OCD Newbie tries to get a drink of water

[Greg Deitrick]

I find it amazing (depressing?) how much time I’ve spent trying to figure out how (best) to manage water on my local backpacking trips.

I am new to (ultra)light backpacking and hike with 2 “busy” dogs in the Texas gulf coast.  My focus is more on the hiking than the camping and one thing I’m trying to determine is how many miles can I do in a day.  Critical to high mileage is providing sufficient water to me and the dogs with a lightweight, simple, time-efficient system.  Because water is both heavy and critical I want to limit how much water I carry and have a quick no-hassle method to “top off” my water supply at every opportunity.  Because rest stops are busy watering the dogs I also want to be able to drink while walking, but even then my hands are somewhat busy managing the dogs.

While many of you already have found a system that works for you, I’ve spent a shocking amount of time going round and round trying to figure out how to satisfy these criteria.  My latest plan is to use a 0.5 liter soda bottle of filtered water with a straw on my pack strap for drinking-while-walking, a 1.25 liter soda bottle of dirty water with a Sawyer Squeeze in my pack side pocket, and 1 L bottles of dirty water in the dogs’ packs.  I will back flush the filter with the filtered water bottle and the back flush adapter.  I suppose I will bring a ziploc bag to keep the straw clean when stored away.

Six months ago the idea of carrying dirty water just seemed wrong-headed to me.  Now it seems like the best way to go.  This way when I come to a less than optimal water source there is no downside to topping off the dirty water bottles.  It takes very little time, I have the water if I need it, and if I come to a better quality source down the trail I can dump the crappy stuff.

So in the end it’s a very simple, light, robust system.  And it seems so obvious.  But for me, getting to this solution was neither quick nor simple.  I guess I’m a slow learner.

[Matthew / BPL]

I don’t hike with a dog but I have spent a disproportionate amount of time thinking about water strategies for different trips. It’s complicated.

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