Barefoot Ken

Hey friends, I'm super-thrilled to announce my next book, due out in September, about a peak-bagging challenge I undertook and what I learned about minimalism, the mountains, and myself. Available to pre-order at barefootken.com/chasing-the-gr… Thank you @UlyssesPress and @firerooster

@MelindaHoward4 its sort of cool and you can't eat it so there's that

I do NOT want this bathtub

@MelindaHoward4 Duct tape is awesome it really works

@BarefootPeace I'm glad he waits for the lava fields to cool first

Meet the man who walks #barefoot — and was born — on an active volcano: "It's good and sharp, but I never get hurt. I know where to set on my feet, and I never got any cut or bleeding on my foot." npr.org/2026/03/29/nx-…

@MelindaHoward4 Don't let them come in the house

The ducks destroyed their swimming pool during the night. I knew they didn’t like this one but Wowzers!!! Don’t hold back, tell me how you really feel! #duckmom

@CaryKelly11 Great use case for AI!

How can we prudently trust scientists when scientists don't even trust the scientists? "According to the researchers, fraudulent studies are now appearing at a faster rate than legitimate scientific publications." We have not abandoned science. The scientists are abandoning us.

@maverickwolfmsu Nice work!

Took advantage of a perfect spring evening and perfect temps. Completed the longest distance since surgery with a 2 mile walk using the cane for about 70 percent of walk. No pain during walk just still slightly limping but I know that’ll improve with time and strength!

@FitKateFitness I eat 100% dark chocolate, but for desert, not in the morning

😊Good morning! ☀️ Most days I don’t start with coffee ☕️, but with a big mug of hot raw cacao. What’s really interesting: proper single-origin raw cacao tastes completely different from the usual stuff you know. You can actually taste the different varieties — sometimes fruity-floral, sometimes nutty-malzy, depending on the origin. No boring uniform flavor, but real, complex taste! Who else starts their morning with cacao instead of coffee? What’s your favorite variety? 😊😊😊 #RawCacao #CacaoInsteadOfCoffee

@Casebradford You sound like me!

I have been walking 6 hours a day barefoot and have even more respect and reverence for how dynamic and sophisticated feet are Liberated your feet from the plastic containers called “shoes” We would all benefit from environments made for traverse with naked feet

Thank you for the thoughtful post, Doc. I almost wonder if the patient's decision to elect surgery is an attempt at self-empowerment -- "to do something" - in order to create an outcome where either the procedure results in clear benefit, or it does not, but in either case the uncertainty is resolved. "Doing something" is a break from the complexity of trying to manage a chronic issue thru conservative options. That complexity can be quite painful -- in the sense of imposing cognitive load -- like when you bounce back and forth between some days when you feel better, and other days when you feel worse. The ancients called these "perturbations of the soul," which we've shortened to "anxiety" and "stress." One of the great benefits of athletic training imho is that you learn to manage yourself in complex/high-stress regimes

Yesterday's post prompted a number of practitioner responses expressing frustration that "patients don't listen to them". Well.... that's okay. One of the hardest conversations in this profession is between the patient who wants something done and the surgeon who knows that something isn't the answer. PTs and docs tell me regularly that they feel stuck, that they've explained the evidence, and the patient still wants the procedure. What do you do? My answer is that our job is to educate and inform. Not to convince. We can explain what the research shows, what the risks are, and what rehab is likely to accomplish that surgery won't. We can be honest and direct about our clinical judgment. What we cannot do, and shouldn't try to do, is override a patient's autonomy. Informed patients get to make their own decisions. That's not a failure of communication. That's medicine working correctly. I like to operate. I became a surgeon because I find it meaningful, and I'm decent at it. When surgery is the right answer, I don't hesitate. What I find genuinely puzzling, after all these years, is when a patient tries to convince a knee surgeon with 30 years of experience that they need an operation, and every instinct that surgeon has developed over those 30 years is telling them otherwise. That clinical intuition exists for a reason. It should be trusted, not negotiated away. The harder version of this is the surgeon who says: If I don't do it, someone down the street will. And that's true. It often is. But I can only answer for what I do in my operating room. If I believe surgery might genuinely help, I'll recommend it, and I'll do it. If a patient has moderate arthritis and wants me to clean out a joint that the evidence says won't benefit from cleaning out, I won't do it. Not because I'm judging the patient. Because I can't compromise my principles for RVUs. This isn't self-righteousness. It's the only way I know how to practice medicine and look at myself in the mirror. The patient may find someone else. That's their right. My obligation is to tell them the truth as clearly as I can, and then let them decide.

@FitKateFitness "fitfluencer" 🧐

@Long_Brown_Path 😊😊😊 WOW - thanks Barefoot Ken - and thank you for the great feedback - and may I now call myself a fitness influencer? 🤣

The other day, @FitKateFitness asked for suggestions on how to overcome the depressing effect of cold gray mornings, and I was like just focus on goals blah blah blah. So this morning, when I woke up to 40 F and rain -- and this mind you after ☀️days in the 70s! -- I was like, 😰NOPE. Maybe the treadmill....or maybe I'll just sleep in. And then I was like -- what about @FitKateFitness ? Would she think I was some over-the-hill #barefoot loser who talks a big game, but when push comes to shove, hides under the covers? So I dragged my sorry butt out there and did 8 miles in the soggy Grasslands and had a good time! Bonus - gray willow catkins and Northern Harriers. Thanks @FitKateFitness !

@FitKateFitness speaking as a former Army Ranger, those are good push-ups - nice work!

..... the answer to the riddle 😂 and they aren't diamond push-ups.

🤔How many diamond push-ups can you do? @WhitneyGrenaway I wouldn't say much😁. But I'll try. How much can you do? #pushup #run #try

My latest ridiculous ultra adventure, as published by ATRA trailrunner.com/trail-news/rid…

@FitKateFitness Well said!

Gym is only 20% of the work. The other 80% is sitting in the kitchen trying not to eat everything at 7pm 😂Calorie deficit is pure humbling. x.com/whoistife_x/st…

😮

@FitKateFitness Au contraire - this is the original human means of locomotion!

@Long_Brown_Path We always knew it — you're not human. No Earthling runs 631 peaks barefoot through killer brambles like it's nothing. You're straight up alien. Planet where shoes are torture and feet are superpowers. Respect, Barefoot Ken. Not from this world 🦶👽 😊😊😊

Views from the summit of Blauvelt. Very cool place, killer brambles notwithstanding. Barefoot peak no. 631

One benefit of #barefoot hiking is that you move quietly

When peak-bagging in Harriman, you do not need to bring ropes or pitons, and if you encounter class III or IV scrambles, you just walk around them. But that's not to say there aren't obstacles. The summit of Blauvelt was ringed with ferocious brambles, the worst I've encountered anywhere. It's like finding your way through a maze. Thank you to the deer for leaving paths. Next time I will bring rose clippers.

@MelindaHoward4 Yay!

Seen on today’s run: MFH out on his first solo run since his stroke 🥰🎉