How To Clean Hiking Shoes

Cleaning the outside of your hiking and trail shoes.

How to clean hiking shoes. First of all forget your washing machine. Try freezing your boots to remove sticky wax or sap. Rinse your hiking shoes with water. If necessary use a soft brush or a sponge to remove any mud and dirt that s left. For the best performance try a soap formulated specifically for the material.

To remove excess dirt and stains scrub them with a brush or sponge and warm soapy water. But before you do shake out any sand gravel or dirt left inside from your previous adventure. For your shoes for your washing machine don t. Rinse off the soapy water then leave them to air dry overnight since heat exposure can damage their materials. Wash your boots with water and dish detergent and use a toothbrush to scrub the nooks and crannies.

Take your shoes inside remove all the laces and insoles to make it easier to work on. Loosen the laces or the quick lace. You ll have to get your hands wet and dirty. What you ll need for cleaning your hiking boots. We asked gore tex footwear expert andy mcquerrey about his advice on how one should go about washing a gore tex boot.

If your shoes aren t made of lizard skin or leather you can probably follow these advise. While washing it is crucial to clean or dry the insoles laces and boots separately. Try and dislodge most of the dirt by walking through wet grass or a puddle on your way home. Start the cleaning by doing some light cleaning on your hiking boots. Clean the exterior of your boots with a cloth or brush and lukewarm water.

Follow all the provided steps in the article above but don t apply the deodorizer yet. For cleaning the uppers of your shoes this is what you have to do. After that use the boot brush to remove all accumulated debris on the surface. A special boot brush an old vegetable brush or toothbrush specialized boot cleaner saddle soap or a mild solution of dishwashing soap and water cleaning hiking boot uppers. First step smash em against each other.