Water Report vs Water Plan

[postholer.com]

This year was a 2nd consecutive extreme dry year which created a very unique opportunity. It allowed me to collect locations of thousands natural water sources that were flowing for northbound thru hikers.

So how can we benefit from this?

The water report (pctwater.com) is not well updated even during peak hiker season and lacks the vast majority of water sources. The water report relies on someone actually standing at the source and then reporting it. While many hikers may see or use a source it goes unreported. Further, the water report only covers a relatively small part of the trail. Places like northern California, Oregon, Washington and even most of the natural sources in SoCal are not even mentioned.

The Water Plan takes a completely different approach:

If a natural water source existed during a 2nd consecutive extreme dry year (like this year) it will almost certainly (but not a certainty) be available during a wetter year or single dry year for the northbound thru-hiker.

It's that simple. All that was required was for someone to document these natural sources at exactly this time, a 2nd consecutive dry year. A huge opportunity has been realized. A water plan for natural sources requires no visual confirmation or subsequent reporting which makes it extremely relevant during any year.

Over the winter I'll be compiling the water plan. The basic layout, subject to change, will look like this:

Location name, Trail mile, Day of dry year observed, Source type, Flow, Quality

Your input, criticisms, suggestions, etc. will be very welcomed.

-postholer

[fredmugs]

No suggestions just a big thanks for putting in all of that effort. I was doing a 200 mile section and I heard at one point you were two days behind a thru hiker who went past me at Old Snowy. Looking at your journal it looks like you hit Stevens Pass 3 days after I did. Fortunately I missed all of the rain.

[Rocket Jones]

Thanks for putting together another useful resource. Can never have too many of those.

[Dogwood]

MANY THX Postholer for the ongoing snow and water reports. I tip my hat to you. They are immensely helpful for PCTers.

I think you hit on a worthwhile topic. Outdoors people, such as hikers, contributing more by relaying back research data taken from in the field. It already happens on the PCT to some extent with the water reports but there is room for improvement as you noted. Gregg Treinish is facilitating this approach with his non-profit Adventurers and Scientists for Conservation(ASC). There was a bit about what he's doing on pg 84 in the Sept 2013 Backpacker issue.

BTW, love Crescent City. Great leaping off pt for hikes in the various Redwood NP areas and north at the various Oregon SPs. Enjoy walking on the beaches there as well.

[Kerosene]

Great idea. My only concern would be whether the definition of "drought" is relatively consistent along the entire trail and the associated water basins over this stretch of time. It wouldn't surprise me that some of the microclimates are significantly better off than others, but that could shift in the future.

That said, you will caveat the findings and this is a big step forward. I fear running out of water more than just about any other risk on a remote trail.

[SCRUB HIKER]

The water report (pctwater.com) is not well updated even during peak hiker season and lacks the vast majority of water sources ... even most of the natural sources in SoCal are not even mentioned.

The first claim is highly debatable. The second one is a lie. I just finished my PCT thru-hike a few days ago; in the desert, I found Halfmile's water report to be an extremely thorough and useful resource. Virtually every source, natural or not, within a mile of the trail for the first 750 miles is mentioned--don't take my word for it, go look at the report and compare it to what you see on the maps. Between the water report and Yogi's notes, it was very easy to make judgments on upcoming water sources. I'm not sure how you can imply that the water report is inadequate for SoCal and misses "most of the natural sources" down there. You clearly have some kind of personal beef with Halfmile (http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/showthread.php?91044-Help-printing-for-this-lucky-guy&p=1387059&viewfull=1#post1387059) that leads you to make very dubious statements against him and his resources.

That said, his water report doesn't cover anything outside the desert, but Yogi's pretty much got that covered with her trail guide. I paid attention to Halfmile's map notes and Yogi's book and only got caught without water once, and that was just for 4-5 miles and it was mostly my fault.

No one is going to argue with a great resource like your proposed Water Plan if it turns out well, but if you could be less disingenuous in your promotion of it, you'd help your own cause a little more.