[pct-l] How much water????

[Diane at Santa Barbara Hikes dot com]

On Sep 11, 2009, at 10:00 AM, pct-l-request at backcountry.net wrote:

> From: CRYSTAL NEZGODA <littlevixsin at gmail.com>
> Subject: [pct-l] How much water????
>
> I am planning a section A and B hike for next season, the green pct  
> book
> says to bring atleast 8 liters of water per day... so I was  
> wondering if you
> guys could tell me about your experience with the desert section  
> and water

Do you NEED that much water? I never did. Some people did, but not  
me. If you can get some experience with understanding your own needs  
when the weather is hot and dry, that'll help you. Figure out how  
much you need for drinking and for cooking. I never carried more than  
5.5 liters and that was always too much. Most people when they hear  
the word desert imagine one of the desert scenes from something like  
the Twilight Zone and that you'll be walking under baking sun in a  
cactus patch with parched lips pitifully croaking, "Water water".  
It's not like that. Get the data book and the water report and you'll  
see how far you have to go between water sources. Then just take  
enough to get to the next RELIABLE source and you'll be fine. There  
really are enough reliable, non-cached sources to hike this trail.