Water in Skunk Cabbage Area

[JonOmokawa]

Hey everyone,

I am going on a three day trip up to the skunk cabbage area, past willow creek and then back down stopping at tahquitz peak. I was inquiring about the water situation in that area. Does anyone have any idea? Thanks!


Jon

[miboman]

I did a loop through Round Valley this past weekend. We spent the night at Laws Camp. Willow Creek was essentially a series of pools. I did see a trickle flow between two pools, but I also saw dry stream bed between pools.

I talked with another scout group who did the same loop. They camped along Tahquitz Creek at the lower part of the Skunk Cabbage and found a trickle that they were able to pump from. However, that flow was low enough that they had to pump and could not get enough water to use either their gravity filter or their UV pens.

[Hikin_Jim]

Good updates; thanks.

If one were to find water too shallow to scoop directly into a larger container, then one could use a smaller scoop like a Sierra cup to scoop up water little by little and fill a larger container. I think with something like a Sierra cup that I could get water from any source that someone could pump from although it would be interesting to run a side by side test.

HJ

[miboman]

Conceptually, I tend to agree on the scooping so long as you are not stirring up debris or sediment in the process. I had a small group of boys last summer in the Golden Trout scooping up water and other stuff. When it was too cloudy for the Steripen, they poured out the water right back to where they were scooping and stirred up even more sediment.

In this case, I wasn't there and decided to merely report what they told me. I did notice the next day when we went through Wellman Cienaga that scooping or pumping would have to be the option from the trail. I didn't explore off trail--my boys wanted to get home and back to the heat.

[Hikin_Jim]

At least there's currently water in Wellman Cienega. At last report also in Strawberry Cienega, Bed Springs (en route to LRV), Deer Springs, Willow Creek, and Round Valley. Give it a month and probably half those sources will be dry. By the end of the summer? Not good.

With sediment, sometimes it's almost impossible to avoid stirring it up when a water source is shallow. Pouring it through a bandana can help.

HJ

[JonOmokawa]

Thanks for all the replies! I'm heading up there this weekend so I'm trying to figure out how much water I need to pack in. I'll probably pack in all the drinking water and use filtered water for cooking. Thanks!

[Hikin_Jim]

Jon,

If that's your preference, go for it, but there's no need from a contamination stand point to filter water if you're going to boil it. Boiling per the Centers for Disease Control is the most effective method of water treatment. For whatever that's worth.

HJ

[jfitch]

just came back from that area and did not find any water other than Round Valley