FIGHT ON wrote:Jim.
I know your views on drinking unfiltered water. And obviously you couldn't drink the dry locations but of the remaining which ones would you personally drink from unfiltered?
Thanks.
It's a very personal decision as to which risks in the wilderness are acceptable and which are not. So, anything I say is just my thinking at this stage of things.
When I decide to filter, I'm usually trying to weigh the following:
-Usage of area (High use? Seldom visited?)
-Environs (What's in this area? What's upstream?)
-Source (Spring, pool, stream, or lake?)
-Visual (How does it look?)
-Olfactory (How does it smell?)
Having said that, the area I hiked in is all fairly high use except maybe Caramba, but Caramba has a heck of a lot of human activity upstream, so I'd probably filter every one of the sources noted in my water report. However, I'll go ahead and share some thoughts (comments in italic) on each source; perhaps they'll be helpful to you. All of my comments on the environs are based on the USGS topos for the area:
-Middle Spring - Flowing, not a lot of flow but filterable.
Right off the trail on a very high use trail. I'd probably filter even though it's a spring.
-Powderbox Spring - Not really flowing, but a couple of filterable pools below the trail.
I wouldn't drink at all except if I had no other options. These small rather questionalble looking pools are below a high use trail. The spring is above the trail. Were I to drink it, I might use both a filter as well as chemical treatment.
-Drainage just west of junction with trail to Tahquitz Meadow - Low flow.
If I were to use this one, I'd walk upstream a bit. Ordinarially, I might would not filter since there's no human activity upstream, but since it's in a high use area w/o a lot of flow, I'd filter this one.
-Willow Creek Crossing - Willow Creek is flowing well.
This one is a bit of a toss up. It has good flow, so it might bo OK to drink from straight, but there is a trail upstream. The creek doesn't exactly flow all the way back to the trail above it; the creek proceeds from a meadowy area in the vicinity of the stream. Still, it's a high use area, so I might go ahead and filter just the same.
-Intermittent stream just west of junction with trail to Laws Jct - Low flow up stream of trail, several filterable pools.
This one might be the best to drink out of straight since it flows from an area with no human activity, but the flow is low, mostly just pools. I'd filter just to be safe.-Willow Creek at trail crossing N of Laws Jct - flowing well
This is the same Willow Creek already discussed, but now there's a trail crossing fairly close upstream. I'd filter it.
-Willow Creek at bridge just S of Laws Jct - flowing well
This spot is w/in 0.25 mi of the previous crossing. Same logic applies.
-First intermittent stream en route to Caramba - Not flowing but filterable pools.
It's not flowing This one also has trail crossings at two points upstream. I'd filter it.
-Tahquitz Creek at Caramba - Excellent flow. Pools at falls quite full. Water at falls only in channel (not spreading out onto surrounding rock as in spring).
Not as heavily used of an area as the preceeding, but tons of human activity upstream. Everything from Wellman Divide to Saddle Jct to Tahquitz and Red Tahquitz drains here. Filter it.
-Intermittent stream
W (note correction) of Laws Jct. Flowing, not a lot of volume, but filterable.
Trail crossing in the drainage above. High use area. Filter it.
-Candy's Creek - Not flowing across trail, but nice pool(s) on uphill side of trail and flowing above trail. Water observable flowing below trail.
Trail crossing in the drainage above. High use area. Filter it.
-Spring coming from pipe S of four way junction - flowing well.
Hmm. Tough call. It's a spring. That's good. It's recessed into the ground which means that the water isn't 100% flushed out. That's bad. It's not visible from the trail, it's not marked on the maps, and not everyone knows where it is. That's good. It's in a very high use area. That's bad. Flip a coin? I'd probably filter just because it's in a high use area and because I really don't know where that water is coming from.
-Add'l note: Tahquitz Creek could be heard flowing at several points along trail from Laws jct en route to the four way junction.
Since Tahquitz Creek drains such a wide area, I'd pretty much filter any water coming from it.
I guess I have been accused of being a "details guy." Just the way I'm wired. 
(tip: make sure you bring pee bottles if going there).