Walking on water

So let's talk about crossing a stream. Not a river, but a tumbling little stream full of rocks and boulders.

I tend to rock hop across, a skill developing over decades of fly fishing in the Sierra. I can't dance a lick, but I can glide from one rock to the next quickly and seemingly without effort. My wife, on the other hand, struggles a bit with streams. She uses hiking poles, which help her balance, but she takes a slow, cautious, and even a bit fearful approach. This despite the fact that she dances with great elegance and style, and can never figure out why I am such a klutz on the dance floor.

So on our last trip into the wilds of Yosemite, I struck out across each stream and hopped across easily. My wife took much longer, slowly picking her way along. At least, until the last crossing of Bridalveil Creek, just a mile or two from the trailhead. In this case, she had really worried about this creek on the way over, and I was determined to find an easier way for her to cross.

So instead of carelessly hopping from rock to rock, I gently eased out onto a larger boulder, sat down on it, and then worked my way around to the other side, where I would reach a series of smaller stones and walk across. All went swimmingly (!) until it came time for me to push off the larger rock with my right foot. The bottom of that hiking boot had become wet in the process, and when I pushed off, it immediately slipped off the rock and threw me face first into the stream.

My wife hid her delight with expressions of concern, then walked twenty feet downstream where she carefully picked her way along a series of small flat rocks successfully. With bruises on both knees and wet feet to boot, I hiked the last two miles with a severely bruised ego.

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Check our our website: http://www.backpackthesierra.com/
Or just read a good mystery novel set in the Sierra; https://www.amazon.com/Danger-Falling-Rocks-Paul-Wagner/dp/0984884963

Depends on the season and time of day... Early to mid-afternoon in summer? Just walk through the water :-)

Heck, in January on a snow shoe trip, I walked through the very cold water, though I made it a point to take my shoes and socks off. If warmer temps, I just let the shoes and socks get wet and just keep walking.

Frankly, I prefer smaller, more evenly-sized rocks to work over larger boulders. I dislike logs most of all. If it looks reasonably do-able, I almost always prefer walking through water before I'll do a log. And I use my sticks. I can't dance either!

On the JMT last year, on a rainy day, I was leading and was popping quickly across rocks, but on the last hop, one of my sticks stuck on a rock underwater and I got stuck, and swung/fell into the rock bank and slid back into the creek with both feet. Think vertical belly flop onto rock.. With comical slo-mo slide into water...Oh well. Bruised knee and ego, but what's new...No big, continued walking with now completely soaked shoes and socks. No problems since I'm used to that. I use regular Non-waterproof shoes whenever possible for this reason. The water squishes right out and everything dries after a while.

That's a beautiful image, JKW! And if I hadn't been two miles from our car, I might have had a less aggressive approach to this stream. Or maybe not. grin

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Check our our website: http://www.backpackthesierra.com/
Or just read a good mystery novel set in the Sierra; https://www.amazon.com/Danger-Falling-Rocks-Paul-Wagner/dp/0984884963