[pct-l] Hoka shoes

[Scott Williams]

Hey Sheppard, the idea of loose shoes was a revolutionary concept to me too
at first.  Sounded like total crap, but when my shoes started being too
small for me, (I went from a size 9.5 to a permanent size 12 over the
miles) and I started hiking in larger sizes, I noticed that the only time I
got close to blisters was when I had them all laced up tight.  At this
point I don't even use the top several lace holes and have to tighten stuff
up only when crossing swift streams so as not to have them blow right off
my feet.  (Maybe Mango can chime in with how he ended up hiking into camp
with only one shoe.)

Some folks talk about sliding forward and having their toes jam the front
of their shoes when walking down hill in loose shoes That could be a
reasonable concern for some, but for whatever reason, it doesn't happen to
me or most of the best hikers I know.  Maybe it's a different technique in
our walking.  I'm really not sure.  What I do know is that most of the
fastest and strongest hikers I know hike in very loose shoes.  Over my thru
hikes, the only blister I've ever gotten was the first day on the CDT when
Sam Hughes' (may his Angelic soul rest in peace) old truck broke down and
we had to carry a lot more water than we had been expecting to make over 20
miles when we had prepped for 12.  I got a compression blister right under
the ball of my foot.  It wasn't painful and went away quickly, but it was
not caused by simply having too much weight too early on in the hike and
having gone too far.

Give it a try.  My feet have never felt so good as walking in big ol floppy
clown shoes.

Shroomer
On Jan 31, 2015 3:34 PM, "Yoshihiro Murakami" <completewalker at gmail.com>
wrote:

> I had written on the blister formation​ several times. Briefly speaking,
> the blisters are formed by the friction between skin and socks. The
> friction between socks and footwear does not related to this problem. Too
> loose footwear may influence stability and efficiency in walking. But too
> tight footwear causes the friction between skin and socks, then it causes
> blister.
>
> The kind of footwear does not related to this problem. It is not the cause
> of blister. I always wears light weight boots ( I am sorry. my boots are
> around 2 kg ) with thin soft insole. The technique of preventing of blister
> is same with shoes.
>
>
> ----This is my old memo---
>
> The cause of blister is shear force to exfoliate the dermis and the
> epidermis by the friction. In other words, it is necessary to reduce the
> friction between skin and socks to prevent blisters. There are several
> strategies. You should know  the coefficient of friction will increase when
> the moisture of skin accumulated.
>
>    - The smart wool socks reduce the humidity of the surface of skin.
>    - The socks should be changed regularly.
>    - The tight socks reduce the friction of skin and socks.
>    - Use loose footwear. Then the friction occurs between socks and
>    footwear.
>    - Cover the skin with the film of the small coefficient of friction.
>    - Use the insoles which has ventilation effect.
>
> I made many ventilation holes in new insoles. It is not a new idea, but
> they are new insoles. They works well .
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