REMARKS; CONFESSIONS OF A BAREFOOT HIKER

What exactly put the idea in my mind, I'll never know. I just remember the desire to see what it felt like to walk barefoot over the short gravel path behind our home, when I was about 6. Somehow I instinctively knew what my mom's reaction would be, so I very clandestinely slipped off my shoes and socks one day and walked across it. It felt painful, but not to an extent that couldn't be dealt with. It also seemed to bring many senses to life.

Of course Mom read me the riot act, when she caught me, explaining that bare feet were for grass only. Maybe that was what turned me into a barefoot hiker.

Growing up out in the country, I was often barefoot around the house - including hiking down the long gravel driveway to the mail box. As an early teen, I developed pretty tough feet. I never dreamed of going barefoot in public, though, until my third year of college. I had always had the mind set that one had to "get dressed up" to go to town.

Since 1983 I have tried to get out as much as possible and experience life barefoot. I had never heard of the term "barefoot hiking" until after I went on-line in April, 1998 - although I had actually done it a couple of times, myself. It was then that I discovered The Dirty Sole Society (DSS). The DSS, at www.barefooters.org, is unofficially the official on-line site for people who enjoy living much of their lives barefoot. I was amazed to find (as every new member seems to be) that such a place existed. Since I joined, it has ballooned from some 250 members, worldwide, to well over 600. Membership may continue to jump, thanks to a recent front page story in the New York Times. That has spawned at least a dozen media interview requests made to DSS members around the world.

The DSS is a diverse group. Everyone from ministers to wicca practitioners, from yuppies to hippies and from senior citizens to teenagers are members.

Doing a search for "barefoot" will turn up everything from Windjammer cruises to water skiing and a lurid assortment of porn sites. Founded by Paul J. Lucas of California in 1994, the DSS is a collection of related links to various barefoot topics from care of feet to barefoot hiking and phantom laws on bare feet. Members may also put links to their personal web sites and may subscribe to daily e-mail postings from other members. Lucas and his administrative assistants strictly enforce club rules that all posts must in some way pertain to going barefoot and that no mention/hint of any type of fetish is permitted. In fact, prospective members have to fill out a lengthy essay questionnaire and go through an approval process to get in the club; those who seem questionable for one reason or another, are given six-month or one-year probationary membership status - which does not include access to the membership e-mail address list.

Many members are most interested in the legal right to go barefoot. Contrary to urban legend, there is NO state of the Union in which driving barefoot is illegal. One member contacted all 50 state police offices and printed the letter of response from each (including Missouri). Another myth is that state health department ordinances mandate that no bare feet be allowed in restaurants or other places of business. Although I haven't seen anything on Missouri posted, it has been documented in numerous states that no such regulations actually exist for customers. Of course businesses have every right to set their own dress codes. I, myself, cannot imagine going into a restaurant or grocery store barefoot. An occasional mini-mart (without the 3NS sign) is about as far as I ever go.

Others discuss the ways and means of barefooting in various conditions. A wide variety of attitudes and levels of commitment exist. Some growl that "if it's not cold enough for gloves, it's not cold enough for shoes." Some offer pointers on coping with hot summer asphalt (i.e., walking in shadows when possible, walking on painted lines, etc.), while others argue that man's feet were not created with such man-made surfaces in mind. Personally, I can take the heat, up to a point, but have never been a cold-weather barefooter.

As I said, one link pertains to barefoot hiking. There, I discovered, a gentleman named Richard Frazine had actually authored a book called The Barefoot Hiker. I finally ordered the book, via Amazon.com recently. (It is out of print at the moment.) My own hiking/walking experiences and the posts

I had read in the club the past two years had already taught me much of what Mr. Frazine covers in the 1992 book. Still, it was exciting to finally get my hands on the book I had so often seen quoted before.

The 98-page paperback (Ten Speed Press) is both a how-to manual for those considering barefoot hiking, and an argument in favor of maintaining a barefoot lifestyle. Bare feet, as Frazine and countless members of the DSS argue, is almost always more healthy in the long-run than going shod year-round. While certain dangers exist (especially in actual barefoot hiking), they tend to be less frequent than blisters, cases of athlete's foot and other problems caused or aggravated by shoes. The main things to keep in mind, he points out, are to step straight down (rather than dragging or shuffling the feet), watch where one is going and to start out slowly, then build up to longer and more challenging walks. Frazine speaks of being able to run on railroad ballast, which is even a level beyond my own current ability!

Frazine also gives advice on starting local Barefoot Hikers chapters. Dozens of chapters exist around the globe and the DSS web site and e-mail postings are full of hike reports and announcements of coming hikes (as well as battles over the infamous "No shirt, no shoes, no service" [3NS} signs in businesses, discussion of foot care and sharing recent barefoot "adventures"). The nearest chapter is in Eastern Kansas, which is just a bit farther than I would want to travel for a two-hour (or so) hike. Forming an Eastern Missouri chapter is a goal I have had for some time. Perhaps this will come about in 2001.

I personally enjoy barefooting in creek beds and riverbeds. Of course this requires keeping my feet fairly tough. It is quite nice not having to deal with soggy, sandy, squishy shoes at the end of a float trip or river wade. I am also fond of walking barefoot in the rain. I have made several delightful jaunts around the Cape riverfront during or shortly after rains, registering the difference in sensations, from the gravel railroad ballast to the smooth concrete, to the plush grass lawn of Old St. Vincent's. Hubble Creek, running through the Jackson City Park, is another nice wading spot. I have also taken to walking through mud puddles this summer. I think we, as adults, have this programmed image of our mothers glaring at us in our minds, that makes us try to avoid puddles. I can attest, though, that being barefoot and trying to HIT the puddles is much less stressful than being shod and trying to AVOID all of them!

If you haven't tried going barefoot in a while, give your feet a break. They yearn to be free, whether one realizes it or not!