Metal Plates: Ow! Ow! Hot! Hot! Hot!

Let's discuss barefoot on metal plates for a moment because they are burning hot on the coast, sharply hot inland.

Let's consider walking over them when it's not possible to walk or jump around them. Always try to avoid the ones the show Lighting, Traffic Signal, Phone, Cable, or Electrical. Just in case, those can electric shock the soles for however strong the shock is per step. For the rest of them, I have found three main colors: dark and manhole, dark copper color with short diagonal lines, and silver ones. For temperatures in the high 90's to low 100's: the darker copper color is going to burn quickly and the stinging is going to last for several steps. Silver ones? Ouch! Hot! Hot!! Hot! building on every step it's necessary to walk faster and even jump off the plate at the end of it... they burn almost on contact and leave a strong stinging that lasts several minutes... and yes, this means for a few tens of steps the asphalt is less burning hot and sidewalk almost warm, but remember that burned soles plus sharper rough gravel asphalt of rougher sidewalk on soles that quickly burned can friction blister.

Let's consider less hot. Actually standable for a moment, but it stil makes a difference. The manhole cover ones have a burn, noticeable, it builds, but it can be extended by rolling on the soles and during a recent walk I only got a sharper burning feel on the front of the balls of the foot just behind the toe pads. Eventually it did get too hot when rolling on the soles, but deliberate heat practice would have been on and off the plate until the soles were burned red and stinging and walking became more delicate. The copper ones are inconsistent, since I have felt some that barely burned and others that quickly burned with each step. The silver ones? Hot!!! Standing burns with a second or so, rolling on the soles burns too quickly, a tingling and throbbing on the soles occurs... the sole is literally being cooked even below the surface of the soles, and the only solution is to get off the plate and if it's close enough... do the alternating lifting feet in the air heat relief to get some of that burn up in the air. One and off the plate is still quicker burning because the burning from the previous standing on the plate is still deeper in the soles and hasn't sweated out to the surface of the soles. Then again, too hot too fast and, as I have mentioned before, when they heat burns the soles faster than they can sweat and cool off, this is when the beneficial heat toughening burning occurs and all that has to be paid attention to is not to get heat blisters.

I think some of this might also be the depth of the opening the plates are covering. With one silver plate, it was not so deep that someone couldn't climb out, so I maybe lasted five or six seconds before I had to get off the plate. Getting on again burned even a bit more because the soles were already burned from the first time on the plate. Still a great challenge, and if I wasn't crossing city streets I would have gone on and off the plate several times until the soles throbbed and remained a very sharp stinging.

Anyway, in order to make the hot asphalt feel even less hotter, I am doing controlled standing on metal plates. I do have to be careful, because the metal burn from too hot of a metal place is quite different from any non-plate burn.

 

Once again... my recommendation, because of a couple of stories about ground faults is to avoid plates that say Electrical, Phone, Communication, Traffic Signal... anything that might have wiring over it. I'm not sure if it's an AC shock or a DC shock... but I wouldn't want my soles electrical shocked at all, also not knowing the voltage (burn) and current (too much can be lethal).