[pct-l] Lugging Water

[Diane Soini of Santa Barbara Hikes]

Have you read Ray Jardine's book about lightweight hiking? If not,  
he's got a good essay in there about what he calls the "pyramid of  
style." Basically, he describes a spiral where you add more food so  
you can hike farther, but the food weighs more so you tire more  
easily and go slower so you add more food to make up for the extra  
days which slows you even more, etc etc. At the other end of the  
spiral, you've reduced your pack weight so you can walk with less  
effort so you need less food, which reduces your effort even more so  
you can cover more ground which again lessens the amount of food you  
need, etc etc.

Same goes for water. Since you have experience in hot, dry country,  
you maybe know about your water needs. "Cameling up" adds about a  
liter to your water capacity (by putting a liter in your stomach.)  
Add in what you require for cooking if you dry camp (see if you can  
reduce the amount of washing, rinsing and other wasteful water tasks  
or simply move your cooking, washing, teeth-brushing to coincide with  
the water source--dry camping is then just sleeping and nothing more)  
then you should have a good estimate of your needed capacity.

I prefer to use platypus-type containers because they fold up flat  
when empty. The idea being that only once in a while will they all be  
full and making packing my pack a challenge. A ~4 liter capacity is  
more than adequate for me but others will tell you they need 5, 6 or  
even more (but then if they're pushing 9 or 10 I'm thinking they're  
in that spiraling pyramid of style again.)

Don't forget to include some salty foods in your pack and learn the  
early symptoms of electrolyte imbalance (hyponatremia) so that you  
can quickly solve that before you get sick. And remember, a little  
bit of thirst or mild dehydration isn't going to kill you. There's a  
difference between discomfort and danger. Being a *little bit*  
thirsty when you get to a water source is actually good because then  
you won't pee out that liter in your stomach.


On May 3, 2011, at 10:00 AM, pct-l-request at backcountry.net wrote:
> Hi everyone,
>
> We're a family of four guys through-hiking next year. We have heaps  
> of experience in all sorts of adventure travel -- but the PCT will  
> be new.
>
> Question? What's the common wisdom on how best to lug water between  
> reliable water sources in Southern California?
>
> I know about "cameling up" -- and we've done that (golly, in the  
> Sahara actually -- traveling with Tuareg camel caravans through  
> bandit territory)-- but I see stretches of, oh, 68 miles at one  
> point between sources (just picking one of the distances at random)  
> -- so carrying enough water for four men for that many miles will  
> involve some heft. (And I'm not bringing the camel, trust me.)
>
> Any observations on what's worked well for you?
>
> Cheers,
>
> Charles Doersch, Sean McCollum, Matt Holmes, & Chris Corl
> Boulder, Colorado