Ken and Marcia Powers' Prep#3 journal entry discusses their take on water caches before they hiked. It also contains the water drops Dick Bratton and Harv Hisgen (ADTS board members) placed for some previous thru-hikers and has GPS coordinates where available. It discusses the issues of miles per day and how the Powers spaced their water drops. The bottom line is that no matter how well you plan water caches, you will find them at the wrong time of day and end up carrying water sometimes. There were a couple of times when the Powers were totally without water in the desert. They would rather carry the extra water.
Brian Frankel is in hiking Nevada (Fall 2006) and plans to carry water. Check out his web page for information on how he intends to do this. http://www.ula-equipment.com.
The bigger issue is how to cache the water so you can find it. It is really a bummer to arrive at a water cache site and see nothing but sagebrush. Everything looks the same and the GPS coordinates are not exact enough to find the cache. You really need to have something distinct to locate, then measure a distance off the distinct location to the water cache
The Powers' Post#2 journal entry tells about their experience with water caches during their hike. It provides invaluable information about placing and using the water in the cache.
Note: What worked for these travelers may not work for you. You need to plan for your trek.
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