Welcome to episode 144 of the first 40 miles.

If you're new to backpacking or if you're hopelessly in love with someone who wants you to love

backpacking then this podcast is for you. We'll talk about the

essentials, how to lighten your load, and how to make the most of your time on the

trail. I'm your host Heather Legler, and I Josh Legler and this is the first 40 miles.

Today on the first 40 miles one of the best feelings after a long day of hiking is that moment when you unlace your boots

and toss them next to your pack.

But have you ever thought about ditching your boots altogether?

We'll share some benefits of lightning up and going

more minimalist with your footwear, maybe even barefoot. Then we'll review a pair of

shoes from Vibram that will practically gift-rap your feet in Japanese wrapping cloth.

Next we'll help you crack the code on how to find long winding trails. All this and that's about it. Today on the first 40 miles.

If you've never heard of barefoot hiking before, it may sound like kind of a hippy-dippy thing to do, like something that was super popular back in the 60s when everyone wore those flowy dresses and the you know the flower

headbands and those kind of colored glasses and people lived in the forest I

guess yeah in Communes right that's what hippies did. And barefoot hiking can seem even

weirder when you think, well, I'm going to be out in the forest, in the wilderness, on these rough trails,

there's all kinds of hazards out there for my feet.

How could I possibly go barefoot out there? I mean it's one thing to go barefoot on the

carpet in my own home, but on a trail? And barefoot hiking is something that we've kind of experimented with over the last year or so.

And some of the questions at first were, what's the appeal?

You know, the forest is such a sharp, point, dangerous place.

Why even go without shoes or why choose to wear barefoot shoes, which are just, you know, a thin piece of rubber underneath your feet?

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