Water Updates

[zippetydude]

If it's any comfort, I did the same thing the first week of this month, and I'm still fine.

I started at Tuolumne, went down to Tenaya, then to Clouds Rest, then Half Dome, then past Nevada and Vernal Falls down to the valley. Is that the same route you took?

Anyway, I normally only filter when I'm in the Sierras, and my filter suddenly made a weird noise, and then squirted the water freely, without filtering anything out. I could tell because I squirted some in my hand, and there was dirt floating around. Oh well. I was still 7 miles from the valley, and so I figured it was either risk giardia or die of thirst immediately. So I drank freely, and nothing came of it.

By the way, great job on your hike. What did you think of Clouds Rest? How about those cables on Half Dome?

z

[AlanK]

My son and hiked the whole John Muir Trail last month without filtering water. There are several good articles out there on the Internet about water quality in the Sierra. It's generally better than what you drink at home. There are certainly places from which it is unwise to drink, but there are also plenty of good ones. Don't go drinking out of that lake on my recommendation, but read about it yourself.

http://www.ridgenet.net/~rockwell/Giardia.pdf

[zippetydude]

Go Alan! I've felt it was completely safe for springs and streams around here that I know, but it makes sense that the Sierras would be just as safe, if not safer.

In any case, the article sure makes me feel much more confident in my opinion. Thanks for the posting, I'm about to go do Whitney, and I'll definitely be enjoying the clean, fresh streams along the way.

Incidentally, nice job on doing the entire JMT, I hadn't realized you guys did the whole thing. Amazingly beautiful up there, isn't it? I've only done pieces, but perhaps one of these days...

z

[marmot]

heh...i left happy isles friday afternoon, and spent the night at little yosemite valley, then up to clouds rest and half dome from there. Didnt see anyone on the clouds rest portion coming up or coming down, except for one. Had the summit and the views to myself. Left the summit of clouds rest around 9:20 and summited half dome around 11:20.
ive been up half dome before, the cables are always crowded.
i might go back this weekend and attempt to do north dome and half dome in one day from the valley.

i would sure like to do cactus to clouds or badwater to telescope zippety

[AlanK]

z -- Finding time to do the JM was a challenge for me. We eventually settled on a 9 day trip, which sounds like it would be up your alley. We loved it -- definitely a lot of beautiful country!.

An additional motivation for me was doing it with my son while I can still pretend that I can keep up with him.

[Snowhiker]

Isn't the entire JMT about 215 miles? Nine days is a lot of miles/day.

I wish I had the time/money/fitness to hike the entire JMT.

Grats.

[AlanK]

The official JMT is 211 miles, but that gets you to the summit of Whitney (going north to south). It takes 222 miles go get to Whitney Portal.

Come to think of it, it was a lot of mies per day. Fortunately, we like that. The hike can be done at any speed, but getting the time to do it is not easy for most people (myself included). The trail can also be done in ieces over several years. It certainly covers a lot of beautiful country!

[Perry]

At this point, I don't think there's anything more than giardia on Mt. San Jacinto, but there is always that possibility of other nasty things. (See edit to my previous post.)

The Round Valley faucet comment is accurate. Somebody did get giardia, and it was most likely from that faucet.

[AlanK]

The nice thing about the High Sierra is that one can have his pick of running streams as water sources.

I have never used the water at Round Valley, but I have filled up at the Long Valley Ranger Station on the way to the peak on C2C.

[Pilgrim]

Water update for the Federal Wilderness from the past weekend.

Little Tahquitz Valley: the stream in the meadow is dry, but if you go up to the junction with the PCT and then head 100 yards east on the PCT towards Red Tahquitz, the stream crossing there is still running with a decent flow.

Tahquitz Valley: The creek is flowing through the meadow so I would assume that downstream, there would be water available. The spring SE of the 4 way trail junction that comes out of a plastic pipe was flowing strong and looks like it will last until the winter storms. If you don't know where it is, follow either the trail to Laws Camp or the one to Little Tahquitz Valley (closer to this one), shortly after the trail junction look for a faint social trail which should lead you to it. I don't know why it isn't marked on my Tom Harrison Map since it flows well most years. I only discovered it by accident on one trip.

Devil's Slide Trail, I vaguely remember one of the springs was still slightly flowing though getting any significant amount would take awhile.