“Hiking boots are best, trail running shoes or running shoes can be ok if it's not too extreme and you're careful. Where you can clearly see the ground and it's not more than knee deep, well fitting Tevas or similar can be acceptable, but the fact that they leave your toes basically unprotected means that if your foot slips forward and crashes into something sharp, the rest of your trip may be problematic and painful.”

Hiking boots have been a pain for me at river crossings. I gave them up a few years ago.

I do a vast majority of my backpacking in sandals. If you buy a half size larger, the ‘unprotected’ problem is SIGNIFICANTLY minimized as the sandal forefront will get stubbed instead of your toes. Also the Teva ‘spider’ rubber has MUCH better traction under water than hiking boots and most shoes. I have done several waist high muddy water crossings with Teva’s. And it was great. I don’t have to change footwear and the sandal dries fast!

The key is: make sure the sandal is tight on before the river crossing. And use hiking poles.

To invite someone to walk for days or even hike 20 miles in continuous wet socks and shoes is risky. The foot needs some breathing time so that the skin won’t soften, wrinkle, and then split and bleed. Some of our scouts have gone through that . No one, who where’s sandals, goes through that.

May everyone find their foot zen.
-Barry