The Unoffical Official Hiking Thread

Gidds

Barefooters
Aug 28, 2011
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Post your barefoot or alternative shoe hiking adventures, pics, gear, tips & tricks, and hiking/camping/trekking/backpacking (without clunky boots) questions here!:D

I know a number of BRS members love hiking so I hope we can get a great discussion going.
 
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I will go first. It might seem counter intuitive that there is gear specific to this sort of outdoor recreating, but in my opinion there is. Some of it crosses over with ultralight hiking and backpacking and other outdoor activities. I am accumulating a "system" of said gear (I won't say collection, it sounds cluttery).

99% of the time I do wear something on my feet to hike. A few weeks ago I got mad at my Pace Gloves and socks and took them off and walked home a couple of miles barefoot in the woods, but I will tell that story later. I mostly wear Bikila LS and I happen to have a pair of gaiters to go with them.

I want to talk about my gaiters because I guess a lot of folks don't know that there are gaiters for alternative shoes. You might want to know why I am wearing gaiters in Florida. Well there is no actual dirt in Florida. It's ALL sand or duff, a powdery amalgamation of decaying leaf litter. It exists solely to get into your shoes. Yes, this problem could be solved by not wearing shoes, but Florida also has copious amounts of spiny and/or stinging plants and animals that are abundant in the particular places I like to hike. For me sand in the VFFs is not merely annoying, it is cause for great gouts of blisters if I do not immediately remove my shoes and change my socks.

I don't know how I found these gaiters exactly but I think I was Googling "ultralight gaiters". They're called Dirty Girl Gaiters and I think they cost me like $20. They are just lycra, or some wicking material, an eye hook for your laces or a toe loop (look here) and a bit of what I think is heavy duty nylon on the tip. They would be really easy and inexpensive to make if you can sew (hubby has started making some of our outdoor adventure gear this year).

Now keep on mind that they are not even remotely waterproof like traditional giganto Appalachian Trail gaiters. They are strictly to keep crap out of your shoes, even very fine-grained crap, and I get mine wet ALL the time. They do dry very fast though. I also wear them to keep ticks and chiggers from crawling up my pant legs, when I wear pants to hike. I really like mine because I really really hate blisters from sand in my shoes. They come in a variety of sassy and outlandish colors and prints. Being a surly misanthrope, mine are of course plain royal blue.
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Just the gaiters

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The whole hiking ensemble minus the pack (why does my husband think this outfit is outlandish?)
 
I love your new avatar, Gidds. Run it through a water colors settings on a drawing program. I bet it would be sweet.
 
Thanks. You mean like this?
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I'll put the full-sized one up since it is an alternative shoe hiking pic from last year. Last year Thanksgiving week I think.
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That's good, but how about with more brush strokes?
 
Sorry. My artistic talents are limited to non-digital media and I just used the softening effect on photobucket. If somebody else wants to mess with it they can. I actually took that pic with my ancient 2004 digital camera on an auto timer setting on a picnic table. I think it is a good example of how to wear a kilt with a certain attitude and swagger...although the younger generation has corrupted the term "swagger" *grumbledamnkidsgrumble*
 
I love your new avatar, Gidds. Run it through a water colors settings on a drawing program. I bet it would be sweet.
Ditto. I thought it was a Wyeth or a Whistler, there's such a understated but clear mood.

Here are some pictures from a hike up in the San Gorgonio Mntns this past summer. I wore my huaraches all the way up, and my trail gloves on the way down.
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A couple of shots from our August hammock camping trip. I refused to wear "real" shoes, or pants, the entire weekend. It worked pretty well.
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What was that? I need "real" shoes and pants to climb trees and bluffs? HA!
 
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Beautiful scenery, Claw!

Love the hammock trip idea, Gidds! Very cool. I would bring blankets, pillows, and just sleep out there all day and night, at least one day. Seems so relaxing.
 
Okay, I couldn't find a water colors filter, but I did find these which are also cool. They would make good wallpaper on yours or your family's computers as well.

Explosion (This one looks the closest to water colors I could find.)
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Oil Paint
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Pixelize
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Sepia
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Love hiking!! Funny though I don't have a lot of pictures of my feet from my trips.

Here are some of my favorite hikes:

Inca Trail:

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My friend and I wore our VFF's for the hike and we ran into a third person on the trail also wearing them. We had to take a photo of our feet. :)

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I think this was the third day, we were about a mile from setting up camp and stopped at a giant set of terrace ruins carved into the mountain.




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Here's a pic of my foot while resting in Machu Picchu on the fourth day of the hike.

Colorado

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From an overnight hike from Vail to Frisco. Me being a dork on an outcropping we passed on our way to the pass on the first day.

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And this is the view from the top on the second day.

I think that's enough for one post! :)
 
Beautiful, Jenn! I would love to go there!
 
One of my favorite sections of Zion National Park called Kolob. Less crowded than the main hiking areas and just as pretty.
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A 14 mile hike round trip, the turnaround is a beautiful arch. http://www.nps.gov/zion/naturescience/arches.htm
11 of the 14 miles I did barefoot. Put on sandals for the last 3 miles to speed up the pace to get back to an appointment.

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Rick and Nick, those are GORGEOUS places to run and hike! Wow!
 
God makes a beautiful world! :barefoot: