If you’ve been chasing waterfalls like we have, then you know that sometimes you have to get your shoes wet. In some cases, you have no choice but to go right through a rushing creek or river early in the hike. So you can imagine having to spend the rest of the hike (possibly the rest of the day) with squishy, uncomfortable shoes. However, it’s not just the sensation that’s annoying – there’s also that inevitable stink that can be nauseating.

Once the shoes stink, that stench can stick around, no matter low long they’ve been idling (even after they become dry). It can easily become a ‘kick off your shoes and clear the room’ scenario. Heck, the stink even made us consider getting rid of the shoes (something we’ve done before), and it’s one of the main hesitations we have for allowing shoes to get wet (especially on the inside)!

But believe it or not, those stinky shoes can be salvaged to at least last long enough to make such an accessory worth the money you spent for them. And in this article, I’ll show you how we managed to accomplish this, especially after my own run-in with some particularly pungent trail runners after a wet hike that happened overseas in Greece.

What Causes Your Shoes To Stink?

So why do shoes smell worse after getting wet? Well it turns out that moisture tends to be an environment perfect for allowing microscopic bacteria and fungi to thrive. It turns out that these unwelcome-yet-hardy critters feast on your dead skin cells, sweat by-products, and oils from your feet, and as they snack, they produce gases. It’s these gases that result in that punch-you-in-the-nose stench.

Indeed, moisture is public enemy number one when it comes to shoe odor, but combine that with a warm environment (especially a poorly-ventilated one), and you have the conditions ripe for microbes to exponentially multiply and emit greater volumes of their noxious gases. Therefore, if you want to control the odor (let alone the chances of an infection such as athlete’s foot), you’ll need to control the moisture in your shoes promptly.

Just to give you an idea of how prompt is prompt, I’ve actually gone a couple of years without needing to employ the measures that I’m about to describe in the next couple of sections. Heck, this two-year period included long day hikes that required getting wet like the Bridge to Nowhere hike (which is a half-day hike that involves multiple river crossings, and I did this hike multiple times). When I was done with the hike, all I did was to air out the trail running shoes at home (or facilitate the drying with a fan if it’s too late in the day). Typically, the shoes would be ready to go by the next day.

However, it wasn’t until I did a wet hike in Greece at the Polilimnio Waterfalls when things immediately changed. After that hike was done, I then left the trail running shoes in the rental car. Well, it turned out that the combination of the greenhouse effect in the car along with the damp shoes really made that bacteria population explode! Not only did it stink up the whole rental car, but upon every time I wore those shoes afterward (even when they were dry), they left my feet (and the shoes themselves) smelling real foul.

Were my trail runners a lost cause at this point? Well, it turned out that there were things I could have done to mitigate the issue even when home was too far away!

Temporary Fixes On The Trail: Managing Odor On The Go

Let’s face it. Sometimes when you’re far from home and you inevitably have to hike through water, your options are limited on what you can do to control the microbial population in your wet footwear. While I ultimately just put up with the stench (that also got onto my socks when wearing it on the plane rides), in hindsight, I probably could have done the following to make the situation a little better after my unexpected dip during the Polilimnio Waterfalls hike in Greece.

Indeed, I had made the mistake of leaving the wet shoes in the rental car with windows closed when we were still out and about going from one site to another for the rest of that day (the waterfall hike was done in the morning). That prolonged exposure to the poorly-ventilated, greenhouse-effected interior of the rental car essentially turned my wet shoes into a Petri dish. By the time I realized my mistake, just leaving the bacteria-plagued shoes out in the sun was no longer enough to prevent the stench from coming back every time I wore them.

So the first on-the-go remedy that I could have done would be to prevent some of the bacterial growth explosion in the first place by letting the shoes ventilate OUTSIDE the car. Since rural Greece was relatively safe (as far as petty crime was concerned), there was a lower likelihood of theft or some other mischief that might occur to them. Preferably, I’d put the shoes somewhere visible like the hood of the car so they wouldn’t be forgotten. I’d also take out the insoles and weigh down both the in-soles and the shoes with rocks to prevent them from flying away should it get windy. In any case, doing this puts the shoes in an environment that would be well-ventilated as well as possibly subject to the ultraviolet rays of the sun and the humidity-limiting wind, all of which would limit moisture and thereby limit the bacterial growth.

Second, if leaving the shoes outside the car was not an option, we also could have stuffed the wet shoes with something absorbent in an attempt to minimize the moisture and odor. If you can afford the extra luggage weight (since we are talking about an overseas trip), you can put baking soda and cornstarch in a pair of sacrificial socks. However, if that’s too time and weight intensive, then you can try stuffing the shoes with packets of silica gel or even uncooked rice (assuming you can buy these things at a local shop). And if you’re really low on materials, then you can try stuffing the shoes with dry leaves or paper.

In a bit of a messier solution, you can even sprinkle a bit of talcum powder or baking soda inside the shoes to neutralize the smell (again, assuming you can afford the extra pack weight to bring them or if you can buy these things during the trip). And if you’re willing to buy a disinfectant spray (as I’d imagine it wouldn’t be allowed to bring them as carry-on luggage), you can also try spraying the insides of the shoe.

Finally, if you happen to be camping and can get to your campsite or resting spot, you can remove the insoles and wash both the shoes as well as the insoles with whatever soap you have. Then, you can pat them dry and leave them out in the sun (for as long as you’re not using these shoes until your next hike). The UV rays are blissfully effective at zapping the odor-causing bacteria.

Of course, the drawback to all of these measures is that they all require time. So they wouldn’t be effective if you have other hikes to do on the same day or if the shoes didn’t have enough time to get dry by the time you get to your next excursion the following day.

Remember, these are just quick fixes. Hopefully, they’re going to make things more bearable until you can get back to civilization and deal with the problem head-on. In short, don’t let a bit of odor sour your adventure. It’s all part of the experience, but managing it can make it a lot more pleasant.

Home Remedies: Thoroughly Deodorizing and Disinfecting Soaked Shoes

So going back to our anecdote after our Greece trip, when we got home, we already knew that just drying out the shoes under the ultraviolet rays of the sun wasn’t going to be enough to kill off the bacterial colony that had already established itself in my trail runners. So we needed a stronger home remedy to revive the shoes.

Well, it turned out that we already had a viable solution that worked pretty well for my gym clothes that I wash every weekend. Indeed, we’ve been soaking the gym clothes in a bucket of soapy water using an eco-friendly but effective detergent, and it turned out that this can also be applied to my trail runners! And when I say soak, I mean really let them marinate. While my gym clothes typically only needs a soapy soaking for about a day, we learned that we’d need at least 1-2 days (depending on the persistence of the bacterial colony) to ensure that the detergent penetrated every fiber while making them less habitable for the offensive bacteria.

For the case of my smelly trail runners after the Greece trip, it actually took at least 2 days of the soapy soaking before the smell went away (which I tested after I used the shoes again for dry hiking or even for my daughter’s softball practice). When I got the shoes wet again after a brief hike to San Antonio Falls in high flow, it only took one day of soaking to get rid of the smell.

If using detergent isn’t your thing, then you can make your own odor-eating package by pouring a half-cup of baking soda and a half-cup of cornstarch into a pair of socks. Tie up the tops of the socks real good to prevent the stuff from coming out. Then put the stocks into the wet shoe to let your MacGuyver’d odor-eater do its thing for at least 24 hours.

For disinfecting the shoe, you can put a mixture of distilled white vinegar and water (keeping a 1:1 ratio) into a spray bottle. Then, you can spray the insides of each shoe. Since vinegar is acidic, there’s a high likelihood that the bacteria can’t withstand this acidity. That said, you also have to be careful not to spray the outside of the shoe because that acidity might discolor the visible materials.
Similarly, you can also fill up a spray bottle with tea tree oil or other anti-bacterial oils like clove or cedarwood. This can be quite effective at disinfecting wet hiking boots, which may not respond well to prolonged soaking in detergent, especially if you’re worried about messing up the boot’s Gore-tex membrane.

Going back to the soapy soaking remedy, after the soaking period, we’d then put the shoes out in the backyard in an area that gets a lot of sun, and then we’d let them dry. We made sure that the insoles were outside the shoes so everything gets exposed to the sun’s UV radiation. By the end of the day (especially if it’s a warm, sunny day which happens a lot in Southern California where we live), the shoes will be dry and ready for its next use.

There’s a limit to how long and how often you’ll want to soak your shoes, however, because prolonged exposure to the soapy water could weaken the glue or stitching holding the shoes together. Heck, even prolonged exposure to the sun’s UV rays could also weaken the material (something you might have noticed if you left tents or nets outside in the sun and forgot about them).

Even when drying your shoes, you’ll definitely not want to leave them outside overnight. That’s because morning dew and fog can re-introduce moisture to the shoe while also inviting other unwanted wildlife (e.g. spiders, rodents, etc.) to undo all your hard work.

Remember, this process isn’t instant and it requires patience, but at the same time, it isn’t set and forget either. Nevertheless, trust me when I say the trouble is worth it. Your nostrils will thank you, and the shoes will last long enough to at least get your money’s worth for what you paid for them.

Conclusion

As you can see, just because your hiking shoes were dunked in water doesn’t mean that they’re done. With a little maintenance, you can still use the shoes for their intended lifespan. And if you’re talking about legitimate hiking shoes, which can cost upwards of $100 USD, it can be incredibly wasteful to throw them away as soon as they reek.

That said, realize that there’s no silver bullet for rescuing stinky shoes. That’s why your first line of defense is to manage the moisture before the bacterial colony takes hold. However, if the bacteria does indeed take over, then with a bit of detergent-aided-soaking and careful drying, you can keep your kicks smelling fresh without compromising their longevity.

After all, getting the most out of your gear is not only good for your wallet, it’s a small victory against the haste-makes-waste-and-more-money era of planned obsolescence. Keep giving your shoes that TLC and they’ll keep trekking with you, odor-free, for miles to come.