[pct-l] Section O drying out

[Diane Soini of Santa Barbara Hikes]

What I do not quite understand about your post is that you said you  
were caught unaware that there was no water between Rock Creek and  
Peavine Creek. According to the Data Book, there is no water between  
Rock and Peavine and it's also only ~9 miles, so well within your  
12-15 mile per day pace, even adding Lake Britton as your starting  
point.

The Data Book also lists no on-trail water for about 30 miles after  
that, however there are off-trail sources between Peavine and Deer  
Creek within 1/2 mile of the trail. I do remember that in 2008 there  
was a surprise on-trail spring within that 30 mile section and that  
is probably what the thru-hiker you met was referring to when he said  
"more sources" than expected. You could easily miss it if it wasn't  
flowing well enough to leave a damp muddy spot across the trail as it  
was tucked behind some brush.

It would appear that the real problem is relying upon information  
from other hikers, especially anyone whose been out for a long  
distance. While I was doing my distance hiking, I learned that  
whenever someone asked me about water sources or miles to somewhere I  
had to be extremely careful to add a lot of extra hours or miles to  
the answer (because they walked slower and usually did not estimate  
miles as precisely as I did after thousands of miles of practice).  
When it came to water sources I sometimes had to ignore smaller or  
less desirable water sources in my answers because people also were  
not as tuned in to noticing small sources along the way, or else they  
were not willing to drink from just any source. Also, thru-hikers can  
walk 25 miles on 2 quarts of water and so if toward the end of the  
day they pull into a source and can fill up the bottles again, they  
will be of the opinion that there was plenty of water. It's best to  
know your own body and ask for specific information about specific  
sources than to rely on someone else's impressions about water  
availability.

That Data Book, if you don't have one, really helps give you peace of  
mind. You can drink that last sip of water knowing that in a few  
miles there will be more. I would often go ahead and drink all my  
water if it looked like the source after the next one was within reach.

Diane

On Aug 10, 2010, at 9:50 AM, pct-l-request at backcountry.net wrote:
> Water at Rock Creek is not a problem (mile 1429 [ref HalfMile's  
> maps]) - the
> creek is several feet wide and a foot deep (and turned out to be my  
> only
> good water source for what I did). Any of the other trail crossing  
> streams
> from there until Peavine creek are dry. On HalfMile's maps WA1425  
> is marked.
> If this is suppose to be the upper reaches of Screwdriver Crk where  
> the PCT
> crosses it at 1434.6: it's dry. If this is a reference to the 0.1  
> mile trail
> down (left and south of the PCT) - that's going quickly - I had to  
> dig a
> hole in the mud deep enough to get my water bottle into...
>
> Part of the reason I post this is: I essentially got caught "with  
> my pants
> down", ie, I had spoken to a section hiker on the 27th when they  
> reached
> Castle Crags (having just done O), where they said that there was  
> plenty of
> water (in O), more water sources than the maps showed.
> ...
> TheDuck