Drinking water in Arizona backcountry

[LookinforDirt]

I'm preparing for a 5-6 day January backpack hunt in southern Arizona. My readings about available drinking water in the region has not come up with much. Where is a hunter to find sources of filterable drinking water in this area? Do you use Google Earth to find water and hunt close enough to those to replinish when dry? That would seem to rule out a lot of the available country to hunt. Do you just have to pack into dry areas as much as you can and let that determine how many days you can hunt? Sacrifice a day to hike 2, 3, 4, 5 etc miles back to the truck to replinish and head back out? Any tips would be welcome!

 

[MtGomer]

I’d plan to pack your own water

 

[Desk Jockey]

You may want to check some hiking resources for the area if that applies.

I have had some seasonal sources surprise me in both good and bad ways in Arizona. Hiking a bit in Arizona over the years, I have ended up drinking from some nasty puddles and the obligatory cow trace through the half dried mud hole.

 

[MrMogollon]

Was just about to post about this same thing, regarding AZ. A few months ago I talked with the local Wildlife Manager to get more information about active springs for drinking water. Him and I sat on OnX for about an hour discussing potential seasonal and yearly water sources. Feel free to PM me - I can share what I've found if you;re looking in the same area.

I wish there was a single resource for information on active springs/drinking water sources. If I find a spring on OnX or Google maps, it would be nice to search the name (ex. Big Bear Spring) and get more details.

 

[oldhorse]

I use GAIA GPS on my phone. If you buy the $19.99 per year option you can use USGS topo maps as your background. Most known springs are indicated on those maps. The downside is that a lot of them are seasonal. I have hunted areas in the Superstition and Mazatzal Wilderness areas that we had to pack in water and cache it prior to the hunt. When I am in those dry areas I carry an osmosis filter, SteriPen and Aqua Mira drops . Desk Jockey is right, dirt tank water is definitely part cow pis! Can't be too careful! There is also a hiking app called Guthook that is a good source of information for water availability.

 

[Blackcow]

Bring enough water for your trip and at least have it in the vehicle. When you hike in, bring enough for at least the hike into where you think you'll camp, and back out to your vehicle. When you get there, make sure your planned source(s) actually HAVE water. Dirt tanks dont always have water, and you may need a knife and a fork to go along with your filter to drink it if it does. The springs down south are often more dependable than up north I've found, but I dont consider them 100% a sure thing. Up where I live there are dozens of springs on the map, but I have never seen water at any but a couple regardless of the time of year. Just the obligatory cottonwood or sycamore tree.

 

[MattB]

Pack your own water.

 

[100%DIYazCOUES]

Very very few reliable water sources here in southern az. I’ve seen running streams with large pools turn into dust in just a couple weeks. I certainly wouldn’t rely on almost any remote natural water to be there. I usually try to stash a gallon per day the places I pack into

 

[LookinforDirt]

Thanks for the input all. It lets me know where I stand so I can at least start coming up with a plan. Looks like I'll be hauling some water.

 

[KHNC]

When i hunted lions in Southern AZ , near Oracle, there were a couple of creeks in the bottom of the canyons. Up high it was pure cactus desert!

 

[Rob_orozco]

Definitely plan on packing water in. I usually pack in water prior to my hunt


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