Water Crossings - What Works For You?

“Diffrent Strokes, hyway... no harm, no foul”

“Bill hiked 2000 miles of trail
~hwy

Yeah - but how many roofs did he scamper about?

Oh snap! Looks like somebody just evened the playing field :)”

“The only way a man should be running about roof tops is as a means of escape should the husband come home. Any other reason ain't natural.”

“You need to talk to Creek Dancer about this.. I hear taht she is an expert...

Personally, I just walk through in trail runners (is that an oxymoron?)... Crocs can be pretty freakin' slippery...”

“Any other reason ain't natural.
~Nimblefoot

Spoken like a true, red blooded, white footed, white collared, degreed, skeerd-to-get-his-hands-dirty mama's boy - lol.”

“It's clear you know nothing of me (or my mother). I've roofed and will likely do it again next year when I build the dormer on the north side. This year I've built a deck, tore out a concrete slab porch, steps and a sidewalk, to be replaced with steps constructed of railroad ties and crushed rock. The sides, as the steps go uphill, will be built of field stone that I harvested myself. Within the week I will start residing the house. All the mentioned projects should be done before snow flies, all the while maintaining 3 gardens, the house, the yard and putting up firewood for the winter. You don't have to be from the south and live in a truck to know how to work hard.

Lol.”

“Getting my feet wet is something I try to avoid. But once the boot is wet I just tromp through the water. You might want to try Chacos. There are several different styles to choose and some are specific to hiking in water/slippery rocks. These shoes will not come off your feet period. The only drawbacks are they are heavy since they have a sole comparable to a boot and expensive.
http://www.chacousa.com/US/en-US/ViewProduct.mvc.aspx/18620M/0/Mens/Z-2-Pro?galleryId=M”

“I've backpacked 38 miles along the Escalante river in Utah, no trail and part of about a 60 mile trek. Over 75 water crossings. Another trip was 66 miles in the Gila, up the Middle Fork, over the mesa top and down the West Fork.
Over 125 river crossings.
I need ankle support so usually use some lightweight hiking boots I get on clearance especially for these trips. I do carry some camp shoes of some sort, extra socks, and some neoprene socks for the cold water stuff.
Two mornings on the Gila my boots froze overnight, but I just dunked em in the river one morning, the other worked em over with a rock to soften up enough to get my foot in.
No way I could have done those trips changing footwear or carrying 6-7 days of supplies in Tevas.”

“Last time I looked, those Wiggy waders(together) weighed about an ounce more than one Croc.



Fill my eyes with that double vision
No disguise for that double vision

– Lou Gramm & Mick Jones
  Foreigner (1978)

”

“So nice I thought you'd like to see it twice!”

“It works pretty well if you turn your head sideways,   LOL”

“Nimblefoot -
I live first and foremost in America - that puts me on a basically even plane with the Vanderbilts, et al. Living in a truck gives me advantages I could have never imagined -
though it started as a self-imposed exile of sorts... but I digress.
Based on your laundry list of projects, I can see you're quite the handy Andy. Why? It's your nature - the inate, deeply rooted allure of the Good Earth courses your veins. You're of hearty stock. You spend the hours throughout your workweek planning and fantasizing about your weekend projects. Your persuit of the dollar led you down the path of spiritual distruction, but you had the sense to nurture your primitive nature. It's no wonder you have the best yard on the block - or at least the yard most reflective of your tastes.

White collar folk tend to have better lawns than plumbers, et al. The plumber sweats and toils and gets dirty all week, then capitalizes on the weekend and evenings to rest. White collarers capatilize on the weekends and evenings to sweat and get dirty.

Me? I've invested (+/-) 60,000 hours of my life working with tools, yet I always kept a decent lawn, and the best (non-retiree) vegetable garden for six counties in any direction.

I may know more about you than you think - but I ain't going nowhere near your momma ;)

OH! I AM NOT A PLUMBER, BTW!
(I always wanted to be one, but they found out my parents were married).
last edited: 7/13/09 8:58:46 AM”

“Nothing personal on the truck comment, I was just shooting back for your remars. Can't do without that, can we? :)

I don't have another job, having been retired for almost 17 years. I'm just doing what I always wanted to do and challenging my skill level in all sorts of ways. In other words, I'm out to prove that an idiot really can do it. Peace.”

“Wasn't this a thread about water crossings?”

“Gojo mentioned plumbing. What's more about water crossings than that?

Then again, when's the last time you saw any thread stay on track? Part of what I like and dislike about this place:)”

“I really like fried chicken.”

“Absolutely on topic:)

Why'd the chicken cross the stream?”

“Why did the hiker cross the stream?.......................to get some fried chicken.”

“I know those southern boys think the chicken is always tastier on the other side of the stream, lol.”

“I went to town today with my brother to buy a half-dozen grass carp at the Southern States dealer. We get back to the pond and I sit the five gallon bag (with mebbe two gallons of water) full of the eight inch "bugle mouth bass" into the warm, shallow water. We wait. The minutes seemed like minute-and-15-secondses. I waited forever - prolly six minutes. I poke a hole in the bag and let the pond water slowly mingle with the cool bagged water. Minutes and minutes went by. We were wanting to see the little buggers swim. I rip the bag and slosh in pond water - lots and lots of pond water. Much time passed - prolly a minute. One fish went belly up.
"NOOOOOO!" I yell.
I fished him out and pushed him through the water in a head-first figure eight. Round and round he goes. Feeling I had him recussitated, I gave him a good push toward the deep water. He sank and shined his belly at me.
"Intercourse!" I say.
"Intercourse it!"
I stomped off into the pond to his knee deep resting spot and pushed him around a little more.
"We got another shiner" said my brother, who was still sitting in the golf cart.
"INTERCOURSE!"
I grab the bag and dumped the other five finned friends face first into the now stirred-up, muddy water, then joined Tom back at the cart. We had a smoke as we watched the mud slowly settle. Eventuslly the water cleared enough to see two carpses lying in the mossy grass. I gave them each a poke and they swam away. Maybe they will all survive - dunno, it's in God's hands, now.

My point is, I spent the rest of the afternoon and evening with wet Vasque boots - but do you hear me whining and boohooing? No! Why? Cuz I'm a MUDDAFUGGIN MAN!”

“except for the fact that you had to announce it.”

“Not "announce" - echo.”

“Maybe if they didn't cost 29.99, they would still be making money...

My $7 walmart (oh crap did I just say that) knock offs work just fine..

'32oz”

“What would you all say to a product that can fit in the palm of your hand, weighs less than 1 pound, can clip to your belt loop, so it virtually takes no space when hiking, is just about tear proof under most conditions, is 100% waterproof and will keep you absolutely dry while crossing a stream up to thigh high and you never have to take your boots off? I have worked on this for 3 years and the prototypes are ready. They pass ever test I have given them. Please let me know what you think of a product like this. I wanted something that would allow me to hike and not worry if i encounteres mud, swamp or water and was wearing only my hiking shoes or boots. Thanks for any input.”

“I would say, were where you last month, when I fell into the swamps?”

“Gem,

I take it that means you would have appreciated it, so that's a positive. It was difficult to find the material I was searching for, and even tougher to find the right method to join and seal the material so that the seam would not be compromised even under tough and repeated usage. I wanted it to be a product that would be 100% American made and one that would last. Now it is just a matter of getting it to the market place. I am hoping to do so soon. Thank you for your feedabck.”

“I am interested.

Doug”

“I would be very interested. You conquer this and I see a real market for it.”

“Tyvek britches? Oh yeah”

“...a product that can fit in the palm of your hand, weighs less than 1 pound, can clip to your belt loop, so it virtually takes no space when hiking, is just about tear proof under most conditions, is 100% waterproof and will keep you absolutely dry while crossing a stream...


”

“Tyvek britches cannot compare to this product. They eventually leak. You can't just stand in water in them-but in this product you can do that.”

“Hilarious! Got a good laugh out of that.”

“Can you also make it snakebite proof, please?! :)”

“If they work, it sounds like a great Kickstarter project.

also LOL w noncon!”

“Make one in Muli Cam for the Army Rangers...every soldier who ever got Crotch Rot from the swamp phase of Ranger training will thank you....”

“I tried a system like that with a pair of garbage bags. It didn't work. If something like that does work, I'd be interested.”

“Kind of like leg condoms......”

“A pound? I have some cuben chaps that weigh about 3 oz. Fine for quick steps in deep water. Anything totally waterproof won't breathe and you'll be wet from sweat even if you manage to keep the water out.”

“I carry a vaulting pole, it's great for fishing on the other side of the lake, where the fish always are, Fighting off wolves are bears trying to take your whiskey bottle and of course, for scratching crosses in the forest duff while hiding up in a tree from a dunk bear.”

“I don't understand the secrecy. Why not just tell us what it is and how it works?”

“There is no secrecy. I have worked to develop these over the past three years and am excited to bring them to the market. I have some work to do perfecting the tooling that will enable them to be run on production. The prototypes had to be hand made. But they are truly a product that does exactly what they say they will do-get the use across water up to thigh high and keep them absolutely dry-over and over. They do not tear and are 100% waterproof and can be used over and over. You will not sweat as they are not skin tight. I call them, "Streamers."”

“I cant imagine "sweating" in a 50 degree water crossing in any event.”

“um...Puzzles for the idle, sit-at-homes!”

“Well forgive my skepticism but it just doesn't compute for me. (Sorry, it's my nature.) You've been working on it for years, the prototypes are ready, you hope to take it to market soon, you have no specific details but you're here looking for feedback? What kind of feedback?

The premise is promising but what are the details?”

“Feedback so far is this:

Get it on the market at a resonable price and we will test it out.

Get it on the market at what we perceive to be an unreaonable price and we will wait for some other poor sap to test it out to determine if it is worth the dough.”

“would this product be used simply for water crossings, or could it also be used over some distance? I've been on trips where the water crossings get to the hundreds - and having to stop to put on/take off something that many times just isn't an option - so we usually just opt for the wet feet approach.”

“If it is close to a pound, I would only take it for trips where I had reason to anticipate tough water crossings. I might be more likely to take it for day hikes during snow melt times. I wouldn't take it on most longer backpacking trips - I'd prefer something like Tevas/Chacos/Crocs.

I'm sure you'd get a few eager testers here.”