[pct-l] RE: Water at Walker Pass

[benarmstrong1 at yahoo.com (Ben Armstrong)]

"The Northern California PCT Guidebook (2003) page 253 says "If teh camp
faucets are turned off, spring water flows from a pipe into a 
9-foot-square
cement-enclosed 'cattail garden' cow trough, to the left of Highway 
178, 0.1
mile down, next to the 30 MILES PER HOUR SIGN."

 
I passed through there in early October 2001.  The faucets in the campground were bone-dry.  There was one camper-truck in the campground, but no one around.  I walked down to the cow trough and there was a trickle from the pipe.  The trough was empty except for cattails and green slime. I needed enough water to go many miles (I don't have my guidebooks here at the office to figure out where I stocked up next).  After swilling the first bottle, I timed the fill up time and it took 8 minutes per liter.  I got 2.5 gallons--you can do the math ........... Also, the place was swarming with yellow jackets drinking from the drip, but they were friendly and actually crawled on my fingers and hands while I held the liter bottle under the drip.  After walking from Manning, everything was surreal anyway ... they were there first so I played it cool, thankful there was water to be found ... 
 
I walked back up to the campground and sat at a picnic table in the shade across from the camper-truck.  Two hunters had just returned, and one of them walked over--"You want a cold beer?"  Long story short--they knew about the PCT and had a case and a half of Tecate on ice and cooked up a delicious meal of buttered garlic bread, ground beef/sausage spaghetti and fresh salad.  Oh, and they had about 10 gallons of water.  We talked about 9/11, thru-hiking the PCT, the upcoming walk across Antelope Valley and their years of hunting in the area. 
 
It was a classic trail angel experience ... 
 
Ben 



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