footwear for wet, cool canyon hiking

If anything, NRS Hydroskins. Unless you're doing a route with LOTS of crossings/walking in a stream or the forecast looks abnormally cold, I don't think you'll need them. It's been a quite dry and warm spring. Where are you planning on heading? Awesome time to be out…

I second the NRS Hydroskins. I usually use them with a thin synthetic liner (wrightsocks) for all day slogging through river bottoms with water temps in the 50s. My feet get wet (pretty much unavoidable) and can sometimes be cold but never go numb.

The neoprene also helps to protect against blisters caused by sand and gravel getting into mesh trail runners, wo that's a pretty nice perk too. They should work great, and if your trip turns out much drier than expected, just pack them, they only weigh around 3oz anyway.

Thanks for the tips on the hydroskins; I will check them out.

You don't think we are likely to get too wet? I haven't been there this time of year and just assumed there was a lot of water in the canyon, but I was really pulling that out of nowhere.

We will be down there the week of 4/16 and so far we only have planned coyote gulch (Hurricane Wash to Escalante river then up through crack in the wall and back. I am interested in any recommendations you might have for others or alternates.

Temps have been in the 70s the last couple weeks, so while the water might be cold, the air should be nice and warm. You'll probably be crossing a lot, but they're short crossings and then you're in the nice warm air (unless the weather changes). I guess it kinda depends on your family's hiking style also. If you're stopping a lot, then in the early morning/later evening you could have chilly feet, but if you're moving most of the time I think you'd be fine without them. If you get by in the mountains with lots of crossings without anything extra, then you'll probably be fine with what you normally wear.

My son and I just did 3 day trip, 27 miles, wearing trail runners and socks. Somewhere north of 35 water crossings. Our feet stayed wet the whole time, no problems.

Actually, when we got hot we looked forward to standing in cold creeks.