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Tomorrow I'm going to take the tram up to Mt San Jacinto. Summit, then hike down to Strawberry Junction camp and loop back up to the tram station the next day. This is a last minute trip. I know it's a long shot but does anyone know the recent water situation.
Thanks
from the summit, what exactly is your route ?
there is more than one way to go.
Day1
From the Tram station hike to Wellmans Divide, to San Jacinto Peak, go back to the trail and continue (heading away from Tram) on to Strawberry Junction Campground. Stay the night.
Day 2
From Strawberry Junction, continue southbound on PCT for about 2.3 miles. At the junction, go back towards Wellmans Divide and back to the tram station.
From the maps online, it doesn't look like we will cross any water sources but I wanted to see if anyone has been up there recently and let me know if there are any unmarked, small streams on this route that may not show up on a map.
Don,
Here’s my San Jacinto Water Map. Each blue point is a potential water source. I’ve given each water source a rating from I (lowest) to V (highest). There are no natural V’s in the San Jacintos above 7,000′ however.
Your best bet, the most reliable water source above 7000′ in the San Jacintos, is Bed Springs Crossing on the Deer Springs Trail; there will be water there.
Near Strawberry Camp, Joyce Spring was running albeit very slowly when I was there three weeks ago. It took us 15 minutes to fill a couple of liters painstakingly.
The spigot in Round Valley is dry as of last report.
Wellmans Cienega did have water. You have to hunt around a bit, but there was water at last report.
Hope that helps. Feel free to ask questions about a specific water source. I’ll try to help if I can.
Don,
Here’s a hasty sketch of what I think you’re saying your route is. The last reliable water you’ll come to is Bed Springs Crossing. There might be water a bit further on, but no guarantees. I personally would plan on filling up at Bed Springs Crossing and then just carrying water to Strawberry Camp. If you find water further on, curse me if you like, but you’d curse even more if you waited to fill up and found no water. :)
The 2nd day, you’ll probably be able to find water at Wellmans Cienega, although that’s not 100% guaranteed.
Jim,
Yes, that's the exact route. Thank you so much!!! This is perfect and exactly what I was looking for. What a community!
Best,
Don
Good luck, Don; glad I could help out.
The trip went well and it was a great overnight trip close to home. Jim's water report was pretty spot on but here's and update as of July 1.
As Jim reported, the Bed Springs has water. Plenty of it. It will go deep into the season if not all year. Joyce springs had water but it's on it's last leg. You could still fill up there but wouldn't unless you were desperate. Wellmans Cienega was pretty much dry at the trail. Moist ground and you could "Life Straw" it if you had to. The ranger said you could follow it downstream and usually find water.
Don,
Glad to hear the trip went well. I did a little XC stuff up there on July 3 & 4 (missed you by a day or two).
Further updates (see San Jacinto map for locations):
N Prong of the N Fork of the San Jacinto River: Flowing but just barely.
Lower Bed Springs Crossing: Flowing very well.
Deer Springs Crossing: Dry at the trail, but a couple of pools about 30 meters downstream.
Upper Bed Springs Crossing: Flowing very well.
Rock Spring: Barely flowing.
Lilly Spring: Flowing, slowly.
Little Round Valley (LRV) Crossing: Dry.
Owl’s Hooch Crossing: Dry.
N Fork Stone Creek: Dry.
Thank you both so much for the updates! Headed to San Jacinto this weekend. As a new SoCal resident, the drought/water availability is one of the hardest adjustments in planning my backpacking routes. I moved from New England–plenty of water there year round.
Jim, I have also already started looking through your blog, too. Cheers!
Jim,
Too bad we just missed each other. We got great weather. Mostly overcast with highs in the upper 60's. We got a tiny bit of rain. I was concerned about the lightning but it was pretty far away. I really thought the west side was beautiful. The section that overlaps the pct.
Nicholas,
Enjoy and welcome to Southern CA.
Yeah, it is nice over there. Camp from July 4 weekend:
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