I just came back from doing some hiking in Utah, plus a dash up to Fruita, CO to see the Rattlesnake Arches. My toes were not happy after a few days of doing lots of off camber hiking and steep descents in Canyonlands. Less than halfway into the quickie overnighter in CO, I had to cut open, and take a chunk off, the end of a pinky toe. Along with the one on my other foot, it had previously developed a blister, and they'd both been drained and taped after having a ridge of callous cut off(Canyonlands and my "normal" hiking callouses did not get along very well, apparently).
After a quick jaunt into Arches at sunset, then some short dayhikes while checking out Canyonlands' Island in the Sky district for the first time, that toe was just done.
I wasn't though, as I had a day left before flying home, and wanted to use that day go back to Capitol Reef NP.
A 2 mile roundtrip hike proved to be torture, and I decided to try the Z Trails on a second hike that totaled ~9 miles.
Nothing. No pain in my toe, no discomfort at all in my feet. From the sandals, anyway. Turns out lightweight merino socks won't protect you from a cactus spine(who knew?!?).
My lower legs felt like they were pumped full of blood for a little while, but that went away after less than an hour.
I've read, in practically every barefoot shoe/sandal review, that you need to work your way into hiking with that kind of footwear, but didn't have any other issues with it.
I've actually hated wearing regular shoes in the 3 days since, and was out shopping for 0 drop, minimal ones, yesterday.
Unfortunately, there's not much(zero!) selection nearby.
Xero is low on stock right now, but I'm going to order their Terraflex shoes when they get them back in, and may go ahead and order the Prio for the gym, as I'm about to start working out again.
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