View Full Version : Water in Joyce-Kilmer
Does anyone know of the current water availability in the Hangover area of Joyce-Kilmer?
Thanks!
Ramble~On
05-05-2007, 04:28
If coming from Big Fat there is a very small spring on the left side of the trail about ?250 ? 150? yards before you hit ridgeline and the junction (left) to Hangover (which I see from your gallery you have a nice shot of). Most of the time you will see the water on the trail and following it will lead to a small "cup" in the rock that makes it easy to filter or scoop from. Given the current and recent rain there should be water flowing on the trail from this water source. I've never seen the spring at Naked Ground dry and the spring on Bob Bald can be a trickle but the further you go down the better it gets...in dry times that is..usually the pipe is set and water is flowing.
Tipi Walter
05-05-2007, 07:27
Yes, SpiritWind is right, coming up on the Hangover Lead South trail from Big Fat Gap you'll find water near the top of the ridge at Saddle Tree Gap. I'd say it's below the ridge on the trail several hundred yards back. I've camped many nights in Saddle Tree by the Hangover and have found the high spring right below the left side of the ridge near the campsite(there's a side trail going to it in the Saddle Tree campsite)to be sketchy and unreliable. My last big trip there was in February and yes, there was plenty of water at the springhead but it was all frozen and one big solid block of ice. I had to backtrack down the South Lead trail to get water at the aforementioned spring.
The best source of water is at Naked Ground and often on my way to the Hangover Camps I'd stop at Naked Ground and load up my 90 ounces of water there. It is always going, never frozen solid, and even during a long drought it stays wet and flowing. This can't be said for the Bob Bald spring as I've seen it nearly dry though I never had to hump very far down it to find water as SpiritWind suggests. One time last summer it was so dry that I found only a tiny pool in the rocks below the Bob and it took me 25 full minutes to fill up a liter Nalgene. It was easy to drain but hard to wait to refill, etc.
TIDE-HSV
05-05-2007, 09:57
on the Naked Ground spring. Although it's pretty reliable, the origin near the top sometimes shows clear signs of being used as a hog wallow. If you do treat, then that spring is a good candidate. (I'm ready for all the following posts by folk who've drunk out of it raw for years with no ill effects...) :)
Tipi Walter
05-05-2007, 10:16
on the Naked Ground spring. Although it's pretty reliable, the origin near the top sometimes shows clear signs of being used as a hog wallow. If you do treat, then that spring is a good candidate. (I'm ready for all the following posts by folk who've drunk out of it raw for years with no ill effects...) :)
Plus the fact that large groups of backpackers use Naked Ground and with them comes some questionable toilet habits. I always filter or boil at this high gap.
Ramble~On
05-05-2007, 14:08
:eek: I wouldn't dare drink from Naked Ground without treating or filtering..
99% of the people who use that overused site "use" it directly above and around the spring....sad facts for a very beautiful and popular high ridge land mark and trail junction.
TIDE-HSV
05-06-2007, 00:14
others share my feelings about that spring. :) I remember the first time I stayed there, November of '73, my hiking partner and I took a look at the spring, which was more fouled than I've seen it since, and decided to take our five gallon K-Mart water container down the face towards Joyce Kilmer and bring up water from there. We slipped its handle over my sturdy, heavy hickory staff and carried it back up like game kill of some kind. And we were exhausted when we hit the top. In retrospect, there's no reason to think the water on that side is any cleaner, for the reasons noted above, but the "visuals" were a lot better...
Thanks for the memories, I love J.K. /Slickrock. Great photos, too.:cool: