[pct-l] How much water to carry

[Stephen Crane]

I ran into a hiker in the southern desert last year with a rule of thumb that worked well for me based on the temperature.  I'd manually adjust for climbs, difficulty, etc.

Less than 65F, I could walk about 10 miles on one liter
Between 65F and 85F, I could walk about 5 miles on one liter
Over 85F, I could walk about 3 miles on one liter

In the southern desert, I started before dawn whenever possible and always hid during the hot afternoon.

I did get burned once or twice by not accounting for much hotter temperatures on the valley floor after a cool morning at elevation.  Scissors Crossing comes to mind...

 YMMV 

Stephen Crane 'That Guy' 2012


________________________________
 Message: 39
Date: Fri, 15 Mar 2013 09:32:19 -0400
From: Gary Wright <gwtmp01 at mac.com>
Subject: Re: [pct-l] How much water to carry
To: "Pct-L at backcountry.net Listserve" <pct-l at backcountry.net>
Message-ID: <E3B4E5F2-2F90-4D1B-A1D4-B693E4179E2C at mac.com>
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On Mar 15, 2013, at 1:39 AM, Brick Robbins <brick at brickrobbins.com> wrote:

> On Thu, Mar 14, 2013 at 9:25 PM, Bill Potter <billpotter at yahoo.com> wrote:
>> It was a good lesson and I'm going to do more hikes with significant elevation gain and in the heat of the day to really learn what my water intake is.
> 
> A "water consumed per mile" number, without taking into account
> temperature, sun exposure, and wind, is pretty meaningless.


And you can 'control' these things by simply choosing *when* to hike. By hiking early in the morning and taking a long break in the shade during the heat of the day you can radically change the amount of water you'll need/consume.

Radar

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