Mileage

Since the beginning of 2006 I’ve kept track of my barefoot hiking miles. I’d meant to recap it at the end of last year but never got around to it.

So here’s what I’ve done.

First, I have to mention that I just don’t have the kind of mileages that runners do. They manage to go nearly day-after-day with long distances. This is just hiking, and I don’t get out nearly as much as I’d like to. (Part of that is that runners can just head right out the door—for hiking you generally have to travel somewhere first.)

On the other hand, I generally carry a pack of some kind, and these days my camera. My fanny pack usually weighs around 20 pounds (most of that is water), but probably at least half of my hiking was done with a full-on backpack with 30-35 pounds in it.

By the way, I’m an external-frame kind of guy. I have a back that doesn’t appreciate too much (but it really is the case that going barefoot helps it, a lot) and external frame backpacks do a much better job of transferring weight to the hips, below the lumbar region. I have mine set up so that about all the shoulder straps do is keep the pack from tipping backwards.

So, over that period I’ve hiked 1,850 miles. Averaging about 305 miles a year.

This actually misses a lot. I first started doing my hiking barefoot back in 1996. If you include that, I figure I’m over 3,000 miles. While I just didn’t keep track of it, I did start my mapping, though, so I know I traversed a lot of those trails.

If you’ve seen my maps of Southeast Ohio Hiking Areas, you may not realize that there’s an earlier, cruder version, from back then. Aside from Vesuvius (which I’ve still never managed to make it to), I did a lot of hiking in those parks in order to create those maps.

Here are my year-to-year statistics:

• 2006: 259.31 miles (71 hikes)
• 2007: 166.28 miles (54 hikes)
• 2008: 273.62 miles (70 hikes)
• 2009: 352.46 miles (87 hikes)
• 2010: 219.04 miles (49 hikes)
• 2011: 274.91 miles (65 hikes)
• 2012: 281.97 miles (69 hikes)
• 2013:  22.70 (3 hikes)

That includes 350 miles at Hocking Hills, but also 300 miles at Charles Alley Park in Lancaster (hey, it’s close, hilly, and pretty). It also includes 270 miles at Zaleski State Forest and another 270 at Clear Creek Metro Park.

Some highlights include my trip with my boys’ Boy Scout troop in 2006 to Yellowstone, and my trip last summer to the Grand Canyon and other southwest locations. It also includes my seven-day Walk with the Ancients, covering 70 miles in 7 days (though I only included 6 days in my count, since I wore flip-flops on one of the days).

In fact, I should point out that the totals above really only include barefoot miles. Occasionally I would get footsore and don flip-flops (when doing a multi-day, long-distance hike). I did not include those. That happened one day at Yellowstone, one day on the Walk with the Ancients, and for part of my trip in the Grand Canyon (which was caused by a combination of heat and distance).

It does make me wonder why I had to have such “support”. After all, it doesn’t seem as if Cody Lundin has that problem.

But then again, look at his feet.

Cody’s Famous Feet

And compare them to mine.

My Barefoot Hiking Sole

Mine have quite a bit more padding than the average bare, but they don’t compare to Cody’s. And it is obvious that I’m just not out there as much. He runs survivalist classes and is probably outside nearly every day on surfaces that challenge his soles and keep them built up. I, on the other hand, only make it out once or twice a week—it’s no wonder my feet don’t get the stimulation they need to really be able to handle everything over long distances.

Also, as I’ve mentioned before, I play tennis once (or, during the summer, twice) a week, and that sands off callus, too.

Nonetheless, even my namby-pamby feet manage to handle a large variety of trail conditions, and I sure do enjoy going out there and hiking barefoot.

Now if I could just get out there more often . . .