[Cdt-l] Water and black range

[Stephen Olshansky]

Black range water and trail report. Blister free and whoever just plz move this wherever if it helps. Ty. 
One thing that just isn't mentioned when choosing between The Gila River Route or The Black Range Route is; The degree of difficulty.....the calorie burn. 
The blacks are so much harder and longer. Don't know how much. If you walk up the river canyon there is always decent water, so ya don't have to carry any. The climb over many miles is negligible. There is no wind or altitude or cold. 
The Black range is longer, with little good water and tremendous altitude climbs and descents adding up to tens of thousands of feet. (Don't know how much total)The altitude might slow ya down a little as will tough trail conditions with burn areas and blow downs and lava rock to slow ya down. And of course you are going to have to carry pounds of water and maybe some more food.  Don't recommend bush wacking in blacks terrain to hard will kick your butt. Backtrack to find trail.
WATER REPORT (from March)
Watch your water through here. It will be hard and you will drink some water you don't like. Bet on it. Also assume that ANY source might not be there or too ugly. Have a plan b. 
the good news there is water.....
The bad news is all critters want water and they jump in and can't escape and they die in there. Part of the deal. 
The earthen "tanks" are the worst. They are NOT ponds. They are cow and horse toilets and should be considered for dire emergency use only as far as I am concerned. Only one of the many looked any good cause it was fenced off, the pit tank. It will be dry when you get there. 
The later ya start the more difficult due to sources drying up and hotter temps will cause you to burn more water. 
THE ONLY SOURCES I COULDNT FIND ARE:
Where Jonathan says there is a seep across the trail. Couldn't find it. And in the same area jerry had waypoints dry. Besides that. 
Sapillo campground is dry. The people there will not give you water. You can't count on water here. You might luck out. 
Rock canyon cows have been removed and there is no recent signs. Water quality excellent. 

Sneaky spring on Reeds peak. I could not discern a flow. None, but it did have the kind of "permanent algae" that's evident in springs. This one is iffy to me. It isn't "under Jerry's waypoint" he has a drainage marked. The real spring is a couple of hundred yards more just outside the burn. Look down to the left carefully. 
"The trough" is what a backcountry source should be. Water harnessed into a flow pipe into a trough. Heaven. 
Use Jerry's waypoints here because the turndown isn't easy to find. Don't miss it. 
Wahoo canyon actually has a pipe. Follow the wash down about a mile past the big cave. Stay in wash not road. There is a dam with a pipe. Keep going down if dry the telltale green algae pools are below and most of the time the flow starts not too far below them. 
Garcia windmill working arrive in wind to catch clear. 
I recommend the Green wall well(sp) after mt pelona descend past the three cow sewers(tanks/ponds) and go about a mile off trail to the gravity fed well metal tank. 
Look on Jonathan's map it's there. Before coyote peak 5 miles or so. 
From here the Collins well in Collins park is dry. so if there is no water in cox canyon you are sol. Deadman spring is dead you won't get any water out of the mud. 
The big storm last sept. Bulls eyed cox canyon and there just might be some there. It also douched the cow tanks. 
This is a really tough area. Looks like new trail from forest road 28. All the way to the top avoiding cox canyon. I doubt there is any water up there and it's slow going to boot over tough lava. You will die of thirst up there. 
The cabin had good water but it's flow has stopped. Hard to tell about another month or so. 
Go govina canyon thru here.... Done both the cdta route's 7 miles is deceptively tough with hard to follow burned blow downed trail. Go govina. 
The house with the pole well is still there. Didn't trust the new trail, especially water wise. The forest service has done a bunch of stuff in here that's seems clueless I'll just leave it at that. 
Hope it helps all some may be out of order. Or I may have left out one or two. 
Life is a hike otter
Time for a piece of pie. 
:-)
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