stream crossing footwear input needed

If not solo, in pairs with four feet on the stream bed, sidestepping, moving only one foot at a time, facing each other, one facing upstream and one downstream, with hands on shoulders, loose shoulder straps, unfastened hipbelts, taking turns moving one foot at a time. That way when one person wobbles from an unseen, poor foot placement, the other person is standing still. After a few steps, you can adjust to the flow pushing on the foot that you move. The sidestepping helps your feel of what is down there.

… I keep waiting for the ultimate ultralight approach that uses something I already carry in my pack like duct taping some sticks to the bottom of my feet for traction… :)

We wear crocks (knockoffs for the kids). Very light but lots of support, toe protection and stay on even in the water. I stream fish walking creeks in mine when we backpack, love them.

… I keep waiting for the ultimate ultralight approach that uses something I already carry in my pack like duct taping some sticks to the bottom of my feet for traction… :)

What about just wearing a pair of socks, then changing into a dry second pair on the other side…or not. Socks protect the bottom of your feet. Wool is not very slippery. Works well for me.

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"What about just wearing a pair of socks, then changing into a dry second pair on the other side…or not. Socks protect the bottom of your feet. Wool is not very slippery. Works well for me."

I like that. If I'm going to be spending more time walking through water, I might invest in a pair of FiveTen multisport shoes that drain and dry quickly.

A common technique in Norway among bootusers is to remove socks before crossing, tie boots tight, cross, on with the socks again and let the socks dry out the boots as you go . replace with spare socks and dry wet socks on backpack in good weather, on belly under clothes in bad weather. Does not work with insulated boots I suppose.

May be combined with the use of gaiters and som ducttape as well for the higher waters.

I have a pair of boots I tie the laces tight at the top, quickly cross stream, little water gets into boot

Wow diggin up the oldies this thread was from 2009 :)

Eventually you get used to the idea that you will NOT die if you get your feet wet. After that, life gets a whole lot simpler.

Sometimes, the only place to walk is IN the river. So we do – all day.

Cheers

Wow diggin up the oldies this thread was from 2009 :)

And they hey seem to be the same questions over and over, with the same solutions that work.

It’s only walking isn’t it Nick?

Roger, I have met experienced lightweight backpackers who fully understand what it’s like to have wet feet, yet choose to carry stream crossing shoes to avoid wet feet as much as possible (think dry alpine environment with only occasional rain but lots of crossings). So I think its really YMMV. Be careful about taking your own personal experiences and assuming they are universal.

Personally I stomp through streams and don’t waste time looking for rocks or logs to cross. I’m too lazy to do that.

I find it silly that people wear stiff, ridged hiking boots for “ankle support” and then wear flimsy shoes or go barefoot while crossing – which is the most likely way to injure your foot.

So I think its really YMMV. Be careful about taking your own personal experiences and assuming they are universal.

Well, yes, YMMV is very true, but I think we can say some things are fairly universal. We have quite enough people on BPL who routinely get wet feet with no hassles that I think we can lay the ‘dry foot bug-bear’ to sleep. The people who are terrified of getting wet feet are usually the ones who have never tried it. Helped along by the marketing departments of the waterproof boot mfrs of course.

Equally, I think we can happily chuck out the ‘big leather boots’ idea as being simply obsolete. Enough of us have enough decades of experience there too that we can call that another universal.

On the other hand, if Sue and I do take our socks off for a single river crossing, we usually do put the shoes back on for protection. Too many hazards in a creek bed. OK, a totally sand bed is an exception.

Going barefoot there avoids fuilling the shoe up with sand :-)

Cheers