Them Moccasins is Wet! (An 18th Century Trekking Tale)
So a week or so ago I went Trekking to a popular waterfall site here in Southern Kentucky. What I failed to really take into account is the remnants of our very wet winter and early spring. The ground was cold and wet. And I wanted to trek period correct.
This involves getting all my gear together like I'm either scouting or on a lightened load (still about +30lbs for my stuff) and hiking around in my moccasins or period correct shoes. I chose moccasins since they're lighter and the day was supposed to be nice.
As soon as I hit the trail I was having problems- It was still slick from all the rain we were having, and the ground was slippery as owl snot. How would a feller in the 18th century solve this problem? Take 'em off. So I went barefoot. Sure I got more traction, but the ground was still cold too. There was still ice and snow in the shadier spots. I figured I'd just walk until I couldn't stand it anymore.
Well turns out I can stand it for a long dang time, and about two hours later I was nearing the waterfall. Now, this isn't an easy hike, there's a lot of going up and down sandstone boulders, skirting around rock houses, traversing creeks, and dipping into soggy bottoms. With shoes this is difficult. Without shoes it was even more so.
I tucked my mocs into my bedroll so the wet bottoms would hang out while I was walking, which seemed to work good, and after I got to the falls I laid them out while I ate my lunch. As I was leaving I decided that I'd put the mocs on after I got through most of the wet, and take them off at the wet spots. That worked really well to keep my feet from getting too cold, and I'm pretty sure they did similar in the 18th century. Nicholas Creswell's Journal tells of him and his crew getting outright naked if it rained too much to keep their clothes dry. I may not go to that extreme, but I'd bet a decent sum our frontier ancestors were probably masters of changing clothes.
After walking 4 or 5 miles in just my bare feet, and a few more in moccasins, I'm eager to go again, but in warmer dryer weather!
This involves getting all my gear together like I'm either scouting or on a lightened load (still about +30lbs for my stuff) and hiking around in my moccasins or period correct shoes. I chose moccasins since they're lighter and the day was supposed to be nice.
As soon as I hit the trail I was having problems- It was still slick from all the rain we were having, and the ground was slippery as owl snot. How would a feller in the 18th century solve this problem? Take 'em off. So I went barefoot. Sure I got more traction, but the ground was still cold too. There was still ice and snow in the shadier spots. I figured I'd just walk until I couldn't stand it anymore.
Well turns out I can stand it for a long dang time, and about two hours later I was nearing the waterfall. Now, this isn't an easy hike, there's a lot of going up and down sandstone boulders, skirting around rock houses, traversing creeks, and dipping into soggy bottoms. With shoes this is difficult. Without shoes it was even more so.
I tucked my mocs into my bedroll so the wet bottoms would hang out while I was walking, which seemed to work good, and after I got to the falls I laid them out while I ate my lunch. As I was leaving I decided that I'd put the mocs on after I got through most of the wet, and take them off at the wet spots. That worked really well to keep my feet from getting too cold, and I'm pretty sure they did similar in the 18th century. Nicholas Creswell's Journal tells of him and his crew getting outright naked if it rained too much to keep their clothes dry. I may not go to that extreme, but I'd bet a decent sum our frontier ancestors were probably masters of changing clothes.
After walking 4 or 5 miles in just my bare feet, and a few more in moccasins, I'm eager to go again, but in warmer dryer weather!
 |
| A waterfall and sore feet |
Comments
Post a Comment