The Barefoot Hiker: a must-read for any barefooter

Barefoot Life

The Barefoot Hiker Cover

In one of my early posts, “How I Became a Barefooter”, I described how I bumped into a short snippet in the newspaper about this interesting new book about hiking in bare feet. In the same story, I also mentioned I had to special order the book and that I read the whole thing in one sitting as soon as I got it in my hands.

That episode, happened to me in the spring of 1993, 20 years ago, and it was one of the catalysts that solidified my decision to adopt a barefoot lifestyle. This was a few years before the birth of social media and blogging, and much earlier than “barefoot running” or “Paleo” were things most contemporary barefooters could relate to the way we do nowadays. Therefore, you might imagine the impact that a finding like this had on a 23-year-old barefooter wannabe: Simply amazing!

Even though Richard Frazine’s “The Barefoot Hiker” has been out of print for a long time, I still think it’s one of the best reads any barefooter can enjoy – hiker, non-hiker, beginner or advanced. The book is written in casual language, so it’s an easy read. It outlines everything barefooters can relate to: the joys and benefits of barefooting, and it also has great tips and instructions on how to get hiking in the woods comfortably and safely while barefooted. It even gives pointers on how to start your own barefoot hiking group. Thus, it is also a great handbook to keep as a reference.

You can access the whole book online at a page created by Richard Frazine himself:

The Barefoot Hiker – A book about bare feet

Read it, enjoy and happy barefooting.

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