Author Topic: Tips for crossing streams?  (Read 14176 times)

Wurz

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Re: Tips for crossing streams?
« Reply #15 on: 20:51:57, 28/11/15 »
When I used to work on the moor I used Scarpa Manta's and a pair of Yeti's and they worked very well.  Yeti's are ideal for somewhere like Dartmoor with a lot of bog trotting and streams.  They aren't so good in snow where it can ride over the toe, climber used to superglue them in place.  They also weren't good on mixed rocky routes as the rands cut quite easily.  But for moorland  O0


Lee in Doncaster

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Re: Tips for crossing streams?
« Reply #16 on: 08:49:48, 29/11/15 »
It's not that much of a problem where I go walking in the Peak District. I'll just usually walk upstream and find somewhere easier to cross or ford; having waterproof boots also helps.
Walking every week in the Peak District...or somewhere else   http://peakwalking.blogspot.com

Owen

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Re: Tips for crossing streams?
« Reply #17 on: 11:00:29, 29/11/15 »
I'm heading for Sarek in August, river crossing are a problem in this area. The only real answer is use  extreme caution, bare legs, take your boots off and wear trail shoes, and use walking poles.

barewirewalker

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Re: Tips for crossing streams?
« Reply #18 on: 12:12:49, 29/11/15 »
The 'Rubble Sack' option was given as an answer to this problem some years ago, I cannot remember if it was on this forum or another but due to what seemed good advice I carried a pair of rubble sacks around in the bottom of my rucksack for a number of years.


Then one day there came a need to use them, having been unwise and not had a practice run in private and solo, my first attempt was in company....not wise if you are concerned of preserving self image.


Firstly they are bulky once put over the boots, so the foot does not go where it normally goes, even in quite mild currents. My first attempt was on the River Vyrnwy, a ford crossing, that had quite a distance between banks and was rather stony. Once across is where I should have stayed, it would have been a perfect use of this simple accessory and the dangers of having them as a sole member of the party would not have been discovered.


On my return back to the other bank, I should have noticed that the stony bottom had started a tiny leak, but brimming with the exuberance of my successful crossing I gallantly gave way to the suggestion of the 'pack horse' option and 'Piggy backs' became the order of the day.


The deepest part of the crossing was just before making the far bank and it was at this point I realised that the weight of a person on your back does not counterbalance very well with extra weight sloshing about a bootfull of water on one foot, I rather unceremoniously pitched my burden onto the far bank, mud (not a total soaking) were the recriminations that rang in my ear for the rest of the day. Mitigation for my efforts were not high on the agenda and for the rest of the day one very soggy foot was my only consolation.
BWW
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Strider

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Re: Tips for crossing streams?
« Reply #19 on: 14:09:33, 29/11/15 »
 ;D A good deed never goes unpunished does it!
Not all those who wander are lost

Summit

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Re: Tips for crossing streams?
« Reply #20 on: 17:22:21, 30/11/15 »
Just for fun. This is how not to do it


http://youtu.be/zo0Idl_SzP8
BURN FAT NOT OIL

Strider

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Re: Tips for crossing streams?
« Reply #21 on: 00:38:04, 01/12/15 »
The lifejackets betray a certain degree of pessimism  ;D
Not all those who wander are lost

barewirewalker

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Re: Tips for crossing streams?
« Reply #22 on: 11:18:53, 01/12/15 »
;D A good deed never goes unpunished does it!
Indeed  ;D
BWW
Their Land is in Our Country.

midweekmountain

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Re: Tips for crossing streams?
« Reply #23 on: 13:43:57, 01/12/15 »
I use an old pair of teva's

Doddy

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Re: Tips for crossing streams?
« Reply #24 on: 12:28:08, 09/12/15 »
It depends on water temperature, stream size matters. If there is going to be a few streams in trail shoes I just wade on through at the widest part;I find trail shoes it is the wettest but safest way;take socks off if you can be bothered; or wring them out at the other side. Worth finding a single good staff/branch rather than walking pole.
 
Sods law and experience tells me that it is nearly always deeper and more slippery than you think and looking for a better place i,e stepping stones is usually a waste of time. Jumping form rock to rock is the easiest way to fall in. Plastic bags make it more slippery, heard of folks going over only socks to get a better grip. In sandals your feet tent to squidge out sideways from them which is off putting if not painful.
 
In a wide stream you will inevitably touch something that feels awful. You will think at best it will be a weed, fish, crab. In warmer climes you will think snake or alligator either way your crossing speed increases greatly.

In the US someone told me that poisonous snakes squiggle/swim from side to side whereas non poisonous swim straight -either way an increase in crossing speed occurs. Is this snake notion true.

legs-o-lead

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Re: Tips for crossing streams?
« Reply #25 on: 12:59:08, 09/12/15 »


In the US someone told me that poisonous snakes squiggle/swim from side to side whereas non poisonous swim straight -either way an increase in crossing speed occurs. Is this snake notion true.

I suspect this is a little bit of a leg-pull, as anything long and skinny is going to have to wiggle to move forward in water? Wagging it's [censored]-end back and fore might work for a fish, but snakes taper, so not likely to be very efficient......

Good point about the plastic bags being slippery though...
Courage doesn't always roar like a lion. Sometimes courage is a small voice at the end of a long hard day saying "I'll try again tomorrow".

alewife

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Re: Tips for crossing streams?
« Reply #26 on: 14:58:35, 09/12/15 »
Cottonmouths (poionous) swim side to side, compared with the various water snakes from the same kind of area of the US which swim straight but not sure if this is a way of distinguishing all poisonous/non-venomous species.
Alewife


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legs-o-lead

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Re: Tips for crossing streams?
« Reply #27 on: 15:15:20, 09/12/15 »
Cottonmouths (poionous) swim side to side, compared with the various water snakes from the same kind of area of the US which swim straight but not sure if this is a way of distinguishing all poisonous/non-venomous species.
How do they "swim straight" ?
Courage doesn't always roar like a lion. Sometimes courage is a small voice at the end of a long hard day saying "I'll try again tomorrow".

midweekmountain

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Re: Tips for crossing streams?
« Reply #28 on: 16:55:59, 09/12/15 »
There seems to be a lot of rumours about snakes in the US, a couple of guys on different occasions told me that copperheads arn't really dangerous cos they can't open their mouths wide enough to really sink thir teeth in, I was unsure about that one so when I visited the zoo at St Louis I had a word with the keeper.

He showed me a skull of a copperhead and a diamond back rattler and they both looked very menacing to me and he confirmed to you don't want to get bitten by either.

Then theres the rhyme "Red to yellow, kill a fellow; red to black, venom lack,"........every kid you meet in the states recites when you mention snakes.

alewife

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Re: Tips for crossing streams?
« Reply #29 on: 17:54:54, 09/12/15 »
How do they "swim straight" ?

 ??? Cottonmouths make a defined S shape when they swim, watersnakes of course send waves down their bodies to propel themselves forward, but its much less pronounced than an S shape (so I've been told - I'm no kind of snake expert) I'm sure if you put cottonmouth or moccasin snake into youtube you'll get a demonstration.
Alewife


...beware of the bull!

 

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