The Periphery of the Mind

You need water. It varies from person to person how much you need, but you need it. So you basically have four choices:

1) go without. I've always heard you can three days without water, but I'd rather not test that.
2) carry water. At eight pounds a gallon (plus container), and considering a person can easily use a gallon a day, carrying isn't a great solution.
3) treat local water. A great solution if you've got a treatment plan and water to treat.
4) all of the above. The cop out "a little bit of everything, depending" answer.

Well, for our hiking needs we're looking into option number 4. We're intending to each carry a 100 oz Liter Camelbak water container, and we're also going to lug around a Katadyn Combi. The CamelBaks are kind of expensive for essentially overside water bottles, but the ones we went with have a bit of extra padding and latches and shouldn't risk any tearing or get smashed in storage. The Katadyn Combi is a beast; .2 micron-sized filter (1.0 microns or smaller is recommended), and good for 13000 gallons of water. Barring accident, I imagine we'll never need to replace the filter cartridge on this thing. As an additional precaution, we also picked up some anti-viral water treatment.

It's overkill, especially considering most problems come from unwashed hands handling food rather than bugs in the water, but I imagine this should cover any water we drink, anywhere we go.

We also picked up a couple sets of hiking poles with cheesy magnets in the handles, and an emergency whistle in case we get separated in the dark or something. Along with a cute little set of cookware. Other than food, firewands, and toiletries, I think we're set.

Labels: hiking