Got my Altama Jungle boots today.. here is what I think of them :)

[FreshMint]

Whee
So i got my boots today I ordered them 1 number to large since I want to use them with heavy and warm socks (maybe water restant socks) so far they fit great and seem to be very comptable.

one thing is (and I could not see this on the photo) they have 2 holes with a mesch on the inside, looks like a lot of water could come thrue if I step into a puddle.

Now I was aware that these boots are not waterprooved but I was thinking, would you not step into puddle of water in the jungle..

Anbody has any experience with these boots, can u acctually step briefly into a puddle without having the boot full of water?

 

[EdS]

the holes are to let water out.

It is impossible to keep water out of boots when you are waiste deep in a stream/swamp - not uncommon in jungle I believe (never been myself). So rather than have a boot that will hold the inevitable water they are designed with drainage in mind.

 

[FreshMint]

hmm Interesting... do you not get automaticly blisters when your socks/boots are wet?

 

[Lurch]

Mate, if you are in the jungle then you have wet feet!
Fact of jungle life.

I expect your feet do turn to mush, but all you can do is follow the dry clothes/wet clothes routine and powder up your feet good when you stop at night.

 

[george]

Freshmint

Why buy jungle boots if you're not going to the jungle?

They're pretty c**p for anything else IMO.

George

 

[leon-1]

Lurch and Eds pretty much covered it.

The holes with the mesh are to let water out, after all jungles are categorized in three main levels (in the military) and in any of them there is a good chance that at some stage you will be crossing rivers and streams.

The vents also allow your feet to breath. As long as you are carrying out the wet dry routine and taking care of your feet then you should not have too many problems.

You don't want immersion foot and the mesh vents are pretty much one of the only ways that you will prevent it

 

[FreshMint]

Freshmint

Why buy jungle boots if you're not going to the jungle?

They're pretty c**p for anything else IMO.

George

I was asking around (other boards and such) and nearly everybody confirmed with me that these boots are pretty good in (warm summer conditions) in the forest or low mountains (no hiking as in climbing) just grass and such.

I'm playing with the idea to buy another boot for the (colder/winter time) something like the Matterhorn.

basikly I'm trying out what works best for me, if the jungle boots are absolutly c**p for were I go, than I use them for just walking, I had them on the whole day in the office and I'm amazed how compy they are, you look like somebody with clownshoos

Oh and yes they are expensive but I hey I don't drink smoke and don't go out much as in clubs fo twice a day to the gym and cinema sometimes, so at least i know what i can do with my money

 

[george]

Fair enough if you find them comfy freshmint, but I spent years wearing the things and I would never use them outside the forest.

As the others have said they are designed to be constantly wet but not to let water pool in them, so in this climate they're only useful in warm dry weather unless you're happy to have wet feet all the time. One possibility though is to wear goretex socks inside them - that might allow you to extend their use into spring and autumn.

George

 

[FreshMint]

Fair enough if you find them comfy freshmint, but I spent years wearing the things and I would never use them outside the forest.

As the others have said they are designed to be constantly wet but not to let water pool in them, so in this climate they're only useful in warm dry weather unless you're happy to have wet feet all the time. One possibility though is to wear goretex socks inside them - that might allow you to extend their use into spring and autumn.

George

That was excactly what I was thinking militarykit.com has some good waterproove socks.
But like I said, I'm not plaing to wade through rivers and such, were I go there are no rivers, more like marshy poddle of waters, but like I said It's never advised to walk through these as well cause you never know how deep they are.
So what I do is to take like 5 extra pair of socks for the 2 days hike and see how it goes.
I mean how much more will 5 extra pair of socks weight.

i'm not going to get to much worked up about this anyways, I want it to be a little advanture so I expect things to NOT always go to plan, I improvise on the way

 

[tomtom]

whats the furthest you have walked in them? do you often get blisters/hotspots?

 

[FreshMint]

whats the furthest you have walked in them? do you often get blisters/hotspots?

never.
I went through my army time in the german army without one blister, and I tell you guys ... EVERYBODY exept me had blisters at the beginning.

I worked in restaurants and hotels all my life so my feed are not very attractive as in i have a lot of "hard" skin at the sole and such, but i never took it off since I believe this is one thing that protects my feed.

I will however when I go hiking with the boots take an extra pair of shoes with me just in case.

 

[Goose]

That was excactly what I was thinking militarykit.com has some good waterproove socks.
But like I said, I'm not plaing to wade through rivers and such, were I go there are no rivers, more like marshy poddle of waters, but like I said It's never advised to walk through these as well cause you never know how deep they are.
So what I do is to take like 5 extra pair of socks for the 2 days hike and see how it goes.
I mean how much more will 5 extra pair of socks weight.

i'm not going to get to much worked up about this anyways, I want it to be a little advanture so I expect things to NOT always go to plan, I improvise on the way

The socks will probably weigh a lot more on the way back than the way out!
I have used water proof socks similar to sealskin and was quite impressed with them, I even tried them in the bath as my boots dont leak so i couldnt test them properly in the field. I'm not too sure about the *(british) army gore tex sock they are a totally different design.

 

[nzgunnie]

Do you really need a pair of high leg boots? The more weight on your feet the more fatigued you'll be. A pair of good leather ankle boots might be a more practical proposition.

We have incredibly rugged terrain here in New Zealand, and very few people wear high leg boots.

 

[Stuart]

Whee
So i got my boots today I ordered them 1 number to large since I want to use them with heavy and warm socks (maybe water restant socks) so far they fit great and seem to be very comptable.

one thing is (and I could not see this on the photo) they have 2 holes with a mesch on the inside, looks like a lot of water could come thrue if I step into a puddle.

Now I was aware that these boots are not waterprooved but I was thinking, would you not step into puddle of water in the jungle..

Anbody has any experience with these boots, can u acctually step briefly into a puddle without having the boot full of water?

Jungle boots are designed to be as Un-waterproof as possible, those holes are designed to let water in and out of the boot easily. it doesn’t matter how water proof your boots are, in the jungle your feet will get wet and in water proof boots the water cant get back out.

why will your feet get wet? well no boot which lets your feet breath will keep water out in these conditions:

this picture was the 5th river crossing that day, and we did another two before the day was up.

so to answer your question "can you actually step briefly into a puddle without having the boot full of water?" the answer is no.

due to the unlined mesh on the sides of the boot and the nature of there construction you will also find these boots to have no insulating quality what so ever especially in cold wet windy conditions

 

[BlueTrain]

My comments are not about jungle boots directly but about some of the issues that were brought up.

To begin with, it seems to me that at the present time, the trend is for the military to wear heavier and heavier boots, while the civilian trend is to wear lighter and lighter footwear on the trail. It is interesting because the civilian outdoor enthusiast is just as likely, if not more so, to be travelling over a rough trail as a soldier, particularly since the soldier is very likely to mechanized.

Another issue with lightweight footwear is the claim that, while they wet more easily, they dry quickly. That has not been my experience. I did about an eight mile or so day trip with light rain the whole day. I wore a cheap nylon poncho, which, by the way, I thought excellent for the purpose. I also wore a pair of very light Adidas hiking boots or shoes (ankle height) that became soaked in no time at all. The trail was running water in many places. Those shoes took a week to dry thoroughly. I also should point out that I was not wearing long pants and that resulted in water running down my legs and into my shoes. On another trip on the same trail a few months later, it also rained. Then I wore long pants and for that reason, I am sure that my footwear stayed dryer. On that trip I wore different boots but I don't remember which. In any case, my lightweight hiking shoes are about to fall apart.

Because of my experience on that rainy day with the soaked shoes, I thought of trying sandals. There are so-called sport sandals you can buy if you have $90, which I didn't, that look very good for summer use. But I did have a pair of Velcro-adjusting K-Mart specials (less than $10) that I thought I would try out for trail use. This is what happened.

First off, the weather was beautiful and it didn't rain and it wasn't terribly hot and humid. The trails I was on were the Applachian Trail for a few miles, plus another nearby trail. The trail conditions were varied but typical, and also included some parts that had not received much traffic and were mostly covered in grass. Except that I did not go off the trails, which you do when you camp, it was representative of late spring conditions in that area, although it was dry. So my experience of walking in the wet has not yet happened and that was the whole point.

While I would not want to try running in sandals, they were fine for walking, at least when carrying no more than you probably would for a day trip. I suspect that how low the temperature might be and still be comfortale is a very personal thing but you can still wear socks. But I noticed that you (me, anyway) walk differently to compensate for the sandals and you do it almost automatically. I think I was walking a little more flatfooted and maybe just a little more carefully. Anyhow, they worked out fine but I haven't repeated the experiment and that may be saying something.

One respondent on this thread mentioned service in the German Army. When I was in the US Army in Germany in the 1960's, German soldiers were still wearing the pull-on style marching boots. I don't think those are still in use but I have often wondered how they worked out as boots for actually marching (walking) in over any distance in. Any comments about that?

 

[pumbaa]

I feel i should add , Do not powder your feet in Goretex socks ! I was trying to be cocky during training and ended up with trench foot !!! The powder blocks the pores in goretex , so you may as well wear a carrier bag .
Pumbaa

 

[addyb]

You guys are all quite right! I have a pair of issue improved jungle boots. I picked them up at a surplus store for $35 dollars, they had never been worn before me.

My observations:

First time I wore 'em, I wore two pairs of socks. A pair of dupont 'coolmax' liner socks, and a medium weight wool pair over top. When I took the boots off at the end of the day, I had blood all over my toes and heels.

I came home, p**sed in 'em, let 'em sit overnight. Next day, ammonia and boiling water to clean them out. Wore the boots all day.

Now they're as comfortable as any of the Vans skate shoes I wear, and I think that means something!

You asked about gore-tex socks. Don't bother. The fellow posters who beat me to this are right, jungle boots are designed to let water in, and water out very quickly. If you were to wear gore-tex socks and cross a river like in this thread, the water will seep into the socks through the tops, and that water won't come out. It's called "moon-boot syndrome."

The general jungle boot process is this:

During the day, wear 1 pair of thick wool socks. Why? A thick sock cushions the boots, mine are actual issue, and they have a steel plate through the sole so VC punji sticks won't kill my foot. Also, wearing two pairs of socks when the boots get wet, that's why I had bleeding blisters at the end of the day. Too much friction. One pair, wool socks, not two, not cotton, no liner.

At the end of your day hiking day, do this: Remove boots. Take field towel out of rucksack. Remove sopping wet wool socks. Wring out. Dry feet. Remove foot powder from ruck. Liberally sprinkle foot powder onto feet. Rub in. Put on dry, gore-tex socks. Put boots back on. Let wool socks dry overnight as you crash. Wake up next morning. Change socks. Begin humping the boonies all day with your M-16, smoke lots of cigarettes, bitch about the LT and and the 90-day wonder Platoon sergeant.
........................................................................
A webpage that I think might be of interest to you, Freshmint:
Jungle Rot

Cheers,

A.

 

[WNZer]

Rather than p*ss on your boots, soak your socks in methylated spirits then wear for a few hours until they are dry, they will then feel like they have been tailor made, I turned a size 11 into a 12 that way so it must work dont try this if your boots have liners though, mine are just lined with kip leather.

 

[addyb]

Personally, I don't like using meths on boots. In my experience, I've found that meths weaken the leather a bit. (if it's bare) Meths and mineral oil are great for stripping polish off of boots, but if used on bare leather, it's not too healthy for it. Because, if you think about, leather is SKIN, and meths on skin is not very good, it dries it out, and causes it to crack. This is the reason why rubbing meth on your heels before a hike toughens them up.

The way I see it, there's 3 options.

1)The WWII method, urinating in 'em. (I learned of it from reading a WWII Tommy's account of the war.)

2)Hot water works too. Difference between this and the above is that with the hot water method, you have to wear the wet boots on your feet all day, whereas the above you let sit inside the boots overnight, then clean out the next morning.

3)Simply taking the pain and wearing them. You can hump 100 miles in ill-fitting boots with tylenol and a medic.

Everyone's got something that works. I personally don't use meths on boots. Some people do, and there's nothing wrong with that.

Once again, as I always say "Just my $0.02 cents!"

A.

 

[nzgunnie]

Every pair of boots I've owned I've done the same thing to them:

1. Put enough warm water in the bath to reach above the boots.

2. 'Marked time' in the bath with the boots on nice and tight, for about 10 minutes.

3. Worn the boots around home for the next couple of days until they are dry.

Works for me every time.

I'd be pretty cautions about using meths, since it is likely to strip any natural oils out of both the leather and your feet.