Let’s Go Wading

By Susan M. Thigpen © 1983-2012

Issue: September, 1983

These’s a lot of old time ways that have been lost or forgotten. Many of the everyday things, that once were a way of life, seemed to have gotten pushed aside by this “hurry up world.” The simple pleasures of a long ago time are still available if we only take time to enjoy them.

One of my favorites is old fashioned creek wading. There’s something about rolling up your pants legs on a hot summer day and plunging your bare feet into a cool, clear mountain stream that soothes and relaxes the entire body.

Years before public pools, hot tubs or bikinis, folks experienced the gentle massage of fast flowing water by going wading. Often as not, on hot summer Sunday afternoons, a crowd would head for the creek to go wading. A picnic lunch would accompany the waders, to be enjoyed on a shady, moss-carpeted creek bank.

The water was seldom more than knee deep but as it swirled and bubbled over bare feet, it was far superior to the artificial means we have devised today to experience a water massage.

The next time you’re hot and have a few minutes to spare, roll up your pant legs or slip on your swimsuit and experience the cool freshness of wading in a fast mountain stream. Even if you only sit on a rock or log and dangle your feet in the cool, clear water, you’ll enjoy one of nature’s simple but wonderful pastimes.

Let’s go wading, where minnows will dart ahead of us and summer heat will be carried downstream by the cool, clear water. It’s so cool and refreshing!