[pct-l] The dangers of 'Cameling Up'

C chrisfoley81 at gmail.com
Tue Feb 12 09:42:25 CST 2013


Hi good morning everyone!
Im looking to burn 7,000 calories this Friday by walking over 50 miles hopefully on the gyms treadmill...the most I've reached is 6,011...someone just topped it at 6,666...any ideas to help prevent me from not getting so sick afterwards...any secrets? Ideas?
Thanks so much!!
Chris

Sent from my iPhone

On Feb 11, 2013, at 10:14 AM, CHUCK CHELIN <steeleye at wildblue.net> wrote:

> Good morning,
> 
> “Cameling up” resulted from one of the “if a little is good, a lot is
> better” ideas.  Our bodies need sufficient hydration and an appropriate
> balance of electrolytes.   If water intake to that level is good, unfortunately
> twice that much water isn’t twice as good.
> 
> Once that extra water has been swallowed it becomes largely
> non-discretionary -- meaning my body will process it on auto-pilot.  The
> extra water is just removed by the kidneys and stored in the bladder to be
> dumped behind a bush when the urge is great.
> 
> It’s probably true that many of us stop drinking before we’ve really had
> enough to rehydrate ourselves, but to me that doesn’t mean I should drink
> until I’m uncomfortable and bloated, it means I drink a few cups more than
> I think I need.
> 
> What the “camelers” seem to want to do is carry more water up the trail,
> and to do that I find it far better to carry the additional water in an
> extra 2.4 liter, 1.3 ounce, plastic ‘Platy sack rather than in my
> stomach.  Even
> as an ultra-lite hiker I much prefer to carry that extra 1.3 ounces rather
> than discomfort myself for a number of miles until I excrete the excess.   I
> can carry extra water in the ‘Platy -- and manage its usage -- far longer
> than I can carry even one extra liter in my body.
> 
> Steel-Eye
> 
> -Hiking the Pct since before it was the PCT – 1965
> 
> http://www.trailjournals.com/steel-eye
> 
> http://www.trailjournals.com/SteelEye09/
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