High Sierra Topix

I'm starting from Piute Pass to South Lake on August 10. I have a choice of Grip Socks - very light with a stiffer "sole" portion - or some water shoes for wading. If I have to cross some rocky places with significant currents, I'd rather have the water shoes. But, I'd also rather save the weight. Any comments, given this year's wet conditions? Thanks, Tom

orbweaver wrote: If I have to cross some rocky places with significant currents, I'd rather have the water shoes. But, I'd also rather save the weight. Any comments, given this year's wet conditions?

I went through the same deliberations. First, I pulled out some old surfing booties and did some chopping in order to get them down to 12oz. They would be absolutely great in terms of stability, and I could even use them as waders for fishing, but neoprene is heavier than cr@p when wet.

So, I then decided to look into some (very) cheap reef walkers from Walmart. You know, the ones made out of nylon mesh and self-destruct after one use. However, I pulled the plug on that idea as well because I finally came to the conclusion that I don't actually need any 'water shoes'.

That's because, at least in my case, I've been dancing barefoot over exposed rocks/reefs for most my surfing life. And if a swell is running, there's usually a lot of water flowing, so I'm familiar with the hydraulics. It's not to say that I can forge the Kern, but I can most likely easily handle creeks. So, I'm going to forego adding any extra weight for a nominal use item.

I'll tell you what I am going to do though - I'm going to cross first without my pack, then come back and get it. I figure with both poles extended and careful selection, I should be able to handle even the South Fork Kern down around Ramshaw/Templeton.

Since most people do not have feet like an Australian aborigine, I suggest wading shoes, unless you are OK with wading in your hiking shoes (which is OK if your hiking shoes dry out quickly- just take out insoles) Mountain streams often have very cobbly bottoms of slick rocks and if you are in agony becasue of sore feet you are not very stable when crossing and bare feet are too slippery. If perchance you cut a toe, you will have serious problems hiking the rest of the trip. There are specialty running shoes that weigh about 7 oz per shoe. They are expensive ($100 range) but provide lots of stability. I use $10 generic "crocks". If I anticipate a difficult crossing I will instead take my high dollar runnning shoes. I spent most of my hiking years simply taking out insoles from my hiking shoes, wading, wipe down shoes, put on socks, and have damp feet for a while. I take one extra pair of wool socks because this method usually resluts in lots of wet socks so I am continually drying a pair of socks while hiking. Even with crocks or running shoes, if the streambed is particularly rough, I will wade in my hiking shoes just for the protection from being bumped and bruised. If you anticipate only a few crossings and want to save weight, I would just use your hiking shoes.

I have water shoes (9 oz each) that I bought at an outlet store and Crocs (8 oz each). I'm tending towards the water shoes, since they have elastic laces and will stay on my feet better than the Crocs.

Water shoes. I used mine once on a 7 day trip last week, but should have used them 3 times. Getting your foot cut mid-trip is bad news.

Previously I have gone barefoot as well, as I have fairly tough feet. This year was different, but with the depth and the flows of early summer melt it just isn't safe in some situations.

And yes on the extra socks!

Orbweaver,

Rereading your question, I'll re-emphasize the water shoes. The crossing at West Pinnacles Creek when we did it a few years ago was pretty rough. There are some potential crossings on the south side of Muir that can be deep. We wound up hiking a couple of miles in our water shoes because of all the water.

ManOfTooManySports -

Water shoes are in my pack! Thanks for the replies.

kpeter gives some detailed trail conditions and posts some photos on your route here:

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=6282&start=150#p46866" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Worth a look!

ManOfSports - thanks for the link - I missed that one. Sounds like a lot more wading this year than I had expected, though it is really great to have the hints on crossing.

Tom