Shiraz-mataz

No post? Must be nothing to wash!!! I'll go out on a limb and assume the original poster intended to find out how people wash up their dishes. I like to do mostly "freezer bag cooking" where you simply pour boiling water into a dehydrated meal in a Ziploc type bag - nothing to clean, you simply put the bag in the trash. On the rare times I actually use a plate or bowl, I boil a little extra water and pour it onto/into the plate or bowl and let it soak while I eat. Give it a little swish with my hand and toss the water in the woods. Good to go! No soap or anything like that required...

Congratulations on your accomplishment! Sorry about the blisters though... That's not something I would usually expect but would likely attribute to overcompensating your gait due to the unfamiliar nature of hiking barefoot. When wearing shoes people generally walk heel-to-toe but you will discover that when walking barefoot you will land on the ball of your foot a split second before your heel. This is magnified when walking in rough terrain so you're spending a lot of time walking on your toes. Give it another try and you'll see what I'm talking about. As an extra experiment, try RUNNING barefoot - it's amazing how years of running heel-to-toe in shoes goes right out the window and your brain automatically shifts to its natural gait described above. Was this along a trail in the woods? A well-worn dirt path or trudging around in the brush? Keep me posted!

Carolyn, congratulations on your "blissful" barefoot hike! Sounds like you're well on your way to being a true barefooter. The muscle aches will subside fairly soon assuming you keep at it. It's like any other muscle you don't use on a regular basis being called to action. Imagine wearing a cast on your arm every waking moment all your life and then to take it off and try to play tennis - it's about the same thing. As for the fear of snakes... just repeat 500 times "snakes fear bare feet and run away!" But honestly, they are an ever present animal that would much rather avoid you. The reason my son was bitten was because he stepped directly on the snake and the snake reacted in defense instinctively. It certainly didn't come after my son and sneak up on him! Fire ants? I think they are mostly in the southeastern US from Texas through southern Virginia. You'd have to look on some bug web site to find out the details. I know that we don't have them in Maryland for which I am grateful! Keep up the barefoot hiking and you'll have to keep me posted with your progress.

Mosquitos will bite any exposed skin so go ahead and spray repellent as required (spraying the bottoms of your feet is pretty pointless though). For chiggers, the spray should take care of them as well. Ticks are interesting... would you believe I "feel" them crawling on my feet way before they have a chance to bite so I have an early warning and will dispatch them to the afterlife post haste! Afraid of snakes, eh? Here's some comforting personal information... My son spent three days in the hospital after being bitten by a water moccasin in Florida. Where did it bite him, you may ask? About half way up his calf! Shoes would have made no difference. I can't help assuage your fear of snakes but you should always watch your step if you're wearing shoes or not. For those in the south there's another critter to think about... FIRE ANTS! I have stepped on their mounds while wearing shoes and while barefoot - shod is worse. Why? When barefoot I can usually feel the texture of the sandy mound underfoot and recognize it for what it is before they even have a chance to bite. If you're wearing shoes those little buggers will swarm all the way up your leg before you know it and then you're dancing around trying to pull off your shoes and socks but it will be too late. Hope that helps. Feel free to PM me if you would like more information or encouragement.

Someone finally brought up one of my favorite topics - barefoot hiking! And what better way to get out there and tromp around the woods sans shoes than to combine it with geocaching. During the warmer months I typically toss my shoes the second I get home, and while on vacation I'll generally go barefoot 99.5% of the time. So many people dismiss the idea because it sounds too hard, or they've drank the Nike Kool-Aid and think you HAVE to wear shoes, or maybe it just never occured to them to give it a try. But of course there are questions: Why? At its core, barefoot hiking takes you back to the carefree days of youth, and it's that innocent fun I enjoy most. Once you allow the notion into your head that it might be fun, there are other reasons as well, foremost is that going barefoot is healthy for your feet. People may ask what you use for arch support - the answer is your ARCHES! Your feet will strengthen and toughen in no time and you can stop worrying about the ills that come with wearing shoes: odor, bunions, fallen arches, blisters... Where? You would be shocked at the terrain I've tackled barefoot. Well worn paths in the woods are easy but with a little patience you can navigate uncut growth in the middle of a forest. I've walked miles and miles of rocky portions of the Appalachian Trail, scrambled up rock faces, trudged through mud. And if you can ignore societal pressure to conform, urban areas are easy as well. How? Take your shoes off! (that was easy, right?) If you're a true tenderfoot start slow on grass, build up to well groomed paths, and then add difficult terrain as you become more comfortable. Your feet will likely be sore - work through the pain but don't overdo it. Know your limits though, you don't want to be in a situation where you need shoes and don't have them. Shoes are essentially tools in much the same way gloves are. I couldn't function if I had to wear gloves all the time but they come in handy when catching a baseball or pulling thorny weeds. Check out some of my profile pics and you will find several of me out there caching barefoot. Give it a try - you WON'T regret it! But please let me hear about your experience and your success!

Ah, heaven... The ultimate minimal footwear layering - no socks, no liners, no shoes, no problems! My Tevas are strapped to the backpack where they had been for the past five miles. This was somewhere along the Appalachian Trail in Shenandoah National Park. The VFF's have definitely piqued my interest but I'm not sure I'd want to fork over $80 for an experiment. For me the sandals/barefoot combination works well. It's the best way to hike - especially in hot weather. I don't want to take this thread too far away from its original intent so feel free to PM me if you would like any more information about benefits, hazards, and methods for barefoot hiking.

The "Hiking in the Heat" thread evolved into a discussion about footwear and has some interesting ideas for lightweight shoes including sandals and Vibram Five Fingers. Don't dismiss sandals because they don't fit the traditional mold of "hiking footwear." I hike in Teva Terra-Fi 2's (when I wear anything at all!) and have hundreds of miles on them. They do offer some arch support but I feel that is overrated - it's best to let the arch strengthen over time. It's counterintuitive but I have tripped in regular shoes and turned my ankle but NEVER in sandals. Besides, c'mon... it's SUMMER!

When it comes to multi-day backpacking trips in the mountains, I learned very quickly that it pays to be a "smart" packer. On my first trip the backpack was pushing 60 pounds and the intended 40 mile hike ended at 20 miles. Of course I was carrying eggs, cans of vegetables, beer, clothes for every day, a heavy multi-tool, two-man tent, and several other luxuries that would be best left home. Now I have trimmed the weight on my back down into the 25 pound range. I traded my six pound backpack for a 1 pound 10 ounce Golite Pinnacle Pack, the 4 pound tent was replaced with a 2 pound hammock, a simple knife was used instead of my multi-tool (did I really need umpteen blades and a pair of pliers?), and heavy clothes were replaced with a couple sets of lightweight hiking clothes. One of the biggest savings was on food where I began using nearly all dry packaged meals that mix with water. My hiking partner and I also share gear such as I will carry the water filter while he carries a Jetboil stove. In the end, we have everything we need for a fun and safe hiking experience, pared down to minimal weight. Oh yeah, if there are caches along the way I do have my trusty yellow Etrex!

I can't wait to get back on the trail! My usual hiking partner has succumb to the pressure from his wife to cut back on his hiking so we're only going to do ONE section of the AT this fall. We're thinking about the Roller Coaster section south of Harpers Ferry. But I have another couple of friends who are interested in a circuit hike in the southern portion of Shenandoah. That actually has the potential to be pretty cool since it's all backcountry camping.

My personal preference is the Teva Terra-Fi 2. It's a fully open sandal (no toe box), Teva's universal strapping system is very secure, and the tread has great traction. I've got a pair with literally hundreds of miles on them. Over the past couple of seasons I've hiked about 100 miles of the AT in them and just retired them in favor of a new pair of the same model! Like Mule Ears suggested, nix the socks - they would just make it slippery.

For Roadtorque, I suppose his hiking in the desert is a LOT different than my hiking in the Appalachians. As such I can understand his need to keep covered for sheer protection from the sun. Here on the east coast where extreme heat is often coupled with high humidity I tend to shed clothes down to the least amount required by law! This often means nothing more than some lightweight jogging pants w/o underwear. And like Mule Ears, I too eschew the shoe, opting for sandals at most. Let the sweat do its thing!

I have a Garmin Nuvi for the car that I call "Daphne" because I set the voice to a British accent and it reminded me of the character from the show Frasier. (sorry about the double post...)

I have a Garmin Nuvi for the car that I call "Daphne" because I set the voice to a British accent and it reminded me of the character from the show Frasier.

Though I am an avowed omnivore, I do hike in my own version of "vegan boots." My parents gave them to me a long time ago, they fit perfectly, cost nothing, and the more I wear them the better they get. Check 'em out...

I also use an ENO Single Nest hammock. No need to tell me - they are awesome! Some of the best sleeping ever. But like the OP, my knowledge of knots is somewhat lacking. I didn't get ENO's "Slap Strap" system because is looked like the adjustment range was too coarse so I tie it up. I use some combination of Bowline, Trucker's Knot, and "May Knot" (which means it may not hold...!). There's always that moment of hesitation when I first put weight on my rigging, waiting for the TWANG! CRASH! OUCH! FWIW, I can never remember how to tie a bowline so I had a friend do it and I never untie that knot from the line. (stupid bunny running around a tree... who can keep that straight?)

BEES! Man, you've got me beat there. One of the most painful experiences I've suffered while caching happened just last week while on vacation in Myrtle Beach. I kneeled down the check under a root hole and it felt like my knee landed in a pile of pine cones. But it wasn't pine cones... it was FIRE ANTS! I got stung by about 20 of the little buggers before I could get them all off of me. Having grown up in SC I am all too familiar with fire ants but living in Maryland the past 20 years has been nice because there are none up there.

Shoes... On the beach... This makes me sad... I just got from a two week vacation, visiting family in two different towns and then a week in Myrtle Beach. In all that time I could count the number of hours I wore my sandals on the fingers of one hand! I was barefoot the rest of the time. The beach? I'd never even consider taking shoes with me. I am the "Barefoot Cacher" though! Do what makes you comfortable, perhaps a pair of Crocs for off-beach walking.

I've done three short section hikes of the Appalachian Trail with a fourth planned for a month from now and I always look for caches along the way. We're currently working on completing the Shenandoah National Park which, being a "national park", has no traditional box-in-the-woods caches. Fortunately there are a few virtuals still out there!

A local caching compadre went in search of one of my caches that involved a long hike around a lake. At one point in the hike you come within 500 feet of the cache - it's just on the other side of the creek but at least another mile hike around to the bridge on the trail. He thought he could bushwhack (wadewhack?) across the little creek and make record time. In a matter of three steps the water goes from ankle deep to knee deep to chest deep. He ended up falling in and frying his: GPSr, cell phone, camera and iPod! And one of the most ironic/sad things was that the cache wasn't even there - I had archived it just hours before because it hadn't been found in nearly a year!

"I told you to trade UP or EVEN! You can't leave just a HEAD!"

"Hey Jules, check out what's in Marsellus' cache... Happy Meal toys! All this trouble for (bleepin') Happy Meal toys?!"

Here's a picture of a Klingon Bird of Prey traveling cache (quasi-travelbug) wreaking havoc on an aircraft on display at a museum. I was holding up the TB with a stick and had to erase the stick from the picture and then add the photon torpedos. It's from the archived cache found here: GC1E22

My hiking buddy has the same hammock as you and I use an Eagles Nest Outfitters (ENO) hammock. We've both been VERY happy with them. It's a different mindset that takes a little getting used to but once you start hangin' you'll never look back. Heck, the thing packs up the size of a grapefruit and weighs a couple pounds less than my tent. That alone is a great selling point!

"Dude, you were a little harsh on that muggle..."

"If you hide it they will come..." Well, we've been looking for FIFTY YEARS! Let's just log a DNF for cryin' out loud!