[pct-l] Water Caches

[AsABat]

The Scissors Crossing cache is a large one because of the distance to
natural water and the desert temperatures. It's also large because those
maintaining it have to drive over 100 miles round trip to restock it
(often on their way to another hike or such). (However, last year there
was water upstream maybe 300 yards north of Highway 78 the last weekend
of April. I heard some hikers call it a stagnant cesspool, but it was
nothing a filter couldn't handle.) The cachers try to keep the bottles
that won't fit in the rack hidden behind the rack. The empties are more
of a problem - if they aren't tied together and to something they can
blow across the desert in the wind. Again, try to hide them behind the
brush. On the postholder link below if you go to the previous picture
you can see the view of the cache from the trail, showing the empties
partially hidden by the rack and the brush. I restocked this one before
ADZ last year when the regular cacher was out of town - I was shocked by
the amount of trash left by hikers. I also tried my best to get the
empties as out of sight from the trail as possible. OTOH, it's just one
small moment on the trail, and I've seen far messier places on the trail
such as abandoned cars and impromptu dump sites. 
 
I have mixed feelings about caches. I've taken just a little water from
a couple (a liter or less each time) but never would rely on them. Once
I checked with a cacher just before I left, who assured me there'd be
water for me. I carried enough to skip the cache, planning to enjoy a
little extra water at the cache but not relying on it, which was
fortunate as the cache was actually bone dry. I was down to vapor when I
reached water. If I had relied on the cache I would have been in real
trouble. 
 
I also have mixed feelings about reporting them on the water report. I
do include the major, well-established caches, which have a reasonable
chance of having water. This also helps the maintainers know what's
going on if there are problems. I usually leave the smaller caches off
the report as they may be less reliable or may be one-time caches. Enjoy
them if you find them, or not, but don't count on any cache.
 
AsABat
 
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