On recent hike in pine barrens I ended up walking in waste deep water in abandoned cranberry patches ... must be a few square miles of this stuff. It was wonderful (in the summer). Nothing in the depths to eat you, backpacking bareback in shorts. Great exercise to boot. I'm hooked. An excuse to get new gear as well. The main challenge is silt in the boots. A new sport is born ... Swamp Wading.

Anyone familiar with gaitorwraps to keep out silt, sand, etc?
Anyone ever use a 'marsh foot' to keep the river pole from sinking too deep in the muck?

I'm just getting into this ... so stay tuned if you're interested.

Keith,
You don't have your PM set up yet, so I'll just post.

Find John McPhee's book on The Pine Barrens. It should be in a local library. It is wonderful reading, and has some great photos. I believe the Pine Barrens contain the oldest, unmanaged, undisturbed forest in the USA.

(I know nothing about gaitorwraps, swampfoot or marshfoot.)

To me this seems like an excellent application for Vibram Fivefingers shoes. I'm not sure if you've ever seen them, but they are basically shoes that mimic walking barefoot while still offering protection. They even have individual toe holes and the soles are so thin, it lets you feel the ground and textures. Not to mention they are meant for getting wet.

Your post just reminded me of them cause it seems like it would be really cool to feel around down there at what you cannot see.

Heavy duty boots are de rigour ... in the pine barrens, forest service has figured out that it's best to let forest fires burn themselves out to provide the nutrition needed for the native species. in these areas there are lots of submerged cedar logs just waiting to twist an ankle.

in the cleared areas, formerly cultivated areas, the invasive species have taken over and will quickly shred unprotected legs ... and I'm assuming neoprene booties.

The routine is to walk carefully with riverstick in one hand and machete in the other (w/ innertube in the pack using biker 16 gram CO2 cartriges for quick inflation).