Shoes / Slippers / Sandals For Creek Crossing

[Wandering Daisy]

I can see the use of bread bags in camp if your shoes are still wet, but don't your socks still get wet due to sweat if you hike any distance?

Even if I walk through a stream with my hiking shoes, I stop and wring them out on the other side. This helps shoes and socks to dry quicker.

I think it depends on how many streams you have to wade each day and the difficulty of the wading. Early season you will be doing a lot of wading and with all the soggy terrain, you are likley to end the day with wet feet regardless of what you use to cross streams. In that case I take light camp shoes (even light flip-flops work) and simply wade in my hiking shoes. I like to set my hiking shoe in the sun to dry late afternoons. I sewed some camp booties out of old pack-cloth stuff sacks and then take extra insoles to put inside. Other than being a bit slippery, they work well. When I make my next pair, I am going to have to find a more grippy material for the bottoms. I was thinking of just sewing on strips of velcro across the bottoms.

Anther factor is the length of your trip. If I do a 12 day trip, having wet feet all the time tends to wreck my feet, whereas for a shorter tip I am OK.

Everyone is different! And keeping healthy feet is more important than the weight of a camp/crossing shoe. Some people have tender feet; others do not.