Water Report: Deer Spring Trail to San Jacinto to Laws Camp

[Mike P]

On Thursday June 14, 8 scouts and two adults took off from from the Deer Springs Trailhead at 7:45 pm and hit Strawberry Jcn. Camp at 10:15 pm. The trail up was dry as expected. Each scout hauled 3 liters and I carried 4.5 liters while the other adult carried 6 liters. We were fine with that anount of water as we started on Friday at 8:00 am. The first fern glade (Stone Creek?) 15 min. north north of Strawberry Jcn. was a seep and water could not be collected. There was only one water source available going up to San Jacinto. It was located here:

http://www.topozone.com/map.asp?lat=33. ... &layer=DRG
Two small pools were located 15-30' above the trail. Both pools were adequate to pump. However, the flow was weak. I don't expect this water to last much more than 2-4 weeks.

Deer Spring was dry as was Little Round Valley. We visited San Jacinto Peak at 2:00 pm where the views were amazing. The next available water was at Round Valley. The spigot there was a trickle but we could still get all of the water that we needed. It needs to be purified. See previously posted rat stories

Yesterday, we left Round Valley at 9:30 am and landed at Law's Camp at 11:45 am. A ranger at the Long Valley Ranger Station told me by phone that Willow Creek was dry. It isn't. A small pool was present at the first Willow Crk crossing of the Law's trail. The creek continued above ground until the Caramba turnoff where it disappeared just past the trail bridge. The creek reappeared about 50 ' downstream. The pools at the Caramba bridge wers small and diminshed in size during the 21 hours that we were in the area. Willow Creek doesn't look to be around much longer...

This morning we left Law's Camp and hiked to Humber Park. The trail was dusty and dry!

A big "Hey!" to Ranger Tim ( I hope the name is correct) who we saw on Devil's Slide.

Mike

[robpollard]

Thanks for the water report. My boys and I should be up at Round Valley tomorrow, and I've been a little worried about the water. Glad there's still some to be had.

[Hikin_Jim]

Mike: Good report; thanks.

Glad this forum was able to get some info to you so you'd know to look at the point that you did find water.

Aye, but it is a dry one out there.

[magikwalt]

I did a loop hike on Saturday from the Tram through Laws camp, Saddle Jct, Wellman Divide and back to the Tram. I found the water situation to be exactly as stated earlier. I would bet that the water located below Wellman Divide is a little better below the trail since the two sources merge down the hillside about 50ft or so. Still I watch a couple using a plastic fan device to collect water a the trail crossing from several small drippings at the same time. They were able to fill a liter in about 1 minute. The fan funnelled the water through a screen before entering the plastic bottle.

[SanJack]

Just back from a 4 day loop June 18-21, 2007. VERY DRY. RV a trickle at the faucet, the last real water. LRV dry, a tiny trickle below. Strawberry Cienega a trickle. Wellman Cienega a trickle. Moist mud. The upper backcountry is the driest I've seen in 40 years for this time of year. Fire danger is huge.

[Hikin_Jim]

pray for rain.

One season of this -- not so good
Two... don't want to think about it.