Re: Cold weather stream crossings

I backpack in the winter and have to cross the Slickrock creek 12 times along its stretch and I also do the South and the North Fork of the Citico in Tennessee and cross repeatedly on these. In the beginning I used to deboot and go barefoot, too hard on the feet and out of balance here and there.

Then I went with just keeping on my boots and wringing out the socks at the end of the day but in the winter this doesn't work, especially at the beginning of a trip as the boots just stay wet and frozen the whole trip.

I bought a pair of Crocs a couple of years ago and use them now for all my winter creek crossings. On the Slickrock I just leave them on for the entire 6-7 miles of trail and the crossings, go thru snow and it doesn't bother me. Of course, the water's cold, painfully so, but once out the Crocs insulate well from the snow and though the feet seem frigid, a few yards hiking and there's no problem. In deep snow wearing somesort of neoprene sock with the Crocs wouldn't hurt.