Re: [pct-l] Water in Them Thar' Hills

[ROYROBIN@aol.com]

<< Representatives of the San Diego Chapter of the Sierra Club drove and hiked
to
place 20 gallons of water on the PCT for use by hikers from the Class of '99.
That was 10 gallons at Scissors Crossing (by the big Cottonwood tree) and 10
gallons near mile 13 (north from Scissors Crossing) in the San Felipe Hills.
>>

<< Good show San Deigo Chapter of the Sierra Club [and you too charlie] >>

Sorry, but this is NOT a good show.  With all respect for what you're trying
to do to help, this will not improve the PCT experience.  Our passage from
Scissors Crossing to Barrel Spring was, in retrospect, our Rite of Passage,
after which we felt we could indeed call ourselves long-distance hikers.  We
stepped onto that 23+ miles of waterless trail with the hope that we were
prepared to deal with it.  When we walked into Barrel Spring the next day, we
had a new respect for the trail and a new confidence that we could actually do
this hike.  

A water stash at Scissors Crossing would have helped us, and I have no problem
with your helping the '99er's by supplying water there.  However, (IMO)
stashing water half-way through the San Felipe Hills shows disrespect for both
the trail and the hikers.  I hope that hikers will consider any water left at
the third gate as "For Emergency Use Only", and plan your hike as though it
was not there.  (Which may be the case when you most need it!)  

The following excerpt from our 1997 trail log may help readers understand my
feelings about this.  Rereading it myself, I recall why we were really out
there:

 << The next day (Friday 5/9), we hiked the last 3 miles to the San Felipe 
Creek. It was running well, but we were worried about cattle 
contamination here, so we side-hiked up the road to a marsh called 
Sentenae Cienaga(?) that was supposed to be better. It wasn't. Less flow, 
still signs of cattle. So we came back to San Felipe with empty bottles. 
Cattle or not we filtered 6 liters each of this water, plus what we used 
there. Ahead of us was our toughest test yet. 

Our plan had been to get going early while it was still cool, but the 
water fiasco cost us much time. We began the uphill, 23.5 mile dry hike 
to Barrel Spring at about 11:30 AM. The first couple miles climb were 
switchbacks up a south facing slope. By 1 PM, the heat, sun, uphill 
climb, and 12 pounds of water in our packs were making us quite 
uncomfortable. It became clear that to continue under these conditions 
would require more water than we had. We were risking heat exhaustion 
and dehydration. But there was no shade in sight. The sun which was 
baking the slope left no shadows anywhere. There were no trees of any 
kind. Lots of cactus and some brush. We found a mostly shady spot under 
some brush and rested. A short nap, an early dinner and soon it was 3:30 
PM and much cooler, probably down in the high 80's or so, but there was 
a breeze and an afternoon thunder cloud was giving us some shade. We 
were quite thirsty, but had already used 1/3 of our water in the first 3 
miles (of 23.5). We were getting worried. Fortunately, the storm shaded 
us until about 5 PM, even dropping a few big drops of rain! The higher 
altitude meant cooler conditions too. We hiked as fast as we could 
without overdoing it until past sunset, drinking 1 pint of water per 
hour while covering 2.5 miles per hour. By nightfall, we were exhausted, 
thirsty and dirty, but we had covered 10 miles since dinner and still 
had 2 liters water per person. 

The next day (Saturday 5/10), we were awake at first light and on the 
trail by 5:45 AM. We intended to get to Barrel Spring before it got too 
hot. We arrived at 10:30 AM, with only a psychologically significant 1 
cup of water each left. We were dehydrated, but not severely. A little 
luck, some good decisions on when to hike (and not), and a good 
rationing plan combined to get us through in good shape. >>
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