Trek Biker from St. Joseph, MO on 7/6/2006 8:37:20 AM:
Some of the trailheads have running water and others in smaller remote areas do not. Water availability may be day of the week dependent. For example, there is no water at the trailhead in Clifton City and none of the few businesses are open on Sunday. My advice would be to fill or top off your camel at each and every opportunity.
From my experience, the unsavory to savory character ratio is very, very low. Probably one per every 500 miles. The odds are in your favor here. I seem to see about one Unsav per year. I always know where I am on the trail and have the appropriate emergency numbers programmed in my cell phone (Ray has those posted on this website) and I carry marking pepper spray. I take a call from time to time and occasionally make one, but have never had to use the phone in an emergency because of an Unsav. I know where the pepper spray is, but have never even test sprayed it for fear I would have it pointed in the wrong direction.