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SamXp
12-30-2010, 17:25
What's everyone's preferred method for crossing a small creek?


Take off boots & socks and go barefoot? If the creek crosses the trail often, you're going to spend a lot of time taking boots off and on.
Cross with boots on and walk with wet feet? Not my first choice!
In warm weather, wear water shoes? Not exactly comfortable on the trail.
Other ideas?

Slip something over the boots for the crossing?
It's cold out and I'm stuck inside daydreaming about hiking so this is the type of thing that goes through my head.

Pioneer Spirit
12-30-2010, 17:35
Change to a closed toe sandal or a water shoe. Wet feet caused blisters for me after hiking 500 miles without a single blister.

scope
12-30-2010, 17:41
hiking pole hop

SamXp
12-30-2010, 17:44
hiking pole hop
Sounds like something I need to YouTube! interesting

DLANOIE
12-30-2010, 17:44
Find a really long sturdy stick and pole vault across. Thats alot of fun!

Unless you chose a poor stick!:rolleyes:

harbohiker
12-30-2010, 17:58
When i hiked in 09' i took a side trail in the smokies called the Eagle Creek Trail, it had 20 something water crossings all from knee to waist high within about a 6 mile span. At times with fast moving water. Lucky for me my camp shoes at the time were a set of Vibram toe shoes, i used those. I was hiking with two other people, one person just let his shoes be wet, and the other had a set of KEEN sandals he was hiking the entire trail in. When it gets interesting was when you have really high water or fast moving, for one crossing we actually had to have one person whose trail name became River Rat cross ahead of us without his pack carrying his bear line to string our packs across first, then we crossed.

kayak karl
12-30-2010, 18:03
via duck :D

corialice81
12-30-2010, 18:06
Sounds like something I need to YouTube! interesting

just click on the pic.


http://ralbritton.smugmug.com/Appalachian-Trail/Videos/09122009Grom-hops-a-stream/673673203_z2i6q-S.jpg (http://ralbritton.smugmug.com/Appalachian-Trail/Videos/9867325_FwcGm#673673203_z2i6q-A-LB)

SouthMark
12-30-2010, 18:11
Take off boots/shoes, remove socks and insoles and put in your pack, put boots/shoes back on to cross creek. After last crossing put insoles back in and socks back on. Walk boots/shoes dry.

johnnyblisters
12-30-2010, 18:27
Just walk through it unless you there is a severe chance of hypothermia. I don't know, you get wet anyways and cant get wetter than wet, so I just plow on through.

turtle fast
12-30-2010, 20:26
Take off boots and put on Tevas. Cross stream, if deep unhinge hipbelt. When crossed remove Tevas and put on socks and boots. Hang Tevas on pack to dry. Repeat as necessary.

kayak karl
12-30-2010, 20:31
LOL you jumped right up that waterfall.

Blissful
12-30-2010, 20:33
Crocs......

Kerosene
12-30-2010, 20:37
Cross in your Crocs, ideally the ones with heel straps, sans socks. Tie your boot laces together and string your boots around your neck if you have poles. Unlatch your hipbelt, loosen your shoulder straps, and make sure that there isn't something you're wearing that will float downstream should you use your balance (e.g., hat, bandanna, camera, eyeglasses, water bottles, etc.). Trekking poles work really well in this situation!

paddler
12-30-2010, 20:38
a bridge or a boat

BrianLe
12-30-2010, 22:24
How small is "small"? Assuming too large to vault across, then next question is (even for a "small" creek: how fast, how deep, can you see the bottom, what kind of surface are you walking on ... i.e., it varies. In some cases a brief look a little ways up and/or downstream might offer a place that a person can hop across, or a sufficiently stable and non-slippery log.

As the O.P. said in point one, also a factor for me is how many such creek crossings I anticipate. If just one for the whole day, I'm more willing to stop and take off shoes and cross barefoot if I can see the bottom and it doesn't appear too treacherous. If multiple crossings, I'll likely just walk through and then walk my shoes dry after the last crossing.

sbhikes
12-30-2010, 22:56
What's everyone's preferred method for crossing a small creek?


Take off boots & socks and go barefoot? If the creek crosses the trail often, you're going to spend a lot of time taking boots off and on.
Cross with boots on and walk with wet feet? Not my first choice!
In warm weather, wear water shoes? Not exactly comfortable on the trail.
Other ideas?

Slip something over the boots for the crossing?
It's cold out and I'm stuck inside daydreaming about hiking so this is the type of thing that goes through my head.

I just plunge right in with my shoes on. I don't hike in boots. My shoes or Chacos are dry enough after a while. If it's really deep, I've swum. A bear canister floats! I hate swimming creeks, though. I hate scary creeks. I hate wet feet. I hate taking off my shoes and socks over and over even more, though.

Newb
01-03-2011, 10:21
Call up the engineers and string some pontoons.

LoneRidgeRunner
01-03-2011, 10:29
just click on the pic.


http://ralbritton.smugmug.com/Appalachian-Trail/Videos/09122009Grom-hops-a-stream/673673203_z2i6q-S.jpg (http://ralbritton.smugmug.com/Appalachian-Trail/Videos/9867325_FwcGm#673673203_z2i6q-A-LB)

Looks like it almost worked...LOL..

LoneRidgeRunner
01-03-2011, 10:32
I do whatever it takes to keep my boots dry. I carry sneakers. I remove my hiking boots and socks, put the socks in my boots, string together and hang around my neck, put on sneakers, loosen all my pack straps for easy exit if needed. Cross, dry feet, put socks and boots back on. I don't care how many times a day I have to do this. I will not intentionally wet my boots. Don't forget to re-tighten your pack straps.

SamXp
01-03-2011, 11:38
How small is "small"? Assuming too large to vault across, then next question is (even for a "small" creek: how fast, how deep, can you see the bottom, what kind of surface are you walking on ... i.e., it varies. In some cases a brief look a little ways up and/or downstream might offer a place that a person can hop across, or a sufficiently stable and non-slippery log.

As the O.P. said in point one, also a factor for me is how many such creek crossings I anticipate. If just one for the whole day, I'm more willing to stop and take off shoes and cross barefoot if I can see the bottom and it doesn't appear too treacherous. If multiple crossings, I'll likely just walk through and then walk my shoes dry after the last crossing.
The trail I have in mind has a shallow creek (about 8-12 feet across and no more than a foot deep) that crosses a dozen times in a 4 mile section. I generally take socks/boots off and cross barefoot, but it does get tiresome. I think I might try the pole vaulting trick for some of the shorter spans and maybe hike in Tevas for a few of the longer ones.

garlic08
01-03-2011, 11:39
Like Gadget says, many options, depending on the weather, how wet the feet are to begin with, if I need a bath or not, what the stream bottom looks like, etc. Generally, I've given up on rock-hopping and jumping, just too risky for me lately. Sometimes on a deep sandy-bottomed crossing on a sunny day I'll take the opportunity to strip and wash off and do laundry and air-dry everything as I walk. Sometimes I walk right though, shoes, socks, trousers and all, especially if I'm expecting a dozen or more crossings that day or if it's raining. If there's only one crossing and the trail is dry and dusty and my callouses are starting to crack, I'll go barefoot. I don't carry water shoes or camp shoes--just one pair of light running shoes which dry off quickly, so generally I don't care much if they get wet.

Kerosene
01-03-2011, 11:42
I might try the pole vaulting technique someday, but not until I replace my old Leki poles with ones that utilize the newer SuperLock system. I can just see myself landing on my butt in the middle of a cold creek when a pole collapses below me!

sly dog
01-03-2011, 13:36
Here we are crossing the Teklanika in Alaska. I took extra shoes for river crossing and thankfully I did, there were many creeks and a couple rivers to cross.