Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Spring at switchbacks 23-25 dry in the morning

We summited on August 13. When we passed the location of the spring around switchback 23 on our ascent around 7:30 am, it was completely dry--no evidence that water had ever crossed the trail. No ice. Nothing but dirt. We couldn't hear any water flowing underground. When we descended around 4:30 pm, there was plenty of water flowing over several of the switchbacks in the area around switchback 23. It was easily obtained and totally delicious.

That spring freezes overnight and thaws during the day.

It was flowing strongly the evening of the 23rd (I was heading up the switchbacks around 7pm to spend the night on the summit) And was flowing (though not quite as much( by ~10am or so on my way down the next morning.

If it freezes at night, how come no trace of ice on the trail? To me, this indicates that it is not a spring: true ground water is held around 58 and freezes at the surface, not in the ground. I do not believe this is a spring, but runoff from the small cirque just above. It behaves like snowmelt, not a spring.

It is nothing but snowmelt...the mountains are like a giant sponge and gravity does play a part in this process...you have to understand hydrology and stuff like that...that water trickling is from snowmelts past years ago.

I'm not a hydrology expert but what I do know is that I have drunk this water several times without filtering or zapping and not had any bad effects.

Just a reminder...
This is the nice Richard you're raking over the coals...

Spring, tarn, bivy... there are a lot of things up there that aren't going by their proper definition.

"Raking over the coals" was not my intention.

burtw...I agree...just wish I had 50 55-gallon barrels of the stuff to last a lifetime...

That thingy that produces flowing water on switchbacks was flowing strongly yesterday at around 9-10 am.

Also, no ice whatsoever on the trail at the cables. Nada. Zilch.

Thanks for the info/update. Heading up next Thursday.