High Sierra Topix

I am making a full circle back to the old days, when I simply took out the insoles, took off socks and waded in my hiking shoes and just put up with wet shoes. I have had Crocs, fake Crocs (actually lighter), fancy very light running shoes, and rubber "water shoes". I now only take extra shoes if I know I will be crossing a lot of streams. In really serious swift crossings, I have to use my hiking shoes anyway for stability. My real crocs weigh 11 oz. Two pounds? Wow! Must have really large feet.

My trail runners (Inov8 Roclite 295's) do triple duty. I use them on the trail (duh), for creek crossings and in camp. They have nice sticky rubber and will even stick to wet rocks while stream crossing. It's pretty sweet to just walk across a creek without having to stop and change into different shoes. They seem to dry fairly quickly as I continue the hike on the other side of the creek.

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Jimr wrote:This year, it's Tevas with Altra Lone Peak as a backup for more serious stuff.

The Altras drain very nicely and dry pretty quickly. If I reach a crossing that can't be jumped/skipped, I just plow on through.

For the early season PCT section hike Andy & I are planning, I was originally going to take boots/crampons/axe for the passes. In that case, I was also going to bring sandals for crossings & camp shoes. But now that we've pushed it back a week or so (5/31 start), I'm just taking the Altras + spikes/axe. As the OP noted above, they can do triple duty: hike, cross, camp.

PS I've been an Altra fan boy for a few years. They've also become very popular on the PCT. This year, it seems like every IG photo has someone in the 2.5s (the best version so far):

https://hikersmith.wordpress.com/

The fact that I now often take a packraft means that I have to take crocs or fake crocs with me regardless of stream crossings. It has been years since my routes required a ford. So no fords and no raft means I will will not take the extra shoes. But with a raft or a ford I carry crocs/fakes. They then become a luxury item around camp as well, especially when nature calls in the middle of the night.

Mike

Packraft?

Packraft?

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=8874&hilit=pack+craft#p65099

I used to bring river shoes, but my preferred method now is to hike in non-waterproof footwear made of quick-drying mesh and just wade in when I get to a crossing. The trick I learned is to bring along some bread bags or small oven bags. That way when I get to camp, if my shoes haven't dried yet I can put on a pair of dry socks, put the bags on over the socks, and put the wet shoes on over the bags. That way I can walk around camp without getting my sleep socks wet.

When it's particularly cold, sometimes I'll wear Rocky Gore-Tex socks under my shoes, which only modifies the system a little bit. I'll take off my socks (both wool and Gore-Tex), put my shoes back, wade through, then dry off and re-sock on the other side.

Not only are these systems lighter than carrying dedicated stream shoes, they're quicker (well, the first one is) and they let me use my grippy, protective trail shoes during the crossing.

Mitchellisdumb- interesting method using plastic bags to keep socks dry. I have never used special shoes for river crossings and rely on a camp slipper for dry feet at night. I think trail shoes drying quickly is over stated a bit, especially if they get wet late in the day. If my shoes are wet at night, they always seem to be wet the next morning.

I find it varies a lot based on the shoe. Most trail runners have a lot of foam padding and absorbent fabric, and that stuff takes forever to dry. My beloved Patagonia Rovers use less foam and fabric and more mesh, so they do better. Still, they don't dry unless I'm wearing them, so (as you say) late afternoon crossings mean wet shoes at night. The plastic bags work very well in that situation—I'm sure if I wore them too long or worked too hard my socks would get damp from perspiration, but I haven't had a problem yet.