[pct-l] Water Caches

[Gail Van Velzer]

David,
I'm in total agreement!  Plus, as you drink your water, your pack gets 
lighter!  I have horses and need to plan for them as well...20 gals. a day! 
Perhaps some of these inexperienced hikers should do some more 
planning....especially in regards to water.
Gail

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "David Money Harris" <David_Harris at hmc.edu>
To: <velascoluis at cox.net>
Cc: <pct-l at backcountry.net>
Sent: Monday, April 28, 2014 3:06 AM
Subject: [pct-l] Water Caches


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?
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