Barefoot Adaptation

After taking on an eight mile hike up Mt Chocorua a couple of days ago, I realized that while your feet can take a lot of punishment from the ground, they need prolonged experience in the outdoors to really be able to handle everything that the earth can offer. My feet are sore as hell and slightly bruised but thats part of the adventure of being barefoot. Look at your feet now. They are narrow and soft. Years of forced shoe wearing made your feet that way and taking the into the great outdoors without shoes will most certainly provide a less than comfortable experience. Over a relatively short time, however, this can and will change. The skin on the bottom of your feet is especially able to harden as a result of abrasive exposure. Callousses will quickly develop and help to reduce barefoot discomfort. That rough stone and sharp gravel will be a piece of cake after a couple of months. Muscles connected to the complex arrangement of bones that make up your feet also need to adapt. Shoes allow our feet to atrophy to the point of being sore being without them. Getting outside and slowly building muscle back up in the feet is crucial. Ankle and calf muscle also needs time to adjust. As a relatively new barefoot enthusiast I can vouch for the fact that you can't have trail ready feet after a week. Being barefoot is worth the work to feel so connected to the world around you.