[at-l] I'm a trail shoe failure

[ackenglass@hotmail.com (Alexis Lee Acken)]

If anyone has old National Geographics around, check out the Oct. 2000
edition.  I recently stole it from my gym because it has a fabu article
about a guy who bushwacked 1200 miles of trail through African forests
barefoot.  Now this guy is hardcore.



> That jives with what I heard last year, too; one, simple observation:
> For the majority of mankind's time on this earth, and for the majority
> of earth's citizens to this very day, the same bare feet that the good
> Lord gave us all do just fine for all kinds of walking and running -
> local and long distance . . . a good argument can be made that the whole
> hiking boot/shoe fitting thing is really more about your foot rebelling
> against such onerous confines, than about finding the "perfect fit"
> [which assumes your feet WANT to be in the proverbial glass slipper!]
> Foot coverings certainly are necessary, if nothing else than to deal
> with temperature extremes, but I sometimes wonder whether or not the
> majority of AT foot problems are caused by the foot coverings
> themselves, as opposed to the inherent pounding of the walk . . .
>
> thru-thinker
>
> Sanne aka Ready wrote:
> >
> > The question was posed about how the Barefoot Sisters managed to hike so
far
> > without shoes/sandals.
> >
> > They had been going barefoot for much of their lives. Hiking barefoot
was not
> > merely some hair-brained scheme to garner attention, but a natural
extension
> > of something they were very comfortable with doing.
> >
> > What I recall of their comments about hiking barefoot:  they did tread
more gingerly
> > than most of us do/would (in shoes/sandals/boots). Going barefoot took a
bit
> > more time because of having to choose the placement of their feet as
they
> > hiked.  They discussed how it was not so much that their feet became
impervious to
> > pain (ie, toughened up) but that they became somewhat desensitized; the
pain didn't
> > bother them.  They were able to hike even in the cold as long as the
cold was *under*
> > their feet. Once the snow reached *over* their feet, they had to put on
protection.
> >
> > Their decision to wear foot coverings (Tevas) on their return North was
attributable to
> > having a deadline for completing their trek. They didn't think they
could (or wanted) to
> > hike shoeless (read: slower),and have to be on the Trail longer than
their deadline.
> >
> > Sorry if this had already been answered.  I checked through the posts
and it didn't seem
> > that anyone had addressed the question.
> >
> > Ready
> >
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