[pct-l] Water Capacity for Cali?

[Gary Wright]

On Mar 6, 2012, at 9:08 PM, Diane Soini of Santa Barbara Hikes wrote:
> 
> In 2009 my strategy was to drink all my water, arrive at water  
> sources empty, and drink a full liter at a water source before moving  
> on. 

I'd recommend a bit of caution regarding *planning* to arrive at water
sources empty.

1) If that 'source' is a cache, it may be empty.  Diane said that she
   did not plan to use caches and I think that is a great idea and
   something I tried (with general success) in 2007 between Agua Dulce
   and Yosemite.  It requires more planning and carrying water for
   longer distances but you don't have to worry about the caches
   being full or not.

2) If you are delayed (injury, took a wrong turn) then you may end up
   short well before the water source

One other *huge* factor regarding your water use is the time of day you
choose to hike.  If you insist on hiking through the heat of the day,
you'll need to plan to carry more water than if you hike early and late
with a long siesta in the afternoon.

For what it is worth, I had an eight liter capacity:  two 1 liter water
bottles and 2 96oz Nalgenes (love these:
<http://www.amazon.com/Nalgene-Wide-Mouth-Cantene-96/dp/B000BS0AR4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1331130538&sr=8-1>)

Radar