Crocs

I bought a pair a few years ago for the same reason, they work great and are comfortable, but as my pack weight came down, they were just too heavy to bring along (I think mine weighed 10 oz or so). I now make my own out of a sleeping pad and elastics (1.5 oz.) if I even bother bringing any.
I still have them, but now they are used only during BBQ use on my patio. :)

Curious, Roman, do you wear traditional boots?

Camp shoes are sure nice to have, but wearing trail runners, the latter are "OK enough" that I don't miss the absence of comfier camp shoes.

I do take my faux Crocs along for stream crossings though.

I have the Crocs "Nile" model, which is open toe and possibly a touch lighter than the closed toe model. For a size 9, they're about 8 ounces for the pair. I only bring them on trails where I know I will have to do wet crossings, but I find that if the trip is any longer than, let's say, 2 days, the need to keep my feet dry so greatly outweighs the 8 ounces of extra weight that they're an essential part of my gear list.

I did a 50 mile hike on the Ozark Trail once that had a total of perhaps 10 wet crossings in all, and unfortunately most of these were the kind of gravel-bottomed spring creeks that you can walk upstream for as many miles as you want and you won't find a single place to cross while keeping your feet dry. Unfortunately also, the gravel on the bottoms of the creeks was mainly chert, which is sharp enough to cut your foot if you try to cross the creek barefoot.

Well I crossed each creek in my hiking shoes (sans socks) and I'll at least say that hiking that many miles with moist feet in shoes that never got a chance to dry out convinced me to never ever do it again. Basically my toes and soles turned prunish, like your fingers if you have been swimming for a couple hours. Prunish skin, one will find, gets hurt pretty easily when it's walked on for too long. At the end of the second day, it felt like the bottoms of my feet were black and blue. They weren't, in fact, but the mere fact that I could have spared myself some of the pain if I'd just brought my Crocs is enough to convince me to always bring them on trips where there's a wet crossing. Let's just say, I no longer enjoy hiking in wet shoes.

"I bought a pair a few years ago for the same reason, they work great and are comfortable, but as my pack weight came down, they were just too heavy to bring along"

Yeah…I was surprised how much they weighed when I got home. My pack is down around 8lbs now and it's a shame to toss on a pound for Crocs. lol

"Curious, Roman, do you wear traditional boots?"

Yeah…just picked up a pair of Vasque Breeze GTX. I have a tendency to roll my ankles, so I figured I better get a little ankle support. They have a Gore-tex liner, so I'm hoping to just leave them them on for shallow crossings.

"I only bring them on trails where I know I will have to do wet crossings, but I find that if the trip is any longer than, let's say, 2 days, the need to keep my feet dry so greatly outweighs the 8 ounces of extra weight that they're an essential part of my gear list."

Yeah…I may just bring them on wet trips. Although, it sure would be nice to have them to kick around in or slip on when nature calls in the middle of the night.

I also use the crocs for crosisngs and general use. i am not aware of a much better solution for the crossings. i have been looking into the neopherene surfing booties/liner but not sure if they are lighter. For me flipflops just wont cut it for a serious crossing – i need to be sure footed (usually w/o poles) and the risk of falling over and getting my whole kit wet +injury are not worth it.
can anybody comment on these or other options?

as per camp shoes – the kind of travelling i do is such that i might be away for a month and carry all my gear – so if i get into town/BnB/eatery it feels awkward to be ther ewith filthy hiking boots. i use the crocs as townwear!
RE nature call – i am really prone to needing a pi$s during the night and when its cold it "pis$es" me off – i have now resorted to urinating in either my cooking pot (if in a tent) or a Nalgene if in bivi…..i just turn sideways slightly and go! obviously this is a gender dependant thing but i cant begin to explain how happy not getting up makes me
Mike

Crocs just aren't for camp. Keep your footwear dry using Crocs to cross water. I had a pair of the original Crocs without straps when they were known as "Waldies". I was using them to cross the Pleasant R. in the 100 mile wilderness along the AT in Maine. I thought I had better try to strap them on which I did with a piece of webbing. When I stepped out on the other side I discovered, although the webbing was still attached to my leg, it had come completely off the shoe. Facing upstream as I crossed, the force of the current had kept the Croc firmly in place. On another smaller stream crossing, I looked down at my feet and noticed the the current was forcing water right through the holes as I walked directly across. This was applying much less pressure on my feet than one would find with a full boot or shoe, or so I assume. Crocs also float. One of these original Crocs, size L, weighs 4 oz. Even though I wear low cuts, I like having the Crocs in camp, especially if my footwear is soaked. Even on a normal day, wearing Crocs in camp gives your feet time to air out and your footwear more time to dry out from the sweat. I remove the footbed, too, to air it out. Foot care is a number one prority. Wearing flip-flops was fine, but having once cut my exposed toe snubbing it on a stick around camp, the Croc covering the toe is a safer bet. Although I do wear Crocs around town in the summer, they have no lateral support and are not safe to hike in over a rocky trail. Step on a small rock and your foot can slide out sideways. (I found this out carrying a kayak across a rocky beach in ME) If you believe Crocs too heavy to carry just for camp, you can fashion a flip-flop out of a pair of old foot beds, just add the toe strap! (Thanks to Rainmaker for that tip). BTW I now use Crocs with the heel strap which adds an ounce, but they stay on better. Flip the strap forward and they work like the original. Crocs are great especially since they now come in colors!
http://www.waldies.net/s.nl;jsessionid=0a0108431f435e3587e7a254423f9f8abd15c5c903bd.e3eSbNyQc3mLe34Pa38Ta38Nahz0?sc=2&category=-102&it=A&id=4
Or just google "waldies" and look at the AT model!

Check out this BPL link:
http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/zoot_shoes_orsm07.html

Also check racing shoes, weights down to ~6 ounces, sample link:
http://www.runningwarehouse.com/descpageMRS-AMAZP3.html

Cheers-

If the temperature is in the 50's or above, I wear thin wool socks and mesh trail runners to hike in and simple splash through any water crossings.

When cold weather sets in, I use Rocky gore-tex socks with sized up trail runners and still splash through shallow streams.

However, in real winter temps in the teens and below, I wear insulated boots (Keen Growlers) so, I bring my crocs to handle water crossings. I know! Water should be frozen then but fast moving water stays liquid at pretty cold temps and I never trust frozen over water.