We have a water conditions report from an area hiker. This was in early November. Hopefully this will improve with the rain in the forecast this week.
Iron Mountain Gap to TN 19E Water Report. I hiked with a good group of people over this section on November 11-13, 2016.
Here is a report on water based on listings in the AWOL guide (going north):
- Campsite 1.3 North of Iron Mountain Gap: Did not check due to being .1 off the trail
- Greasy Creek Gap: Did not check due to being .2 off the trail
- Clyde Smith Shelter: Had lunch here and took the time to walk down to check out the water source. No water available. Ground was not even damp.
- Water .4 North of Hughes Gap: Damp ground by no water
- Ash Gap: Very low flow of water. We had to build a dam and clear a path for the water. One of the crew used a piece of PVC to try and get the top water, but it was still sludge. Between engineering, low flow, filtering through a bandana, and then through a Sawyer, it took us almost two hours to get six clean liters of water. If it had not been at dusk and we were not tired, we would have moved on. I would not count on the water here.
- Roan High Knob Shelter: Slow steady flow with good pool to dip from.
- Footbridges/Streams south of Carvers Gap: Low flow. Would need to dig or find a hole to dip from.
Springs .2 North of Grassy Ridge Bald: Good flow running right across the trail. One was piped and the other could easily be dipped from. - Stan Murray Shelter: Did not check due to earlier reports of being dry and frequently dry.
- Overmountain Shelter: Good flow
- Doll Flats: Very low flow. Took almost five minutes to get 1.5 liters. There was good flow coming from a spring running across the trail about .5 south of Doll Flats.
- Doll Flats to 19E: The next water we saw was the stream that was alongside 19E and that ran about .5 south of 19E.