Oak Mountain - South Rim Trail

[mcadams]

Hi everyone, I'm new to the site and this is my first post. I'm also new to the area and did some hiking recently at Oak Mountain and I found this site to be extremely helpful as I was planning my hike. I started at the North TrailHead and hiked south on the blue trail about 3.5 miles in and camped at backcountry site #3. I had a couple of questions / observations for others who have hiked on the blue trail before-

1) The only water source I noticed was between markers 2 and 3 before I got to the North Blue/Red connector. Is this the only water source on South Rim or are there other places off the trail that you've used? On this trip, I just hauled in lots of water as I didn't know what to expect, but in the future I'd like to use whatever is there.
2) I spent a great deal of time searching for open lookouts with mountain views. Many of the boulders on the ridgeline seems like they could have great views, but they were obstructed by uncleared brush etc. I specifically looked for the "purple trail" on Lee's map, but couldn't locate it. Could someone who has been on this before let me know which # marker on the blue trail that it is near. I found something just before marker #4, but not sure this was it or not.
3) When I checked in at the camping station, the lady there mentioned that they don't allow open fires on the backcountry trails, howver almost every campsite I passed had a firepit with apparent recently burned wood. Was wondering if this was a year round rule for the park? If so, it appears that few follow that rule.

Overall, I enjoyed the hike, but would love to find a few more great lookout points.

Thanks,
Mcadams