Going barefoot?

[woodsman]

Apparently there's a whole barefoot thing going around and nobody told me. I was out hiking on Sunday and meet a guy who was walking barefoot. Of course I wen't over and asked him if he was lost and if he needed some help. He looked at me like I was crazy and said no he was fine, why? I pointed at his feet, he smugly looked at me and said there's a book called Born to Run, he then proceeded to point out that my time would be better spent educating myself instead of bothering strangers. I took his advice and went my way. Of course I forgot to mention that in about 5 miles he's going to run into a field of sharp rocks that also never heard about this book.

 

[ChadTower]

Going barefoot is not new. People did it for thousands of years and in many parts of the world it's still normal.

I've heard of that book, know a guy who tried its methods, never read it myself. I guess the idea is that most runners who have a flawed gait will correct themselves over time if they add some barefoot running to the mix.

 

[bsmit212]

I tried it. It was not for me, but if you want to that is fine. Look at Cody Lundin. There is two books out there call the "Barefoot Sisters" about two girls that did the AT barefoot, one is going northbound and one going southbound. While not barefoot, I do like the Vibram Five Finger shoes for trails where I will be doing lots of creek/river crossings. The wrose I have seen though was during a 5K in downtown Atlanta where a guy was doing it barefoot, to me that is worse than being barefoot in nature simple because of what is on those street.

But it all comes down to if you want to be barefoot, then go have fun it is not my feet.

 

[CozInCowtown]

I just detest them folks like that.
Karma is a wonderful thing though....ound:
Did you wait for him down the trail??

 

[ChadTower]

How is going barefoot a karma issue? It's not hurting anybody else.

 

[Newanderthal]

I hung with a guy who frequently does day hikes barefoot, including some trails near Austin that are laced with jagged rocks. To each his own.

 

[CaverGroupie]

Since I spent most of my childhood barefoot, the "new and shiny" of barefoot doesn't particularly grab my attention. I do have a pair of those Vibram five finger shoes though. They are super great for wading across streams, where being able to better feel the rocks is important and they dry really fast. They are more protection than bare feet, but some thorns still go through the rubber bottom.

 

[Michael]

I walk around barefoot outdoors a lot. Pavement, trails, woods, wherever. I've been doing it consistently since I was a kid. My feet are pretty tough as a result.

I still don't go hiking barefoot. Thorns and broken glass can still get through your feet no matter how tough they are. And it would be really genuinely awful to walk miles back to the car with a chunk of broken glass in the bottom of your foot. I've got tweezers in my kit, and I can probably get most of the stuff out, but I'd really rather just avoid that whole thing.

 

[TakeAHike]

I would never hike barefoot because you never know what you might run into. I do however, go outside frequently without shoes on. I like being barefoot and it is one of my favorite things about summer.

 

[wvbreamfisherman]

I went barefoot a lot as a kid....of course I got my feet cut with broken glass, poked with nails (resulting in the annual tetanus shot ritual), and bruised and battered in all the usual ways. It didn't bother me then. Nowadays, my shoes go on when I get dressed in the morning, and they come off when I shower or go to bed. Yeah, I'm a wimp... ;-)

 

[Grandpa]

I threw away hiking boots years ago in favor of lightweight sport shoes but it ends there. I have backpacked in my crocs when the situation warranted but I definately want something on my feet. I even wear crocs or other suitable watershoes when I visit the backcountry hot springs. You just never know when some idiot left a broken beer bottle or other sharp debris in the water.

To me, going barefoot while hiking in the backcountry is about the same class of thinking as driving a car with cord showing tires. You have a huge chance of some serious downtime. Just because my abo ancestor ran around barefoot all his life, doesn't mean I have to do the same. Some things were invented to better lifes challenges.

But......hike your own hike:tinysmile_fatgrin_t

 

[wvbreamfisherman]

Sure, primitive man ran around barefoot, but some of oldest inventions known are foot protection of some sort.

 

[woodsman]

I know going barefoot is not a new invention, by new I meant that I didn't know people were hiking this way, at least not anywhere in the developed world. Also, his feet didn't look like they were adapted to anything harder than a grassy trail.

 

[WideOpenSpace]

It's supposed to be good for your feet in some way I think (though obviously not if you stand on something sharp!)...something to do with developing stronger muscles/tendons? Whatever the benefits, I would never ever do it - I hate being barefoot in my home let alone outside, it just makes your foot skin all dry and unattractive!

 

[ponderosa]

I sometimes pause to think "this is probly not that smart" as I'm hoeing the garden in bare feet with a super sharp hoe. And then I carry on with the garden work.
I used to play barefoot in the stubble of the cut hay field when I was a kid...couldn't do that anymore.
But hiking barefoot is taking it too far for me. But as they say, hike yer own hike.

 

[Theosus]

I like it. There's a connection to the earth that just doesn't come from anywhere else. It feels strange at first, like you're in Walmart in your underwear (okay, maybe target...I think that being in Walmart in your underwear would be normal at this point). You get used to it. The down side is in the roots sections you spend a lot of time looking at your feet. It's also a little masochistic. Sometimes as I step from root to root I expect to see a woman behind me, wearing a leather bustier, holding a riding crop and grinning wickedly.
I like bare footing because I can step through mud and water without worrying about wet shoes. But then there was the time I stepped over a log in the rain and planted my foot on the "vine of a thousand spines". I peeled it loose quickly, almost like pulling it off fly paper. For a week my foot had this red zipper look from between my first and second toe, make to my heel. Ouch...

 

[Mudslide]

I remember as a kid we would run down the long gravel driveway at my grandmas house barefooted and now that I think about it, we never had shoes on there. Where are all those ringworms and tapeworms we were supposed to get? Matter of fact I never get sick...I owe it all to going barefoot way back when maybe.

 

[Grandpa]

All you barefooters never had chickens running loose in the yard either:tinysmile_tongue_t:

Hate to count the times I barefooted through their leavings. **squish**

 

[ponderosa]

Ewww.
We've been tending the neighbor's chickens this week, and I actually did make my normally barefoot kids put on their flip flops for that chore.

 

[Riverflow]

I didn't realize walking around barefoot was a thing until now- or that there were even books about this! I guess I can understand the draw of it, actually feeling the earth under your feet and all. Still, I think I'd rather have protection on my feet rather than walk or step on anything dangerous or pointy.