[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Re: [at-l] Pennsylvania Drought?

In a message dated 97-09-16 20:35:33 EDT, coombs@acpub.duke.edu writes:

<<  I'm getting ready  for a section hike at the end of the month from Port
 Clinton to Delaware Water Gap. Were things as dry up there this summer as it
 was in North Carolina? We almost set the record for the driest August in the
 last hundred years. I'm wondering how the springs are. I know I should
 expect to drop pretty far off some of the ridges to find water, but are
 there some shelters in that stretch completely without water? >>

    We didn't really have a LOT of rain here in PA this summer, but we are
far from drought conditions.  HOWEVER, many of the springs on the AT in PA
are intermittent at best, even in wet years.  On my most recent dayhikes, I
found that water availability wasn't too bad--you will have to walk a ways at
some of the shelters, but there is water.  In most cases (in PA), there is
more than one location to get water at a shelter--you usually have to hike
down to the lowest one.  <g>
     Since I was born and raised in PA, I'm used to an extra half-mile walk
down, then back up, at the end of each day for water (I'm also used to
walking on the sharp edges of rocks all day long <g>)--but my advice would be
to drink a quart or two at every spring you come across throughout the day,
and carry at least a quart with you.  Hope this info helps.
   BTW, be sure to check out the new Allentown shelter--it's a beaut!