape to do so) and my big toe started hurting after awhile. Next time I went up for a rebound I came down on somebody's foot and rolled my ankle which made me forget about the big toe. Long story short when they pushed on my foot to cast my ankle it hurt like $#&% and they noticed I had a blister on my big toe. Unless your new boots compress your toe (or you have hammer toe) I would treat it the same as blisters on your forefoot. Use Moleskin and make sure your boot laces are tight around your ankle but loose on the forefoot. Otherwise you get slippage combined with compression when going downhill. Everybody has their own way of accomplishing that but I tie a square knot at the foot>ankle junction just loose enough that I can still get my foot in and then secure the upper laces at the top. My wife prefers to skip the lower lace section by threading each lace on the same side for a couple of eyelets before crossing them the rest of the way up. By the way - I learned an important lesson during that emergency visit to the physician for my ankle. The doctor told me the X-ray was negative but he suspected a hairline fracture and wanted to do a "stress X-ray". He explained the process (twist the ankle hard during X-ray) and I cringed when I thought of the pain. Then I started wondering "how much worse could the treatment be?" so I asked him what the treatment was if it was broken and he said "three weeks in a cast and 3 more in a "flex cast". "You mean the treatment is the same regardless what the "stress X-ray" shows"? He chuckled and said "I guess that is true". I told him to skip the "Stress X-ray" and made a note to always ask how the treatment might change based on the results before consenting to medical tests. I am sure you are aware of this but slowly increasing time in new boots not only breaks in the boots but allows your body to get used to the new pressures they can create.