High Sierra Topix

Hey everyone...
Did you hear the story about the one moderator type guy (HM) who steadfastly asserts that there is a "hidden spring" in the immediate vicinity of North Dome- overlooking Yosemite Valley. For anyone who has never been atop North Dome, this is indeed a magic place, very remote, with spectacular views of the entire Valley. If this spring does exist (which I doubt), it would make camping on the North Dome so easy because there would be no need to then backtrack 2 miles to the nearest water, just to lug up the necessary overnight water supply.
When a second fellow camper (yours truly) asks the first guy just where this hidden spring is, the first guy says he cannot tell him, but can show him, and agrees to a backpacking trip to actually show the second guy its location, then conveniently gets lyme disease, and then, cannot hike anywhere for the next two-three years. It sure seems a long way to go, just to keep a spring's location secret...
Mark

I'm not the one that claims knowledge of this spring. It is a friend of mine who knows about it!

My doctors are suggesting knee replacement surgery since the cartilage in my knees are pretty much gone. So, maybe I'll actually be able to walk/hike again...

A friend of a friend, who is a friend of another friend also knows the location of that spring.


Mike,

A few years ago the doctor removed the cartilage from my right knee and used a Teflon coating to replace it after I damaged it through several years of hiking and skiing. So far I have no complaints, other than I wish he had done both knees. It eliminated a lot of pain during long downhill hikes.

Randonnee wrote:A friend of a friend, who is a friend of another friend also knows the location of that spring.


Mike,

A few years ago the doctor removed the cartilage from my right knee and used a Teflon coating to replace it after I damaged it through several years of hiking and skiing. So far I have no complaints, other than I wish he had done both knees. It eliminated a lot of pain during long downhill hikes.

I wonder if we have the same friends...

I think they want to do complete joint replacement on both knees. I'll ask them about the teflon thing.

Rand,
Back to the friend and the location of the hidden spring near North Dome - (who gives a rat's a$$ about Mike's knee - lol) - Well, I do - kind of... but there are more important things here to discuss- sorry Mike - you lose!) - Can you have him (or her) pinpoint it on the map?
See:
http://www.topozone.com/map.asp?lat=37. ... -119.55889
Have the friend just put the red dot on the exact spot and record the long/lat. Topozone is cool.

Maybe if I know where to start looking, it would be a good incentive to go back and search for it next spring. It is a great overnight trip, campfire legal, and only 4.5 miles, one way- without the sidetrip to the arch. - like I need an excuse to re-visit Yosemite.
Thanks again
Mark

Speaking of which, on our way up toward Half Dome on the first day of 2004's JMT trip, a French hiker told us there was a spring "just a little farther along." Of course we didn't see one and I dismissed it as a (really bad) joke, but then of course we didn't really go on the Half-Dome trail, we just kept plowing ahead on the JMT at the junction. Is there a spring somewhere up the Half-Dome trail from Happy Isles?

Is there a spring somewhere up the Half-Dome trail from Happy Isles?

Yes, about 1.5 miles from Half Dome on the left side of the trail.

Ok, I feel much better now. Fooling a bunch of thirsty hikers about a nonexistent spring would have been a pretty low blow!

Once you leave Little Yosemite Valley and the Merced, there are but very few places to get water. In the first 1/2 mile on the right, you sort of follow a creek up, and there is water there (you can hear it) but it is a little hard to get down to it.
There also is a very little Artesian Pool bubbling up about 2 miles from the top, just off the trail - on the left when going up - and this pool is a year-round dependable source of good water. It is about 1/4 mile in on the Dome side of the Cloud's Rest / Half Dome trail junction, just behind a large fallen log. This is the last water available before making the round trip to the top (unless you know where the very very last source is - the pipe. I cannot explain where the "pipe out of the rock" is exactly without showing you, but - it is about 100 feet off trail to the right- just a bit past - maybe 1/4 mile - the aforementioned artesian pool). There is no other water available before the top.