Conditions were occasionally sandy, and I had shoes with netting on top for breathability.
They're wool. I held them over the fire every night, just close enough to get them hot enough to kill bacteria. But you can't replace soap and water.
How do through hikers do it?!
Wash them?
If you are backpacking, you should have at LEAST 2 pairs of socks and you wash them at the end of the day. Use campsuds or the equivalent. I also had a ritual of washing my feet every morning with the cold stream water right before putting on the socks. It helped prevent blisters. This was back in the day when you had to have a pure wool sock and a polypro liner as a separate sock. now the smartwool is much easier to deal with.
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