[pct-l] Vibram 5 fingers; keeping feet dry

[David Ellzey]

I got the V5F KSO Treks back at Christmas but so far I have only done day hikes in them. The Trek models have the Kangaroo uppers, a 4mm midsole plate (stone bruise protection) and a lightly lugged sole.

I have done numerous 12 mile packless hikes on my local training trail and a couple of 20 miles day hikes with a 15lb pack. There is a period of time required to strengthen the muscles in your feet that don't get used in shoes. I wear light toe socks in mine while hiking.

These are my observations so far:

Pros
- More comfortable than you can imagine for footwear
- Really light on the feet, I think they only weight 11oz or something
- Great traction, much better than trail shoes despite the lack of deep tread
- Seemingly blister free
- Full freedom for your feet, lots of room to expand out if they swell
- So comfy they would also be a camp sandal

Cons
- Got to be careful where you walk, a sharp stone to the arch is painful
- I am not fond of the leather uppers, my belief is they would be hot in the desert
- The leather would also suck in the rain, stream crossing, etc...
- I have a hard time imagining using them in snow
- Don't have the data yet but I am cautious about how many miles you can get out of them

BigToe

-----Original Message-----
From: pct-l-bounces at backcountry.net [mailto:pct-l-bounces at backcountry.net] On Behalf Of Diane at Santa Barbara Hikes dot com
Sent: Wednesday, March 24, 2010 8:01 PM
To: pct-l at backcountry.net
Subject: Re: [pct-l] Vibram 5 fingers; keeping feet dry

I'm interested to hear how the VFFs work for you. One one level I can  
see how it's possible the separate toes might have prevented some of  
the blisters I had. But on another level, since I think shoes are  
evil in the way they tend to injure me, all I can think of is how  
there are so many more places for them to come in contact with my  
feet and cause even more blisters.

I have seen people backpacking in all kinds of footwear. Chacos, flip- 
flops, Crocs, barefoot. I have worn boots and trail runners and both  
of these have injured me so I am not dogmatic about hiking footwear.  
I think anything is worth a try. Please provide a report and let us  
know how they worked.

Books I've written:
~ Piper's Flight
~ Adventure and Magic
~ Santa Barbara Hikes

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