Re: [Philmont]: Enough water?

You would not be carrying extra water from Cimarroncito, but water from
Clark's Fork, which is on the way. You can also hope for water on the
way to Shaefers Pass (Upper Clark's Fork, Ponderosa, Shaefers Pass
itself), but that is a real risk unless it is a wet year. There is not
a drop of water between SP and Basecamp, and the hike from TR to BC can
be brutal if you don't get an early start, as you are exposed to the
open sun for miles. It's hot and dusty even at 7:30 am, and a miserable
PITA anytime after 9:00 am.

You can also alleviate some of your water needs by eating dinner for
lunch at CF, and eating lunch for dinner at TR or on top of the ToT.
If you do this, you don't need tons of water, esp. if you commit to a
dawn start out of TR to BC.

By this point of your trek, you will have a pretty good sense of water
needs per Crew member. Some guys need lots, others not so much. If
it's real hot starting out of CF to SP, add even more. And camel up
before you leave.

I personally wouldn't take any less than 4 liters per man, using the
above protocols, and 4.5 - 5.0 liters would be more prudent if the
weather conditions weren't favorable. On carrying heavy jugs, one way
to evade that is everyone uses their cups and drinks out of the main
jugs on the way up to Shaefers Peak, and doesn't touch their personal 3
liter supply til that reserve is used up. The jugs will likely be empty
by the time you get to the top of the peak. Your gorillas can carry
them in the meantime, or you can trade off down the line as you go.
Another way is to have everyone carry a 2 liter platypus bladder the
entire trip, and use it just for this purpose. Weighs very little,
takes up very little space, til you need it on your next to last day.

Hope this gives you some ideas.

Rsafl61660@aol.com wrote:
> We will be at Philmont in July (721-B2). We had a shake down hike this
> past weekend, hiking 11 miles Saturday and 5 on Sunday. We practiced
> cooking methods that we might use at Philmont, bear bag prep, dining fly
> set up, and simulated lack of water, ( only refilling our containers 1
> time even though we had 2-3 other opportunities at the park). I'm
> concerned about the water situation. We do not plan on bringing water
> filters. We will only be using Polar Pure, possibly coffee filters or
> bandanas if silt is an issue. However we will be on trek #5. From what
> I gather from previous threads, the hike from Cimarroncito to Tooth
> Ridge is long, tough and water is sometimes lacking. We are not going
> to carry 2-3 gallon jugs at 8lbs / gallon. The boys are pretty set on
> that. The water supply from our bottles once we arrived at our camp
> site on Saturday was marginal, considering we had another 5 miler on
> Sunday. Since we will not be carrying a large jug of water to the dry
> camps, what might be recommended for the crew to carry individually?
> I'm thinking 4 quarts/ liters per person is not too much, but is it
> enough? Looking for some experienced feed back.
>
> Bob S. Indy,
> Philmont '74, and soon to be '04

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Received on Wed May 26 20:15:29 2004