[at-l] BAREFOOT wore Tevas

[John O <johno@mail.monmouth.com>]

Date: Tue, 2 Nov 99 12:29:12 -0500
From: "Kenneth R. Knight" <krk@home.msen.com>
Subject: [at-l] Fwd: [greatlakeshikes] HIKERS BARE IT ALL 

Check this story out. I'm not willing to do this because going barefoot 
means you have to pay somewhat closer attention to where you put your 
feet (I can't recall if Barefoot wore sandals or not), but it clearly has 
worked in ages past and works today for some.

I meet Barefoot at Catawba General Store & she was wearing Tevas.  Later on
I meet her at Rusty's and she was wearing sneakers to give her more support.
When I meet first met her she was cleaning her feet in a bucket behind
general store.  After wearing sandals for hundreds & hundreds of miles her
barefeet had a lot of trail dirt ground into them.  I found a copper
scouring pad with a wooden handle in the store & gave it to her.  After a
good hour or more of scrubbing with that scouring pad you could really see
the difference.  I told her she should be called Cinderella as the glass
shoe will now fit her.  She also had deep cracks in the bottom of her toes
and sole.  The skin was so dry it was causing cracks that were appearing
through her calluses.
I wore Tevas from Harpers Ferry to Roanoke and I started to develop cracks
in my calluses after maybe 100 miles.  When they began to appear I applied
an ointment to soften up the area and the cracks ceased to occur any more.
I also picked up a scouring pad and every couple of days I would scrubb the
ground in trail dirt from my feet.  I couldn't believe how dirty ones feet
get when backpacking in sandals.  Just before Roanoke I was developing
instep problem from wearing sandals so I switched back to sneakers for more
support.
John O
                   


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