After spending hours outside in the great outdoors exploring nature, your hiking boots can take a real beating. They may be caked with mud or even worse and you’re probably really tempted to throw your boots in the garage and leave them to dry before you do anything about them.
This is actually the worst thing that you can do for your boots and can cause your hiking boots to wear out, requiring you to buy a replacement pair earlier than you would otherwise need to.
You might think that the best option to clean your hiking boots is to set them down in your yard and get the hose out. However, you might be causing unnecessary water damage to the more sensitive parts of your hiking boots by doing so. Well, if that isn’t the way how do you clean your hiking boots effectively?
Should You Clean Your Hiking Boots Regularly?
You should absolutely clean your hiking boots regularly. It is so tempting to want to leave your boots to be caked in dirt and mud until the next time that they will undoubtedly get caked in mud, but as I mentioned earlier, it isn’t great for the life of your hiking boots.
If you want to get the most out of your pair of hiking boots, you should be making sure that they’re as clean as they can be after your trips outdoors. This means that, yes, you should be at least rinsing down your hiking boots after each time you take them out on the trails.
This can sound annoying, but maintaining your gear is essential to keeping your gear in tip top shape for when you want to go. I can assure you that it is far more annoying to be excited about hitting the trails only to find that your hiking boots are irreparably damaged, and you need a new pair.
How Should You Approach Cleaning Your Hiking Boots?
First, you should consider just how dirty your boots are. If your hiking boots are only a little bit muddy, you may be able to get away with a quick rinse off. You could even do so in a stream or a river as you are leaving the trails.
However, if your shoes are absolutely caked in thick mud, you are going to need to get a little more aggressive in your approach to make sure that your hiking boots are clean and ready for their next use in the great outdoors.
You might even consider using a damp towel to spruce up your boots if they are only a little bit dirty, but still have some dirt and debris on them! This can be a great alternative to doing a full deep clean of your hiking boots.
What Gear is Needed to Clean Hiking Boots?
Here is a list of tools that you might want to have handy when doing a deep clean of your hiking boots:
- A scrub brush
- A soft brush
- Cloth or towels
- A pan or dish for water
- Footwear cleaner or dish soap
- Running water
- Spray disinfectant
Not all of these things are completely necessary to clean your hiking boots with and you can absolutely clean your boots on the fly. However, the method in which you do so should be intentional. Let’s get into the specifics on how you should clean your hiking boots effectively.
How to Clean Leather Hiking Boots?
Going about cleaning leather boots can be a little tricky, and you will definitely need to be more careful with them than with a pair of synthetic material hiking boots.
Step one is to remove the more sensitive aspects of your hiking boots – your shoelaces and insoles. These pieces of your hiking boots are likely to get damaged in the cleaning process if they are treated the same way as the rest of your hiking boots. If you do need to clean these pieces, they should be hand washed gently with warm water that is diluted with dish soap and set to air dry.
Moving onto step two, you should use a soft brush on the outside of your boots in order to scrub away excess mud and dirt that may be caked onto your hiking boots.
Step three is to rinse off your leather hiking boots with warm water. Avoid using hot or cold water to wash your leather hiking boots. Do not use soap with leather hiking boots. No soap, just water! You will want to absolutely avoid getting any water on the insides of your hiking boots. To prevent this, you might want to consider stuffing your hiking boots with a towel or a plastic bag!
Step four is to gently rub your leather hiking boots with a sponge or a soft brush. Do this to avoid leaving any caked remnants of dirt or grime behind.
And finally, step five is to dry your hiking boots completely. Do this in a room temperature environment that is without heat and without exposure to the sun in order to avoid harming your leather hiking boots.
Bonus step: Spray the inside of your boots with spray disinfectant to avoid stinky feet from your hiking boots!
How to Clean Synthetic Hiking Boots?
For synthetic hiking boots, the steps that you would follow to clean leather hiking boots are totally applicable to synthetic boots. However, you can afford to be a little rougher with your synthetic hiking boots to really get the grime off!
Step one is to remove the shoelaces and insoles from your synthetic hiking boots. You may also clean these the same way that you would clean those from leather hiking boots – with warm water and diluted dish soap by hand.
Also similar to leather hiking boots, try to brush off any caked mud or debris with a soft brush for step two. This will just make it easier to properly wash your synthetic hiking boots.
Step three is where you can be a little more thorough than with leather! You may use gentle dish soap for these boots and can use cloth or a scrub brush to wash away the mud and debris from your boots. You may even choose to wash the inside of your boots!
Step four is to dry your synthetic hiking boots. You can stuff your hiking boots with towels or newspapers to help dry the insides better but avoid drying them in any sort of heat source or sunlight.
Bonus step: Spray the inside of your boots with spray disinfectant to avoid stinky feet from your hiking boots!
Conclusion
Now that you have all of the essential information on how to wash your hiking boots, will you start to perform regular maintenance cleans on your boots? I strongly recommend that you do so and I hope that this article was helpful to you! Happy hiking!
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: How often should I clean my hiking boots?
A: It’s best to clean your hiking boots after each hike or when they get dirty. Regular cleaning maintains their durability, breathability, and odor-free condition.
Q: What is the best way to clean hiking boots?
A: Remove laces, brush off dirt, use a mild soap and lukewarm water to scrub boots gently, rinse thoroughly, air dry away from direct sunlight, and apply waterproofing treatment.
Q: Can I machine wash my hiking boots?
A: It’s not recommended. Machine washing can damage boots and strip away waterproof coatings. Hand cleaning with mild soap, water, and gentle scrubbing is the safer option.
Q: How do I remove stubborn stains or odors from my hiking boots?
A: Try a paste of baking soda and water to remove stains. For odors, sprinkle baking soda inside and leave overnight. Specialized boot cleaners or deodorizers are also effective. Test any method on a small area first.
