Stream Crossings
In high-use areas, you are likely to find a nice little bridge to help you cross a stream, but the farther you advance into the backcountry, the more likely it is you’re going to have to cross a stream using your own initiative. I’ve crossed streams on logs and stepping stones, in ankle-deep and waist-deep water, and all very safely. I’ve also crossed streams during and just after rainstorms when they become very dangerous.
Following an amazing thunderstorm and torrential downpour, we came upon a stream in the throes of a flash flood. The stream was neither very wide (about six feet) nor very deep (thigh deep on a man, waist deep on me), but it was moving very rapidly and carrying all sorts of debris in its wake.
Although there was a log, which under normal circumstances might have made a nice bridge, it was too slick at this point to cross over standing up. We walked up and down the stream looking for another option. There was none. The place we had intended to camp was under several inches of water and we had just passed a tree that had been struck and knocked over by lightning. We were soaked and our only thought was to get to higher ground and a road.
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