What can you do if you want to toughen up your feet? I wasn’t too thrilled with the results I got when I tested Tuf-Foot.
Of course, the tried and true way is to do a lot of hiking over rough terrain . . . if you don’t get too footsore to continue.
But here’s another idea.
It came to me when I was looking into what Costa Rica would be like. There were a lot of warnings about very hot sand—the sand is mainly volcanic so it is dark-colored and heats up easily. So I didn’t really need tough feet as feet that could take the heat.
But we have an example of that: the Seri Boot. To remind you, the Seri Indians along the eastern shore of the Gulf of California did not wear shoes on the blazing hot sand there. The keratosis, or keratinization, or increase in keratin levels in the skin is prompted by dry heat above 130° F.
According to the article I cited
Apparently, this type of keratosis will develop with any normal human, on any area repeatedly exposed to dry heat at temperatures exceeding about 130° F. While there are surely individual variations in the exact temperature and duration necessary for callous development, the above figure seems to be a good working approximation. Soil surface and sand temperatures, in areas where the “Seri Boot” and similar pedal hyperkeratosis have been observed, run from 30° F. to 70° F. above shade temperature, as determined by fine wire thermocouple measurements. Sand temperatures of 180° F. have been measured repeatedly in the Salt Lake and Sonoran Deserts when air temperatures, measured in the shade at “nose level” have been between 100° F and 120°F.
So, I decided to try an experiment. Actually, I can’t really call it an “experiment” since there are no controls. And I can’t call it a “demonstration” because I don’t know the results yet. Maybe it is a “test” or a “trial”.
Thus, for the 4 days before heading out to Costa Rica, I was baking sand. I put the sand in a baking dish and put that in the oven at a low temperature.
A Fresh Pan of Baked Sand
You can see the oven temperature there is 250° (that’s the lowest I could get our oven to go to). I baked the sand for about an hour, to make sure that warmthy goodness penetrated to the center.
And then I stepped in it.
I stepped in it . . . very . . . carefully.
After all, the point of this was to challenge my feet, not damage them.
It turned out not to be too bad. Was it really 250°? No. I put a thermometer into the sand and got a reading of around 210°.
Looks Like Its Done
My observations: I can stand it for about 10 seconds before the heat starts seeping through my already thick soles. Then I have to step off the sand (so I switched feet). A lot depends on how much weight I’m putting on my foot. With my full weight, it got hot pretty fast; with less, I could stand it a lot longer.
I could stand on just my heel for a long time. It already has the thickest, most keratinized skin on my foot. My arches and the non-pad parts of my toes were much more sensitive, but that’s not surprising. They normally get only minimal stimulation when I am hiking. (Yes, the skin there is quite a bit thicker than skin elsewhere on my body, just nowhere as much as on my sole itself.)
After a bit I was able to stand there for closer to 40 seconds. I don’t think that was my feet quickly adjusting, I think it was the sand cooling off. If nothing else, being exposed to my cooler feet would do that.
So anyways, I’ve been doing this 1 or 2 times a day for the past 4 days or so. It sure seems to me as if my feet are toughening up. Obviously, I’m not getting a full “Seri Boot”; that requires the heat up the sides of the foot and I’m just working on the sole (mostly).
Now we’ll have to see how this works out in practice.
As I write this I’m heading to Costa Rica tomorrow. By the time you read it, I’ll know whether it worked, but I won’t be back yet. So stay tuned for the final results. It would be nice if it worked and were a good shortcut to develop foot toughness.
As I said, I think it’s working, but without controls there is no way for me to tell—it could just be my brain messing with me because I want it to be true.
So I can’t call it an experiment.
Maybe I’ll call it a “bake-off” instead.
Ahcuah 
Now this is interesting. I’ve been thinking about buying ice packs to prep my toes for winter, but it hadn’t occurred to me you could do something like this with heat.
It makes logical sense that this would work. If humans are adapted to hot climates such as deserts and jungles they should function best in those areas, and that includes walking in them. Having seen the ‘Ice man’ running through the snow barefoot I would say it also works the other way round. I shouldn’t think four days would be enough time though.
It has never occurred to me to build my soles up with deliberate training like this. Now I’m contemplating building a track of sorts in the back yard just to build my soles. A stretch of sand and a stretch of gravel should create a nice path to train my soles for both terrain and heat. Thanks for the idea.