Hydration Packs vs. Water Bottles

[Periwinkle]

I carry a Pur Hiker water filter. To reill my Camelback, I pop off the bite valve and connect the tube directly to the output of my filter. Then I pump away, filling the bladder without every having to take it out of my pack. (I find it hard to get a full water bladder into a full pack.) You have to be careful not to overfill the bladder, but I can usually tell how full it is by feel.

Why didn't I think of that??? If there was a smilie for smacking myself upside the head, I would have used that! Nothing irritated me more than having to rearrange my pack to pull out the bladder at a water source! Thanks for that bit of advice!

I'm also a Camelbak fan. And carry a backup bottle for extra hot days/emergencies.

 

[bobmak]

I have a camelbak that I use for long bike rides; I find it easier to drink out of a tube while going 20 mph than I do trying to pull a bottle out of a cage. For backpacking though I have stuck with the lexan bottles. I carry 2 with me, summer & winter, in the same insulated bottle parkas. I usually drink a liter of coffee (Yeah, I am a caffeine junkie) and a liter+ of water before I head out in the morning, and find that the two liters seem to do the trick during the course of the day. I suck down another couple of liters at night after I stop. I don't hike in the summer (hate the bugs and the crowds), but if I did I'd just carry a 3rd bottle. Maybe I am just a creature of habit, but the bottles seem more useful to me. I havn't had a problem that I can remember with dehydration.

Almost all the hiking I do is with my pup, and if we are hiking a long distance between streams she carries a liter and I carry a liter for her use. Often dog owners forget that their friends need water as much or more than they do.

 

[giggy]

your gonna get many opinions - this is just mine.

I use bottles. Don't want to clean the bladder, don't trust the bladder, and really can't be arsed with it.

for the type of stuff I do - no problem and stopping every hour or 2 for a break and take a sip.

but my buddies who have them love them.