Quick – best desert water bottle

Go get two or three 1.5 liter bottled waters.

Note I have an aluminum "Kleen Canteen", just seeing if there's something lighter, which does not require chugging 64 oz of Gatorade (though it may help with the 6 pack of beer I'll consume by the campfire tomorrow.. may not dismiss that out of hand). Have some emergency water inside the pack using a Platy … that's covered. More about lightweight bottles that will survive in my water bottle holsters in the unfortunate event of thorn contact.

Go get two or three 1.5 liter bottled waters

The thicker brands should be relatively tough, I suppose. Aluminum vs plastic 1.5 L bottles is the actual decision.

The Nalgene HDPE (milky white) bottles are a little lighter than the clear Nalgenes and very tough. You can get the "Silo" models that are the same diameter, but are 11" tall and hold 48oz/1.14L and weigh 5.5oz.

Two liter pop bottles are strong (designed to hold pressure) and available everywhere. They are at their cheapest in the recycle bins.

I liked the 1-liter wide-mouth Avian and soda bottles, but I can't find them anymore – everyone seems to have gone to the narrow-mouth because it takes a little less plastic to make it. Except for fast filling, they work as well as Nalgene but are lighter and cheaper (free).

My favorite GCNP water carrier was a 2.5 gallon (9 liter) poly bladder in a nylon carrying bag with a wine-in-a-box nipple on it. Lots of capacity, but it packs small with only a liter or two in it. For a multiple-day trip, I'd bring a shower head attachment, hoist it in a tree, and clean up every few days. And it serves as a air- / water-pillow at night. The free way to do that is to scavange one out of a 5-liter Gallo wine-in-box (which always seems to be white zinfandel).

I strongly prefer two bottles to one bigger hydration bladder. They are easier to fill in a stream or a trickle and I can have iodine in one for 30 minutes while still drinking out of the other one.