Last Saturday, we took on to a barefoot hike with my new friend, Yuan (the barefoot ultra-trail runner), in the Ma On Shan country park. Part hiking, part rock scrambling, this barefoot hike was complicated by the very humid conditions of the trail due to some rain the day before. But this was nothing compared to the thunderstorm that struck us as we were heading down. Come from nowhere, this storm was almost hurricane-level, and completely unforeseen by the HK weather observatory. At least one person died in a lightning strike not very far from us. We were lucky to escape unscathed, but the whole mountain trail because a sort of oily slide where standing was "complicated"... We were wet to the bones, but as the temperatures are quite warm in HK, not a big deal, and I wore some moisture-wicking clothes. Barefooting helped however with crossing all the flash floods that covered some parts of the trails. Had however the occasion of watching some interesting specimen of lizards such as the Hong Kong newt and a chameleon. On the geologic side, I found an interesting shape of rock... Barefooting can be challenging in wet conditions, but not sure we would have fared better with shoes (our companion wearing hiking sandals also slipped more than once, although he could walk faster than us). https://visionsofasia.asia/2019/04/...oot-hike-on-a-mountain-during-a-thunderstorm/
You have a lot of great adventures! If I can't do it myself any longer, it's nice to read from those here who still do. I can almost feel the humidity and sharp rocks!
I’m getting eager to follow in your footsteps and start hiking again this season. Bare footing it in The Rockies is bound to provide for interesting moments... Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
