2017 West Coast Road Trip

I didn't actually take any pics of this series of events but it warrants noting. There is no water source at Tamarack Flats except the local stream water which needs to be boiled. So we set out I search of a tap to fill the van from. I tried the gas station just above the valley but all they had were the bathroom taps which would have been quite slow. But the nice guy behind the counter told me about Fern Spring down at the bottom of the road just as you hit the valley floor.

We drove down and checked it out. It's a pretty spring with stone wall around it. The sign talked about how the water is filtered by the mountain and Native Americans used it for centuries - but it didn't actually say potable. So, we decided to drive a bit further to the El Capitan bridge where I could get LTE internet and read up on it. When I googled the spring I got many comments saying it was drinkable. So we circled back to fill up.

(I'll pause here to mention that we asked four different rangers later in the day if they drank from the spring and all said many people do but that they personally wouldn't - for exactly the reason that follows)

When we got back there was a pickup trucked parked by the spring and two guys standing by the pool of water. And in it was their yellow lab having a nice bath! Yuck!

I told them it was potable water and they just shrugged a very insincere "sorry"

Short story long after spending the day in the valley we still hadn't found water anywhere we could get the van close to - but then I asked a park employee by some utility buildings if he had any ideas and get filled us up with a hose from the side of the building that they all use to fill their coolers while working. Nice guy.Read more