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Serious question, why do so many people skip the water carry between Tuolumne and Sonora Pass?
I did the 60 mile stretch from Tuolumne Meadows to Sonora Pass last month and watched at least four hikers blow past the last reliable creek without filling up. One guy I talked to near Dorothy Lake was down to half a liter and still had 12 miles of exposed ridge ahead of him. I get that the map shows a few seasonal seeps, but in a dry August those are just damp sand. Carrying 4 liters instead of 2 added maybe 5 pounds and saved me from a really dumb situation. Am I missing something, or do folks just not read the seasonal water notes in the guidebooks?
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joelsanchez21d ago
Man, come on. Half the reason you carry a filter and a map is so you can move fast and light and grab water when you actually hit it. Those "damp sand" spots you're writing off? In a wet year they're running. Even in dry August, some of those seeps still have pools if you know where to look, and the guidebooks flat out tell you they're unreliable, which means you check them yourself instead of hauling 4 liters up every climb. I've done that stretch with 1.5 liters and topped off at the spots the notes flag, and it worked fine. Plus, the guy you saw might've been caching water ahead or meeting someone at a trailhead. Carrying extra "just in case" for 60 miles is how you wreck your knees on the downhills.
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