[pct-l] Water & Trail Report Big Bear Area

[Diane Soini of Santa Barbara Hikes]

On Apr 21, 2008, at 9:22 AM, pct-l-request at backcountry.net wrote:
>
>
> Bill and Jeff--
>
> I'm not big on water caches either, but the description you gave is  
> pretty
> much what happened to my husband and I when we walked this stretch  
> in July
> 2005-- only worse. Perhaps the solution is to update the guide and  
> data
> books. Since this happened 2 years ago, I take it the situation has  
> not
> improved.
>
> We started at highway 18 one evening (we're from Northern Cal)  
> thinking to
> camp at Doble Camp-- we pulled in and no water. Ok, we think, we'll  
> just dry
> camp and head out to the next water source in the morning. The  
> problem was
> that we were not carrying a whole bunch of water from the trailhead  
> because
> we thought we could fill up there. In fact we had to spend a night  
> and walk
> another 17 plus miles to the next decent water source at Holcomb  
> Creek! It
> was not fun.
>
> So-- perhaps a warning to others is appropriate.
>
> Jo

I have a question about this. I have the data book. According to the  
book, there is water past Doble Camp at a number of places. Are they  
all dry or too difficult to get to? For example, one of the listings  
mentions Delamar spring .9 miles from the trail. Is that spring dry  
or do people just not want to leave the trail in search of water?

Diane