The Barefoot Hiker

Has anyone in this forum ever read The Barefoot Hiker by Richard Frazine? Did you get anything of interest out of reading the book?

I read it several years ago. The author goes to great lengths telling the reader how to toughen up their soles for hiking on a variety of surfaces as well as going barefoot during the different seasons. I was somewhat suprised that he took the time to mention how one should conduct themselves while barefoot. The one thing I was at odds with was his chapter about going barefoot during the summer. He writes: "With your bare feet thus braving the consequenses of constant display,you will not want them to draw any negative attention to themselves. They should never appear soiled, bruised or abused but as naturally and matter-of-factly bare as your hands." I've said it before and I'll say it again-There is nothing more satisfying to me then seeing my soles soiled after a barefoot stroll in the city!

 

I have a copy of his book and have read it cover to cover. While I do enjoy getting my soles dirty, I do go to great lenghts to keep my feet well groomed and presentable looking. Nothing wrong with feet and look any different, that's just the way I am I guess.

 

Yes, i read his book on line, but by then i was already a member of the UK barefoot hikers, so he was preaching to the converted! I go bf in the country a lot, and with England being a bit wet and muddy, it's not practical to keep my feet clean and "presentable", but that's part of the fun. On Sunday, i went into a cafe in a country park with mud all over my feet, but i'm well known there and no-one said anything.

 

i have not read this, but i'm curious now. so maybe i'll look for it.



just throw your shoes away, especailly if you live in a climate that is barefoot friendly year aground!!

 

There's this little bohemian cafe in town where I've been going mostly barefoot into for about the past 13 years with no hassle. About a week ago, I was in there and saw this other barefoot guy get told he has to have shoes on. I noticed that his feet were rather soiled on the tops and sides. I must agree with RKF about maintaining a level of respect in public places. The point is for ones personal enjoyment, comfort and health, and to provide a positive example, not to provoke a negative response, judgement or confrontation, which would only distract from the goal of making bare feet more accepted in society. If people continue to associate bare feet with injury and abuse, like when they see a barefoot person with bruised or tarnished feet, then that is just going to perpetuate the fears they have about it.

 

Your choice. I've read the book and he's right. I realize I represent the minority view here, and that I have no better chance of winning the dirty soles folks over to the clean side; than I do winning the shod over to barefoot. Not gonna happen. You all will do what you do regardless of my occasional comment on being clean. Your soiling without a doubt does satisfy you, as my tanned and toned look satisfies me. But I have to wonder who else is satisfied by all this?

I've said it before and I'll say it again, I do the best to stay clean, or get clean everywhere there is a chance to. Dirty feet are definitely part of the grossout factor that sets so much of the culture against us. Why invite even more opposition? God knows, we've got enough.To the shod, this "proves" what they "knew" all along, that barefootedness is unsanitary and disgusting. Gives the control freaks even more ammunition. No thanks.

Fortunately I don't spend time in any cities much larger than Maine towns, so I'm usually on surfaces that are genuinely delicious (the sense of "taste" though the feet is something else the author goes into, and which I enjoy up to 8 months a year.) Life in the country and in a gardening/hiking environment, I guess.

Yes, I know that even in my lifestyle, there will be some buildup of sweaty dirt. Luckily for me, I have quick access to water of all kinds: lakes, streams, garden hoses, sphagnum moss, oceans. I don't stay dirty long.

The few times I'm accosted by the ignorant about coming into their stores, I only have my clean feet to show. Disarms them when I can show that they're not dirty.I take enough care that they look much younger than my age would suggest and in public I draw some favorable attention.

Who's right? I don't know for sure, but I lean toward my side, of course. The minority side. Our ancestors were bare at least part of the time, and while I can't prove it, I doubt their feet were particularly dirty, although they might well have been more beat up than ours are. So maybe it comes down to my objection to unnatural greasy city dirt. Dunno. I'll let someone else take this over.

 

Cool Spruce has the right of it.

Clean is the natural state of our feet. Only artificial, polluted urban environments lead to dirty feet. In a natural environment, your feet are constantly scrubbed by sand, water, rocks, pebbles, etc... Even the occasional mud will eventually flake off.

The "black soles" one gets in a city are composed of soot, ashes, petroleum chemicals, asphalt and other toxic compounds. Keeping this on your soles is neither healthy nor natural.

Besides, there's nothing that feels better than a good scrub, be it from ocean sand, a pebbly lake, river or stream bottom or even a scrub brush with hot water. It's all part of the overall experience, and those who eschew water are missing out.

Black soles aren't a badge of honor, contrary to popular belief. Tough, durable soles that can walk comfortably over virtually any surface, however, are.

I've not read the book, but this thread inspires me to do so. I seems to me that the author has things spot-on.

 

I am so grateful that at least one person here understands. I go for streams of water any time I can, not just to get clean, but because it feels so good. And wet sand. And wet grass. And, believe it or not, sometimes, when it's not too cold, snow---amazing stuff.

Maybe it is my hot blood and my sweaty tendency. I can get dirt enough just by barefoot hiking the forest and mountain paths here in my area. There's grime enough in nature, and my body attracts it, and I love to rinse it off. I can only imagine the heat and grime of the cities to my south. Oh well.

 

Yeah I've aso made no secret of my aversion to having dirty feet, so I agree with Cool Spruce on the matter. My only problem is that living in a major metropolitan city I do have to deal with that non-natural black dirt when I go barefoot, which is what leads me to keep my flip flops on more than I probably would otherwise.

But as far as the book goes, yeah I own a copy and I think anyone who goes barefoot, even somewhat casually, should give it a read through. He offers some good pointers for walking with awareness, and his joy for the experience clearly comes across, so at minimum it's inspirational.

 

yeah no way going on a barefoot hike...too many broken bottles and shit like that nowadays...

 

There are no broken bottles and glass on the hikes I take! Never never.

However, one might find this glass in the urban and suburban areas we discussed in this thread. But, also, it has been discussed that most of that glass lies flat. Thus, little chance of penetration.

I have more risk from the thorns of roses, quince, hawthorn, that I prune, than from any thing else.

Just goes to show what others have said here before me: Be aware of what kind of land you're walking on. I admit, when I'm not careful, like when I'm distracted, I have stubbed my toe on a large stone in the path. My fault ONLY. A reminder to keep looking ahead at the ground, while also looking around at the beauty around you.

 

Nice to see you're still around. I was beginning to wonder. Yes, I keep the flops not just for when I might be hassled, but for those surfaces I just don't want to come in contact with. (I'll tell you right now, you're the one who got me started with pedicures. I can't easily say why I like them, but I do.) I guess I'm lucky because my towns are small, and I don't need to spend a lot of time in them, at least during the warm months.

 

Cool Spruce: I'm happy you found out through this forum that you're not the only one who prefers to go barefoot on wet grass or wet sand. For me, I like the feeling of a warm sidewalk under my soles on a humid summer night. I also don't mind the sensation of the wooden floor at one of my favorite watering holes under my soles as I throw darts in my endless pursuit of a bullseye.

 

That happend to me once when walking through the woods. Boy did that ever hurt! #%&^@#!! Thankfully no damage to my toe. I've stayed clear of being barefoot in the woods since then.

Grass, sandy beaches and smooth pavement is what I stick to now. I just love grass stained feet, lightly soiled or sand covered soles.

 

I went on another muddy hike today, but this time i followed your "clean feet" example and took some wet wipes to get the mud off before going indoors. Still no coment...

 

I have read this book and own two copys, I would say its a must read for anyone remotely interested in barefooting. I would say this, hiking barefoot on natural surfaces your feet really don't get very dirty. I have gone hiking starting out with really dirty soles and by the end of the hike they are really clean as long as there is no mud. I really have no preference, mud is fun though.

 

Hi everyone
Being a summertime barefooter, born in California, residing now in Germany, I firmly believe that tough soles very much add to the typical barefoot style of a guy. I started barefooting in the public in the summer of 1999, when I was still studying at a university in central Germany, close to Frankfurt. It was in the summer of the year 2000 when I found that excessive barefooting had very much toughened up my feet, in a positive way: With time, my soles were getting all callused, and soon I was developing kind of an elephant skin on my big toes, heels, and arches. My nails were no longer pink and shiny, but all thick and whitish, especially during the summer months when I was barefooting a lot or wore sandals at work.
Over the past years, I have had to bear various comments on my tough feet, with only a few of them being any constructive. Many people say that my very well-groomed allover appearance is not really in sync with my callused feet and battered toes. Only few guys said that that made me look interesting. Not freakish, but individual, even more attractive.
It is my belief that - regardless of a person's sex - well-groomed Hollywood-style feet with tender soles and toes and long-term outside barefooting exclude each other, really. Tell me, how should I make it over hot asphalt or thorny grounds with soft, ticklish, supple soles?

Hey, I would really love to correspond with US barefooters and share experiences. Germany is a great spot in the world for barefooting!!
You can write to stinkfuss@gmx.de

Best,
Ford

 

Frazine also wrote a very interesting... odd... novel... thing called "The Chronicles of Niconor" or simply "The Barefoot Girls". It used to be on AOL, and you could probably find it with Wayback Machine if you're so inclined.

It's weird. By weird I mean majorly out there. The novel centers around Harriet Bronwynn, a barefoot girl who gets transported to a parallel Earth and joins a religious order of - get this - barefoot Catholic warrior nuns. Oh, and there's cannibalism (or at least eating of testicles. LOTS of eating of testicles. Raw). And dragons. And lesbian sex (but all lesbians are evil). And evil nude Catholic testicle-eating lesbians (I am NOT making this up). It would actually be an interesting read if Frazine didn't choose to write it in some pseudo-olde English. And his battle descriptions suck a bit.

Whoo, Alexandra got off on a bit of a tangent here...

EDIT: Op-pa! Found it: http://members.aol.com/booksnikon/girlsnov.htm

Have fun...

 

Hey, Ford-Lancaster

WELCOME TO THE FORUMS!

I dont' think that long-term barefooting necessarilty leads to "Thick and whitish nails", horny caluses or "battered toes". Many of the members here, myself included, (full-time barefoot for 14 years) have very "normal" looking feet with shiny, pink nails and healthy clean toes. The bottoms are tough as leather, but remain supple.

Take a look at the "pictures of your feet" post, or the link to images of yours truly hiking over a variety of surfaces, including very sharp coral rock in "Favorite bf trip/hike".

Many non-barefooters marvel at the fact that my feet look so "normal". I'm sure that genetics plays a part, but I think the bigger factor is how well you maintain your feet. Regular washing/scrubbing (I make my opinions of this clear in the "The barefoot hiker" post), moisturizer, if you're in a dry clmate, keeping your nails clean and trimmed and quick tending to the rare cut will keep most barefooters' feet looking and feeling great.

 

To be honest, I love the feeling of those surfaces, too. Very much. Not wild about the dirt part, and will clean it off every chance I get. I think what I don't understand is the business of tryng to get as black soled as possible. Seems to be big. Anyway, I can take some of that soiling temporarily in places like you describe, where I can get away with it. But again, off with it as soon as I get to where I can walk it off or rinse.