Ruled by Water-Still, Tuesday, June 3

For 465 miles over nearly two months water ruled our lives as we traversed the desert and mountains of Southern California. Two years of record low precipitation has left common water sources dry and PCT hikers scrounging for water like beggars looking for food scrapes. Every night we scoured the water report (thank you Halfmile and all contributors!) for location of water sources and the distances between them. We looked forward to getting to the Sierra where early season snow melt would mean water at regular intervals on the trail. So, here we are in the Sierra, but where is the water?

We woke early after our windy evening with Waterfall and Backup and continued our climb, leaving Waterfall and Backup in camp, knowing it would not be long until they passed us. The trail traversed upward through magnificent stands of pines and open meadows. The angle of the sun and the brown hues of the grasses and bushes made it feel like fall rather than spring. Was the brown due to lack of water or are we ahead of the spring growth?

We had 3 miles of climbing to conquer before a 6 mile stretch of downhill. Waterfall and Backkup passed us on the uphill, but we caught up with them at the pass. We took a last picture, supposing we would not see them again, but we caught them at the bottom of the grade. Waterfall explained where to find water a 1/2 mile off the trail. I followed the wet grasses finding nearly stagnant pools. Eventually I found a clear looking one and filled 8 liters of water. Sally stayed and visited with Backup and Waterfall. The next water was ten miles away on the other side of the ridge. At three o'clock, with 6 liters on board my pack (14 additional pounds) we started up the hill. After 3 miles we walked off the end of a switchback in the trail to find a wonderfully flat place to camp on the end of the ridge with glorious views of mountains to the south and west.

We enjoyed a dinner of Mac and Cheese with broccoli after setting up camp and retired to the tent. We looked at the next day's water sources and distances and realized tomorrow would be a repeat of today. We needed to cover at least ten miles each day to make it the 90 miles to Independence, CA before our food ran out. We were situated on the trail in relation to water sources such that we were hitting those sources (only one a day) at about mile 7, meaning we would have to load up with water and lug it up hill to dry camp part way up. If the water source came at the end of the 10 mile day we could camp near the water for the night, but the need to cover ten miles compelled us to end each day loaded down with water climbing the next ridge. We saw the only solution was to put in an extra long day, 16 miles, to get water and required distance in sync. That couldn't happen until Thursday when the trail relented in its up and down trajectory and allowed us to cover a greater distance. On Thursday the trail stayed high and traversed without a lot of elevation change.

So, we are still ruled by water. As master, it makes us carry it uphill to camp, slurp it out of near stagnant pools or walk long distances both off and on trail to get to it. We wanted a low snow year to avoid tramping through snow, and we got it, but perhaps we should be more careful what we wish for.