During my first thru-hike attempt I was introduced to barefoot hiking for the first time... I hadn't even considered it before then. Still makes me smile whenever I remember my fellow hikers, and myself, trying to just walk around camp barefoot. It always ended in laughter and tenderfeet.
I've always loved being barefoot whenever possible but even then it was always limited to in and around the house. When hiking I tend to favor sandals because I enjoy them as multi-purpose footwear and they let my feet breathe. But I still think back and wonder what hiking would be like with feet conditioned for barefoot hiking. So over the last few weeks I've begun the long and arduous task of conditioning my feet for hiking. It is going to take a LONG time.
I've been walking/running on many different surfaces and I'm enjoying all the sensation I'm now getting from my regular outings that I wasn't getting before. Concrete, pavement, micro gravel, standard gravel, grass, dirt, mountain trails, creek beds, boulders, roots, etc. The trails and gravel paths are doing the most to toughen the bottom of my feet. But every type of surface is slowly strengthening the muscles and tendons in my feet, ankles, and calves. LOVE the soreness I'm getting in my calves because I know that they're only getting stronger for it. My Achilles tendons are definitely not up to where I'd like but they'll slowly come around. Learned the hard way what kind of damage hot pavement can do to bare feet. Blisters, oh my. Running from shady section, to white lines, to shady section just wasn't good enough. Lesson learned.
All in all I'm enjoying the experience and I'm getting stronger. Will it eventually lead to hiking long distance barefoot? Only time will tell.
Was curious if anyone else considered trying this before?