[pct-l] Water Capacity in Desert

[jeff.singewald at comcast.net]

Gary,

I agree with you on this.  And I would go so far as to say that there is even a difference in relying on water caches and utilizing water caches.  Many thru-hikers claim that they do not rely on water caches, however, with all of these caches published on AsABat's water report, I believe that the large majority of hikers these days plan their requirements around these published water sources, even though they are considered water caches.

In 2006 I made a personal choice not to utilize the water caches in SoCal, and I carried 8 liters of water on several different stretches that I can remember and was very glad I did.

With regards to hydration I actually found that my preference was to drink a full liter at a time rather than sip via a hydration sleeve.  I dumped my hydration sleeve after the first day.  For me it was a pain in the butt to refill and I did not have a good idea of how much water I had left.  I also found that sipping water was not as refreshing.

This is again one of the areas that I think a bit of pre-hike prep is must valuable.  Based on my time on the trail I believe I now need to drink much less water when I hike simply because I camel up before the hike and utilize other means to wet the whistle.

Elevator

-------------- Original message -------------- 
From: Gary Wright <gwtmp01 at mac.com> 

> 
> On Oct 29, 2008, at 2:19 PM, Diane at Santa Barbara Hikes dot com wrote: 
> > I think 8 liters sounds like too much. But you know your own body. I 
> > never carried more than 5.5 liters and frankly, that was too much for 
> > me. I almost always had some water left when I came to a source. 
> 
> You don't say if you relied on water caches at all. That is important 
> to know and the original poster said he was *not* going to rely on 
> water caches. 
> 
> In hot weather, when not using water caches, I think it would be 
> wise to be able to carry 7-8 liters of water. With those constraints 
> it is also very important to not hike during the heat of the day. Get 
> up early, take a long siesta, hike late. 
> 
> Radar 
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