[pct-l] Water Capacity

[Ernie Castillo]

So what does an empty plastic water bottle weight, anyway? Surely there is justification for this type of redundancy.

 

I carried a minimum of 2 bottles on my 1980 trek, and each time I left a water supply I had a pair filled and tucked into side pockets of my Jansport. But even that couldn't prevent a bout of hiker stupidity.

 

On my last water refresh heading toward Castle Crags, I refilled, added Tang to 1 of the bottles as was my custom, and took a snack break at a stream crossing. My mind must have been wandering because -- you guessed it -- I forgot to put the filled bottles back into my pack. And of course I was hiking alone at the time.

 

I didn't notice until several hours later when I stopped for a swig. Yikes! Being stubborn, I did not turn back. I looked at my map and saw what appeared to be streams ahead. Surely I would come across water before too long.

 

Wrong!

 

I kept forging ahead, every so often kicking myself for not turning back. When darkness set, I faced the music. (No Ramen for you!). I picked the raisins out of my gorp for dinner and breakfast and figured I would not have something to drink until I reached the Sacramento River.

 

Having grown up in the desert, and having run cross country where summer training runs of 1-2 hours without water were common, I was well adapted to the next day's challenge: several hours of hiking without water. But it was close. 

 

Worst case of cotton mouth I ever had.



Ernie Castillo
erniec01 at hotmail.com
248 884 5201



 
> Date: Thu, 21 Jan 2010 09:18:47 -0800
> From: hetchhetchyman at aol.com
> To: pct-l at backcountry.net
> Subject: [pct-l] Water Capacity
> 
> I second what Daylate said; better to have many smaller containers than one big one. My 3 liter platy did survive all the way to the Oregon Border(NoBo) where it sprung a leak at Joker and Boomers Fake border monument. At the time I did not know whether to be pissed at their joke or at my leaking waterbag.. So I just laughed it off. Had I been relying on that single container and been in a dry stretch it might not have been as funny. Anyhow, I began carrying a water filter from Tahoe onward. The 15 ounce MSR Pro worked great, though it does seem a bit silly when Aqua Mira weighs so much less. The water I found throughout the PCT was mostly clear or could be rendered so with a bandana so that chemical purification would be adequate. Although there were a few critical water sources that were basically muddy stock ponds and I was dam glad to have the filter. 
> Personally I never needed more than 6 liter capacity and after Socal I had only three liter capacity. Places like the Hat Creek rim were by that point frankly "Childs Play" for a trail hardened PCT Hiker.
> Your Mileage May Vary!
> My own consumption of water was about 1 liter per 5 miles in warm conditions to 1 liter per 10miles on cool days.
> Cheers-Iceaxe
> YMMV!
> 
> Sent on the go from my Peek
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