Submitted by [deleted] in anticiv (edited )

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GaldraChevaliere wrote (edited )

I used to go barefoot absolutely everywhere and did a significant part of my last big hike without shoes after my boots got ruined by a storm. I'd be a lot more worried about what you'd step on in a city than, say, what you'd step on in a forest. Even after about a year since I started grudgingly wearing shoes since hot asphalt and bare feet don't mix and I live somewhere much warmer than I'm used to now, I still have fairly rough and calloused feet. I guess my best advice if you don't want to wear light sandals or something is to keep a light step. If you move quickly and keep your weight shifting between your heel and the ball of your foot you'll deal better with gravel or rough rock than if you had stepped flatly on it.

E: Other bit of advice now that I've had a nap. Walk like goats, not like men. You'll be a lot more comfortable if you pick your steps and keep limber instead of just planting your feet down every time. When I go barefoot hiking I take a lighter pack and move with more hopping, loping or trotting motions than the kind of stomp I'm used to in boots. Your feet will react a lot more quickly once you've learned the ground beneath you, and it's important to learn to pick out and avoid bad ground without thinking about it if you don't want to get sick or hurt. Rainstorms were miserable until I picked up the knack for finding firm ground among mud.

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