[pct-l] water caches

[Diane at Santa Barbara Hikes dot com]

I hiked Devil's Slide southbound to Highway 74 after the kickoff. I  
was reminded of all the water caches in So Cal that I had sort of  
forgotten about. I hate to say this, but they really bug me. There  
are too many of them.

I understand that people want to get involved in the trail even if  
they can't hike it, but I wish they would just help out at the larger  
caches rather than scatter bottles all over the place. It's really  
not even necessary. Believe it or not, it is possible to walk 20  
miles and more carrying the water you need. A detour of a few 10ths  
of a mile for a fill-up is not a big deal. And I would go further and  
say that learning how to deal with relatively waterless hiking brings  
a sense of accomplishment and a feeling of independence you can't get  
when water bottles are littered all over the trail.

Ok, enough complaining. I appreciate the effort that people have put  
into helping us and their good intentions toward us. I have even  
relied on a few caches (rely meaning that when I got there I took  
some water with gratitude and once I even truly relied on a cache by  
skipping an on-trail source with the expectation of filling up at the  
cache--yep, I did this and lived to tell the tale.)

As for Hat Creek Rim, what I remember was that hiking north the first  
water was from a pipe that had sprung a leak. I'm sure they've fixed  
the leak by now and anyway the next water was very shortly afterwards  
at a lovely little stream. After the stream the next water was at a  
powerhouse and the next was at Baum Lake. Any of these are drinkable  
and I'm pretty sure the lovely stream is in the Data Book.

Going south, the first water other than the small cache at the  
observation area would be Subway cave.

Hat Creek Rim is a long waterless stretch but it is doable. For  
Northbounders it'll bring back memories of your So Cal days when you  
get there.