[pct-l] Water Caches

[David Money Harris]

Luis,

I’ve hiked the CA PCT without using water caches and I drink a lot.  I carried 7 quarts from Rodriguez Tank to Barrel Spring and from Subway Cave across Hat Creek Rim.  I caught both of these stretches on days that weren’t at peak heat and might have needed more capacity if they were warmer.  I also carried 5-6 quarts on the 25-mile waterless stretches and could have needed more on hotter days.   

I don’t believe that it’s prudent to rely on a cache being available, and as soon as I take that to heart, it means I have to carry enough to safely go from reliable source to reliable source without needing a cache.  Planning for these sections added to the challenge and appeal of the hike for me.

I think it’s good to have small caches for emergencies; if I’d taken an injury or had a catastrophic water system failure, I could have been in a bad situation without the caches.  But I disagree with the present dominant trail philosophy that relies on carrying just enough water to go from cache to cache, and especially with the minority that use cached water for discretionary purposes such as washing.  While I deeply appreciate the temptation to use a cache when I see one, I think the explosion of caches along the trail may actually condition us to be less self-reliant and thus degrade the PCT experience.

Doing the trail without caches involves being able to walk 20-30 miles per day across some of these long stretches.  Folks in the 10-15 mile per day pace would have to carry well over 10 quarts, which is possible but unpleasant.  But those on such a pace aren’t through-hiking, and can solve their water issues by preplacing personal caches somewhere out of sight.

David


Message: 1
Date: Sat, 26 Apr 2014 10:54:56 -0700
From: Luis Velasco <velascoluis at cox.net>
Subject: Re: [pct-l] Water Cache at Scissors Xing
To: <gary_schenk at verizon.net>,	<pct-l at backcountry.net>
Message-ID: <CF813F51.401F%velascoluis at cox.net>
Content-Type: text/plain;	charset="ISO-8859-1"

That is a Great question.

I?ve been pondering the same issue for years; not for the fact that water
is scarce between long distances but how to compensate for it.  Where I
live (San Diego) many of the trails are without easy access water sources,
without encroaching on private property.

I?m a Water Guzzler, so I simple carry at least 5 liters when I hike.

However, I would really like to do the PCT trail without water caches and
want to know if any other Water Guzzler (like me) has accomplished this,
and more importantly, how?

- Luis

On 4/24/14, 8:14 AM, "gary_schenk at verizon.net" <gary_schenk at verizon.net>
wrote:

> So the question might be, why are water caches so necessary? Is the trail
> impossible to hike without them?