Camping in Bare Feet & Minimalist Footwear

Last weekend I had the opportunity and privilege to go camping with my son at Wallace State Park here in Missouri. We joined my sister and her family for a couple of days of food, relaxation, hiking, fishing and most importantly...s'mores!

While there, I continued a lifestyle of going barefoot or wearing minimalist shoes. Although I wanted to go barefoot most of the time, the gravel and acorns covering the ground of our camp sites made it uncomfortably prohibitive to go barefoot with any speed or efficiency. That said, I did manage to go barefoot some of the time, walking around our sites a little bit and doing some barefoot hiking on one of the trails. A significant majority of the time I wore my Vibram Fivefingers Sprint (VFFs) footwear, but on the last morning I caved to the 39F/4C temperature and wore socks with my Vivo Barefoot Dharma (Vivos) shoes. All in all, I'd say I wore my VFFs about 80% of my awake time while going barefoot about 15% and wearing the Vivos the final 5%:

Mmm, pie...charts.

I also took my Terra Plana Trip Clips with me. After getting them "dialed in" just right they worked well at keeping my jeans cuffs off of the ground. That was very helpful since barefooting and wearing minimalist shoes like the VFFs and Vivos usually keeps my cuffs low enough to rub the ground as I walk. I will certainly be doing a review later on to offer additional thoughts and tips on how best to use the clips.

Some more thoughts on barefoot/minimalist footwear camping:

• Your active feet quickly get used to cold temperatures. Even in the early morning my feet did generally well barefoot or wearing just the VFF Sprints. I only wore the Vivos for the first couple hours of the coldest morning because I wasn't very active yet. If I'd started off with a run or hike or lots of walking around then the VFFs Sprints would have been enough.
• Vibram Fivefingers, compared to bare feet, provide just enough sole protection to guard against uncomfortable gravel and acorns on the ground. I could feel the surfaces pretty well with them on, but it felt more like a foot massage instead of discomfort.
• Terra Plana's Vivo Barefoot shoes, for all of their wonderful qualities, really don't provide anywhere as close of a "barefoot" feel as Vibram Fivefingers. This really became apparent on the camping trip. On smooth surfaces the differences are much less noticeable. On gravely, rocky surfaces the flexibility of the Vibram Fivefingers really shines. Not only that, but Vivos are much more loose on the foot and I would be hesitant to go hiking in them.
• Hiking barefoot on non-gravely trails is spectacular! Nothing makes you feel more connected with nature and the earth like walking through the woods with your bare soles on the ground. Definitely try it if you get the chance. Yes, your feet will get a bit dirty, but it's worth it.

As a side note, my nephew Austin also took some opportunities to go barefoot during the trip. While he didn't hike barefoot, he did kick off his shoes a couple of times. Once, at the end of a trail as we walked back on paved roads to our sites, he went barefoot and stayed unshod for quite a while. I'm proud of him.

Overall, camping barefoot and in minimalist footwear was wonderful. It helped me feel so much more connected with the ground below and the trees above. At no point did I feel a sense of danger for my feet, even when walking over rocks in the dry riverbed or up some steep trail inclines in my VFFs. The trip got me even more interested in learning more about and exploring the concept of MovNat, which is kind of like parkour in nature. The trip was refreshing for body and soul and I can't wait to go back and do even more things barefoot. It certainly makes me want to get outdoors more and enjoy whatever nature is around me.