JMT will be out first thru hike this july. Trying to shed any extra or unnecessary weight. Are bottles a better option than a 70 oz camelback? Will it make a significant weight diff?
chris d
Bladder VS bottle
system
#2
The bladder itself is probably a good bet, weight-wise. Look at the numbers–weigh your bladder, then weigh the equivalent in recycled Gatorade bottles or something similar. Hose and bite valve add extra weight that a bottle doesn’t have, if you’re planning on using them. Lots of pros and cons, like a bottle is easier to fill at a natural source, but a bladder takes lots less room in the pack when empty. If you use a hose with the bladder in the pack, it’s hard to gauge your water use. Hoses and bite valves are failure points. Bladders might fail more often than bottles, and if they fail in the pack you might have a mess. Recycled bottles are free and easy to replace along the way, since you can pick them up from the ground at every road crossing. Bladders are harder to keep clean, especially if you put sweet stuff in them.
Lots of hikers use a combination, like one or two 1-liter bottles (less than 1 oz) and one 2+ liter platypus (less than 2 oz), used only when needed.
Garlic
system
#3
if your pack has mesh pockets, litersized waterbottles may fit quite handily there, easily accessible & no added plastic taste like you may get from bladders… wide mouth are nice. Smaller plastic soda bottles can carry heet methyl alcohol, olive oil, booze etc… label them well!!!
I had a bladder fail so after that, I just used bladders from boxed wine (make sure it’s the kind with removable spout) that I never had break, except when I put on down on a broken glass bottle in the Mojave under the irrigation canal pipe.
gingerbreadman
system
#4
if your pack has mesh pockets, litersized waterbottles may fit quite handily there, easily accessible & no added plastic taste like you may get from bladders… wide mouth are nice. Smaller plastic soda bottles can carry heet methyl alcohol, olive oil, booze etc… label them well!!!
I had a bladder fail so after that, I just used bladders from boxed wine (make sure it’s the kind with removable spout) that I never had break, except when I put on down on a broken glass bottle in the Mojave under the irrigation canal pipe.
gingerbreadman
system
#5
A bladder and bite valve is a convenience but there will be a weight factor. I’m not sure what your bladder weighs There is lots of water on the JMT. There certainly was last year in Aug/Sept. I never needed to carry more than a liter at any time then but my platypus 3L was handy in camp for cooking, washing etc. Depending on your pack a couple of 1L plastic bottles might be a better, and lighter choice.
Still Lookin
system
#6
Forget the bladders. They are prone to leak. Several Gatorade or wide mouth Aqua Fina bottles will do just fine. Pack an empty Platypus 2 liter bag in case back up water is needed. NedtheFed
Ned
system
#7
I accidently sat on my bite valve near Palm Springs/Pink Motel and drained my whole bladder. Never again. My set-up now is 2 one quart Gatorade bottles primary and a 3 quart Nalgene bladder (w/o bite valve) back-up. Gatorade bottles are tougher than bladder type bags and not subject to punctures from desert vegetation.
bowlegs