[pct-l] Water Tricks

[kdpo at gottawalk.com (Ken Powers)]

We figured a minimum of  1 gallon each per day during our ADT trek across
Utah and Nevada. Notice the minimum. We confirmed this estimate with Desert
Survivors, a CA desert hiking group. During this period we hit high temps of
114 degrees in Utah. Our next cache had 3 gallons of water in it and we were
very thankful. Other caches with 3 gallons in them had us leaving gallons of
water along the roadways.

We believe that the body adjusts to the heat and dry conditions of the
desert. But the first few days can be brutal. After that we used less water
and don't remember any ill effects. The effects of carrying more than 3
liters of water apiece did affect our hiking - we really slowed down.

On occasions where we did get dehydrated we noticed it took a lot of work to
recover. You really don't want to get dehydrated and then not have the extra
water to help recover.

As Radar says, be conservative and know your own water usage.

Ken
...Gottawalk

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Gary Wright" <at2002@mac.com>
To: "pct list" <pct-l@mailman.backcountry.net>
Sent: Friday, October 21, 2005 4:31 PM
Subject: Re: [pct-l] Water Tricks


On Oct 21, 2005, at 2:48 PM, Monty Tam wrote:
> I usually figure 10
> miles per liter in normal weather and usually have a pint left of
> that.
> (Don't blow my cover!) .

While I understand that water needs vary, 10 miles/liter in the
area where caches are most frequent (southern CA) seems like very
little water for "normal" weather in those areas for thru-hikers.

Obviously temperature can vary quite a bit.  In 2004 I left Scissors
Crossing with almost 8 liters of water late in the afternoon after
104 degree weather (in the shade).  I ran out of water about an hour
short of Barrel Springs around 2pm the next day (and I did not cook
during this period).  Note, I did not use the cache at the crossing
but filtered and treated the creek water.  Also 3rd gate cache was
empty when I passed it but was refilled several hours later.  I had
assumed it would be empty and it was a *very* good thing that I made
that assumption.

Jump ahead to 2005. I understand that the hikers had blowing
rain/snow (i.e. hypothermic conditions) in the same area around
the same date.

My point is that there is no single figure such as 10L/mile that
makes sense.  You need to be aware of your own needs, the terrain
you are covering, how much you've had to drink in the previous 24
hours, the air temperature, wind, and so on.

If you haven't hiked in hot-dry conditions before then *BE CONSERVATIVE*
until you have a better feel for how your body reacts.  If you are
used to the East coast/AT where it is quite obvious that you are
losing water because your shirt, shorts, and pack are dripping with
sweat you'll need to adjust your thinking because those external
indications wont be there in the hot dry desert.  Salt stains just
magically appear at the end of the day.

I think that one of the frequent errors I see long-distance
hikers make is getting dehydrated (the other is being ignorant
of hypothermia).  Even mild dehydration degrades
your physical condition*. Day hikers get dehydrated also
but they are back at home at the end of the day and probably not
hiking again the next day.  They recover.  Long distance hikers
are working in a different context and need to be aware of that.

* According to "Wilderness First Responder" losing 1.5 liters of
water can reduce your endurance by 22% and your maximum oxygen
uptake by 10%.

Radar
Gary Wright

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