Re: Spring Location on Half Dome Hike

Looking for the exact coordinates or detailed instructions on the location of the spring off the trail to Half Dome. The spur trail is about halfway between the Little Yosemite Valley Campground and Half Dome itself, I believe. Thanks.

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The cure for a fallacious argument is a better argument, not the suppression of ideas.
-- Carl Sagan

You have to look around for the actual pipe with water coming out but it is in there.


37d-44'-58"N, 119d-30'-51"S

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Old Dude

Quote
mrcondron
You have to look around for the actual pipe with water coming out but it is in there.


37d-44'-58"N, 119d-30'-51"S

Issue from the dusty archives of Yosemitenews.info:

The eternal question about where to get water on the Half Dome hike section above Little Yosemite Valley. In the book OneBestHike Half Dome page 85-87 it is described as to the left of the trail and not really off the trail. I suspect that this is not the actual sping identified on topo maps, but just a small stream crossed by the trail. The topo clearly shows the spring as on a spur to the RIGHT when hiking to Half Dome:


I have become a little more sophisticated something in the months since this thread was originally posted, and have the following info, which seems to confirm what Mike reported last year.

lon: 119.51392 ( 37° 44' 58.2714" ) lat:37.74952 ( 37° 44' 58.2714" )

mgrs:11S KB 78518 81000

See arrow on topo (from the USGS website, free), it is just at the edge of the Half Dome and Yosemite Falls quadrangles:

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The cure for a fallacious argument is a better argument, not the suppression of ideas.
-- Carl Sagan

Yes, that is "the" spring. For much of the year there is a water a flowing that
little blue line to the right... if not the entire year... (coming from the spring).

The wifie and I have found the actual pipe a sticking parallel to the ground
in years past... but the last time I was there with Mike we a searched and
a searched and couldn't find it... So don't know if someone yanked it out
or we were just silly....
I did, however, find a nice plastic spoon to replace one a marmot stole
from me on quarter domes..!!!

Quote
bill-e-g
Yes, that is "the" spring. For much of the year there is a water a flowing that
little blue line to the right... if not the entire year... (coming from the spring).

The wifie and I have found the actual pipe a sticking parallel to the ground
in years past... but the last time I was there with Mike we a searched and
a searched and couldn't find it... So don't know if someone yanked it out
or we were just silly....
I did, however, find a nice plastic spoon to replace one a marmot stole
from me on quarter domes..!!!

One of the pictures in the book on HD shows a bunch of people lying around on the rocks of Half Dome like ..... marmots!
Kindred spirits.

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The cure for a fallacious argument is a better argument, not the suppression of ideas.
-- Carl Sagan

When we found the actual pipe we came in from the west. When we came in from Quarter Domes it was from the east. No GPS either. I think we were looking around in the wet area caused by the intermittent waterway that is just east of the spring. We got water anyway. We should have been carrying more to begin with using the 2 liter Platypus bags.

Looking for the spring is not a good water plan for the uninitiated.

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Old Dude



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 06/04/2009 09:49PM by mrcondron.

....... that takes all the fun (and or misery) out of it

btw... when I've walked by I've usually seen people lapping like dogs the mud in
the trail from that water rivulet...

Guess they didn't read the pamphlet to garry 5 gallons of water.

Quote
mrcondron
When we found the actual pipe we came in from the west. When we came in from Quarter Domes * it was from the east. No GPS either. I think we were looking around in the wet area caused by the intermittent waterway that is just east of the spring. We got water anyway. We should have been carrying more to begin with using the 2 liter Platypus bags.

Looking for the spring is not a good water plan for the uninitiated.

*For clarification, because I keep forgetting, as mentioned recently ( http://yosemitenews.info/forum/read.php?1,11694,12367#msg-12367 ) "quarter dome" and "Quarter Dome" have been associated incorrectly as near Half Dome especially by photographers posting pictures on the internet.

Quarter Domes is not the Subdome section of Half Dome see http://yosemitenews.info/forum/read.php?1,3223,3223 for map showing Quarter Dome location.

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The cure for a fallacious argument is a better argument, not the suppression of ideas.
-- Carl Sagan