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Now I am a little late in joining this discussion but this is the kind of freedom I've been craving for years!!!
What can I read to eductate myself on how to identify safe water sources? As I pursue this freedom, I can just see myself now...squeezing my eyes shut while tenuously letting that great tasting cold refreshment pass over my lips. <<mind over matter>>
I'd love to live this new freedom when hiking the MWT in October. What water source do I absolutely stay away from there (ie Trail Camp, where refilling will be critical for us, unless at inlet on the west side)? If you suggest reading the info sheet, "Reliable Water Sources Along the Mt. Whitney Trail", I've downloaded that already. Very helpful, thanks. I suppose there's a possibility some of those sources will be dry by October this year? Will check with Ranger when that time comes and make the "carrying the filter" decision then.
Humor me here.... Doesn't the water along MWT drain from Trail Camp so than any water below it would be unsafe?
Thanks.
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Joined: Jan 2003
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jgr, the answer to your question is contained in Bob Rockwell's paper, referenced way above.
As for the issue of people who filter who get giardia also, I've met quite a few. Very convincing of the futility of filtering already pure water, but not taking care of handwashing. I personally will not share other's food.
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Joined: Dec 2002
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Yes it drains from Trail Camp but it mixes with other sources as it winds it way toward Whitney Portal.
The water on the switchbacks thus the westside of the trail in Trail Camp will be gone by October.
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Got it. Great. Thanks Ken and Travis!
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Joined: Sep 2005
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From the PCT journals, a bad year for GI tract ailments along certain sections of the trail: Scout and Frodo 's 2007 Pacific Crest Trail Journal Scout's Commentary: (I have been working on this commentary for well over a week and in light of today's events have decided to go public with it.): What plagues the trail this year? What sickness stalks us? I am personally aware of three backcountry helicopter evacuations and in addition to those hospitalizations, at least 15 further hikers with emergency room or urgent care visits. All were extremely sick, not injured. All with severe diarrhea or vomiting, dehydration, fever or chills; all first presenting as altitude sickness which is later ruled out. This cannot be normal. I started a list over a week ago. I became concerned when I picked up a phone message from Burning Man. The important substance was that he had not had altitude sickness, as previously thought, but a serious GI tract ailment. Serious enough to lay him up for ten days. Tests were inconclusive; no specific diagnosis. In the interest of privacy I will refrain from publishing the names, but they are trail friends all. Frodo and I know probably a third of the people on the trail, maybe 70 to 80. So for us to know of 18 who've been seriously ill indicates something is seriously wrong. Are we all sloppy on hygiene? Sloppy with water purification? Unlucky? I don't think so. We need a "Dr. House," an epidemiologist, or other interested trail chronicler to gather more information from an off-trail vantage point to give a lead on what's striking this many people low. The sickness' trail location was not randomly scattered. Three were south of Kennedy Meadows, one was north of the Sierras, and the bulk, 14 were in the Sierras, with 13 of the 14 first experiencing symptoms within the first 100 miles after Kennedy Meadows. I have one working theory -- This was an extremely low snow year and water for the day-and-a-half after Kennedy Meadows was unexpectedly scarce. What water there was to be found was brackish and ran through active cattle country. If poor water was the source of the unusual sickness numbers, this would explain why such sickness has not been seen in usual or heavy snowpack years. But I am just a thru hiker and this a working theory only. I will next have internet access at the Heitman's in Old Station on Wednesday. Send me an email and I can provide names and contact information for most. But I do want to be sensitive about protecting hikers' privacy. Here's the link from their Friday, July 20, 2007 entry: http://www.trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?id=195797
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Here's a text written by Bob Rockwell about the quality of Sierra water. It was posted elsewhere on this board, but several people got into an argument over it, and the entire thread was deleted. I am posting it here so it can be viewed and referenced by those interested. It is an import addition to the Sierra water quality "body of knowledge", since it counter-balances the National Park / National Forest statements that people should always treat the water. It is clear that they must say that because they cannot guarantee the water is safe. Since your safety in the backcountry is solely your responsibility, it is entirely up to you to decide what to do about the water. Here is Bob's text (from July 2008) 60,000 Liters of Water Consumed -- Untreated
Let me see. I mentioned 2500 days in another post recently. Multiply that by an average of 4 liters per day, and I have consumed roughly 10,000 liters of Sierra water in my lifetime. I can add all my climbing companions on those trips (yes, I keep that list, too) to the experience, and I have climbed with quite a few of them. To be exact, 447 different climbing companions as of last weekend, ranging from 271 mountains shared with my frequent friend Tom Sakai, down to a few with Eric Simonson, Dave Hahn, and Ed Viesturs. (None of the latter was in the Sierra, but I just had to do some name-dropping.)
90% of my and my friends’ climbs have been in the Sierra. Making the estimation, probably another 20,000 liters my friends have consumed on our shared climbs. And what about climbs they have all done without me? Perhaps another 30,000 liters. I’m sure that if any of them had gotten sick, I would have known about it.
All told, roughly 60,000 liters of Sierra water consumed—all without treatment and all without a single instance of the problems mentioned or conjectured on this message board.
I draw no conclusions. I offer it only as data. 60,000 pieces of anecdotal data.
I believe in data, facts, research, tests, and information. I do not believe in conjecture and I do not put any credibility in postured scenarios. (“With so many people going there, the water must be polluted!”) What I have posted, on this message board and elsewhere, is what I have learned by observation. What I have learned about studies and tests from critical distillations of the relevant literature. And I relate my own experiences.
Here I take a little exception to what my friend Wayne wrote. He said, “The waters on Mt. Whitney have never been proven to be polluted.” I would change that to “have never tested positive…,” which is a little different, but not by much. I think I’m as attentive as anyone to being on the lookout for formal testing and research, and I doubt I have missed any significant ones. I have made it a passion of sorts, actually, for over 25 years. And there is casual testing as well: I hiked a few miles with the head Whitney Region wilderness ranger a few years ago, and he mentioned that they test the waters on the Main Trail every week or two. They never find anything of consequence, and some of it—like the purest water on the planet in Bighorn Park—they don’t even bother to test any more. If they did find something, I am sure you would see a sign in the Visitor Center: “Warning: E coli O157:H7 was detected in the stream from Mirror Lake last weekend.” But I have never seen such a sign, and I have never heard of any serious positive test of any kind, for anywhere in the High Sierra, at any time. I do not know if Inyo still does this regular testing.
What do I mean by “High Sierra?” Say 10,000 feet and above. Robert Derlet of UC Davis has done extensive testing, and has found serious levels of E coli as high as 7600 feet, but none higher.
We can argue this ‘til the cows come home, but I don’t argue on message boards and I try not to draw general conclusions on them. People can do what they want, and it is marvelously clear here that they write what they want! People visit the Whitney area once or twice, and are self-declared experts for the rest of eternity.
I try to resist posting anything other than trip reports anymore, but when I do my goal is to provide data and information, not conjecture. That’s the case now. I am happy to let others decide to act on it, or not. Fold it in with everything else they’ve read or heard, and make decisions. I don’t care what people do. I do care that they have accurate information at their disposal.
But I will say that I have occasion to take quite a few new (to me) people into the Sierra, fairly regularly: people who have been used to uniformly treating the water. Over the span of a day or more, we have the leisure to talk about not only what is in that (scientific) paper I wrote, but also about a lot of practical information that doesn’t belong in a (scientific) treatise. We look at a particular source and discuss any possible contaminants that might be there, how it might have gotten there, where it will go and when. These people invariably end up keeping their filters in their packs. And, if I am to believe what they tell me, none of them ever treats the water up there again.
I said I don’t care what you do. But I really do, inside. This corner of our world is a wonderful corner, and I enjoy it immensely. If part of my nature is to want others to view and experience these wonderful mountains as I do, then it is my weakness. On these boards I hang back, trying to send out only information that is undiluted by my personal conclusions and opinions, letting everyone decide what they want to believe and what they want to do about it. But, try as I might to avoid interjecting personal opinion, I do not always succeed. I’m sorry.
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The link appears to be dead to Dr. Welch's article. Here's a more current link. HJ
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Joined: Mar 2013
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Thank you for posting this & the current link to the scientific article.
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