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  1. #1
    Registered User rainmaker's Avatar
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    Default Tyvek, the hiker

    Has anyone seen a barefoot SOBO named Tyvek? He was hoping to make Georgia about now.

  2. #2
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    I don't think he came thru Damascus.

  3. #3
    Super Moderator Ender's Avatar
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    Is this the same as Tyvek Man from 1998? He was barefoot, from the NY area I believe.
    Don't take anything I say seriously... I certainly don't.

  4. #4
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    same guy. yeah.

  5. #5

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    Pretty cold to be out there barefoot now. the barefoot sisters knew that and did their winter hike with shoes.
    I believe he came thru PA about a month ago. Probably either working on his feet somewhere or waiting for warmer weather.

  6. #6

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    I saw him at Upper Goose Pond in late July.
    "I too am not a bit untamed, I too am untranslatable,
    I sound my barbaric yawp over the roofs of the world." - W. W.

    obligatory website link

  7. #7
    Registered User rainmaker's Avatar
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    WE sorta figured Tyvek was not going to finish. We met him at a shelter just north of Elkton, Va. the first of October.He didn't appear to be enjoying himself. In fact told me he really didn't like this long distance hiking stuff, he was only doing this to raise public awareness of the need to fund and provide treatment to vets suffering from PTSD. He caught our attention. His feet looked really, really bad. He was also suffering from the "trots". Apparently he believed that Rocky Balboa stuff about drinking a dozen raw eggs and a quart of milk togather. Anyway, he was in pitiful shape. With all this said though, my hat is off to him if he did make it from Katahdin to SNP and he was certainly entertaining. He said my wife was a noisy damn woman and he's right. Of course she pointed out to him that it was already 7:00 AM and by his own statement, time to hit the trail.

  8. #8
    Registered User cutman11's Avatar
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    I spent the night at Eagle's Nest Shelter with Tyvek on 9/5. He really REAKED of garlic, but after you got to talk a while, was actually a pretty interesting guy. I got a couple photos of him in full "tyvek gear". He said he was scheduled to speak at a hearing at the US Congress a few weeks later, and was hoping to reach Harper's Ferry so he could take the train from their to DC. He does have a web site, WWW.Thelongwalkhome.org for any interested in his hiking cause.
    Cutman
    GA>ME 2000>2010..... Purist thruhiker in spirit, just with a lotta zeros during townstops;)

  9. #9
    Chicken Feathers Chicken Feathers's Avatar
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    I ran into him at Low Gap Shelter about the 24 of June. He stayed at the hostile at Neel's Gap and had his picture made I mean his feet it is going to be posted on the wall there. He finished 2-3 days later. MA-GA
    The mountains are calling and I have to go

  10. #10
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    Couple pictures of him at Kincora last May in my gallery. I heard he finished. Said he would start wearing shoes once he was done with the trail.
    I love the smell of esbit in the morning!

  11. #11
    There's no wrong way to eat a Rhesus! Monkeyboy's Avatar
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    I saw him as he was coming down from Springer Mnt. going to the parking area north of the mountain. Had a Japanese film crew following him.

    He definately finished.

  12. #12
    There's no wrong way to eat a Rhesus! Monkeyboy's Avatar
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    It was about July 1st, 2006

  13. #13
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    More power to anyone that wants to hike barefoot, I wouldn’t want to.

  14. #14
    "Switchback - NOBO '06" MyFeetHurt's Avatar
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    Ha, I met Tyvek in VT. I was wondering if he would finish. His feet looked NASTY when I saw him, and I was convinced there was no way he was going to finish. Good to hear that he did!

  15. #15
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    I relearned to walk barefoot, in moderation.

    I tried doing the Fundy Footpath in summer once without socks. I had these Nike things that were sort of half sandals half sneakers, worst of both worlds really. Anyhow as you might expect my feet got trashed and I was holding them together with duct-tape and after I crossed Little-Salmon River on the way back and let my feet dry it _finally_ occurred to me to walk barefoot for a few miles. The cool carpet of spruce needles was particularly soothing. I think the spruce gum did some good also. So I don't hike barefoot much, but I have relearned to do it now and then. When I was a kid I think I went one whole summer without shoes.

  16. #16
    Registered User Shiraz-mataz's Avatar
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    I hike barefoot about half the time and in sandals the other. It's a lot easier than one would think but it's not something for everyone. The AT is challenging with all the little rocks - especially when they're covered by leaves in the fall.
    “The press of my foot to the earth springs a hundred affections.” Walt Whitman

  17. #17
    ~LIVE WELL~LAUGH OFTEN~LOVE MUCH~ Green Bean's Avatar
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    There was an article in the PATC newsletter ~GB
    "Plans to protect air, water, wilderness and wildlife are in fact plans to protect man."

  18. #18
    ~LIVE WELL~LAUGH OFTEN~LOVE MUCH~ Green Bean's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Green Bean View Post
    There was an article in the PATC newsletter ~GB
    woops the article talked about TYVEK
    "Plans to protect air, water, wilderness and wildlife are in fact plans to protect man."

  19. #19
    I plan, therefore I am Strategic's Avatar
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    I met Tyvek in 2006 in NY, just south of Orange Turnpike. Stopped and talked to him a bit on a log in the trail (where we met), but I was NOBO so we didn't have a long talk. He told me about the PTSD element and seemed really committed. His feet were like I imagine hobbit feet would be (at least, really dirty hobbit feet), all horny and thick-soled looking. He gave me his card before we parted (which has a tiny picture of him in his tyvek gear) and I still have it tucked away. Quite a character to meet, and one of the bolder hikers I've ever run across.

  20. #20
    Registered User DLANOIE's Avatar
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    I never met him, but I was following his footprints in the mud in Maine. He was always a few days ahead of me and hiking at a steady pace. I was doing about 15-18 miles per day. He swam across the Kennebeck River instead of taking Steves canoe across.

    Glad to hear he made it.
    skinny d

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