How much water - Pacific Crest Trail

imported
#1

How much water are hikers carrying on the PCT specifically the California section. I heard of one guy carrying 7.2 liters?.

chudman

#2

Depends on the time of year and where you are. From Kennedy Mdws north, water is usually not a problem. I’ll carry a Nalgene quart bottle - or 2 if I’m off trail going over a dry pass. Folks in the desert areas have a different story.

Booger

#3

On my short 208 mile hike from Campo to near Palm Springs I carried 6-7 liters to start the 20 plus mile waterless sections. It seemed that was pretty common among hikers in that section. I was able to finish each long section with at least a liter of water but did not regret carrying it.

Waterboy

#4

the most i carried during the socal stretch was about 6 or 7 liters and they were heavy, but i was thankful i had them. one of the best pieces of advice that i can give anyone is to not hike during the mid-day sun.

i usually tried to find a shady spot right around 11am and just hung out there till sometime around 4pm. usually you want that shady spot to be the next water source, but sometimes it doesn’t happen.

by waking really early in the morning (which i learned to love to do) and doing some hiking up till dusk, you can conserve a lot of water and save your body and mind from the toll that the blistering sun can give during the afternoon. and trust me, you’ll still be able to put in the miles and you’ll enjoy the day much more as well.

the desert is hard and it can beat people easily. you have 700 miles of this and the heat doesn’t completely go away for the rest of the hike once you hit kennedy meadows. yes, the sierras are an intermission from the heat, but trust me, there were plenty of blistering hot days after the sierras clear up to mid-oregon, so learn to deal with it, and for me as with many others, the easiest and funnest solution is just to take a long siesta during the afternoon.

hell, you can sleep, eat, read, whatever it is you want to do, and all the while you avoid that heat.

advice

#5

Does the amount of water you carry decrease at all on the trail or do you carry 6 to 7 liters the whole time

chudman

#6

yes, it does decrease. by “socal” i mean the first 700 miles up to kennedy meadows. this is really only part of the trail where water is the dominant concern. sure, there’ll be patches here and there after the sierras where you may need to carry water for 10-15 miles, but they become more the exception than the rule. and even during the socal stretch, there’ll be plenty of days of respite, where you may only need to carry a liter or two.

just remember that the first week or two will be tough on water and heat, but it just gets some getting use to and adjusting of the way you do things. you’ll realize, just as everyone else will after these first couple of weeks, just how much water you’ll need to hike, which conditions to avoid and everything else that’s entailed in desert hiking.

it was my first time out in those conditions, and sure it was tough, but hey that’s why we’re humans–were able to adapt to situations and through this learn something new, challenge and achieve as well as learn the inherent beauty in yet another thing (hopefully?).

the desert turned out to be one of my favorite parts of the trail. the easy mileage, that exposure to constant views and the learning and seeing of something so different than anything i’d known and seen in my past. it’s gorgeous out there. a big part also had to do with the fact that they’re the first miles of the trail and at this point you’re so excited about your thru-hike, that hell, it’s all fresh and fun.

chudman, if you were to remember one thing, remember this–for the first week at least, do not hike during the mid-afternoon, say between 11-3pm, or maybe even till 4pm. it’s kind of hard doing this coming directly off the AT where you can hike any darn time that you want, but trust me it’s worth it. the sun during those hours can be brutal, brutaaaal!!!

hope this answers your questions bud, and good luck.

siesta

#7

I just finished 1,260 miles from the sierra’s to the Columbia river. I never ran out of water once.I would try to minimize the water weight I was carrying. Using the Data book and Yogi’s Handbook and talking to other hikers lets you know how many miles the next reliable water is. You then will know how much water to carry since you will know how much you have been drinking the last several weeks on the trail. I avoided the energy waste of getting water off trail as much as possible. In many places I would carry only 1.5 liters but if it looked bad (14+ miles no water) I would drink alot at a water source and carry two full 1.5 liter bottles if it was hot. In SoCal you would carry alot more water in the severe heat. A few parts of Northern California got over 100 degrees (Hat Creek Rim, Castella,Seiad Valley). Old Station to central Oregon didn’t have a lot of readily available trailside water like the Sierra’s so you needed to know how far each water source would be to have a fun trip. Going North out of Ashland was fairly dry too. You could really feel the weight of that extra bottle of water but I was always thankful I did as I read and heard of other people who ran out of water. By carrying enough water I never had to drink from a gross water source out of desperation. Some of the ultra light backpackers carry a quart of water. Pika

pika