[pct-l] Hiking Barefoot?

[Nathaniel Morse]

Hey, Thanks for your input. I really appreciate it. I will most definitely
be hiking a few sections barefoot before doing the whole thing.

       What would be the worst sections as far as cactus, and rock?

On Sun, Sep 4, 2011 at 4:52 PM, Eric Lee <saintgimp at hotmail.com> wrote:

> Nathaniel wrote:
> >
> Does anyone know anyone who has hiked a majority of, or thru-hiked the PCT
> barefoot?
> >
>
> I'd be really, really surprised if anyone managed to do this.
>
> I could see someone hiking certain parts of the trail barefoot, or maybe
> doing the whole trail in sections over several years, but a barefoot
> thru-hike seems daunting.  In some areas you'd have to worry about cactus
> needles and a trail bed maybe hot enough to burn you on some days.  In
> other
> areas you'd have a lot snow where you'd probably struggle to avoid
> frostbite, plus late spring snow can be abrasive.  There are also areas
> that
> have a lot of volcanic rock which is extremely abrasive.
>
> Remember, the question isn't just whether it's possible to physically hike
> the PCT while barefoot (I expect it is, with varying levels of care
> depending on the terrain) but whether it's possible to hike barefoot at the
> kind of breakneck speeds that are required of thru-hikers.  Most people
> struggle to keep their body holding together while doing a "normal"
> thru-hike, and doing it barefoot just lays a whole new layer of challenge
> on
> top of that.
>
> If you're serious about trying it, you might take a bit of time in the next
> couple of years to hike representative sections of the PCT to see what it's
> like, then you'll know what you're up against.  Or you could just go for it
> and see what happens.  Fortunately hiking barefoot is something that you
> can
> easily abandon at most town stops (by buying shoes) if it's not working out
> for you, assuming you haven't yet suffered any hike-ending injuries.
>
> Eric
>
>


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