I went camping with Tay House this weekend. In true Boy Scout fashion the weather was sub-par. Saturday morning it rained. The rain stopped, but then it got warm and lots of the snow and ice started to melt. That made everything wet and muddy.

Many scouts’ boots soaked through and we quickly ran out of shopping bags for the scouts to use to keep their socks and feet dry. Surprisingly though my feet never felt wet.

When I finally took my boots off before bed I discovered that my boots had, in fact, become soaked through and my wool socks were quite damp. My feet, however, remained bone dry thanks to the polypropylene socks I was wearing under my wool socks. For years I have relied on polypro socks for this very reason (and others, like reducing friction and thus preventing blisters when hiking) and I am constantly preaching to the scouts what a great investment they are.

Polypros work because the tightly woven fibers do not allow enough space for liquid water to pass through, yet perspiration, which gets turned to water vapor via body heat, passes through without a problem. Since the socks are made of plastic fibers they don’t absorb water and never become saturated. At just a few dollars a pair they are a very economical way to help stay comfortable even when the weather is not the best.