Barefoot backpacking? {lots of pics warning}

[Tristan]

Couldnt find many threads about hiking/backpacking that werent at least a year old so figured I'd start fresh. I'm curious how many hikers we have here, and more specifically those that do multi day backpacking treks in the mountains. I grew up hiking, and after a long break I'm trying to get back into it. Hiked many of the high peaks in the Adirondacks and the Whites. In recent times I've hiked in Dolly Sods of WV. I dont think I could go bf, especially on the very rocky trails like Dolly Sods (boulder fields hundreds of yards long at times, full of rail road ballast and chuncks around grapefruit size). I'm debating next year trying a hike in my VFF Komodosports. But only if my feet are in really good shape at the time. On my last trip my pack weight was around 40# without water, and at one point I had a 6L bag full and two 1L bottles full. That was a 5 day trip, and was a blast. I'm thinking a shorter trip would be good for a first attempt at minimalist backpacking, maybe 2 days, which would also cut down on food and other weight.

And I cant talk about hiking without some visuals so here is some from my last trek at Dolly Sods...



Here I am, yep big clunky boots:

Red Creek had lots of nice little falls:

Home for 4 nights:

My ~20yr old Kelty external frame pack, still going strong:

'The Forks' of Red Creek:

One of the two vistas of the trip that had great views:

 

[NickW]

Nice, I'm a backpacker too.

Nice, I'm a backpacker too. Most of the time it's day hikes, have a family now so.... Once a year I do a several day backpacking trip with my brother and dad. This year we did Yosemite Park and that was awsome. I did part of the trip in huaraches, part in my thick hiking shoes, and part barefoot. The barefoot actually felt best until we came across a bunch of gumballs numerous times so I had to put on footwear.

Next year we are doing Glacier Park in MT and I'm really looking forward to it. I grew up just 30 miles from there yet never spent a ton of time there.

 

[Tristan]

Thanks for the responses Nick

Thanks for the responses Nick and Gidds. Thats cool nick you were completely bf for a stretch of it. Was that just a day hike with no pack or were you carrying a pack? I worry about bf or minimalist carrying the extra weight. I know a feet are capable of functioning bf just fine, even on the trail, but I dont think they are necessarily able to carry and extra 30-40 pounds also. Maybe if I try it on a multiday hike I could set up a base camp to stage day hikes from, that way if I was carrying a pack it would be very light. Some of the trails here in Ohio are mostly dirt but the problem there is mud and bugs. Chiggers are so bad there I bought some gaiters last time when I went on a backpack trip there.



Gidds... I've never done any of the Greens, since I grew up right near the 'Dacks we would either hike there, or if we wanted more we would skip over the Greens and head for the Whites. Very nice country driving through there though. In the Whites I've done most of the presidents range (maybe all I can't quite recall) as well as the Franconia ridge and a couple more I can't recall the names.

Nick one day I'll head out west, never been out there yet.

 

[Barefoot TJ]

Roughin' it and gorgeous!

Roughin' it and gorgeous!

 

[NickW]

Tristan, this year in

Tristan, this year in Yosemite because my dad had a really bad bout of gout at the time we had a central location that we just did day hikes out of. My daypack was 15-20 pounds (who knew MRE's were so heavy) plus my fishing pole and then also carrying my boat achors with me in case I needed them.

Normally we do a true backpacking event and sleep just off the trails and not in a campsite, but my dad couldn't handle that this year. Maybe next year.

 

[Longboard]

If it's going to be in the

If it's going to be in the pub,.........just start one! You can start anything there without permission, as long as it's not offensive to the general public.

 

[Barefoot TJ]

Gidds wrotessssst TJ, how

Pssssst TJ, how many folks would we have to recruit to have a barefoot trekking/hiking/backpacking subforum in the pub?

A lot? I don't know. You guys show me some love, er uh, I mean interest, er uh, I mean interest in having this forum, and we'll see. Now those who say they want it have to be current consistent posters too.

 

[Jennn]

I'm a little late to the

I'm a little late to the conversation, but I've done a lot of minimalist hiking and backpacking in the past year, including hiking the Inca Trail to Macchu Picchu (4 days in the Andes, BEAUTIFUL!). I typically wear VFF's for hiking, but I've done some BF hiking as well but when BF it's with super light (~10lbs) pack. The weight of the pack surprisingly does not really make a difference to my feet in VFF's.

I've also converted a friend to minimalist hiking and she was also pleasantly surprised about hiking in VFF + the weight of the pack, its really not much of an issue if your feet are used to minimal/BF anyways. What sucks is putting the clunky heavy boots back on, THAT hurts now.

To compare pack weight, my heaviest pack was about 40lbs for an overnight ~10 mile round trip hike with about 2000ft elevation gain and loss, my lightest (overnight) pack was about 20lbs for the 4 day trek in Peru.

 

[Tfox]

I'm a hiker/backpacker as

I'm a hiker/backpacker as well. I don't go backpacking as much as I used to now that I'm married and have a baby. I've done some shorter two day trips in huaraches and a bunch of day trips. I originally designed Unshoes so that I could have a good sandal to hike in the desert with. It wasn't until I started selling them that I got into running.



I live within three hours of six National Parks in Utah so I really ought to go more often.

 

[paraganek]

The same here. The last trip

The same here. The last trip I did was a two day backpack to the top of Sacajawea Peak (9,838 ft) in Wallowa Mountains (OR). I was in my huaraches the whole time except for the upper rocky part, where I put Five Fingers on.

Sacajawea Peak

 

[Tristan]

Very nice pics! I'll put that

Very nice pics! I'll put that on my list of possibilities whenever I head out west. On another note, I had tried for a while to post a clickable image like you did but couldnt get it to work. Do it all the time on other sites but this sites coding is very different. Mind if you share the secret? (just PM me if you want).

 

[paraganek]

Tristan-OH wrote:On another

On another note, I had tried for a while to post a clickable image like you did but couldnt get it to work. Do it all the time on other sites but this sites coding is very different. Mind if you share the secret?

All I do is get a piece of HTML code ready (in Picasa it is the "Link to this Album - HTML to embed in website" on the right), then in here I click on "Disable rich-text" option down bellow this text input window and paste in that piece of HTML.

Hopefully it will work for you.

 

[Tristan]

I've never used picasa but

I've never used picasa but photobucket has the same thumbnail/link combo and it didnt work - but I didnt try to disable the rich text let me try it...




Yeah, no go. :Sp

 

[paraganek]

Tristan-OH wrote:Yeah, no go.

Yeah, no go. :Sp

How about this ?





This is the code I copied from Photobucket

"
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I only added width="400" to make the image smaller.

Should work for you.

 

[Tristan]

OK I saw there was a thread



OK I saw there was a thread for "How to Embed Pictures" on the forum help section and several folks had did the clickable link although it wasnt working for me. And following specific advice from there still didnt work until I got to one that actually posted the code. It looks completely different than the code photobucket uses. Crazy since plenty of others used photobucket for clickable links and I doubt they had to go through this much trouble. I had to completely change all the formats from to

 

[Agnesd]

Until I found this thread, I hadn't seen much mention of hiking or backpacking minimalist or barefoot. I only recently started running, but have been a long time lover of hiking and backpacking. I spent quite a bit of effort looking for comfortable hiking boots, trying to find the balance between lightweight and sturdy. Now I'm excited to try it out in minimalist shoes or sandals, but am curious about people's experience with their switch in shoes/no shoes, and any difficulties with carrying weight (day pack or more) in said shoes. I just ordered a pair of unshoes, so I am glad to see them mentioned in regards to hiking, as well as running. I just can't imagine putting on my hiking boots - so confining and heavy. I went for a run today in the mud and my wet socks felt like lead weights, I can't even imagine what my boots would feel like now.

 

[Hhuang18]

Beautiful pictures!!!

 

[Jennn]

Until I found this thread, I hadn't seen much mention of hiking or backpacking minimalist or barefoot. I only recently started running, but have been a long time lover of hiking and backpacking. I spent quite a bit of effort looking for comfortable hiking boots, trying to find the balance between lightweight and sturdy. Now I'm excited to try it out in minimalist shoes or sandals, but am curious about people's experience with their switch in shoes/no shoes, and any difficulties with carrying weight (day pack or more) in said shoes. I just ordered a pair of unshoes, so I am glad to see them mentioned in regards to hiking, as well as running. I just can't imagine putting on my hiking boots - so confining and heavy. I went for a run today in the mud and my wet socks felt like lead weights, I can't even imagine what my boots would feel like now.

If your feet are already strong enough to run barefoot and/or walk several miles either bare or minimal, you probably won't have much trouble hiking in minimalist shoes. I had been 100% minimal (both running and just everything) for about 4-5 months when I went on my first hike in the mountains wearing my VFF's. The hike was short - maybe 6 miles - but rocky. I brought my heavy hiking boots just in case, but never needed them.

I haven't noticed any issues at all with the weight of a pack. What I DID notice is that hiking no longer hurts the way it used to, especially when carrying a heavy pack. I used to have very sore hips and knees after long hikes and backpacking trips. And much more than 8 or 9 miles would have my feet/arches hurting like crazy too. After ditching the heavy shoes, I only feel soreness related to normal muscle fatigue, no more arch, knee or hip pain to speak of. I rarely bring a spare pair of shoes on a hike anymore, and when I do it's usually a pair of sandals or huraches so that I have something dry to wear when I'm done - if I think the trail is going to be wet.

I have not tried hiking in sandals/huraches yet. I imagine I will at some point, but for now my VFF's work just fine.

 

[Agnesd]

That's very encouraging. I can't wait to try it. Currently the mud here discourages me. My feet stay warm enough when running in it, but I don't know if they'll stay warm hiking in it. Thus my interest in sandals - skin dries much faster than any fabric. =)

 

[NickW]

I have always hiked in boots or shoes and always after about three miles have had massive foot pain. This last summer I hiked in my huaraches and my feet were fine. No pain just normal tired muscles is all like the above poster said. I even did part of it completely barefoot and that was enjoyable and easier as well.