Tropical Footwear / Clothing

madbomber1998

madbomber1998

Joined
Nov 27, 2008
Messages
182
Ok, so I'm living in SW Florida full time now - big change from the mountains of North Carolina. So I'm realizing I probably should look into what kind of clothing / footwear is the best for this kind of place. I've had several people recommend I ask here, soooooo.....

First off, these are going to be used for general woods / swamp / whatever you call the terrain down here use.

1st, footwear - what kind of boots are best in this kind of terrain / weather? What kind of socks, etc. should I wear with said boots?

Also, is there any cool alternative footwear that might be interesting to look into?



2nd, general clothing. Like I said, I'm from the mountains, where we have snow in the winter alot and it rarely gets over 90 degrees in the summer. What is the best kind of clothing to have down here?



3rd, Anything else I should know / look into? (and yes, I know stay hydrated ;-)
 
Can't speak for shoes, but you'll want loose fitting clothes. It allows the sweat to evaporate and cool you down.
 
clothing - loose fitting (jungle/safari weight) ripstop twill outer layers (prefer 50/50 nylon cotton blend as it dries quick but still wicks sweat) and wicking (cool max or off brand) inner layers.
for footwear, I like mil-surp jungle boots (NOT the $25 mil-style knock-offs) and smartwool socks. (pack spare socks in a zip-lock baggie)
 
Look into the book "Bug Out" it's got a lot of good info on that section of the country, and is a great addition to any outdoorsman's/prepper's kit.

Bottom line is that you shouldn't expect to stay dry the whole time. Sweat, rain, groundwater, etc. will make you wet somehow. Materials that dry quickly are key.

Clothing:
Avoid cotton... it's comfortable until it gets wet. Wet socks will kill your feet. You can get trenchfoot when the weather is still relatively warm.
Wet cotton underpants will chafe you and give you and swamp-butt/monkey-butt until you beg for quick death. :-)

For socks, consider something like smartwool - they are a synthetic/wool blend. Change socks often.
For underwear, either go commando or get something like high performance underwear (I recommend ex-officio - they are spendy, but you only need a few pairs and you can wear/wash in on/off cycles as they dry quickly and have built in anti-microbial and anti-fungal properties.) Stuff like underarmor heat gear and such help wick the moisture away. For T-shirts/undershirts, being wet isn't the issue so much as getting contact dermatitis or prickly heat. For pants, I don't recommend shorts - longer BDU/TDU/Tactical pants in light-weight rip-stop are best. Gold bond powder works wonders, but you need to wash before you put it on, or it can settle in your open dirty pores.

Bugs:
Get a good mosquito bar if you camp out.
If you're sensitive to DEET, consider natural products... as for man-made, DEET is about as good as it gets considering what is commercially available.

Boots:
OTB makes really good jungle boots, there are other high quality ones, too.

Have fun, there is some really cool and unique wilderness in Florida.
 
Flipflops... :)

I wore my Hi-Tec boots more then anything (except my Teva's) when I was down in FL. Kind of a SWAT/Jungle boot knock off, but they worked very well. I think they were even called SWAT boots or some such marketing crap. But they tended to dry quick, and breath well. Spend some time wearing my Chipewa boots, and they work well, but took forever to dry out.

Clothing wise... well I aint all that bright... I just wore jeans or shorts and a tee shirt.
 
Jungle or desert boots-I had HUGE success with the Converse tactical assault boots when I was in florida-65 bucks and they lasted 3 hard years of duty use and trail miles. The tread works great for mud, it's designed so as the sole flexes when you walk the mud peels off between the treads so your next foot placement gets traction. Awesome for swamping or walking around in wet sand. They dry very quickly as well, drain holes all over the place, and very lightweight. As far as clothes.... you can't do anything to beat the humidity-you're going to be sticky and miserable. Check out the Eddie Bauer Bush Shirt (picked one of these up during their Ultimate Summer Clearance) and I gotta tell you, it's the coolest wearing shirt I've ever warn. It's been constantly 90-102 degrees for the past week and never once did I get overly sweaty or uncomfortable. The material is super light but has high UPF protection and wicks moisture almost as well as wool. I'd pick up a few The North Face VaporWick products, like the Ruckus and Ruckwell shirts-another superlight moisture wicking material and you can find them at reasonable prices. Light nylon ripstop is pretty common, something like The North Face Sequoia fishing shirt and Underarmor or Columbia light packable pants-they weigh about 4 ounces a pair and are very quick drying and easy to wash of muck, sweat and sand. Wool socks, without a doubt. I'd tell you to stay away from dark colors but it's the only thing that will cover up the swampy goo that's everywhere.

Some other recommendations, check out The North Face Hedgefrogs-based on their Hedgehog trail running shoes, which are extremely popular, they have the same gnarly aggressive trail tread but they're a sandal. Not the best idea where you know there are lots of water moccasins and other poisonous creepy crawlies, but they'd make for a great trail shoe.
 
This thread is just the thing I needed.

As for dark colors - I honestly don't see the logic behind them. I used to work in all kinds of conditions and every time summer came along my boss told me to wear black. Didn't make much sense (it was in all kinds of humidities, temperature from 86 to 104) but I did it. I sweat like a pig, but the sun didn't hit as much. And when we were given white and yellow shirts it got a lot worse. Don't know why, maybe someone can explain it.
 
florida? that's where they wear lots of white, with soft pastels and no socks, right?

vice.jpg
 
I've lived in south Florida since 1982 and I've never owned a pair of flip flops. I hate those things. They're especially useless if you are in an area with a lot of fireants. I like boat shoes or New Balance sneakers for most times. If I'm going into the Everglades I wear a hiking boot. In spite of what the other posters have written I don't really have a problem with cotton but I do wear some of the synthetics too. I like the Cool-Max golf shirts...the really thin kind of soft polyesters are good. If I have to wear pants (I wear shorts whenever I can) I like a thin cotton poplin. I have some that are cut like blue jeans but about 1/2 as thick. Blue jeans in summer heat is murder and I avoid jeans until October or November. My advice is to get lots of shorts.
 
styx said:
This thread is just the thing I needed.

As for dark colors - I honestly don't see the logic behind them. I used to work in all kinds of conditions and every time summer came along my boss told me to wear black. Didn't make much sense (it was in all kinds of humidities, temperature from 86 to 104) but I did it. I sweat like a pig, but the sun didn't hit as much. And when we were given white and yellow shirts it got a lot worse. Don't know why, maybe someone can explain it.
Click to expand...


if it's loose and untucked black or other dark colors will create a convection current under them, drawing air up under the clothing and cooling you off. or at least that's the theory.

here in the desert i'll frequently wear black, untucked shirts in town, but i usually pick something in an earthtone if i'm headed out to the boonies to play.
 
Mosquitoes are supposedly more attracted to light colors versus dark ones, FWIW.
 
And they usually aren't attracted to insect repellent so that should solve the bug problem.
 
I live, and have always lived, in S. Texas. In my former life (job) I was always outside and had to wear dark green. I hated it. I'm a fan of light colors. Many of my co-workers would wear long sleeves, even in the 100+ degree heat and liked it that way. I just couldn't do that. Academy Sports and Outdoors seels their brand (Magellen?) fishing shirts which are very cheap, light and quick drying.

For footwear, I regularly wear hiking boots now. In the old days I wore Danner Ft. Lewis or Acadias, but they were warm and heavy. Great for catus and mesquites though. I just ordered a pair of Keen Newport hybrid sandles for hiking. I can avoid cactus and fire ant mounds and they should be much cooler. Anyone have any experience with these? Good luck in Florida and, judging from what I see on TV, watch out for really large snakes!
 
I would worry first about the conditions your in and then the temp.

If I'm out in brush and briers, I want heavy pants to bust them even if its going to make me sweat.

When I first came to south Tx., I was very worried about the heat and I tried like hell to find clothes to counteract it. I realized that, no matter what you wear, your going to sweat in a humid, tropical environment.

I do thin, light polyester blend undershirts with a button up overtop. The Columbia fishing shirts work pretty well and they have some styles that don't make you look like a castoff park ranger. Any light button-up will do though. Some say long sleeves keep the sun off and make you cooler, I find that once my arms tan over and get dark, it doesn't really make a difference (but I'm native american so I darken pretty quick).

Pants, I tried all the lightweight stuff with miserable results. I wear jeans or reasonably heavy cargos most of the time. It's very scrubby here in Tx. so I need the protection. I hardly wear shorts anymore. Yea, I sweat but I perfer to sweat than bleed.

I go sans underwear for the reasons stated above. Wore them a few times and they just hold the moisture in and make you chafe.

Thin, poly blend socks are magic. I wear dress socks most of the time as they work pretty well and I can get them cheap from Ross, TJMaxx and the like.

Boots, get something without any insulation and you'll be fine. I avoid jungle type boots and go with the waterproof styles instead. Suck if water gets above the top but avoid it and your OK. Danner Proghorns are working pretty good for me lately.

I also have a few pair of Teva sandals. Keep a pair with me most of the time so I can take my boots off and let them dry when needed.
 
Jeff/MIke has written the book on this and so have I (Come Back Alive)

Footwear is critical and so are socks. Jungle boots or protective shoes (I wear Converse High Tops) to keep out chiggers and foot boring insects are important. Do not but bug repellent on your socks or in your shoes. Your feet will explode in a rash. Wear long synthetic or thin cotton pants with ties on the bottom. One word: Ants.

Tropical BDUs are fine as ar those overpriced adventure pants. All will turn to crap after a couple of months in the jungle. Cotton shirts will smell like a corpse I reccomend long sleeve due to thorns, mossies, sun, etc.

The main trick is to keep one wet pair of clothes and one dry pair for sleeping. Camp shoes are good but use protective toe (Keen or rafting) sandals cuz a cut will not heal and get infected. Snake bites, thorns and ant bites are a bitch too.

One thing is important. Your feet will swell up so buy the right size and ideally laced boots that can be adjusted. Do not buy adventure boots/shoes that have foam padding. It will just stay wet, rot and smell like...

River, stream, swamp work and all the nastyness below the water will teach you to not wear rafting sandals. If you meet somebody that swears by them...they never got out of the boat.:)

The US Made Altama's are good, leather will rot, cotton seams and threading will rot, stay away from the cheap jungle boots. they will hurt and fall apart.

Locals swear by rubber boots (the english soft kind, not the american hard ones) but they always have jungle rot between their toes. Others wear flip flops and are usually missing a few toes.

Or just hire a little stout guy to carry you around..:))
 
RYP said:
Jeff/MIke has written the book on this and so have I (Come Back Alive)

Footwear is critical and so are socks. Jungle boots or protective shoes (I wear Converse High Tops) to keep out chiggers and foot boring insects are important. Do not but bug repellent on your socks or in your shoes. Your feet will explode in a rash. Wear long synthetic or thin cotton pants with ties on the bottom. One word: Ants.

Tropical BDUs are fine as ar those overpriced adventure pants. All will turn to crap after a couple of months in the jungle. Cotton shirts will smell like a corpse I reccomend long sleeve due to thorns, mossies, sun, etc.

The main trick is to keep one wet pair of clothes and one dry pair for sleeping. Camp shoes are good but use protective toe (Keen or rafting) sandals cuz a cut will not heal and get infected. Snake bites, thorns and ant bites are a bitch too.

One thing is important. Your feet will swell up so buy the right size and ideally laced boots that can be adjusted. Do not buy adventure boots/shoes that have foam padding. It will just stay wet, rot and smell like...

River, stream, swamp work and all the nastyness below the water will teach you to not wear rafting sandals. If you meet somebody that swears by them...they never got out of the boat.:)

The US Made Altama's are good, leather will rot, cotton seams and threading will rot, stay away from the cheap jungle boots. they will hurt and fall apart.

Locals swear by rubber boots (the english soft kind, not the american hard ones) but they always have jungle rot between their toes. Others wear flip flops and are usually missing a few toes.

Or just hire a little stout guy to carry you around..:))
Click to expand...

hard to argue with those credentials...:thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:
 
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