How To Carry Water While Backpacking?
When you hike, water is always a major consideration, especially if you live in a hot climate area. Hiking is basically one long exercise, so you have to hydrate yourself throughout it. There are many ways to carry water when backpacking.
There are numerous available options for carrying water when backpacking, including water bottles and hydration bladders. Consider carrying around 1 – 1.5 liters of water per hour of walking, and keep them in an easily accessible location.
Read on to learn more about different ways you can carry water while hiking, how much water you need, and more.
Ways to carry water while hiking
There are many different ways to carry water when hiking, and with time, new and better ways are always being invented. Let’s review the correct ways most hikers carry their water.
Water bottles
The simple and obvious way to carry water is in water bottles, mainly because you don’t have to go out of your way to get them. You can usually store them in the side pockets of your backpack.
Water bottles are typically lightweight, so they don’t add too much weight to your backpack, and they’re very easy to refill.
There are many options for different types of water bottles you can use hiking:
- Plastic bottles: Many hikers carry simple plastic bottles when hiking, the kind you can get at a supermarket. They’re very lightweight, cheap, and easy to refill and reuse. These bottles do wear out over time, so you might find yourself at the end of the hike with a beat-up bottle.
- Many thru-hikers recommend SmartWater bottles, for their durability over the alternatives, and for their simple shape – long and tall water bottles that fit well in a backpack pocket.
- Collapsible bottles: While plastic bottles than up space even when they’re empty, collapsible silicone bottles can fold to take up less space. They can be a good option if you have a small backpack and want to conserve space as much as possible. They’re also lightweight.
- Stainless steel bottles: While significantly heavier than plastic bottles, stainless steel bottles are still an option for hikers. They keep water temperature better than plastic bottles, so your water will stay hot or cold for longer. You can also use them for a hot beverage.
Personally, I don’t like stainless steel bottles for hiking because of their weight, but the option is still available and many hikers use them.
Differences aside, all these options are good ways to carry water when hiking. Of course, there are additional types of water bottles that can be used when hiking, but these are the common ones.
Hydration bladders
Hydration bladders are a great way to carry water when hiking. These are plastic bladder you can refill with water when opened, and drink from by biting on a mouthpiece, that’s connected to the bladder through a long tube.
They’re usually made of soft plastic, and so they’re flexible and squishy. They don’t take a lot of space when empty, because the material flattens when emptied. They can sometimes leak when old, but you can test them before using them to make sure your gear stays dry.
What I especially like about hydration bladders is that you can comfortably drink from them while hiking, without having to stop to take out a bottle. The downside is that they’re stored inside your backpack, so when filling them you’ll have to take them in and out. You also can’t see how much water you have left, which makes planning your water out for the hike more difficult.
Hydration bladders usually hold 2 to 3 liters, which is generally a large amount of water, so for many hikes you won’t need additional water bottles. The weight of the water is usually stored in a good location in your backpack, close to your back.
Overall, hydration bladders are my favorite way to carry water while backpacking. I usually need to take more than 2-3 liters of water when hiking, because I hike in hot weather, so I for long hikes I take a hydration bladder and an additional water bottle.
How much water do you need hiking?
When you go out hiking, it’s really important to plan out how much water you’ll need to bring. You don’t want to get stuck without water, or carry unnecessary amounts of water. There are a few studies on the subject((Linsell, J. D., Pelham, E. C., Hondula, D. M., & Wardenaar, F. C. (2020). Hiking time trial performance in the heat with real-time observation of heat strain, hydration status and fluid intake behavior. International journal of environmental research and public health, 17(11), 4086.)).
As a general rule, plan to take at least 1 liter per hour hiking in comfortable weather, and at least 1.5 liters in hot weather. The amount of water you need hiking also changes with trail difficult, what foods you eat during the hike, how much weight you carry, and how fit you are.
If you’re hiking at a common trail, I’d usually recommend consult with hikers who completed the trail before. There are usually common rules of thumb of how much water to bring for every hike.
Also factor how much water you usually drink. If you tend to drink a lot of water, plan ahead and bring more water to the hike. Your body knows best when it’s time to drink.
The temperature can be a major factor in how much water you should bring for a hike. In very high temperatures you’re running the risk of dehydration and heat strokes. I wrote about how hot is too hot for hiking in a previous post, read it to learn more.
When planning out the hike, check if there are any water sources around the trail, even if you’re taking a day-trip. Sometimes it’s even worth it to take a small detour for water, so you can carry a smaller amount of water. We’ll consider water sources in the next section of this post.
Where do you get water on a backpacking trip?
There are a few options on where to get water on a backpacking trip. Many trails have stream, lakes and other water sources along them. They can be nice for taking a sweam, but also as drinkable water, if properly treated.
Some trails have dedicated water faucets in some areas along the trail. These might be set up by local authorities, or by trail angels. Some faucets can contain non-drinkable water, so make sure before you drink from an unknown source.
Water treatment is really important when getting water from unknown sources. It’s one of the top reasons for people getting sick during hikes((Boulware, D. R., Forgey, W. W., & Martin II, W. J. (2003). Medical risks of wilderness hiking. The American journal of medicine, 114(4), 288-293.)). Don’t drink untreated water.
You have to treat water to avoid bacteria and other nasty things that can get you ill. Common water treatment methods for hikers are pump and squeeze filters, gravity filters and treatment drops. There are a lot of sources on how to treat water on a trip((REI, How to Treat Water in the Backcountry))((American Hiking Society, Water purification))((North Country Trail, 3 Keys for Planning and Carrying Water on the Trail)).
Conclusions
Water planning is really important when hiking. Most hikers carry water in water bottles or hydration packs.
On short and long trip, it’s important to plan ahead how much water you should bring. While it depends on many factors, a good rule of thumb is to bring 1 to 1.5 liters of water per hour hiking.
Of course, in multi-day hikes, and sometimes even on day trips, you’ll need to plan out where to get water. Treating water is really important to prevent getting sick, so don’t drink untreated water, and remembers to bring your preferred water filters with you.
