Crossings

[Paul Wagner]

So let's talk about crossing a stream. Not a river, but a tumbling little stream full of rocks and boulders.

I tend to rock hop across, a skill developing over decades of fly fishing in the Sierra. I can't dance a lick, but I can glide from one rock to the next quickly and seemingly without effort. My wife, on the other hand, struggles a bit with streams. She uses hiking poles, which help her balance, but she takes a slow, cautious, and even a bit fearful approach. This despite the fact that she dances with great elegance and style, and can never figure out why I am such a klutz on the dance floor.

So on our last trip into the wilds of Yosemite, I struck out across each stream and hopped across easily. My wife took much longer, slowly picking her way along. At least, until the last crossing of Bridalveil Creek, just a mile or two from the trailhead. In this case, she had really worried about this creek on the way over, and I was determined to find an easier way for her to cross.

So instead of carelessly hopping from rock to rock, I gently eased out onto a larger boulder, sat down on it, and then worked my way around to the other side, where I would reach a series of smaller stones and walk across. All went swimmingly (!) until it came time for me to push off the larger rock with my right foot. The bottom of that hiking boot had become wet in the process, and when I pushed off, it immediately slipped off the rock and threw me face first into the stream.

My wife hid her delight with expressions of concern, then walked twenty feet downstream where she carefully picked her way along a series of small flat rocks successfully. With bruises on both knees and wet feet to boot, I hiked the last two miles with a severely bruised ego.

[David Thomas]

One technique I learned on the first day of Manfred & Sons' Brooks Range trip was that quadrupeds are more stable than bipeds. Pair up with another hiker, and grab their shoulder straps near their upper pecs. They do the same with your shoulder straps. You each push down a bit, giving the other person more force and more friction on the stream bottom. If you get less stable or even pop off the bottom, your weight shifts to the more stable partner, giving them more traction. In deep, fast water, you develop a rhythm, and maybe count off, "1, 2, 1, 2. . . " as you move a foot, they move a foot, you move your other foot, etc. In slow water, you both walk upright and just provide back-up for an unseen hole or slippery footing. In fast water, you lean into each other like an A-frame so you are more resistant to ever-changing water speed bumping you off your balance.

A river that was crotch-deep, really fast, and quite cold wasn't a big deal when handled this way. It WAS pretty darn exciting on a my solo return even after a mile of nasty bush-whacking to find the shallowest possible point to cross it. Exciting in a "I don't want to be doing this!" and "If I slip and get flushed 1/4 mile downstream, I'm going to be really cold, wet, and unhappy!" kind of way.

[David Thomas]

In larger groups, I've had good success by passing two trekking poles, simultaneously, through each other's wrist loop. You end up with them joined by a square knot in the wrist loops. Being a square knot, it is easy to loose later when you separate them.

You now have an 8- to 10-foot long pole, albeit with a nylon strap joining it in the middle. One competent stream crosser gets over on their own, and another good hiker stays behind. They each grasp a pole basket and lean back to put tension on the combined poles. This provides a handrail for other hikers to use as they cross the stream. After the group has done it once or twice, the whole group can cross a stream pretty quickly.

Sometimes, I've set up a dry-land version of the stream: two lines marked on the ground, 5 feet across, or whatever the stream width is. Then people can practice with or without packs to run and jump across the simulated stream. It builds their confidence for the actual jump and identifies people who ought to give their pack to someone else to jump with.

I've tramped around on an Aleutian Island with only 1 or 2 of us in tall Muck boots. For 20-foot-wide, 6-inch-deep streams, we'd cross, take them off, toss them back to other people, as they put their low-cut hikers around their neck or tossed them over the stream. That way, everyone could just walk across the stream without everyone being in heavier, high boots.

[Valerie E]

I think Paul and his wife are suffering from a case of "DifferentStyle-itis"… Her style is more "yoga-like", with each foot in perfect balance before she moves on (not inconsistent with her dance abilities); his style is more momentum-driven (sporty).

Wet shoes, however, will foil ANYONE's style! Hey, at least she tried not to laugh… ;^)

[Terry Sparks]

You probably won't like my style of crossing small streams, I just walk through them, regardless of rock outcroppings, logs or whatever. I know I'm different than most but, its not worth the effort or time and figure the shoes are gonna get wet anyway so, I just walk my shoes dry until the next stream and then do it all over again.

[Paul Wagner]

Yeah– I often take a pair of lightweight wading shoes. But since this trip was light and fast, I left them behind.

And David, if you are up to your thighs in water you are in very different circumstances. The streams I am crossing this way are a foot deep…

[Barry Cuthbert]

In New Zealand, if there is no track to walk along. following a river/stream is often the easiest/only feasible route along a valley due to the topography and the thick bush. Invariably you are crossing the river multiple times as one riverbank becomes easier to walk. So river crossing skills are highly necessary.

Virtually every tramping club runs instruction courses for crossing rivers.

A basic overview over what is taught is shown in this PDF:

http://www.mountainsafety.org.nz/assets/images/About%20river%20safety(1).pdf

The basic group mutual support method taught has the arms of one person passing between the back and the pack to grab hold of an opposite pack strap or waist belt of the person next to them. The strongest person goes upstream to break the water, the next strongest at the downstream end and the weaker members are in the middle. The effect of this method is each person is interlocked with and supported by two people on either side of them. This makes the line quite strong and stable.

The most common mistakes I've seen when crossing rivers is crossing a river when it is not required or under some sort of time pressure to get to the other side. Secondly underestimating the strength/speed of the flowing water (conversely over-estimating river crossing ability) and lastly not having a safe runout area

[Owen McMurrey]

"With bruises on both knees and wet feet to boot, I hiked the last two miles with a severely bruised ego."
*snicker*
I got embarrassed like that last January. Hiking with a friend, and I was in the lead. After cruising over stuff that was steep, muddy, rocky and rooty like it was nothing, I busted my butt on a patch of ice that "I'm not worried about" right in front of him.
If that wasn't bad enough, the night before I'd told him knowingly "I've done this before ;)" when he was surprised I got a fire going with wet and frozen wood…and two minutes later my fire died.
Maybe that's the real reason I hike solo most of the time-no witnesses!

"It WAS pretty darn exciting on a my solo return even after a mile of nasty bush-whacking to find the shallowest possible point to cross it. Exciting in a 'I don't want to be doing this!' and 'If I slip and get flushed 1/4 mile downstream, I'm going to be really cold, wet, and unhappy!' kind of way."

That instantly took me back to last year.
I had a couple of crossings during flooding in CO last September that were exciting in a "If I slip, I'm going to be really dead" kind of way.
I wouldn't have been so enthusiastic sounding while making this video if I'd realized the trail was going to cross this about half a dozen times later, sometimes in steep parts of a gorge.
Trekking pole, foot, other trekking pole, other foot…major pucker factor, and lots of praying.
Would have loved some company then, and about 60ft of rope!

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