Blister Prevention
Old geezer warning: Back in my day...... we used Moleskin.
In the 1980s I knew exactly where I was going to get blisters because it was always the same spots. So I'd prep for trips by applying Moleskin to those areas. In those days the adhesive on Moleskin was quite robust. You'd put it on your feet then walk for days through wet, marshy trails, and it'd stay put. You'd have to peel those off from your feet and scrub to get the glue residue off. When I rejoined the backpacking world in 2019 I found that a staple of my childhood backcountry experience was no longer worth a shit: the adhesives used on modern Moleskin aren't the same.
Then I caught wind of a new product. Not sure how. At the time I was frequenting/following lots of YouTube backpacking creators, so it's likely one of them that put me onto it. It's called Leukotape. Amazon and Walmart both sell it. It's much thinner than Moleskin, resolving a common complaint about the latter. It's like a roll of fabric Band Aid material but with one major difference - its adhesive is WAY stronger. It has the tenacity that circa 1980s Moleskin used to have. But wait, there's more!
The rolled form factor of Leukotape has a hidden function. By rolling, some of this robust adhesive gets transferred from the back of the tape to be left as residue on the front (fabric side) of the tape. This is a feature, not a defect. This adhesive residue essentially glues your socks to your feet. It prevents relative movement/friction between your sock and your foot and forces all movement/friction to be on the other side of your sock: between your sock and your shoe. In fact, when it comes time to take your socks off, you'll have to peel the socks away from your feet. I've yet to have a blister in a spot prepped with Leukotape. It will stick on your feet for days, enduring wet shoes/socks the same way Moleskin used to. You will have to scrub the glue residue off of your feet, just like one used to have to do with Moleskin.
One long-proven tip is to always stop and treat a hotspot as soon as you feel one coming on in order to prevent blisters from forming. With the rising popularity of trekking poles blister prevention has never been easier. Why? Because trekking poles provide the perfect location to store Leukotape. Wrap it around one of them so it's never forgotten and always immediately available. This storage method tends to enhance the front-face residue deposition as the tape adhesive tends to get partially "activated" through the process of taking it off the roll and wrapping it around the pole, meaning it's very sticky when it comes off.
Keep hiking my friends.
