[pct-l] re: charlie jones & willow springs

Its an excellent water source in a particularly dry and hot area. Like Chris, we treated the water out of the spiggot anyway. Our camp above the water must have been our hottest of the journey as the slopes face the evening sun mercilessly. Well done to the maintenance teams for giving us this supply.

The seasonal rivers marked on the maps to the south at road 5393 were completely dry - in fact even in the wettness of 1998 it looked like they would never have water. We heard that the spring in Kelso valley wasn't particularly nice and was hard to find although we never wen't there. So all in all Willow Springs is the one. We took a shortcut to the spring and back out again and this meant we didn't walk many extra miles- in fact I have a suspicion it might be quicker than the trail. From the south, we headed down the dry valley after point 5402 which leads directly to the spring. Just watch out for a 'wee' rocky step though near the top - we enjoyed it!! On the way out north we took the jeep trail to near Sunset mine which was quite scenic. After that we came upon a surprised Chris & Jannelle who had taken the long 5594 back!