Less is more

I'm a fairly experienced hiker and outdoorsman. I wouldn't say I'm an expert by any means, but I get in about 3 or 4 primitive camping trips in a year. Normally the basics for this are my Osprey 65 pack, a tent, sleeping bag, food and water. Along with about 15 pounds of stuff I really don't need, including booze, a stove, deodorant, all things that increase comfort and convenience.

For this trip, I cut most of that in half. Ditching the tent and going with a tarp that doubles as a survival wrap. Cutting fuel for my stove in half and relying on the fire for cooking. (surprisingly it turned out to be way more than I needed) Being that it was warmer out my sleeping bag was much lighter so that helped. I have to admit I still brought a couple of flasks of bourbon. All this and still my pack weighed in at 34 pounds. My friend Anthony (pictured right) decided to go with even less. By decided I mean he forgot the survival wrap he was gonna use for his lean-to. We built his shelter using pine boughs. All that being said, that's not what this post is about. We also decided to go barefoot


This is something I've been thinking about doing for awhile now. I'm a big fan of "Dual Survival", and couldn't wait to try out Cody Lundin's barefoot philosophy. I know for a fact that most of my back problems start squarely with the shoes I wear. So we strapped our boots to our packs and gave it a shot. The first few hundred feet were pretty rough, and my feet were sore almost immediately. After a bit I noticed how slow we were traveling, with every step being deliberate. I started to worry about how long this would take, and how my feet would feel after a four mile hike. After an hour, I was still doing ok, and I noticed a few familiar landmarks on the trail. When we stopped for lunch, I checked the time and realized we were moving at a similar speed to what I normally do in boots.

Funny enough, I never thought to just slow down. We stopped less, drank less water, and ultimately barely even broke a sweat. The slow deliberate steps, picking and choosing where to place my foot every time, had slowed my pace to a point that we never needed a break. We rested our feet on occasion, but normally I would have to stop to catch my breath regularly, the steady pace more than made up for the loss in speed.

When we arrived at the campsite, my feet were feeling great. Along with my back, and my legs. Normally quite sore by the end, this time I felt really good. This will definitely be the way I hike from now on, and I'm sure once my feet toughen up it will be even easier. Maybe next time I won't have to carry the boots along at all.