Barefoot

Within the last week I tried to wear shoes that I bought two or three years ago. I tried them on because although I love the Trail Glove 7 shoes I don’t like their durability. I find that they last from four to six months before being worn enough for my heel to hit the ground hard enough to become painful.

In theory I should work on my stride, to change how the foot strikes the ground, and ensure that I have a softer, more gentle foot fall. In practice the shoes feel fine until the soles of the shoes get worn beyond a certain point, and that’s when impacting the ground begins to hurt, especially after walking for an hour and a half or more.

There are two rules that we know well. The first is that we should take our shoes off before crossing a stream, to avoid getting our shoes wet. The second rule is never to cross a stream barefoot because you need to protect your feet.

Last week I crossed a stream and I broke the second rule of stream crossing. I crossed barefoot. I eventually slipped and smashed my toes into a stone or two which got me to yell in pain, and stumble.

Yesterday I tried an experiment which could have been a silly one. I tried to do the Lavaux hike from Puidoux to Vevey with Trail Glove 7 shoes. They are barefoot minimalist shoes so I could have regretted it. I didn’t but mainly because of the preparation before hand.

The Preparation

I have worn through one pair of Trail Glove 7 shoes before switching to the pair that I am using now. In that time I have walked at least 800 kilometres with one pair and an unknown amount with the second pair. The second pair is starting to show signs of wear. I think the left heel is about to fail.

This Autumn is different because I have worn running, shoes, normal shoes, and Trail Glove 7 in the rain. I was very happy with the Trail Glove 7 during the entirety of the heat wave. I had no issues with them but now that we’re moving into winter I feel the need for shoes with greater ground clearance for when I walk through puddles, or streams of water running down roads while the rain falls.

Since the Seventh of May 2023 I have walked more than 360 kilometres in the Merrel Trail Glove 7 and the experience has been good. For a long time I enjoyed wearing normal shoes but recently they started either to rub the front of my feet, or the heel would get worn away to bare plastic and I’d consider protecting the heel from friction damage when walking.

Not Goldie Locks

The first Merrel Barefoot shoes I tried were the Merrel vapor glove 6 but they felt too thin. I could feel too much of the road’s surface, especially on weather worn former tarmacked roads that were breaking apart to become mud paths once again. Stepping on stones would be painful so I chose to experiment with the Trail Gloves. The soles are just a little thicker but I found them very comfortable to walk in. So comfortable that they became my every day shoes. I thought that the soles would wear out because of the thin indentations that had little material, and they have.