Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Water in a dry year, probably a Richard P Question

Ok, In the past I have always carried all my water for the main trail. With a steripen, where is the last running water I can get on the way up, or first on the way down.
Thanks

I'm still here...

The Spring on the Switchbacks has been running pretty hard lateley. Just make sure you go all the way up to the source...

I usually use Rockwell's Finest (the Spring at Bighorn Park) and the Spring on the Switchbacks as my sources of water for the climbs on that side of the mountain. No possiblity of contamination becase both come straight out of the mountains.

Doug has Bob's map posted on the back of the back door of the Store. Take a look at it for additional info (or find the link to his map and description).

I've been up in mid-September a few times when the spring on the Switchbacks was dry, possibly in late August, too.

Just ask returning hikers prior to going up.

Muchas Gracias.

As I usually tell people, between switchbacks 14 and 24 on the 97 switchbacks above Trail Camp, there is a spring that is usually reliable. It was running well last week when I was up there. Now how it will be when you do your trip is another question. I would recommend that you ask again about a week prior to your trip as to how well it is running, and people that came back from the summit can let you know. I always make a point to drink water on the way down just after passing switchback 24, which is the highest switchback where the spring comes out onto the trail. No need to filter the water at this point. Whitney Mike.

Just summited the 5th, there is water all over the place on the switchbacks, there is a great source much higher than 24th, sorry did not count past the 24th but my watch altimeter said it was 13210ft just below the cables. Its flowing down a smooth rock face, hits a wedge cutout on the rock, just place your bottle and let it fill.

Nice! Congrats Dave!

Did you get any rain? I'd heard something about some "weather" coming in, but I never saw evidence of it from the WPSMB pictures.

Hey Rosie, It rained for an hour and a half on the evening of the 4th. I had a tent so there were no worries. I wanted to camp out a night so I brought everything including the kitchen sink, if the portal scale is correct I carried 53 lbs to trail camp.

Summited on 5th too with my 10 yo. The rain and small hail was fun...thought it was longer, I dozed off.

Took a picture of the register, was right behind you Ridgeline

Hey Oddball, unless there was another ten year old on the mt that day, I was the guy who asked your daughter how old she was. My granddaughters are 7 and 3 and I was thinking 10 would be the perfect age to attempt. Just don't ask Rosie how old she was on her first summit.

I summitted on July 4, backpacking from Onion Valley. Pictures of post-hail conditions below. Lots of water on switchbacks below the cables, but none above the cables unless you count a small trickle at the increasingly tiny summit snowfield.

These pictures are from Trail Camp, post-hail storm, evening of July 4.