Navigating River Crossings on Hikes

Jennie and Craig talk about how to evaluate river crossings and how to ford rivers safely in Washington State.

Craig’s hiking guidebooks 

Get on Jennie’s email list for weekly seasonal hiking inspiration

Craig’s Hike of the Week

Craig’s website

Follow Jennie on Instagram

Follow Craig on Instagram

Follow Craig’s Facebook page

Transcript

Copy Transcript Copied

 📍 Welcome to the Washington State Hiking Podcast. I'm your host, Jennie Thwing Flaming, and I'm your co-host Craig Romano. Craig and I are happy to have you here. We provide practical and timely seasonal hiking advice for hikers, trail runners, and potential hikers and trail runners of all skill and ability levels that is helpful, accurate, fun, and inclusive. Hey, everybody. Before we jump into this episode, I wanted to make sure you all know that Craig has a brand-new edition of the Day Hiking Olympic Peninsula book, so, wanted to encourage you to get that. And thank you to our listener in Maryland who asked a question about fording rivers, and we're talking about that today. Enjoy the show craig, today we're talking about a topic that I'm afraid of, but you're not. And so that's why you're gonna share your wisdom with everybody, and that is fording rivers. So thanks for... I think it's a great idea to talk about this. I think it's really important actually, so I'm glad we're doing it. It is a good idea, Jennie. And first of all, don't... I know you don't have any problems with admitting your fear of, of fording, and that's great. Yeah.. if anyone out there, if you are not comfortable with crossing a river, then don't do it. I mean, that's what it- Yeah ... comes down to, and this is true for anything. If you're with a group of people and they're going and you don't, like, "Eh, I'm not so sure about this." Yeah. There is nothing wrong with saying, "You know, I'm done." Um, a- Yeah ... and even though I, I have forded my shares of rivers in my hiking adventures, there are definitely situations and times when I'm like, "Nope, there's no way I'm doing that right now." Yeah. I just, I... Because, , this is something that can potent- it can kill you. People- Yeah ... do drown. Yep. So first and foremost is, you've gotta, feel confident and have some experience, and, and, and- Yeah ... definitely know a few things about fording rivers. Sometimes it can be straightforward. It is a very, very low flow river, very shallow, and the chances of something going wrong are, are really low at that point, and- Yeah, and I think- ... probably no problem ... I think it's important to say that it's not only drowning, 'cause some people will be like, I can right now tell you somebody's like, "Well, this river's only three feet deep. How could I drown in three feet of water?" Well, you can if your head gets stuck- Yeah ... under something. You sure can. But there's also the danger of serious injury, especially a head injury, if you get swept- Yeah ... out, which can happen- Right, and, and- ... with not much water. Right, and that's the degree too. There's, there's definitely a big difference between crossing a very shallow, flat water type of crossing as a, as a deep moving water. Uh- Yeah, which- ... and, and generally the... Go ahead. I, I suppose I should say I have done that. You know, if the water was, like- Not above my ankles. I have definitely crossed creeks without a bridge. Right. But w- yeah. Anyway. So, you know, we've kind of- ... alluded to this, but just to be super clear, listeners, what we are talking about is crossing a river on a hike when there isn't a bridge. When there's no bridge. That's what fording is. Yep. And, and, and that could be because there was never a br- bridge built there, because- Yep ... the logistics wouldn't allow it, or the bridge swept away. There was a bridge. Yeah. And so that's the thing, too. You may wanna have some familiarity, be somewhat comfortable with some crossing, 'cause you may be out on a, on ex- on a backpack, on a loop or something, and not realize- Yeah oh my God, the bridge is gone. Yep. Uh, and so you may be f- forced to ford, ford in that case. Yeah. Or you could be out during a storm, same thing, where the crossing is now under water, has been swept away. So if that occurs, some of the pointers I'm gonna tell you apply to that, too. Yeah. Um, so just some general- And I think, I think that's another reason why it's really important to talk about this topic, because w- we might need this knowledge when we didn't necessarily want it. Right. One of my fav- um, trail runs that I've done, it's on the Timberline Trail around Mount Hood. And people ask me a lot, you know, it's 40, it's over 40 miles, 10,000 feet elevation. And they ask me what's the most difficult part of it, thinking that those statistics are the mo- No. The most difficult part of that loop are the four unbridged river crossings, which I, when I first did it- Yeah ... it was a total surprise to me. I was thinking, oh, it's gonna be like the Wonderland Trail. There's gonna be bridges. I- it's, yeah, that many people have started a run on the Timberline Trail and have not completed, because a couple of those fords are incredibly difficult. Yeah. And in, and depending on the conditions, they could be impossible to cross. We have some river, we have some hikes in the Olympic Peninsula, a lot of fun out in the rainforest that, that require fords year-round to get out there. And some of them you don't even think about doing, uh, during half the year or, or more, because some of these rivers might, might only be safe or safer to do when they're at a low flow, they're not moving fast. Always be aware- During periods of, um, early summer, there's gonna be a lot of snow melt. River, levels are gonna be high, creeks are gonna be high. Uh even into the summer during hot, hot periods, if you're in an area that they're glacier-fed and snow-fed, it's gonna create a, a higher flow of, of creek crossings, and then obviously rainy periods. I remember doing a loop in the Trapper Creek Wilderness in, um, the South Cascades. I was out with my wife many, many years ago. I remember we were out several, you know, it must have rained a couple inches of rain that day. It was one of those pineapple expresses. How fast those creek levels can rise, and I remember the last crossing coming over and wondering h- got a couple hours of daylight left, we can't turn around, and I'm up to my waist in water trying to f- trying to get across this fast-moving, uh, creek crossing, that if you did this in August, it was, you know, barely up to your ankles. So these things can, can really change. So always, always, it goes back to something we, we talk about all the time on this program about knowing the weather, knowing the conditions. Things change, and just because my book says something or WTA says something, it can change rapidly. All right, you're hiking along and you've gotta cross a, a, a creek, a river, and we're gonna assume for the most part it's not at the, incredibly dangerous, uh, stage where it's just m- fast-moving, rocks are flying, it's very deep. But, uh, depending on your height, I mean, I'm not that tall, uh, so it could be knee-deep on me, it could be shin-deep on someone else. Take that into consideration as well. What are we gonna do? First thing that we're gonna do. We're not gonna take our shoes off. I see more people, uh, do that and, and, um, because they wanna, they want their shoes to be dry. Well, I, I'll tell you, the shoes being wet's okay. Slipping on rocks and, going over, then your whole body's gonna be wet, your gear's gonna be wet, or worse, you're gonna twist your ankle because this can- That's so true. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, unless you're at the ocean, uh, and some of these areas that you're, you're fording, um, you know, a, a sandy area, and, and, matter of fact, you... Here's another thing about the ocean, too, and I learned this one the hard way, too. , You're hiking along the coast and you come across a, a coastal creek and, um, it's just shin-deep and you hike across it. Um, but all of a sudden the tide came in on your return, guess what? It's no longer gonna be shin-deep. It's gonna be really deep now. So again, one of those things, I had that happen to me before, not thinking, and now I had a waist-deep crossing coming back. But, what I do and I know I'm gonna do- Creek crossings, um, if I'm ca- you know, if I'm backpacking, my camping shoes, I have an old pair of running shoes. Those are gonna be my river crossing shoes as well. And in places like, if I'm doing, uh, Little Giant Pass, where I have to immediately start with a creek crossing, or, the Queets River, I just put my, my river shoes on. I, I hike across, and then I get to the other side, I take them off, and I ditch them for when I need them for my return, so I don't even have to carry them if I'm coming in and out the same way. You can use Crocs, anything. You want, that foot protection. You're gonna have rocks that are moving down there. You're gonna have little slippery, sharp areas. Use footwear. So next, what am I gonna do? And this is... Most people will tell you what to do, and I go by this. If you got a backpack on, you're gonna unhook that, that, that waist strap. The general idea is this. You have, you have the... You unhook, and say you get swept down. The water's moving, and you get swept down. You don't want 30 pounds, if you got a big pack, forcing your face down into the water. You wanna be able to get that pack off immediately, okay? And, stand up and get your position, your, your back. So that's the, the general idea of that. But what I've heard some people say, too, with the loose straps, that might, uh, cause distractions. Um, you know, they might not feel as stable. That pack's not stable, things like that. So that's an interesting one. Yeah. I've seen some counterarguments. But, but, but, uh- I've heard that too. That's a tricky one. Yeah, what do you think about that? Yeah. Yeah, because, you know, you spend a lot of time in Alaska, Jennie where river crossings, um, are definitely, uh, far common up there. What is the consensus on that? Do people unhook or not? I mean... You know, the thing is, getting detached from your gear in the backcountry in Alaska is not an option. Right. So some people do that, but, you know, then you're gonna be alive without your gear. Right, if your gear is swept away. So- Exactly, yeah maybe you can make it, maybe you can make it for a day if you're wet. Maybe. Probably not. Yeah. I don't know that there's a strong consensus about that one way or the other, but I would never unhook my pack if the- There you go. Okay ... danger of being without my gear was greater than the danger of being swept away and getting it tangled in something. Right. Like, I- Well, I guess you- ... understand the argument, but I, uh- And, and- There's not many situations I'd feel comfortable with that. If there was a good chance that I was gonna fall and lose my pack, I would probably not cross, to be honest with you. Right. But if, if- And that's what would happen in Alaska, is people would just say, "I'm just on this side of the river until winter or after this flash flood or whatever." Right. That would be a much safer call. But- Right, and that's, and, and- ... you know, that's an opinion. You know? Yeah, and, and, and it's important because you're gonna, you're gonna, you're gonna have to make that decision and decide. And e- exactly, if, if I'm just carrying a, a short pack, and sometimes if just my little, my running pack, you know, like in, in the, um, Timberline, uh, it's, it's fastened. I've got, I don't have- Yeah ... much on my back. I've got- Yeah ... 10, 15 pounds. Yeah. So that's not, if I go over, that's not gonna keep me over. But I can imagine if you've got 60 pounds on your pack, you're on a multi-day thing, that- Yeah ... that would be interesting. So yes, just consider, you know, um, no pun intended, but weigh out, you know, what, what you think, uh, should do on that. Yeah. All right. , Those are main. So what's the other, uh, must do on this, in, in this ca- It's just like y- when you're scrambling, three points on the ground at all time. You always wanna have three points. So , how do you get your arms out? Trekking poles. If I know that I'm crossing creeks, I have trekking poles with me. Uh, and even,, trail running, I have those little collapsible ones. They save me on, there's no way I could've done the Timberline trail without them- They're so amazing- ... because the water was so swift ... for so many reasons. Poles. They're keeping your stability. So three points always on the ground. You lift up your arm, do two feet, one arm down. Lift up a foot, two f- two arms are down. Just like if you're scrambling, you've got to have stability. Those are your main things. Now, what you gotta do, you gotta, you, you come to the crossing, now assess the crossing. Do you have to cross right at that spot? No. That might not be the best spot. It might be incredibly deep or narrow there. So what you always wanna do is look upstream or downstream at that spot, and look, is it fanning somewhere? Is that creek, are there channels? 'Cause if it's fanning, if there's channels, those channels and that fa- it's go- it's gonna be not as rapid, and it's gonna be not as deep. So that's always do that. You do not... I mean, many times trails will just dump you off in a v- in a spot that's incredibly deep. Maybe horses have gouged it out or some, a pool has formed there. So look up and down. Look up and down those rivers, uh, the river. Look for, same thing, if you're near a major confluence, uh, where another creek is coming in, you wanna ford above the confluence. It's going to be less water coming in. It, I mean, it's common sense, but sometimes you're just not, you're not thinking about that. The other thing, once you're starting your way across that river or creek, uh, I go at a diagonal, route, going upstream, okay? So you wanna face the stream. There's a couple reasons. I wanna be able to see in front of me, and lots of times that river is pretty, is moving. I can't see all those rocks below me, but I have my trekking pole in front, and I'm probing, and I'm looking. I remember going across a very difficult, the Elliot Creek crossing on Hood River, um, and I'm up to my waist in water, and I'm probing. I'm like, all of a sudden my arm goes way down. There's no way I'm going in that spot. It'll be up to my neck in that spot. Trying to find where can I safely cross this thing? ... And you also wanna, you wanna go upstream too for your balance because if you're going downstream, you've got more momentum, a, a, an easier chance of being, of if there's a swift current there, pushing you over. Also what I look at, if it's a very, uh, if it's moving rapidly, , if it's a real difficult crossing, I'm gonna assess is there a spot in the middle where I can take a break? So I'm getting across, and there's happens to be a, a whole bunch of rocks there at that point, that have broken the water, so I can get behind those rocks that boulder and take a breather, okay? Before, and then again, assess where am I gonna go next. Because in some cases, you get out there, you're committed, and if you panic, you don't wanna back up. You don't wanna panic. That's the... You've gotta try to take it slow. Yeah. So really, really look at that route. And, if you're heading out, and all of a sudden it's like, "Ew, this isn't good," there's nothing wrong with retreating, and then walking up, up and down that river or creek bank a distance to find a safe place to cross. With downed trees, rocks, I'll tell you in almost all cases if I say, I go through the creek. 'Cause like I always tell people, wet shoes, i- that's just a minor nuisance. Breaking my neck falling on a rock- Yeah ... you know? That's a, that's a good point. Yeah. I would not walk across a log. I might crawl across the log- Right, right ... before I went forward, but I would not- And I've butt scooted across, um- ... walk on a log. No ... , i've seen some really sketchy rock and tree crossings they're more dangerous than just a mild ford because these people don't wanna get their shoes wet. Um, to me it's not worth it., I find it far easier- To get injured or messed up on some of these rock and tree crossings. Um, sometimes too, if you're hiking in a group, this works, is forming a chain. If the creek or river crossing- Mm-hmm ... is particularly strong, um, having three of you going out, linking ar- you know, same thing, staying together. You want your strongest person as, as your point person looking out and kind of stabilizing. Same thing, first person moves, stops, lets the other people... You know, you don't wanna keep this going in motion. And other times in, in certain situations you may wanna set up a rope, uh, either by people carrying or tie it. You know, if you tie it to one in the tree, it's gonna be... the first person who gets across that provides, that provides, um, uh, an anchor on that, 'cause you don't wanna leave the rope there. And sometimes you may find, you're hiking, that someone has left a rope, and that might say, "That, that sounds really good. It may help out." But if you're gonna use somebody else's, make sure it's, stable. I mean, it, it's not... The Park Service didn't put it in there. But, um, a rope can certainly help you. Right. Yeah, you gotta test it before you get- You gotta test it ... in the middle of the river. Yeah. You're gonna be facing upstream holding that rope, not the other way around. So if you do get swept, you can hold on to that rope. I've hiked with people, uh, fording with dogs. This gets tricky too., You're gonna have to assess how good your dog is. You're gonna want your dog, um, on a, on a leash, but you're gonna want that leash around your waist, because you're gonna need, you're gonna need your hands to get it through. So if the dog gets swept, they're, they're on, they're still connected to you, but you better be pretty stable, because that's gonna take you, uh, down along that. So that, that adds a lot of, of... Much trickier. So you're gonna have to really, really assess, um, again, y- you, both you and your dog, how well you can do on this. These are some of the basics here, that there's a lot. You can certainly, certainly read up, uh, so much on this. And if this sound, if this sounds terrifying to you, then you just figure, "I'm never gonna hike the Queets River," or- Yeah ... or Little Giant Pass or something like that, you know? But- And that's totally okay. There's so many other trails. Yeah. But you should at, at the very least have some, uh, knowledge and familiarity, maybe do some prep, because you may end up having to ford a creek, without planning because you were out in the fall during a storm and the- Yeah ... bridge washed out. But then again, sometimes you may just have to spend the night instead, , in- instead of risking your life going across a very, very dangerous- Yes ... crossing. Or if you're on a loop you know, retreating. Yep. But it can be a lot of fun. I'll tell you, one of my favorite hikes,, is the West Fork of the Humptulips River in,, the Olympics. It's in my Day Hiking Olympic book. I absolutely love this hike. It was designed, the Backcountry Horsemen actually designed it. It follows the West Fork Humptulips from its, its bubbling spring up on, Hump Nootchi Pass all the way down. There are 25 crossings- No ... on this. And- I'm sorry. No. For me, that's- But- ... a hard no for me. , In August or September- I'm sure it's amazing. Yeah ... but the river is just very, very calm, and you do it on a hot day. Yeah. And I remember just going out there and I'm just standing in the middle of the, of this, , flat water creek at that point. Right. And I'm writing my notes as my feet are soaking in the water. Um- Yeah ... but you would never do this in May , or November. Right. Um, so it could be a lot of fun, uh, you know, depending on, on how you're doing. So it's- Yeah ... fun sometimes to be up, up a creek. Yeah. Yeah. Yes. Up a creek, but prepared. Yeah. Always prepared. So you gave us some really practical suggestions for what to do, but what I'm hearing, Craig, is that what's really important in addition to some of these skills is, that you really need to use good judgment and, like, make- Always good decisions. And then- Always ... also just the issue of timing. So you're saying that, like, just because last year in August you crossed this creek- Right ... safely doesn't mean you can do it this August. Right. Or in May or November. So I think it sounds like, so many other things that we've talked about, a lot of it comes down to making good decisions and having some skills, having some knowledge, and then making good decisions and evaluating what the current conditions are. And that's basically one of our basic themes. It just remind me, you know, I, I, um, a few years back, I, I was on Creek Stewart's TV show. He's a survivalist, and he preaches all these, um, these, uh, wonderful, hacks and things to do. But Creek would always tell you the number one thing you have at your disposal for survival in the wilderness, it's your brain. Yeah. Okay? Yep. And you've got to use that. Yeah. That's your number one tool. Yeah. And so again, yeah, you've got... You know, don't panic. Don't be rash. S- a- except look at everything- Before you. Uh- Yeah ... assess the situation. And you're out there and you come, you're forced to make a crossing. You weren't prepared. You don't have trekking poles. Well, there's plenty of good sturdy sticks there, good old-fashioned- Yeah you know, something- . that's gonna stabilize, help you. It's gonna make a huge difference. I can't tell you- Yeah ... how many creeks I've hiked, and you'll just see this whole array of people have left walking sticks- Yeah ... you know, on either side, where they just- Totally ... don't, you know, You've gotta assess, and again, the weather and, make things... Hey, there's a, there's a big storm coming in and- Yeah ... it's gonna drop an inch of rain. Well, that's gonna have an effect on the creeks, or- Yeah ... it's gonna be 90 degrees later. It's going to affect the creeks. Yeah. So always be thinking of all the, of these things. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, thanks for sharing all that, Craig. See you next week, everybody.