How to cross a creek with a 60 pound pack

The wild roses are blooming. The cottonwoods are cottoning. The bears are hungry for human food.

I spent the last nine days in the back country of Great Sand Dunes National Park and preserve with my crew. We were to spend eight ten hour days in a row doing trail maintenance on the 11 mile long Sand Creek Trail focusing on corridor, snags, a trees that had fallen on the trail. It was the first time a few of my crew members had ever been backpacking. The first day we hiked in the six miles to our first spike camp, working a little as we went. Our packs were weighed down with food. Our hands were weighed down with cumbersome tools. We quickly learned as we hiked and as we looked closer at our topo map of the trail that the trail runs fairly straight southwest down the valley while Sand Creek meanders back and forth equaling about twenty crossings. We also quickly found there are many ways to cross a creek with a heavy pack and tools in hand. The Matt: gingerly hop from rock to rock or quickly scamper across a fallen log to make it to the other side only moistened by a drop of sweat. The April: follow Matt but do so very slowly, hunched over, wobbling, and with a big stick for support. The Wes: spend 5 minutes looking for a better way than Matt, then give up and follow Matt because we all know Matt is the best at everything. The Erica: take off shoes and socks and hang them around your neck while slowly walking through the creek with pants rolled up. The Bryce: follow Erica but curse loudly every time a sharp rock is stepped on (a constant string of obscenities). The Sarah: leave boots on and don't bother to roll up pants and ford the river. The Ama: follow Matt and fall off a rock ending like Sarah or slip on a log ending by army crawling across it. (The Ellen is identical to the Matt and the Adam is much like the April.) The Rob (saw manager): skips across the creek much like Matt then comments as others cross, "OREGON TRAIL! Ford the river! Oh no your wagon sank and your family is dead! Don't worry that's less mouths to feed. Now you have a better chance at lonely survival!"
We spent the next seven days perfecting the art of cross cutting snags and lopping branches, moving camp further down the valley, and exploring. We spent the evening of July 3rd on a ridge watching the sun set and the far off Alamosa fireworks. We found that as you come to the bottom of the trail and emerge from the valley and look south, "BAM! Egypt appears!!" (Matt) We found the remains of what we assume was a mining operation. We found a mysterious hole in the side of our van when we returned to it. We met and got to know our ever so delightful project sponsors Ed and Sean.
Despite the many daily creek crossings always ending in me getting at least a little wet, despite the mosquitoes, despite the bear I listened to ripping apart our bear hang demolishing our food the entire last night of the hitch, despite anything that might have seemed unpleasant, Sand Creek Trail and the Great Sand Dunes were incredible and beautiful and wonderful.