Hiking at the Great Wall of China in KSO Vibram Five Fingers

By Justin Owings on Dec 17, 2009 | In user stories | Leave a comment »

David hiked to the Great Wall of China in his Five Finger KSOs. Here are two VFF-shod views from a scenic section!

David sent in the above photos taken on a recent trip traveling to the Great Wall of China, which David hiked to wearing his black KSO Vibram Five Fingers. I asked David to tell us about the hike:

It was a 10 km hike from Jinshanling to Simatai along both rough and repaired sections of the wall. Since it is winter, it was quite cold — below freezing. As we approached the wall through the valley, I thought I might end up with frostbite! (I had backup shoes and socks just in case).

Once we got on the wall, it warmed up and I was much more comfortable. It was relatively deserted since it is off-season, but there were still many locals around to hawk their wares. Most noticed the VFF's and pointed them out, and I heard (though did not understand) quite a bit of Chinese that I think had my funny shoes as the subject.

As to the hike itself, the VFF's fared quite well. There were a number of scrambles up broken stairs, a tiny climb here and there, but mostly walking along uneven stone the entire way. I definitely enjoyed the grip and feel of these more than I would have sneakers or hiking boots.

Nothing like VFFs for impromptu scrambling up old ruins and boulders. From the photos, it looks like it was a beautiful (albeit chilly per your description) day to see the Wall.

Thanks for passing on the experience!

About the Author — I founded BirthdayShoes.com in April 2009 on realizing just how much I enjoyed having "free feet" - I mostly wanted to use them for weights, sprints, and plyometrics (I'm not much of a runner!). I'm a Googler by day and minimalist footwear aficionado by night; you can find me 'round Atlanta. If you want to catch up with what I'm doing outside of the site here, follow me on twitter @bdayshoes or @justinno or check out my personal site JustinOwings.com.
Justin Owings+ has written 712 articles and 260 comments.