Yes, we did!  On my recent trip to Havasu Falls in the Grand Canyon in Colorado, my friends and I hiked the whole thing in our Vibram Five Finger Shoes.  It was questionable whether these shoes could hold up on the rocky terrain for that many miles.

I’m also happy to report that nobody got any blisters during the hike.  The hike to Havasu Falls is 10 miles each way.  It begins with a steep descent into the canyon and then a relatively flat walk in a wash for 8 miles.

The next day we hiked from our campground to Beaver Falls.  This hike involved alot of rock scrambling and water crossings.  The only issue with the Vibrams that we had were that they gathered sanded very quickly.

Sediment in the water quickly built it in your toes.  Unlike with sandals, the sand had nowhere to escape and the only relief was removing the shoe and pouring out the sand.

Of course, along the way other hikers kept asking us what we were wearing and where to get the shoes!

It was bound to happen, but after 3 months my shoe developed holes in the top of the toes region.  I don’t know how they got there.  I don’t remember hitting or kicking anything.  I was worried that these holes would get bigger and bigger like a small chip in the windshield and eventually ruin my five fingers shoes.  So I took action.  While this is not the prettiest fix, it certainly worked.  I took some Plumber Goop, which you can get from Home Depot or Lowes and put a dab right into the hole.

I did a better job on the hole on the left.  The one on the right I put too much.  These pictures were taken about 3 months after I did the repair.  As you can see, the holes have not enlarged and my shoes are still full functional.  And honestly, I can redo it if I wanted, but I’m almost at one year on these shoes and it’s time for a new pair.

I learned this while in boxing class.  We use the same gloves everyday and they get sweaty and smelly.  However, what I do is that rub hand sanitizer on my hands and then put my hands into the gloves.  I also do this again at the very end of class.  My boxing gloves have never smelled.

So, with my shoes, I don’t use hand sanitizer, but I do use baby powder and I do put some into the shoe and shake it when I take them off.  It’s been working.

But even with all that, you have to wash them once in a while.  I just toss mine into the washer and air dry them.  They come out good as new!

If you wanted to go the sock route, I suggest getting the Injinji five finger socks.  But honestly, if your feet fit into them without socks, it will be real tight with these socks.  So if you plan to use socks, I would get a size larger than what Vibram suggests.

I didn’t want to buy boxing shoes so I was going barefoot for months.  Barefoot was not very good for boxing because of a few things.  First, the mat got slippery once your sweat dripped all over it, this was very dangerous.   Not to mention the gross feeling of stepping on other people’s sweat with bare feet.  You couldn’t wear normal shoes because then you lose the feel of the ground.

Also, I sucked at jumping rope.  We used these plastic jump ropes and whenever I missed a jump, the rope would hit my big toe and hurt like hell!  Jumping rope was the worst part of boxing for me.  My five finger shoes provided all the protection on the front of my toes needed.  They saved me from alot of pain from many missed jumps.  So if you box, give them a try!

Oh well, into the club I go.  And really, I didn’t expect people to see them in a dark club at all.  I just wanted to wear them around.  A few hours go by and nobody is feelin my shoes but now I gotta pee.  And this is when these shoes sort of felt really weird.

I am sure that none of you would walk into a restaurant or bar bathroom barefoot.  I mean the floor is wet and filled with undesirables.  But I knew that my shoes were fine.  My barefeet would not be touching any of that crap.  However, you can’t erase 30 years of filthy bathrooms in a second.

This is what happened.  With these shoes, you “feel” like you are walking barefoot.  As you step into the bathroom, you can feel the uneven tiles under your feet, you can see the floor is nasty, you know your feet aren’t touching the floor but you also know that there is a super thin layer of rubber between your feet and the floor.  There is no thick padding, followed by an air cushion and then a thick rubber sole.  You might as well walk into the bathroom with a plastic bag on your feet.  So I had to calm down and just do my business and leave.  As I left the bathroom I really felt like I needed to wash the bottom of the shoes.

You see, the shoes make you feel barefoot, hence you treat the bottoms like they are your soles.  It’s hard to step into mud with them, because it’s like putting your foot into the mud.  You can feel the mud squeeze up between your toes.

I was eating lunch and the cute blond waitress came up to me and said, “those are cool shoes.  Where did you get those?”  She went on to ask me about how they feel and what I use them for.  Of course, I’ve only had them on for less than an hour but it dawned on me, I can pick up girls with these shoes!  Ok maybe not.  But they sure can start a conversation!

That night Bill and I went looking for a Blue Camo pair size 42 and we found out that they were out of stock everywhere.  I happened to like the gray ones and while searching for his, I found a single pair in stock in my size.  After spending about an hour looking for shoes for Bill, I thought to myself, why not?  I paid $85 and I purchased a pair of the Vibram KSO shoes in Grey Palm color.

When I originally saw these shoes upclose I thought that they were a cooling looking novelty shoe. I thought that they would be different and just a casual shoe not really meant for any type of hard athletic exercise.