[pct-l] --and now water!

[at2002 at mac.com (Gary Wright)]

On Feb 4, 2005, at 11:34 AM, MedusaJ@aol.com wrote:
> I just signed up for the list a couple of weeks ago--must have just 
> missed
> it.  So to recap:  each person needs 8L of carrying capacity?  At 
> least for
> section A?

I think this is a fair statement if you are going to plan for the worst,
i.e., some of the water caches may be empty.  If you are going to 
assume that
you can take 2 or 3 liters from a water cache then you could carry less 
but
then there might not be water when you get to the cache and/or there 
won't
be water for someone else after you have taken 2-3 liters for your self.

You also have to plan to avoid hiking in the heat of the day.  A liter 
of
water at 6am in the morning is going to get you a *LOT* farther than a 
liter
of water at 1pm in the afternoon.

I did see some mild to moderate cases of dehydration last year on the 
trail
mainly because people underestimated the amount of water they would 
need and/or
didn't want to carry the extra weight.  Even mild dehydration can 
really sap
your strength.  It also takes much longer for your body to recover than 
it
takes to become dehydrated.