how do you carry it, and how much of it do you carry?

My small PSK is in a camelbak and that goes with me on bike rides, hikes daytrips almost any time I am woods bound.

My larger BOB has one of those flat-packable plastic jugs unfilled and a few one liter bottles. I figure the smaller bottles will get me to more water.
 
I have a 100oz bladder in my northface pack for a three day set up with either two 32oz nalgene bottles or military style canteens depending on which belt set up I would grab. with 160oz of water I can get to more where I am at.
 
This is a problem that has plagued me for a while. My Urban Bob is a Camelback H.A.W.G with a 100 oz bladder. It rides in my truck all the time along with 2 six packs of .75L bottled water. If I need to BO without my truck for some reason I plan on filling the Camelback bladder and stuffing as much water as I can in the pack itself.
But the problem I am wrestling with is that I plan on doing some hiking in the Chihuahuan desert area of SW Texas. I have a bad leg and have reduced the weight of my gear considerably. I have an REI pack of SilNylon that weighs next to nothing. I added a 100 oz bladder to it and it has outside pockets where I will carry 2 - 32 oz bottles. So, like SetokolJKH I can carry about 160 oz of water. That comes to a little more than 1.25 gallons if I did my math correctly. That is about 11 lbs., and not enough for 1 day in the desert. Most experts recommend 2 gallons per day per person minimum and up to 5 gallons if you are doing any strenous work, like hiking. So how do you carry that much water. Obviously, you can't, or at least I can't, carry enough on your person for any extended period of time. Lets see, say 3 gallons per day for a three day trip and with that you may be pushing dehydration leading to heat exhausion or stroke. But say 3 gallons per day for a 3 day excursion. Thats 9 gallons at approx. 8 lbs per gallon = 72 lbs just for water. So the alternative is a 1/2 lb. of water filtration and purification material, but then you have to be able to find the water to clean up.
I posed this problem to my brother and he suggested doing what the old prospectors did, carry extra water on a mule. Actually, I believe, from the stories they used a Burro, but the idea is sound. Wander where I can rent a Burro for a desert camping trip?
OldSalt
 
oldsalt said:
So, like SetokolJKH I can carry about 160 oz of water. That comes to a little more than 1.25 gallons if I did my math correctly. That is about 11 lbs., and not enough for 1 day in the desert. Most experts recommend 2 gallons per day per person minimum and up to 5 gallons if you are doing any strenous work, like hiking. So how do you carry that much water. Obviously, you can't, or at least I can't, carry enough on your person for any extended period of time. Lets see, say 3 gallons per day for a three day trip and with that you may be pushing dehydration leading to heat exhausion or stroke. But say 3 gallons per day for a 3 day excursion. Thats 9 gallons at approx. 8 lbs per gallon = 72 lbs just for water. So the alternative is a 1/2 lb. of water filtration and purification material, but then you have to be able to find the water to clean up.
OldSalt
Click to expand...

Astute observation. There in lies the problem with desert travel and why people get into trouble doing it.

I would measure half of my water supply and on a map plan the trek within a distance to the next water hole no further than half my water supply. If its there and drinkable then I move on. If not I turn around still having enough to get back with.

The 3 gallon mark is a avg estimate under less than ideal circumstances, you can get a way with less short term but is not advisable.

Remember, the best water container is your stomach. You can drink quarts at the start and it will do you many hrs sloshing in the stomach. Prehydration hrs before you go and just before lift off is a good hydration management tool.

Skam
 
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