Water + Bushwhackability Question
Hello,
Hope everyone is having a lovely summer.
I'm considering a backpacking route for next weekend and could use some advice. TLDR - Is there enough flowing water between Lake Welch and WB shelter to count on being able to refill?
My plan is to do a long day out of Suffern to Big Hill Shelter. Then the next day to William Brien, which is what my question is about. I'm trying not to count on having any streams since 1) It's not been raining 2) I drink a ton of water even in good weather.
As I see it there are 2 main options:
Option 1) I know there is a good fountain at Lake Welch beach, but from there making my way towards Beech Trail involves Hasenclever road. My concern is that this is an unblazed trail that I can't seem to find the head to on Google Streetview (red circle). If the area isn't too tick-y, I don't mind bushwhacking a bit (It seems if I follow the creek contour here I can at least make it back up to the road and catch Beech again there). Is this portion of the trail in any kind of respectable shape?
Option 2) Swing around the west side of Lake Welch, assuming the creeks at the blue circle or along Beech Trail are good enough to refill?
Option 2b) Hike down to the reservoir after breakfast and refill there first (Sub-optimal as it adds more miles and means I'm filling up earlier in the day)
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Very Alternative
Option 3) Stillwater brook out of Owl swamp looks like it could be decently reliable and not too far out of the way. Very Sub-optimal as I'm counting on refilling at the end of the day.
Thanks so much for your insight!!
