[pct-l] Stream Crossing Footwear

[Dan Africk]

"What is wrong with cruising in with your hiking boots on, making a
confident and balanced crossing that doesn't threaten to take your life, and
simply changing your socks once on the other side? I've been doing this for
35 years and for the most part with the same pair of boots. Talk about
durable suckers! Walk your boots dry!"

That's theory makes sense, and I know it works for many people, but there
can be significant drawbacks. I have never been willing to try this method,
mainly for 2 reasons:
1) I hate hiking in wet shoes.
2) I have always found that my shoes take a very long time to dry.

Part of that has to do with the type of footwear I wear- most of them have
been gore-tex boots, with padded insoles. My last pair of boots was
horrible- top of the line Salomon synthetic boots, wrapped in lots of foam
padding- once they got wet, it was like hiking in a sponge, that would take
a week to dry even in hot sunny weather(not to knock Salomon though, they
had amazing customer service- they sent me a brand new $180 pair of boots
for free, a year later!).

My method of stream crossings has always been to bring a pair of sandals
that strap securely to my feet, such as Tevas(definitely not flip-flops!).
This has always given my feet plenty of protection and descent traction, and
as a side benefit, my feet got washed off during the crossing, which felt
great. I'm sure having clean feet and dry boots when I got to the other side
helped prevent blisters, or at least gave my feet a nice break. I've used
this method for fairly large river crossings, even in ice-cold glacier fed
streams, and though my feet sometimes got really cold and even somewhat
numb, I never felt that this compromised my agility or balance or made me
more likely to slip. The only downsides I see are the extra weight and the
time it takes to change shoes, but I think it's important to air out your
feet anyway, and I like having a pair of camp shoes, so neither is really a
disadvantage to me.

This year I will probably hike in some type of trail runner, which I'm sure
will dry faster, so I might try stream crossing in those. I also recently
got a pair of Vibram 5 Fingers, which I'm thinking about bringing instead of
sandals and also doing some of the hiking in. I haven't had a chance to test
them much, but I'll let you know after I do. My main concern is how long it
will be comfortable to hike in, since it has a tight fit and the rubber is
so close to the bottom of your foot with no socks to absorb the sweat.
Obviously they do not breath as much as a pair of sandals.

As always, see what works best for you, I just wanted to offer a different
perspective.