i've noticed a lot of city barefooters here. are there any country/mountain barefooters? people that walk on dirt, gravel, plant material rather than paved streets daily? seems the city folks have dirty black soles.. my soles rarely ever get black.. my feet are super tough from walking down train tracks and through redwood duff.
Hey Boogabaah My barefooting is mainly on sidewalks, roads, parking lots and around the house. I know your feet are different. When I barefoot in the woods the sticks and debris hurt my tender arch….it’s never used. Your arches are in contact with the railroad rocks and sticks and are probably very tough.
Huuuuuurts Liiiiiike Heeeeeeeelll. I live relatively in the country here in the middle of nowhere in Florida, and there are these little plant seeds with spikes all over the ground, and they are everywhere... and you cannot help but step on them... and they even penetrate shoes at times... and when one enters ya, it not only hurts, but it also leaves ya with a...ergh... the word escapes me, but it gets stuck in your damn foot. Cannot barefoot outside here, feeeeel traaaaapppppped!
Yes, I'm one of the lucky ones who does most of his barefooting on native or natural surfaces: pine and spruce needles, moss, lichen, bare ledge, lawns, gardens, paths, brooks, small ponds, and some snow. Actually, this is the time of year the snow feels most exquisite to me. Most of this, believe it or not, is in my line of work! I also have a habit of bicycling bare foot. So I guess you could say I'm well aired out there, and my feet thus are rarely dirty. I don't let them get that way very much, because one of the water sources is usually near by for rinsing. I am willing to bf when getting gas or shopping, and actually would prefer it, but we've had discussions here about how negative our culture is about this, and that's where the dirt is. I have actually told one dealer that his store wasn't clean enough for me to bf in, and that I'd e glad to go back and get my flops, or leave, whichever. Seeing as how I'm free to bf on all my beloved delicious (and I mean, delicious) surfaces 90% of the time, I have to wonder if it's worth it to bf on the other 10%, considering the hassles and dirt. I have to think about that bit.
i do most of my barefoot walking on natural surfaces like grass, sand, rock, and the best one of all, forest floor i LOVE the soft, springy, loamy dirt in the forest! im close to lovely walking trails: behind me is a mountain and in front of me is the ocean with rocky hills and bluffs along the way and all sorts of beaches. my feet still are not used to pavement, but im working on it. i dont get black feet either, just kinda dirty.
gravel roads and grass. lots of thorns but rarely long enough to hurt. and snakes, too. the last sunday i was with a friend of mine walking amid two fields on a grass-invaded path. she always complains about me being barefoot and has a pathologic abhorrence for all snakes . that day she was telling me for the thousandth time how dangerous is going barefoot because of vipers, when poof! one appeared in front of her feet. she barely had breath enough to tell me because of fear, or pot, or both. there are several large harmless snakes, but true vipers are fairly rare... i keep thinking she was asking for it :H on the other side snakes dont crave to bite humans, and provided that you are noisy enough they'll gladly run away from you before stepping on them. their favorite target is the ankle, so i think that an aware barefooter is safer than the average careless shoddy in sneakers and shorts. if really i have to wear shoes in the country, it is boots, though i cant remember the last time I put them on. yes, i rarely get black feet, only at gas stations .
oh my snakes! i seen a lizard one day while walking down the train tracks. i must have jumped 3 feet in the air when i seen it wiggle right were i was about to step. thorns and burs and spurs and sharp sticks are no fun. i think the worst we have here are the berry bushes. the leaves will "stick" to the bottoms of my feet sorta like velcro.. very strange feeling when peeling them off. the other day it rained. we went for a short walk through the forest, down to the river and i SWEAR my feet were CLEANER! afterwards.
I walk on paved streets only when going to or from a store while shopping. The majority of my barefooting is on dirt and gravel, and sometimes through heavily wooded areas of the Appalachian Mountains when I'm there, including some hiking on the Appalachian Trail. I rarely have black soles either, but if I do, it's from the occasional store, sidewalk, or parking lot. I actually go barefoot 24/7, so the surfaces I walk on vary from day to day.
Yep, my arches take a beating when I'm barefoot in the woods. Ankles, too, where I usually go there's been a big dieoff of pines, and the little pencil-sized ones tend to break off just below the top of the loose leaves and ground litter. Barefooting doesn't toughen your ankles either, and the scrapes tend to get infected or heal slow for some reason. I wonder if those who walk mostly on soft beach sand get tougher arches from the abrasion of the sand?
I'm not sure but I don't think the arches were designed to get tough skin like the soles are. Nor are the ankles. When I'm in the woods, I usually have no problem with my arches or ankles. What I have the most problem with is scrapes on the tops of my feet, especially the tops of my toes. Seems like I'm always scraping the skin off the tops of the 2nd or 3rd toes. I think it's from just not paying attention to that foot as I step forward with the other one. In other words, there might be a stick or a rock in front of me and I will step over it with one foot, but then I lift the other foot to take my next step, and I guess I may not lift it high enough to clear the stick or rock and the top of my toes graze across it. These scrapes usually heal up pretty quick though. I don't do anything for minor scrapes other than wash them thoroughly as soon as I can.
