[pct-l] Re: Info on PCT

[ROYROBIN@aol.com (ROYROBIN@aol.com)]

<< The San Felipe Hills north of Scissors Crossing is the longest dry 
stretch.  
 It is about 40 miles to Barrel Springs....   I would carry a gallon of water 
out of Scissors Crossing.  >>

I agree with BigHummel on most of his comments, but it's "only" 23.8 miles 
from Scissors Crossing to Barrel Spring.  I suggest you carry 6 liters (1.5 
gallons) out of Scissors Xing if you get out early (gain that elevation 
before it gets hot) and are pretty certain you can make Barrel Springs the 
same day.  If you expect to overnight in the San Felipes, carry 2 gallons.  
Don't count on water in the middle of this stretch.  There isn't any unless 
some Trail Angel provides it.      

Here is an excerpt from my trail notes for this section in 1997, just as 
info.  You make the call:

"The next day (Friday 5/9), we hiked the last 3 miles to the San Felipe 
Creek.  It was running well, but we were worried about cattle contamination 
here, so we side-hiked up the road to a marsh called Sentenac Cienaga that 
was supposed to be better.  It wasn't.  Less flow, still signs of cattle.  So 
we came back to San Felipe with empty bottles.  Cattle or not we filtered 6 
liters each of this water, plus what we used there.  Ahead of us was our 
toughest test yet.

"Our plan had been to get going early while it was still cool, but the water 
fiasco cost us much time.  We began the uphill, 23.5-mile dry hike to Barrel 
Spring at about 11:30 AM.  The first couple miles climb were switchbacks up a 
south-facing slope.  By 1 PM, the heat, sun, uphill climb, and 12 pounds of 
water in our packs were making us quite uncomfortable.  It became clear that 
to continue under these conditions would require more water than we had.  We 
were risking heat exhaustion and dehydration.  But there was no shade in 
sight.  The sun, which was baking the slope, left no shadows anywhere.  There 
were no trees of any kind.  Lots of cactus and some brush.  We found a mostly 
shady spot under some brush and rested.  A short nap, an early dinner and 
soon it was 3:30 PM and much cooler, probably down in the high 80's or so, 
but there was a breeze and an afternoon thunder cloud was giving us some 
shade.  We were quite thirsty, but had already used 1/3 of our water in the 
first 3 miles (of 23.5).  We were getting worried.  Fortunately, the storm 
shaded us until about 5 PM, even dropping a few big drops of rain!  The 
higher altitude meant cooler conditions too.  We hiked as fast as we could 
without overdoing it until past sunset, drinking one pint of water per hour 
while covering 2.5 miles per hour.  By nightfall, we were exhausted, thirsty 
and dirty, but we had covered a good 10 miles since dinner and still had 2 
liters water per person.

"The next day (Saturday 5/10), we were awake at first light and on the trail 
by 5:45 AM.  We intended to get to Barrel Spring before it got too hot.  We 
arrived at 10:30 AM, with only a psychologically significant 1 cup of water 
each left.  We were dehydrated, but not severely.  A little luck, some good 
decisions on when to hike (and not), and a good rationing plan combined to 
get us through in good shape.  At Barrel Spring, we each drank down a full 
liter of the best tasting water I've seen in a while!  Another liter soon 
followed before we felt hydrated again.  We should have carried 8 liters 
rather than 6."