Going unshod
Tuesday, June 17, 2003

Walking tips

• Plant your feet, never allowing them to kick, drag or shuffle.

• Focus your eyes two to three paces down the trail, stopping to look at anything off the path.

• Keep your weight on the balls of your feet, not on the heels — which don't absorb shocks as well.

• Make a habit of awareness, treading lightly and sometimes warily and tentatively — and, when moving around obstacles, deliberately.



Top spots

• Blackhand Gorge State Nature Preserve, Licking County

• Clear Creek Metro Park, northern Hocking and southern Fairfield counties

• Glen Helen Nature Preserve, Yellow Springs

• Great Seal State Park, Chillicothe

• Hocking Hills State Park, Logan

• Wildcat Hollow hiking trail, Wayne National Forest, southeastern Ohio



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