Looking To Meet Fellow Barefooters In So Cal

Hey Myekah,

I think we did a barefoot hike around Lake Hodges a few years ago.
I had posted on CL trying to find people interested in BF hiking.
I remember you telling me about the restaurant. Ring a bell?

As an aside, there are a number of BF hiking groups around the country, but surprisingy none in SoCal.
The closest one is the East Bay Barefoot Hikers in the SF area.

 

Are these "regular" barefooters who meet up there or are some people BF because of the location -promity to beach or whatever?
Just curious. I've never been to either.

How was it? Did you see other barefooters?
I went once some years ago, but I don't recall seeing anyone BF.
That was before I got interested in barefooting, but I probably would have notced anyway.

 

We had a great time. There were a few groups of barefoot girls, mostly high school age maybe early college. There are a lot more barefeet in May when the weather is warmer.

 

Yes, I do remeber that. It was a while ago but yeah that was me.

 

Hi, Im in Southern California. I love to be barefoot at home, I have tender soles so I haven't done much outdoor walking.
Would be into an easy hike somewhere in So Cal.

 

I need to move to Southern Cali...I cant be an all year long barefooter where i live due to weather condiotns but i could in Cali I would go to Ducks game barefoot wearing my San Jose Sharks gear!

 

Anybody ever go barefoot at the San Diego County Fair?

I get dragged there evey year by my girlfriend.
I have yet to see anyone barefoot, although there is no signage banning it.

Probably wouldn't want to barefoot near the farm animal displays, lol.
Although other areas it would probably be fine as long as the blacktop is not too hot.

See lots of flip-flops and sandals though.

 

I don't do meetups, no exceptions (sorry, they might be underage and I don't want to get arrested). However, I will provide the information that SDFair and Del Mar Racing seem to be barefoot friendly once in the gate. For those who don't want to warm up their soles too fast by walking from the parking lot to the entrance gates, they do have trams (but that also requires some standing on the parking lot asphalt when waiting for the tram, so do look for shade when warming up the soles). It's a choice between warming up by walking vs. warming up by some initial burning of the soles when standing, but don't overdo it because the fairgrounds main area is asphalt from the main entrance gate to the end of the midway area when it's fair season.

Just wear flip flops (I don't wear barefoot sandals) especially if forced to park in the dirt overflow lots, and for the security bag check and admission, then put them away in a carrying bag once past the vending area just past entry and be done. They don't seem to have lockers. Doesn't seem to matter even though the 22nd DAA rules are that footwear must be worn—so far even Sheriff on duty hasn't bothered me. I've even seen other college-aged barefoot girls waking around inside the food/drink/betting area during racing season, but with only slightly dusty soles since the floors inside are mostly clean unless someone spills food or drink. Same goes for the general public asphalt area, although spilled food and drink might be in more areas—no real worries about coated blackened soles, but the slight roughness of the asphalt area will bring out the whiteness of any calluses on those barefooters who do have callused soles. I do hate when they decide to wet down the asphalt area and much of it hasn't dried yet, but that's still just a wet soles annoyance.

An interesting exception is some carnival companies during the fair. They want to at least see riders wearing their shoes even though they end up taking off loose shoes. Good idea to at least carry them in a bag when riding midway rides, to be able to put them on before riding. Otherwise, don't bother having to wear them once in the fairgrounds if the midway rides are of no interest.

Now, compared to any inland area hot asphalt—and I've blistered my soles in San Bernardino county more than a couple of times as a normal and accepted part of getting used to extra hot summer asphalt during the hottest afternoon hours—any noticeable burning of the soles while standing a longer time on the asphalt (but walking longer distances has never been a problem for me) at the Del Mar Fairgrounds is more than tolerable enough to only need occasional and slower rolling on the soles at most, and even then only during the hottest afternoon hours. If it's a particularly hotter day for a coastal area, and any burning while standing is still becoming a bit too much despite rolling on the soles, then during racing season look for an available spot by the rail at the front end of the public asphalt area if all the benches are full—it's less of an inconvenience than having to find shade spots to go in and out of, and the toes can be put on the concrete near the bottom of the rail to lift the soles up for some heat relief. They do also allow bringing chairs for those that don't want to do any extended asphalt standing during the hotter summer weather even if their soles have more heat tolerance—post times are either 2pm or 4pm, the asphalt does gets progressively hotter from 1pm to about 5pm, it could be 20 to 30 minutes in between races, and even if a spot equalizes from any noticeable burning when standing then taking a couple of steps and standing again can sometimes feel hotter and take longer to equalize.

During the fair, if a combination of extended standing and prolonged tenths of miles walking on unshaded asphalt does get too much—there's always going into an exhibit hall if there aren't any available benches to sit on and cool off the soles that got too hot. Since I can walk up to 10 minutes on unshaded inland hot asphalt in up to 94 degrees F weather, an hour into the hottest afternoon hours, and only need to briefly walk through shade or on concrete to finish another 5 minutes of a longer 15 minute hot walk to develop more heat training when I don't train up to blisters—no amount of coastal asphalt walking has any real effect on burning my soles, even if standing always causes some burning.

Hope this helps.

 

I'll also try to answer this from when I have found myself barefoot in the San Diego area, and that is why I prefer Riverside county or San Bernardino county despite more frequent blistering hot asphalt in summer even just crossing longer parking lots.

What has been your experience barefooting around San Diego?

Inconsistent. More than I would expect since San Diego is supposed to be a more laid back and generally more diverse and liberal area overall, even despite more conservative military and local government.

Do you go into stores, malls, restaurants, etc?

Stores, yes. Fast food restaurants and coffee shops, yes. Malls? Tried outdoor malls, and one indoor mall but indoor mall floor was actually buffed too shiny for bare feet (for me) and even rubber flip flops have some grip on those floors.

If so, any problems with management?

It depends on the location and the specific management that day. Inland areas generally have a wider range of shopping locations so I shop there more than on the coast. Once I went barefoot there for almost a week and tried different locations to see the results.

• I had one Walmart associate tell a customer it was okay when a customer reported me for being barefoot, but the same Walmart with another supervisor told me I needed to have shoes (but didn't) tell me to leave, and the same Walmart again tried to get my attention, but I ignore them. Strictly out of consideration, I wear flip flops there because they use a huge floor mopping push cart to keep their floors shiny clean.
• I had yet another Walmart location give me no problems several times, but then once someone told them to call security on me (and yet security never bothered me).
• I had one specific Home Depot have no problems with me barefoot in there, and yet another time leaving the same Home Depot, I got yelled at "don't come in here barefoot anymore" as I was leaving. No probvlems with other Home Depot locations.
• Lowe's: no problem at one location. Another location, a customer reported me, and management told them bare feet was against their insurance policy close enough I could hear it, but they never confronted me.
• No problems at Target in general, although at one specific mall Target it was clear they were watching me to make sure I wasn't just wandering in the store when at one point so did a security guard at a mall Target location.
• No problems at one Office Depot.
• No problems at a Staples.
• One Food4Less I had an associate, not a manager, tell me I couldn't be in there without shoes. A year or so later (I don't shop there regularly), no problems at all even with managment walking the floor.
• One Stater Bros. location, a green vest associate told me "sir, that's not allowed", and yet several other times I have never been bothered. I have on one occasion even seen another barefoot guy talking to a brown vest employee. I don't know the difference between the green and brown vests.
• One Vons location, I heard a comment "did he come in here without shoes?" but no one bothered me.
• No problems at a Winco Foods, despite "shoes required by law", but that location is actually between North San Diego County and Riverside County in Temecula.
• But then get this: I happened to be at Horton Plaza one day. Left the flip flops in the car. Security found me and told me I had to have shoes on... and then radioed in to the central office that they talked to me. The specific guard did let me go into the Starbucks to get coffee, and even said I could use the elevator instead of the stairs to leave the mall, but made it clear since I didn't work there I needed to wear shoes. Horton Plaza is an outdoor mall, and only the smaller shops and department stores are indoor locations.
• Three different Costco locations gave me no problems, while another one demanded I needed shoes. Upon telling that supervisor I left them in the car (I really did), he told me finish up and be done, but didn't tell me to leave immediately.
• Escondido World Market flea market: not my favorite place because I rarely find anything, but still... it's a paid admission swap meet but security guards, not just staff, are in front accepting the admission tickets. Once they let me in with no problems but I still did actually have to go to shade spots more frequently than I expected (something about that asphalt in the swap meet gets particularly hotter than the parking lot in more humid summer weather) while making it look like I wasn't deliberately having to go for shade, but then another time a different security guard would not let me in at all until I got my shoes out of the car. My only concern when going barefoot at larger swap meets is soles getting blistered from much more extended burning on asphalt that might be completely unshaded for much longer distances than any street fair; otherwise, I don't care if the soles burn even quite uncomfortably since that does increase heat tolerance.
• Street Fairs aren't much of a problem except for I hate sharper and more prickly rough asphalt because I can still feel it poking into my soles with each step. I would rather tolerate hotter and smoother blacktop at street fairs that are during hotter weather.

Hope all of this helps.

 

Obviously, so-called "Security" has nothing really to "secure" against. Why waste time with crap like a choice not to wear footwear? Must keep a lot of people employed. USA--land of busy work.

 

Many in the USA are prone to suing instead of responsibility. Barefoot in the store or a mall, and they slip and fall: they sue. Barefoot in the store, they bang their toes on an entry turnstile pole or against a shelf corner breaking a toenail or two, or get broken glass in their soles: they sue. Asphalt hot enough to burn or blister soles in swap meets or outdoor concert areas: they sue if they get burns or blisters, or as with the stores they sue if any debris injures their bare feet.

Now, the real SoCal challenges for bare feet are not in San Diego at all. They are the Pomona Swap Meet and the Los Angeles County Fair at the Los Angeles County Fairplex in Pomona. Good exercise, but during summer months the Fairplex asphalt areas get HOT, and I do mean HOT!!! Some of the swap meet area uses the slick black asphalt used as a drag strip when the swap meet is not ongoing. Soles burn intensely after just tens of steps on the unshaded asphalt, and soles still burn more than enough even in some shade spots, so training for more than enough heat tolerance to last through longer burning walks before needing shade spots needs to be done prior to the events that almost constantly burn the soles. Pomona Swap Meet is supposed to be 15 miles of swap meet and car show. Los Angeles County Fair is very hot blacktop just from the main entrance to the end of the midway during September when the fair is ongoing (and there are other extended asphalt walks beyond the main area)— sometimes the air temperature is already 102 degress F just at noon and the heat can be felt rising from the asphalt to the toes when wearing sandals or flip flops. My soles are NOT ready for that much constant burning with minimal heat relief this summer, but I am working on training them for next summer if I do go there anyway and decide to do it barefoot (even if I have to wear flip flops to enter). Even if I end up alternating between intensely burning soles and wearing flip flops to avoid blisters too soon—both events should be interesting to do in bare feet as much as possible.