Don't know how well it applies to some situations, but when I go after a particularly boggy geocache (those being my favourite type), my "solution" is to wear sandals, and just let my feet get wet. As you said... boots only put off the inevitable. So I say... accept the inevitable! Your feet will dry off after a few minutes not in the water anyway. I also have zip-off pants that will 'convert' into shorts easily, so I can just do that if I think it'll be higher than 'pull pants up to knees' height.

If it's mosquitoey, as it usually is around wet areas, my normal option is "ignore them and move quickly", but I suppose you could always bring some socks (with sandals, yes, I know, but eh), take them off when you get to the wet areas, and then put them back on after your feet dry.

"Or maybe ... Snow-shoes?"

A really small pair could provide the flotation you need without being too bulky to transport, or too unwieldy when worn.

If a commercial product is too expensive, maybe you could rig something using the lids from a couple of 5-gallon buckets! :laughing:

Yuck !

Maybe a couple of fairly thin 2 feet x 8 feet pieces of plywood with a 8 foot 2"x2" down the center of each and screwed on. Drill a hole through each end of each board and attach a 12 foot tether rope to each hole. A lot of weight. Maybe there's some kind of lightweight plastic analog of such boards.

Maybe you could do a survivorman kind of video of your boggy adventures! :laughing:

Here in southcentral Alaska I wait until freeze-up and then travel. Unless I'm moose hunting... but I've learned to not be crazy-stupid and try to cross areas too wet for my LaCrosse Ankle-fit "Burly" Knee Boots (I just bought a new pair yesterday... only the 3rd pair in the last 24 years... they're worth the money). Besides wet feet, if you cross an area too mucky to be easily-navigable in those boots going in to hunt, just imagine what it's going to be like on the trip out with a hundred-pound pack (over and over again, until more than a quarter-ton of meat is out of the field). No - best way to travel boggy ground is after freeze-up (and need I say, the ice had better be thick! If you think getting wet's bad in the summer, finding out stiff water has a hole in it with you in the middle in the winter is a definitive Bad Thing).

As I live in a desert, I've not encountered too much of this.

For the first picture, I might try skirting to the left; either in my 4x4 truck or on foot. Depending upon water depth, which is difficult to tell from pic.

For pic #2, I'd try to skirt either treeline where it might be a bit drier. Or sandals it straight up the middle.

I do a fair bit of trail running, and I typically just storm on thru any water and hose my shoes off later.

Boots are never tall enough.

A river runners breathable drysuit would have been nice today as I got in deeper and deeper to verify that the concrete posts that I could see in the drain ditch really was WARROAD SB AZ and its WP - AI1907.

A note on my first benchmarking trip to the Minnesota northwoods. A GPS 0.25 mile to go is way more difficult here that it is in the high plains; but the berry picking is much better here. Mike