A hike up the creek near Piedra Blanca

I brought my Invisible Shoes on a hike yesterday. I hiked up the trail wearing my Chacos. The hike was a short one, about 3 miles on a trail and then half a mile up a creek. The creek part took as long as the trail part. I am very sore now and all scratched up from the bouldering. I'll probably get some wicked poison oak.

At the end of the creek part was a huge blue-green swimming hole. We swam and jumped from rocks into the cold water. It was probably 20 feet deep. There were steelhead trout in the pool but we scared them into hiding. I learned yesterday that steelhead trout are the same species as rainbow trout. The difference between them is that steelhead spend some time living in the ocean. It's possible these had never been to sea but I think they still call them steelhead in this area because that is their normal behavior, to go to sea at some point and come back again.

Hiking in the creek was pretty difficult. I am not good at this kind of thing. I felt like I couldn't trust my footing. Some of the rocks were very slippery and some were not but you couldn't really tell which ones just by looking at them. Sometimes even the dry ones were slippery. So I pretty much did the whole half mile of creek hiking bent over holding on with my hands.

After the swim and after descending back to the trail, I decided to hike in the Invisible Shoes. They feel like you have thin little rubber mats that come up to meet your bare feet with every step. I don't really even feel the straps, just the mats under my feet. You have to watch where you walk because you can feel every rock. It felt like a total relief to take off the Chacos and walk in what felt pretty much like my bare feet. I wished I could have hiked in them in the creek. I think the rubber they are made of might have stuck to the rocks better than the rubber of the Chacos, but they are so thin the movement of your foot through the water just flaps the sandals right in half under your toes. So they are fine to swim in, if you want to wear them swimming, but you can't hardly walk through water in them.

After the hike we went to Deer Lodge which has really slow service but decent buffalo and other game meat burgers and beer and bikers. I saw a guy there who I really thought was Too Obtuse from the PCT. I finally had to ask him if he was Too Obtuse, which of course sounded like the stupidest thing to ask a person, so I quickly had to say, "I mean, is your name Too Obtuse." He wasn't Too Obtuse and thankfully he didn't beat me up or anything.

Went for a run in my Invisible Shoes

I went running in my new Invisible Shoes today. I'm like the princess and the pea. Even though I got their thickest model (the 6mm Contact version), they felt plenty thin to me. I could feel the bigger stones or craters in the asphalt, and sometimes they hurt! But most of the time I wasn't being hurt and I enjoyed running in them immensely. I even forgot I was wearing them after a while and just enjoyed being outside getting some exercise. I especially liked it that with the cheap nylon rope laces and lack of leather or glue I didn't feel the slightest hesitation to get my feet wet in the surf on the beach.

There's no way in heck I could ever do a long hike or backpack trip in them though. They are way too thin. I can barely set up the kickstand on my scooter wearing them. The plus side is if you ever want to have the secret pleasure of being barefoot without actually being barefoot, these are the sandals to wear.

My Invisible Shoes have arrived

My Invisible Shoes came today. That was the fastest anything has ever arrived after ordering. I ordered Friday night, I think, or maybe Saturday morning. They arrived today, Monday.

I ordered their smallest size. I was surprised I would fit the smallest size, but they just barely fit me. I think the next size up would be better, but these are actually a perfect fit.

I think the cheap nylon laces are kind of hokey, but I'm surprised how nice they feel. I think I will use the nylon laces for a couple days, as lame as they are, just so I can have the full Invisible Shoe experience. One nice thing about them is you don't have a good side and a bad side like leather laces, but the hardware store appearance kind of takes that plus away.

The new soles they have are really nice. They have little chevron shapes on the bottom for grip. They have the side holes pre-punched on little wings that stick out a little bit on the side. The sole is shaped a little bit to conform to your foot but not overly so. They feel really "soft", smooth and barely there. Even though I got the thickest ones, they are so flexible you can fold them in half with your toes. They are very quiet to walk in.

The reason I ordered them was I had made some huaraches using soling sheet and vegetable-tanned leather with a suede top. They were rugged enough for hiking. But the leather was poor quality and it separated and peeled right off the sole. Meanwhile, I've been using this soling sheet to make a lot of other sandals and shoes and I wear the zig-zag tread off way too quick for them to offer any meaningful traction on these ball-bearing trails I hike on. Plus without a thick leather top, the heat from the soil just goes right through and I burn my feet.

I considered buying some unit soles to make another pair of huaraches, but the athletic sole didn't look like it would provide much traction and the hiking soles looked too heavy. Then I thought, why not try the Invisible Shoes. They're kind of like buying unit soles. I could see what they were like and if they might make a decent pair of hiking huaraches.

So I haven't decided if I will try to stick some vegetable-tanned leather to these or not. It sort of seems like the glue might not stick to this rubber. It has a checkered surface that feels non-stick. I'll see if that's just a coating that wears off. It's not certain that these little chevrons on the sole will actually provide any better traction than the basic Vibram 127 athletic soles, either. And they are more expensive than a pair of unit soles.

I have way too many sandals now, but I feel like I can't ever wear shoes again. It's just too free to have my feet completely unencumbered. I've actually done some running in them, too. It's a lot of fun.