Why put shoes on your feet that weigh a ton, make the muscles in your feet lazy, and make you prone for foot injury? Barefoot shoes are supreme for day to day use, they support natural walking and climbing and lead to fewer injuries.
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This is highly dependent on hike length, elevation gain, your type of hiking, your posture, centre of mass, the weight you carry…
Even high cut vs low cut shoes can be its own debate, you’re better off asking a professional about what fits best your feet, ankles, knees, instead of how “better” it feels
Agreed. You’ll end up miserable if you’re wearing low cut shoes with no gaiters in sandy/gravelly terrain. Won’t be much fun getting pebbles and sand in your shoes every few steps with a full pack.
Your foot muscles give up eventually but I always hike in minimalist sandals. Deep gravel is a bitch sure but everything else is amazing. No cares about water or mud.
Unless you are into that sensation, in which case, go have fun and get kinky.
I’ve been thinking about trying some barefoot shoes for hiking and day to day. Any recommendations? (Thanks for the great replies so far, it’s very helpful!)
I’m partial to Vivo and Xero. For whatever market reason, they typically cost more than standard shoes, but I’ve been wearing them for a few years since they’re the only thing keeping my plantar fasciitis at bay.
Do keep in mind that if you switch, you’ll probably want to do so gradually. Your ankles and calves will do a lot more work than they’re used to doing in shoes with padded and raised soles. Be sure to stretch and adjust incrementally
I miss Vivos :( I developed an allergy to whatever adhesive they use
If you’re new to zero drop shoes, you may need to ease into it. It took me about 6 weeks to strengthen the muscles in my feet and transition fully into only zero drop shoes.
Also I would recommend looking into barefoot shoes that are both zero drop and natural shape, wide toebox. Many brands are ‘barefoot’ in that they are zero drop, and claim to have a wide toebox but are also super narrow and more like fashion shoes than foot-shaped shoes.
I recommend the Lem’s Primal 3, best shoes I’ve ever had. I regularly put in 20,000 to 30,000 steps a day in these on pavement/gravel, and have taken them up/down mountains as well (gravel, rocks, muddy mountain streams). I’ll keep buying these and replacing them as long as they keep making them (or until whenever the Primal 4 becomes a thing). It comes with a cork insole which I hate. If you live anywhere with humidity, the cork doesn’t absorb sweat so it ends up causing friction and blisters. So get the Poly insoles on their accessories page.
Some people don’t like the Primal 3 since it has more padding, but they are lightweight and prevent fatigue for me. I tried much thinner shoes but once I go over 20,000 steps a day on hard surfaces, my feet were starting to hurt before I went to the Primal 3.
This was the review that sold it for me:
Other Lems: Depends on your foot shape. I’ve tried 10 different pairs and none of the other styles fit my foot shape.
The Lems waterproof boots tend to run small and narrow for me, only one that fit ok-ish was the Boulder Summit, wasn’t the most comfortable but between the waterproof membrane and yearly waxing with a heatgun, it kept my feet dry and warm in the winters and wet months. They always felt stiff and didn’t fit me the best though. My go-to hiking shoe is still the Primal 3.
I want to try the Lem’s Telluride boot next, I prefer moccasin-toe boots like it, even if it doesn’t have the waterproof membrane. Otherwise I’ve tried all the Lems shoes for my foot shape (10+ pairs) and the only one I’ll buy again is the Primal 3.
BeLenka is the only other ‘barefoot’ brand I trust because it has both the natural shape, wide toebox and the zerodrop ‘barefoot’ aspect. Next time I’m in Europe I’ll probably bring an empty suitcase just to fill with their shoes (there’s a few retail stores in Europe so you can try them on). Be Lenka has the most styles I’ve seen and like, boots, sneakers, work/dress shoes, etc.
Socks: Injinji Liner Crew Wool - thin socks you can use as a base layer under your regular stock to cut down on blisters. I also wear these alone as regular casual socks in the warmer months.
Injinji Outdoor Midweight Crew Wool - for boots and cooler days.
Anything from creepers, probably the best socks I’ve ever worn.
Bedrock sandals. I love them, though they are expensive for what they are.
I have three pair of these. Two have held up really well, one pair has had some issues. Zero drop minimal shoes, $40 a pair, and theyve lasted me over a year so far.
Couldn’t agree more. I use running sandals or generic deck shoes for hiking.
Build up feet and ankle muscles, grips better by their flexibility and ability to feel terrain, far cheaper, more comfortable, breathability is a huge factor for me.
If wearing hiking shoes makes you prone to foot injury, you are probably wearing the wrong hiking shoes. This would apply to running shoes as well btw, but i do not want to get too off-topic.
That being said, I switched to barefoot shoes for everyday use and for hiking a few years ago and never looked back. I do not have an opinion on barefoot being the ‘best’ for hiking, but I certainly prefer them over traditional hiking shoes for my use case (mostly flat, soft surface, 20-ish kilometers).
Which barefoot shoes do you use? I’ve tried hiking with barefoot shoes many times with many different brands and unless the terrain is basically flat, the lightweight build of most barefoot shoes tends to result in my feet shifting around when trying to do anything that requires any kind of grip and that gets real sore after a hike.
I’ve never figured out how to fix the problem because the root seems to be a fight between ‘shoes arent typically 100% form fitting’ and ‘shoes arent typically this lightweight’.
I used to use vibrams and I liked them for rocky scaling (waterfall climbs, etc).
The soreness you’re describing might be from your feet using muscles they’re not used to. Beginner rock climbers experience the same thing (me amongst them) but I didn’t have that feeling nearly as much when I hiked with barefoot shoes because my muscles already were stronger from climbing.
I think there’s benefits to barefoot shoes but you really need to use them for a while to decide if they’re right for you.
Maybe don’t dive straight into hikes, just walk around in them a bunch and then do some easy elevation hikes with tree roots and move on from there.
I don’t use them anymore but when I did I really liked them for tough, rocky elevation hikes that didn’t rise to the level of actual rock climbing. The added flexibility and tactile contact made it much easier for me to find and keep my footing.
I’ve worn barefoot shoes near daily for about 6 years now, hiking and dressing up for vendors is basically the only time I have to bring out something else. I’ve even tested several for hiking, but the ones I’ve had just do not cut it when even a minor amount of grip is required.
I have tried Vibram with their five fingers series and they were great for walking or a super light trail. I even did treadmill running with them for awhile which was a rough experiment. For me though, they had the same problem when hiking, has been several years though, maybe I should give them another shot.
Interesting. I never used them much for trail hiking, and it’s been so long I honestly don’t remember how well gripped for that.
But I liked them a lot for scaling rocky terrain, was a lot easier to get my feet contorted into cracks and stuff that a normal toe didn’t want to play as nice with.
Overall I didn’t love them much except for that style of use so I got rid of them when they were worn and haven’t gotten any more of them because I don’t live in an area with that type of terrain any longer.
I have weak ankles and already sprained them significantly. Big bulky work boots are my hiking shoe now.
I had the same experience, but since I switched to barefoot shoes, my ankles aren’t weak anymore.
Fully agreed, but you need to start gradually if your feet and ankles aren’t used to them yet. Begin with short walks without carrying any weight and build up from there. Too often people buy their first pair of barefoot shoes, end up hurting themselves, and then go back to their old shoes
It took me about 6 weeks to ease into barefoot shoes and build up the muscles in my feet, switching between my old New Balance shoes and slowly using the barefoot shoes more and more each day. For anyone looking to get into barefoot shoes, there are also insoles like Bridge Soles and other brands that are supposed to help you ease into it.
Why even wear shoes? Just hike barefoot enough and eventually you’ll develop callouses and have your own built in shoes.
