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DocT
02-16-2009, 23:09
So I've been looking into barefoot hiking recently and heard some rumors about a group of people barefoot through hiking the AT. looking for any insight/info/ guidance here... thanks.

Matt

4eyedbuzzard
02-16-2009, 23:19
Personally, I think the idea is absurd. Yeah, there are people who have really tough feet, but there is a limit. 1) Unless they hiked really fast, a normal early spring start would make frostbite a distinct probability in the southern Appalachians. 2) Lots of sharp rocks and roots along the trail all the way from GA to ME. 3) NH and ME will be brutal as well both from a footing and weather standpoint. 4) And my money is on Rocksylvania drawing some serious blood.

Lilred
02-16-2009, 23:22
I can't remember what year they hiked, but look up 'the barefoot sisters' on trailjournals. They hiked SOBO barefoot. There was also Tyvek Man who hiked barefoot and made all his gear out of Tyvek.

4eyedbuzzard
02-16-2009, 23:34
The barefoot sisters wore footware in ice, snow, and several other places, often for traction and not necessarily for warmth or protection--but they didn't thru-hike completely barefoot.

Wags
02-16-2009, 23:38
my advise is that it's dangerous. disease/fungus/ticks/sharp stuff

some hippies just doing it to be cool

JF2CBR
02-17-2009, 00:15
The idea is cool i suppose, but I can't even begin to imagine actually doing it.

CrumbSnatcher
02-17-2009, 00:29
So I've been looking into barefoot hiking recently and heard some rumors about a group of people barefoot through hiking the AT. looking for any insight/info/ guidance here... thanks.

Mattmy dog BEAR relly seemed to enjoy hiking without shoes,but she never really talked about it.:-?:D

sloopjonboswell
02-17-2009, 02:05
i hiked with dr. dirty d. off and on from hiawassee to the end of the creeper trail in 07. personally saw him summit snow covered mtns around gaitlinburg in april. no shoes.

mtt37849
02-17-2009, 02:09
I, like everyone else here have not done it, but have seen on House Mt. an older man that hikes it every week with no shoes. From what I could tell he didn't even bring them with him like over his shoulder or anything.
Sounds cool but i wouldn't do it and not sure that it is advised.

maxpatch67
02-17-2009, 02:17
You studs. I couldn't walk anywhere on the AT bearfoot. Well.....I suppose there are a few smoooth dirt parts that would be fine, but with all the roots and rocks no way. That's cool that ya'll can, though.

sloopjonboswell
02-17-2009, 03:29
You studs. I couldn't walk anywhere on the AT bearfoot. Well.....I suppose there are a few smoooth dirt parts that would be fine, but with all the roots and rocks no way. That's cool that ya'll can, though.

clarification. pike county always wore shoes when he was hiking and does not advocate pitch black dirty feet.

Pedaling Fool
02-17-2009, 08:26
http://www.barefooters.org/hikers/

http://www.unshod.org/ebbfhike/bfhik101.htm

http://www.barefoothikers.org/

hoz
02-17-2009, 08:40
Of course, this is the next "logical" step in the lightweight revolution.

MOWGLI
02-17-2009, 09:13
The Barefoot Sisters have a book. Look into it.

TrippinBTM
02-17-2009, 09:55
I've hiked barefoot, but mainly here in Michigan, where it's not extremely rocky. It can be done. You learn to step between the roots and rocks that a booted foot ignores and steps on, and thus assumes are unavoidable, so it's not as bad as you think. PA would be tough, for sure. But your feet toughen up. It's the natural human way to walk, our feet adapted perfectly to walking without shoes over the millions of years before shoes and are NOT adapted to shoes (obviously).

I have hiked in moccasins on the AT occasionally (hence my trailname), and that's definitely doable, and actually pretty damn comfortable.

rhjanes
02-17-2009, 10:27
The Barefoot Sisters have a book. Look into it.
actually, 2 books. They did a yo-yo. Southbound first, waited a few months, then went north. 2 books. The first might be better.

MOWGLI
02-17-2009, 10:45
actually, 2 books. They did a yo-yo. Southbound first, waited a few months, then went north. 2 books. The first might be better.

I met them with Waterfall just north of Pinkham Notch in early August 2000. One of the highlights of my trip.

Rockhound
02-17-2009, 10:56
I can see you at Mt K now trying to get permission to summit on a bad weather day. " pack...check,stove....check, proper clothing....check, what are you wearing for footwear?". "I'm not wearing any."......."No shoes!?..NO PATCH FOR YOU! YOU GO HOME! YOU GO NOW!

Doctari
02-17-2009, 12:29
I also thought to do some barefoot hiking a few years ago. The plan was: when I got to "Nice" trails, to loose the shoes to let my feet air out or whatever.
As a test; I hiked 2 miles on grass / sidewalks to the resturant my wife wanted lunch at. About 3/4 mile in, my calves (sp) were on FIRE! :eek: Even climbing out of NOC with a 42 Lb pack didn't hurt as much & all I was carrying on the barefoot "hike" were: a pair of socks & my running shoes in a small backpack.

What does this mean for you? I don't know, because I asume that you will be doing many miles barefoot to toughen your feet, but perhaps a warning for when you start that training.

I solved the problem by stretching my legs for about 10 minutes mid hike. May have prevented it by doing so BEFORE I started. I suspect it was caused by different muscles being used after over 50 years of walking with shoes on.

Smile
02-17-2009, 12:44
It's obviously been done, but I would think would certainly slow your miles per day down in a big way :)

Shiraz-mataz
02-17-2009, 12:57
I had to chime in on this one... I actually try to hike barefoot whenever possible. This generally translates into roughly half the time during spring or summer. The fall is far too difficult since leaves cover so many obstacles. The AT is very challenging when it comes to barefoot hiking, I'll grant you that. As a lowlander, I think nothing of doing an eight mile circuit in a local park and not even bringing shoes with me! But it seems I'm mostly hiking in sandals on the AT. As long as trail conditions allow I say go for it but be careful and know your limits. One of the pics in my gallery is of me doing some barefootin' in the Shennies last year!

WritinginCT
02-17-2009, 13:01
You could always go this route...

http://www.vibramfivefingers.com/

Nearly Normal
02-17-2009, 13:08
When I was a kid the only time during the summer I wore shoes was on Sunday. It would take you a couple of weeks before you feet would toughen up and even then stone bruising was common.
I can't imagine why anyone would want to hike barefoot carrying packweight if they didn't have to.

timebreaks
02-18-2009, 21:52
i second the fivefingers idea!

sticks&stones
02-18-2009, 22:43
The barefoot sisters wore footware in ice, snow, and several other places, often for traction and not necessarily for warmth or protection--but they didn't thru-hike completely barefoot.

Not sure where you got your info but the sisters did in fact cover every inch of the AT in barefeet, in one continuous journey. They walked over the rocks of PA, and thru more miles of snow, in bare feet, than any 10 nobo's will see on there entire hike. That's not something I heard, that's something I saw.

YoungMoose
02-18-2009, 22:51
its been done by some fool. But i would never do that. you will tear your feet to shreads for the first week until * grow callouses(however you spell it)

YoungMoose
02-18-2009, 22:52
by the end ur foot would be as hard as a rock

Blissful
02-18-2009, 23:30
Met Tyvek, the vet who was doing it barefoot in '07. Boy did he have black feet. But he also stared me in the face and said I was going to make it. That was in southern VA, I think. I never forget those encounters.

Toot
02-21-2009, 13:32
My friend & I hiked a trail in SNP (not the AT) barefoot for the day. Reason was we were constantly crossing this one creek and we tired of taking off and putting back on our shoes. The trail was relatively flat and free of stones and we were in and out of the water. Still, when we made camp for the night, our feet were horribly bruised. Made walking out the next day very uncomfortable.
Plus there was the little issue of the snake I almost stepped on. I wouldn't do it again...

Rain Man
02-21-2009, 18:43
Not sure where you got your info but the sisters did in fact cover every inch of the AT in barefeet, in one continuous journey.

Barefoot Hikers of PA. (http://www.barefoothikers.org/barefoot-sisters.html)
"While they did sometimes wear shoes in the snow, "7 or 8 miles" in snow that didn't come over the tops of their feet was tolerable. I also found it interesting that they were sometimes forced into shoes by ICY conditions, not because it was too cold, but rather "too slippery."

Not sure why the above site seems to disagree.

NOTE TO DocT: If you'll Google barefoot hiking, you'll find some interesting material. Might be helpful to you.

Rain:sunMan

.

notorius tic
02-21-2009, 19:07
:eek:
Not sure where you got your info but the sisters did in fact cover every inch of the AT in barefeet, in one continuous journey. They walked over the rocks of PA, and thru more miles of snow, in bare feet, than any 10 nobo's will see on there entire hike. That's not something I heard, that's something I saw.

WILLIAM HAYES
02-21-2009, 19:16
I see no reason to go barefoot when you can purchase good quality trail runners

boarstone
02-21-2009, 19:53
So I've been looking into barefoot hiking recently and heard some rumors about a group of people barefoot through hiking the AT. looking for any insight/info/ guidance here... thanks.

Matt

Be my guest....it'll be a short trip

Tipi Walter
03-02-2009, 09:56
The barefoot sisters wore footware in ice, snow, and several other places, often for traction and not necessarily for warmth or protection--but they didn't thru-hike completely barefoot.

Even if there is some disagreement on this, what could it matter? I see it as a stunt, like hiking the AT with a tuba or hopping on one foot or speed hiking.


I've hiked barefoot, but mainly here in Michigan, where it's not extremely rocky. It can be done. You learn to step between the roots and rocks that a booted foot ignores and steps on, and thus assumes are unavoidable, so it's not as bad as you think. PA would be tough, for sure. But your feet toughen up. It's the natural human way to walk, our feet adapted perfectly to walking without shoes over the millions of years before shoes and are NOT adapted to shoes (obviously).

I have hiked in moccasins on the AT occasionally (hence my trailname), and that's definitely doable, and actually pretty damn comfortable.

Granted, primitive humans had tough feet and probably quite wider than shoe-bound feet. But then again, tell the Inuits to go barefoot.


Not sure where you got your info but the sisters did in fact cover every inch of the AT in barefeet, in one continuous journey. They walked over the rocks of PA, and thru more miles of snow, in bare feet, than any 10 nobo's will see on there entire hike. That's not something I heard, that's something I saw.

Did they also carry a tuba? I just don't see the point.

Pedaling Fool
03-02-2009, 10:13
The reason why we wear shoes is because we have a brain. If animals had the brains to manufacture shoes they would, but since they don't they just suck it up.

wrongway_08
03-02-2009, 10:27
The reason why we wear shoes is because we have a brain. If animals had the brains to manufacture shoes they would, but since they don't they just suck it up.


Your feet would be the best way to travel, they would normally get hard and have no problem with the travel.

But people like to dress everything up and keep everything as soft as a babys ass, so we put on shoes and screw our feet up. Why do you think a hard arse pair of SuperFeet are good for your feet, they allow the the fat in your feet to cusion your step - the way it was done before people screwed it up by putting on shoes.

Hats off to the Barefooot Sisters for doing things the right way :).

4eyedbuzzard
03-02-2009, 11:01
Humans have been wearing footware of some sort for most of recorded history-and them some. Generally this has been either for protection from the elements or terrain. http://www.shoeguide.org/The_Origins_of_Shoe_Use

I suppose, though, we could blame the cavemen for screwing up the planet and all of humanity by inventing footware in order to pursue their soft, cushy existence. Probably the same idiots who invented clothes and tools. :rolleyes:

High Life
03-02-2009, 11:12
personally on my AT hikes , i stub my toes so much if i was bare foot i would have surely had broken toes . It hurts bad enough with foot ware on. i seen someone wearing these vibram five fingers .. this would get you closer without some of the pain
still stubbing your toes and breaking them is a possibility http://indietravelpodcast.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/vibram-five-fingers-square.jpg

hoz
03-02-2009, 11:15
Rob Bredl in Australia (The Barefoot Bushman) goes barefoot everywhere. On his TV program, "Killer Instinct", I've seen him walk over rocks, pebbles, catch "tucker" and generally live outdoors without wearing foot coverings of any kind.

I've never seen a close up of his feet, but I'd bet they are covered in callouses.

hoz
03-02-2009, 11:20
The Barefoot Bushman...

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/86/242866620_7e6db36cc2.jpg?v=0

Wise Old Owl
03-02-2009, 11:29
You could always go this route...

http://www.vibramfivefingers.com/

I saw those on a hikers feet last week before the snow storm, she was hiking in some muddy conditions. I don't get it.


I have done 15 + miles in vibram sandals from keen - very comfortable.

JAK
03-02-2009, 11:39
I find it therapeutic to do for a few miles now and then, on soft spruce needles or whatever. When I tried it the first time I wish I had thought of it sooner, as my feet were blisteredm, because I was trying out something new that didn't work.

wrongway_08
03-02-2009, 11:49
The five toed socks I tried (with normal shoes) wore out within 1 week, they are comfy - none of the toe-stick from sweaty feet. Just wonder how well the shoes would work, if they would be prone to the same rub wear areas?

Pedaling Fool
03-02-2009, 13:35
http://www.world-science.net/othernews/090226_footprints.htm

RITBlake
03-02-2009, 14:13
Passed a hippie looking thru hiking girl somewhere in Vermont who was hiking barefoot. Her eyes were totally glazed over, didn't look like she was having very much fun.

Tipi Walter
03-02-2009, 22:38
Is this a Straight Forward thread? And if not, why muzzle the audience?

RITBlake
03-02-2009, 23:13
Is this a Straight Forward thread? And if not, why muzzle the audience?

settle down, off topic is off topic.

High Life
03-02-2009, 23:26
The Barefoot Bushman...

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/86/242866620_7e6db36cc2.jpg?v=0

PIRATE is a tough dude ... lol

Vagrant Squirrel
03-03-2009, 10:15
We don't have to go back to the prehistoric caveman in order to find an example of how people survived without shoes... Let us not forget that somewhere in the world at this exact moment there are still some tribes of indigenous people who run around the forest or jungle wearing nothing but loin cloths and hunting wild animals with spears. I imagine that in order to hunt a wild animal in the woods or jungle, barefoot and with only a spear, one must be acutely aware of their surroundings and run with the speed and grace of a gazelle.

Still, I would rather attempt to walk on water than to hike barefoot in the cold/snow. :)

Rain Man
03-03-2009, 10:55
Still, I would rather attempt to walk on water than to hike barefoot in the cold/snow. :)

For what it's worth, just saw a guy on the news last evening, running in the snow. He had had knee problems and learned his shoes were causing him problems with how his feet landed. Some years ago, he switched to running barefoot and says his knees are now fine.

Rain:sunMan

.

Vagrant Squirrel
03-03-2009, 11:35
For what it's worth, just saw a guy on the news last evening, running in the snow. He had had knee problems and learned his shoes were causing him problems with how his feet landed. Some years ago, he switched to running barefoot and says his knees are now fine.

Rain:sunMan

.


It seems that a better solution may have been to have specially designed orthopedic shoes to correct for the misstep caused by conventional footwear. Though I suppose that news viewers need some form of entertainment :)

JAK
03-03-2009, 11:50
Why not moccassins?

4eyedbuzzard
03-03-2009, 11:51
Antropologists have deduced from human footprints that human foot bones began to become less robust at least as early as 40,000 years ago, suggesting that at least in the colder climes where these were found, that footware was likely already being used both for protection from cold and terrain. Given that many of us are evolved from those humans, it is unlikely that humans will regain the more primitive robust foot bones of early humans that had not yet developed footwear. While stressing the feet and bones by going barefoot can certainly toughen and strengthen bones, ligaments, muscles, and skin, it can also lead to injury. No amount of forced stress is going to make up for what has been passed down to us genetically as a species. Early humans didn't develop footware out of some concept of unnecessary consumerism, they did so out of the need to survive and make what was a very harsh life less painful.

Wise Old Owl
11-16-2010, 16:39
The Barefoot Bushman...

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/86/242866620_7e6db36cc2.jpg?v=0


Ripe for photoshop!

http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/gg275/MarkSwarbrick/aussiebushman.jpg

Old Spice
11-16-2010, 16:50
I was something of a nomad as a teenager and went barefoot for over two months while living in a national forest in Mississippi. By the end I was running through the woods without looking where I was stepping. As stated above, it's strange how you just intuitively learn to walk.

sbhikes
11-16-2010, 22:24
I lead Sierra Club hikes. I'll never forget this young woman who came on one of my hikes barefoot. It was our most difficult hike. It was not a good trail. It was rocky, primitive, bushwacking through chaparral and boulder-hopping up a very steep mountain. By the afternoon on the way down, the hot and sandpapery rocks always hurt my hands and I have to wear gloves. I took one look at her feet and knew she could do it, and she did! She did have to put on her flip-flops on the way down because the rocks and dirt were too hot and were burning her feet. Otherwise she was able to walk over the most difficult stuff!

I have tried to hike barefoot but it's just too much sensory stimulation. I would love to be able to do it, but I doubt I ever will.

At this time I've been working on making my own hiking shoes so I can at least hike in minimal shoes. Something with more traction than moccasins but still with the basic simplicity of them. It's a remarkable feeling to hike with such minimal shoes. Feels great.

Driver8
11-16-2010, 23:06
Not sure where you got your info but the sisters did in fact cover every inch of the AT in barefeet, in one continuous journey. They walked over the rocks of PA, and thru more miles of snow, in bare feet, than any 10 nobo's will see on there entire hike. That's not something I heard, that's something I saw.

According to their own account in their SOBO book, which I just finished, the Sisters donned shoes once winter asserted itself in Virginia and took them back off for good when things warmed up south of the Smokies. I've not read their NOBO book, but given the better weather they likely encountered, I wouldn't be surprised if they went shoeless the whole way.

They were persistent in their shoelessness, but they were true to the motto they adopted early on, in Maine, on the Southbound journey. "As long as it feels good. As long as it's fun."

The taller of the two sisters, jackrabbit (Susan Letcher) injured her left leg, I think it was, pretty severely descending Wildcat Mountain's shoulder into Pinkham Notch, incurring a pretty foul bruise on the sole of her left foot as well. She persisted through the Whites and all the way to Hanover, hiding her injury until just before the college town, but she had to get off at that point and take about a month to recuperate, rejoining her sister in Great Barrington. She had some problems late in Maine, which ensued in the Pinkham Notch injury.

After her return to the trail, she did suffer recurrences of the hip/leg problem, but not with her feet, from about halfway through Virginia to Springer. She insisted the leg/hip injury had nothing to do with her barefootness. I'll just say that I greatly admire the sisters and love the book - it's a superbly account of a thru-hike, the best I've seen - and I am dipping my unshod toes into the pool of barefoot hiking and running, but I don't see taking a long hike through the Taconics or the Whites, much less PA, unshod.