[pct-l] Shoes On The PCT

[CHUCK CHELIN]

Good morning,

It seems every year we go through bouts of back-to-nature discussions like
living off the land and hiking the “natural” way, i.e. barefoot.

The earliest foot travelers are depicted at an interesting site here:
http://www.bradshawfoundation.com/journey/ which suggests the area of the
PCT was first inhabited around 12,500-15,000 years ago.

I expect these early foot travelers responded to a very basic motivation:  If
something hurt their feet, they would do what they could to mitigate the
problem.  Typically that “hurt” was the result of excessive heat or cold,
and the presence of sharp things on the ground.

Nearly as old as probable human habitation around the PCT is evidence that
inhabitants also used foot protection:
http://pages.uoregon.edu/connolly/FRsandals.htm

That area of Oregon – Fort Rock – is desert just east of the PCT, and feet
would have needed protection from the scorching ground as well as
protection from the winter’s frozen ground.  Much of C. Oregon is also
covered with the same sharp and highly abrasive volcanic rock that PCT
hikers find today.  Thorny vegetation is also a fact of life.

I say PCT hikers should use whatever footwear they want, however I hope
their decisions are informed by an understanding of what it’s like to walk
for considerable distances across the very hot desert, across the very cold
snowpack, and across the very sharp volcanic rocks.

Steel-Eye

-Hiking the Pct since before it was the PCT – 1965

http://www.trailjournals.com/steel-eye
http://www.trailjournals.com/SteelEye09/