Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Spring above Trail Camp on switchbacks

Does anyone know if the Spring on the switchbacks above Trail Camp is still running?

There was a small pool catching running water at switchback 23 on the 13th of this month....

There was a spring running over several of the switchbacks (not sure of the exact switchback numbers but in the mid-twenties) on the 19th. It was strong enough that I assume it is still running.

Yesterday was my first time, so I do not know how strong the spring usually is. But on the 24th, it was flowing enough for me to cool my feet in the flow on the way down, and enough to make the switchbacks dangerously icy on the way up. With determination, you could fill a bladder from it.

Pumped out of it on the 21st.

I was there two different times in September, around the 10th-12th of the month, in 2006 and 2007, and the spring was running across the switchbacks both times. The water is wonderful, cold, clean and clear, some of the best water I've ever had.

It was a good thing for me and my team in 2007, too, we were dying of thirst coming down from the summit, having foolishly packed less water than we needed when we left the tarns above Guitar Lake earlier that morning.

I did notice when I was there the last time in 2007 that the spring was flowing, but it stuck to the rocks, so it would help to have a wide-mouthed bottle to get the water efficiently. I usually carry a 1-liter Aquafina bottle with the wide mouth, I would recommend something like that or a Nalgene bottle. Use that to fill your bladder.

Six days ago it was flowing slowly in the morning - enough to pump from, barely. By 1:00 - as it warmed up - it was flooding a number of the 20s switchbacks.

We went by at 6:15 am on the 20th and the water was flowing fine. Due to the fact that we going by so early, we had filtered at the outlet stream from TC lake, but I noted that the precaution was unnecessary as there was was plenty coming from under the rock.

Flowing like a Banshee yesterday (25 August) at 7 AM, 4 PM, and 9 PM.

Thus it will be, on into September and maybe even early October, moderated by time of day and overnight low temperatures.

The water comes from a spring about 30' above the leg between switchbacks 23 and 24. It is fed by a snowfield considerably south of the trail, and the meltwater percolates down and through hundreds of feet of gravel before it emerges for your enjoyment. (Ask your local water municipal treatment plant how many feet they filter through in their purification process.)