[pct-l] water caches

[Scott Bryce]

Diane at Santa Barbara Hikes dot com wrote:
> I hiked Devil's Slide southbound to Highway 74 after the kickoff. I
>  was reminded of all the water caches in So Cal that I had sort of 
> forgotten about. I hate to say this, but they really bug me. There 
> are too many of them.

Agreed.

Last year before I hiked section A, I posted here about how I was
philosophically opposed to water caches at all. When I arrived at
Scissors Crossing, the San Felipe Creek was dry. My attitude about the
caches changed.

But there are smaller caches that really aren't necessary. There was
water cached at Pioneer Mail. Right next to the trough. OK, the water is
cruddy, but you knew that when you decided to hike the PCT. There was
more water cached about a mile south of Scissors Crossing. Do we really
need a cache that close to a cache? There was another cache at Barrel
Spring. Huh? I took water straight from the pipe without treating it.
Why should there be a cache there? There was another cache on Chihuahua
Valley Road. Mike Herrera's house is only 1/4 mile away, why do we need
a cache there?

I would rather not see water bottles scattered all over the trail. If
there are going to be caches, lets keep the ones that really matter, and
not litter the trail with those that don't. People who choose to hike
the PCT know what they are getting into, and 20 mile waterless stretches
are part of that.

> I appreciate the effort that people have put into helping us and
> their good intentions toward us.

Agreed here too.