Well, obviously the native americans did it. It seems like ( as long as they were water-proofed) they would be preferable to boots for their lightness and preferable to sandals for their entire-foot-coverage. Anyone use them regularly? The only disadvantages I could see would be your feet getting cold in the winter and if you drop somthing on your foot, your are going to feel it alot more thank you would if you were wearing boots. Being in Oklahoma, I think that some authentic, high quality ones would be pretty easy to come by. Any thoughts?
I hike in moccasins all the time. I glue a thin layer of rubber to the bottoms so that they don't wear out so fast. They work great for me and most of my hiking is off-trail in rocky terrain. I always carry my Swisstool(knife content!) for pulling out cactus spines because they often will break off if I use my fingers. I make my own mocs using instructions from George White's little book. It's a little cryptic, but most becomes clear after making a pair. He's got a drawing of a 900 year old slipper in the back of the book that is super easy to make and works really well for running. You could probably use cowhide to make a pair of these, otherwise you want deer, elk, or moose since it is flexible enough to pucker better. My first pairs were made of elk and stretched a lot. I've since learned that most elk is tanned for garments and is too stretchy for mocs. I just bought half a moose hide but haven't tried it yet. The guy I bought it from(Ernie at Two Bears Trading Post) says that it's the stuff.
Mocs with no sole glued on give the best feel for the ground. They wear fast unless you've got good running technique. If you run barefoot a lot you're probably ok. If they get wet it wrecks them pretty fast.
You do have to watch where you're putting your feet when you wear mocs. I used to just blast through cactus in my boots, but not anymore. It becomes automatic fairly quickly, though. I've never even come close to turning an ankle. I think that because your heel is on the ground that there is no leverage from the shoe on your ankle. I used to turn my ankles a lot in boots and shoes.
I now run exclusively barefoot except in the snow and all my life-long foot, knee, and hip problems have vanished. This is in answer to why you might want to adopt stone-age tech in the modern age. The biggest caveat is to start really slowly to build up strength if you've worn shoes your whole life. It's easy to overdo it.
I've also run in the Fivefingers and the huaraches. I much prefer the huaraches, and they cost about a tenth as much if you make them yourself. I use the huaraches when I'm hiking on trails that are too rough to go barefoot on. If the rubber that you use it too slippery underfoot when it gets wet get some traction tape at Ace. There's a google group on making huaraches that's useful. I use parachute cord(survival content!) to make the laces and it works really well. I was worried that it might stretch when it got wet but it doesn't. It's the real stuff with the seven internal strands, BTW.
Good luck, Gordon
