[pct-l] Thirst is the Best Water Gauge

[Mark Jernigan]

I had some hydration concerns during my 2003 AT thru-hike.  I discovered shortly into the hike that I was dragging fairly serious kidney stones along for the ride (or walk, in this case).  Being somewhat bullheaded, I decided to try and compensate for the malady by drinking excess amounts of water, rather than getting off the trail to deal with the problem directly.  Problem was that on top of the occaisonal renal symptoms I also found myself often lacking sufficient energy to keep knocking out the miles.  Bottom line was that I was actually drinking too much water, which is a bit of a paradox to a distance hiker who is sweating like a race horse.  I resorted to taking Potassium tablets, which did help somewhat and got me through the thru, so to speak.
   
  Three plus years (and 2 kidney stone operations) later I now routinely use the following suppliment when I hike:
   
  http://www.alacer.com/cgi-bin/dbsearch.exe?mdb=/products.mdb,tbl=products,DB_code=108,DBCOMP=ABS,template=/products/returntitle.htm
   
  I have found that I can drink as much water as I wish now without suffering that "washed out" feeling.  The article you referenced pretty much agrees with this approach.
   
  Footslogger (Mark J)

David and Cindy <hikeon at surewest.net> wrote:
  After reading this article a few days ago in our local paper I started to reevaluate the concept of hydrating on the trail.
http://www.sacbee.com/296/story/108285.html
_______________________________________________
pct-l mailing list
pct-l at backcountry.net
unsubscribe or change options:
http://mailman.hack.net/mailman/listinfo/pct-l


 
---------------------------------
Don't be flakey. Get Yahoo! Mail for Mobile and 
always stay connected to friends.