Spearhead,
Yes, of course, there's a proper time and place for each. Sadly, most people think of the proper time for shoes and boots as "always" and the proper place for them as "everywhere", and the proper time for bare feet as "never" and the proper place as "nowhere". I see footwear as being a tool best used only for certain special circumstances, such as compensation for severe foot problems, or for ice climbing, or for hiking on aa-aa. Putting on shoes or boots for every step one takes is absurdity, kind of like carrying a turned-on high-powered spotlight in your hand at all times, and pointing it everywhere you look, day or night. Evolution and/or G-d (you decide) gave most everybody potentially highly functional feet, not fragile, useless appendages which need to be carefully coddled against the world.
While shoes have a time and a place, most everybody, the vast majority of the time, would be better off barefoot. Even for special circumstances which call for footwear, people would usually be better off with the minimum footwear than with the maximum (i.e., socks with no shoes over them in bitter cold, moccasins or light sandals for aa-aa, etc.)
The loss of foot strength, flexibility, ability to feel the ground, and ability to walk properly, which come from the overuse of footwear, are way more problematic and potentially dangerous than bare feet, for ordinary walks in the woods, mountains, deserts, and swamps. They also make for the loss of a significant portion of the sensory experience of the great outdoors.
The time and place for shoes and boots is rare enough that I have been able to get by without them (except for a brief attempt at being shod, more than a decade ago) for all of my outdoors activities, my whole life.
--Mike
