what's the worst surface or the most painful plant or substance you ever trampled on ? my vote goes for tribulus terrestris, a damned old-world plant which is very inconspicuous (until you happen to make two steps over it like i did weeks ago) and stands as a symbol of earthly sufferings. i was going round an ancient tower and two steps later (it took a second before i felt the pain) i was standing on a bed of the worst thorns ever , firmly driven into my feet for the whole lenght. had to extract some 20 thorny balls from my soles , lucky that my excessively thick skin sole spared me 20 bleeding wounds, 'cause i was over six miles away from home. those damned things, according to wikipedia, can easily pierce bicycle tires and make a carpet close to the ground. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tribulus_terrestris
oooh, these tribulus thorns look awful :-( my "highlights": - Stepping into some cut off blackthorn branches while helping some friends with their garden work. - Stepping into a field of marron fruits (sweet chestnuts) covering a hiking trail in the dusk. - stepping onto sea urchins, the spines broke off and kept stucking in my feet until they suppurated off. Not funny. But i wa a child then. Anyway, i love walking in nature though. Keep you eyes open and you'll have a lot of fun.
There's a trail I was considering doing around Barr Lake, just north of the Denver Airport. It's a 9-mile loop, and as I was reading about it, I came across a recommendation that bicycles be equipped with thorn-resistant tires. That pretty much made up my mind for me. No point being caught several miles from my car, barefoot, in a patch of thorns.
Since working at the reserve, i've had three hawthorns stuck in my feet, but they seem to pull out quite easily.
Definately shoes,bubble gum on a hot tar mac,dog poo!thorns,but the secret is,draging your feet,or shuffling through thorns.As a child,i went to school barefoot,in SA,Many primary schools are barefoot schools,and in the rural towns,going to school barefoot in winter was a treat,we walked from one steaming cow dung blob to the next and warmed our feet thus.Walking On ice layers all the way to school,barefoot in winter,was no fun,because shoes were not allowed,not officialy though,but bare feet was the norm,and the ice made warm cow dung,or horse dung,very valueble,we had fist fights over hot dung!
this happen to a girl i knew in my neighborhood when i was a little kid... SHE STEP ON A ALIVE CORAL SNAKE! she wound up losing part of her right foot.:sad:
I Have been lucky so far,i often go mountain climbing,and used to do 'kloofing',and i always do it barefoot and obviousely,being a nudist,i go naked.I HAVE crossed paths with snakes,cobras and mambas,but had never been bitten.I Feel for her!
hiya pixy. yes i know them... i stepped on some of them this summer at a rainbow gathering, where i dropped in without shoes at all, by night, and pulled out the last thorns only weeks later.
The worst thing is dog shit (hasn't happened to me yet), I hate it when people let their dogs shit everywhere. And of couse things like glass and one time a lit cigarete I didn't see lol.
today i was taking some veggie scraps out to the compost pile and, i stepped into deer shit. still, stepping into shit is very, very, very, small time.
