I ran to a portion of trail that is underwater. I examined the vicinity for a few minutes. It cannot be more than 4 feet in its deepest places but it is also flowing like a river and rocky. The trail continues on the other side making me believe this creek isnt always water filled. I turned around for the night but, of course, I want to go back soon and cross it.
Last night, I had my normal everyday asics on and think those are a no go. I will never rid the creek/river odor. Talk to me about this if you have a different opinion.
I also have Nike Pegasus Trail 4 GORE-TEX Men's Waterproof Trail Running Shoes but not sure that is a 1:1 match for my needs. Convince me otherwise.
I was also thinking of purchasing and packing water shoes for this crossing and perhaps other crossings I may encounter on my journey. Thoughts?
What are my other options? Can I do it barefoot? Those with experience chime in.
4ft deep? That is up to most people’s chests. Absolutely do not attempt to cross a creek that deep this time of year. Even at 2.5 to 3ft you probably need a rope to keep from being taken down stream. If you mean 4ft wide, then just jump across.
Flowing like a river and 4 feet deep? That's bigger than most creeks and nearing river size. If there's a decent current in it and it's full of rocks, you can easily drown in it. But if the flow is slow and there's no snags (fallen trees/roots etc.) downstream that might drown you, it MIGHT be safe to swim. I wouldn't recommend it to someone like you who clearly doesn't know you're doing. There's a mountain race I've done many times that has a really wide river crossing that sometimes gets to mid-thigh. Any more than that is pretty sketch.
As for footwear, trail runners generally just run through water/creek crossings in their trail shoes. I'd recommend against Gore-Tex or other waterproof shoes because they fill with water and don't drain. Most mesh-upper trail shoes drain well, and at least for me wearing thin socks, excess waters squishes out within seconds and I don't really even notice the dampness enough to think about it within seconds. By the way, Nikes are infamous among trail runners for having the worst outsole grip in wet.
Flowing like a river and 4 feet deep? That's bigger than most creeks and nearing river size. If there's a decent current in it and it's full of rocks, you can easily drown in it. But if the flow is slow and there's no snags (fallen trees/roots etc.) downstream that might drown you, it MIGHT be safe to swim. I wouldn't recommend it to someone like you who clearly doesn't know you're doing. There's a mountain race I've done many times that has a really wide river crossing that sometimes gets to mid-thigh. Any more than that is pretty sketch.
The vast majority of the creek is going to be between 8 inches and 2 feet, 6 inches deep. Four feet is the estimate for the maximum depth. The flow is slow enough but there is a flow.
I elected to purchase some water hiking sandals for this creek and any I may encounter thereafter.
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mountain runner ^, I know we jest on this forum but from what the others have said (I am not well versed in trail stream crossings), I really hope that you do not try to cross this stream where it is four foot deep! That is very different to one foot like you mention.
The vast majority of the creek is going to be between 8 inches and 2 feet, 6 inches deep. Four feet is the estimate for the maximum depth. The flow is slow enough but there is a flow.
I elected to purchase some water hiking sandals for this creek and any I may encounter thereafter.
If you can't avoid the 4-foot deep pool, expect to be swimming there. Have you gone up and downstream from the trail to look for easier crossings? Creeks are not uniform and have features like pools (often on outsides of bends), riffles, glides, etc. Also, if the creek is fed by snowmelt, water levels are lower in the morning (when there's no precipitation). Don't underestimate the power of flowing water. Here's a link for you on potential hazards. Look up creek crossing safety videos on Youtube too. Have fun and be safe.
I learned the hard way, why, at certain times of the year – during spring flooding primarily – our local river, the Pomme de Terre, is called the Pomme de TERROR! High spring waters flowing down...
Creek crossing can be very dangerous if not deadly. People have died in the smallest of creeks.
It all depends on the actually place and how strong the creek is flowing.
I have the highest respect when I need to cross creeks now on my backpacks. We usually change in our hiking sandals and use a walking stick for help. The ground is unpredictable so I would not try it barefoot. It's better to have soaking wet shoes than tumble over in a fast flowing creek.
Use common sense and don't cross when you think it might be too dangerous.
Creek crossing can be very dangerous if not deadly. People have died in the smallest of creeks.
It all depends on the actually place and how strong the creek is flowing.
I have the highest respect when I need to cross creeks now on my backpacks. We usually change in our hiking sandals and use a walking stick for help. The ground is unpredictable so I would not try it barefoot. It's better to have soaking wet shoes than tumble over in a fast flowing creek.
Use common sense and don't cross when you think it might be too dangerous.
I ran to a portion of trail that is underwater. I examined the vicinity for a few minutes. It cannot be more than 4 feet in its deepest places but it is also flowing like a river and rocky. The trail continues on the other side making me believe this creek isnt always water filled. I turned around for the night but, of course, I want to go back soon and cross it.
Last night, I had my normal everyday asics on and think those are a no go. I will never rid the creek/river odor. Talk to me about this if you have a different opinion.
I also have Nike Pegasus Trail 4 GORE-TEX Men's Waterproof Trail Running Shoes but not sure that is a 1:1 match for my needs. Convince me otherwise.
I was also thinking of purchasing and packing water shoes for this crossing and perhaps other crossings I may encounter on my journey. Thoughts?
What are my other options? Can I do it barefoot? Those with experience chime in.
Pack a 50' length of 8 mm rope and some river sandals. Instead of crossing at the trail part of the creek intersection where it's 4 ft deep and try and find a better section up or down stream where there is a tree or other good anchor spot for the rope. Don't tie the rope to you or the tree but wrap the rope just around the tree once around the back ...so you can release the rope and retrieve when you're across. Holding both ends of the rope pulling right enough to get firm resistance, cross the stream with your river sandals on, then retrieve the rope by pulling one end then stash rope and sandals (or continue with both if you need em further along the trail) The rope aid crossing gives you enough belay to deal with slipping. Again, don't tie off at either the tree or yourself. ...that can be dangerous and you can't retrieve from around the tree.
Charlotte Shaw was a fourteen-year-old British schoolgirl who drowned while crossing a swollen stream on Dartmoor during training for Ten Tors in 2007. Her death, the first to occur in connection with Ten Tors or one of its t...
Creek crossing can be very dangerous if not deadly. People have died in the smallest of creeks.
It all depends on the actually place and how strong the creek is flowing.
I have the highest respect when I need to cross creeks now on my backpacks. We usually change in our hiking sandals and use a walking stick for help. The ground is unpredictable so I would not try it barefoot. It's better to have soaking wet shoes than tumble over in a fast flowing creek.
Use common sense and don't cross when you think it might be too dangerous.
ok, old granny
safety first!!
I'm also always in the mountains, and have a lot of backcountry running, climbing/mountaineering, as well as packrafting experience. I'm aware of a lot of drownings just local to me.
About 15 years ago, a neighbor woman (no granny, in her 20s or 30s) drowned in the creek behind where I lived then, only a few houses down. It was winter and the creek was frozen. It becomes a somewhat haphazard looking, snow covered, ice formation with water running underneath. Crossing the frozen creek was actually the first part of my winter commute to work (I ran, biked and sometimes skied to work), so I had a safe route across the ice upstream from where she drowned. Her water bottle was found on the ice next to a hole. She had somehow slipped into the hole, maybe trying to get into position to fill her bottle? The water was probably less than 2 feet deep, so she maybe could have just stood up if she could have gotten on her feet before being dragged under the ice. But she slipped in and had no chance against the current. For a while, I'd visualize what I'd do if I somehow broke through the ice on a creek and think about how screwed I'd be and how I'd try to avoid dying.
My dog jumps into the creek all the time to cool off on runs. I always keep in mind the water level and hazards in the water. Right now, the water is running high into the bottom of one of the smaller flat bridges, and I make sure my dog doesn't jump into the upstream side of that bridge because I probably wouldn't be able to yank him out if he got pinned against it. Similarly, there's a long-downed tree across another part of the creek that I like to walking carefully across. But I watch my dog to make sure he doesn't get too close to the upstream side of that tree because there's a huge current running under the narrowed creek cross section under the tree (Bernoulli's principle), and it's shallow enough that a dog (or person) could get pinned and drown.
