Pairing knee-high socks with shorts while hiking or trail running offers the advantages of flexibility, a cooling effect and protection against the elements.
Some like wearing short socks on a hike for the sake of comfort, but long socks offer certain advantages that are worth considering.
Hiking in the jungle has more risks than road-running.
Your legs from the knees down face a host of hazards, including leeches, insect bites and stings and scrapes and abrasions from tall grass, thorny bushes, sharp vines and rocks.
Knee-high socks protect your shins and calves against all that.
The trick is to pair long socks with shorts.
You get the same kind of protection wearing pants, but hiking or trail running in the sweltering tropical humidity can turn a fun romp in the woods into an ordeal.
So consider wearing shorts to optimise the cooling of your body when you sweat and couple that with knee-high socks for an extra layer of protection.
When hiking in shorts, you will also quickly appreciate the flexibility of your movements compared with wearing hiking pants.
Add gaiters (tubular coverings wrapped around your shoe openings) to stop pebbles, sand and crawling critters from getting into your shoes.
This levels up the protection against all the things that long socks protect you from.
Some long socks are designed with a compression function to promote better blood flow.
Gravity can cause blood to linger in the veins of your legs, which can lead to problems like blood clots and slow down the re-oxygenation of your blood.
That gentle compression applies pressure to your ankles and calves to encourage the blood upwards, reducing pain and swelling in your ankles and legs, and also issues such as varicose veins.
Athletes who use much of their legs benefit most from using knee-high compression socks.
