Backpacking Water – How Much to Bring?

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Backpacking Water - How Much to Bring?

How Much Water to Bring on a Hike - Banner

This is the golden question that most hikers ask themselves as water is necessary to survive and keep your stamina up, but it can also weigh you down quite a lot. A liter of water weighs about 2.2 pounds, so it’s a pretty critical decision to make when it comes down to the weight carried when deciding how much water to bring on backpacking. So how does one find the perfect balance between staying hydrated and being weighed down too much?

How much water to bring backpacking depends greatly on the intensity level of your actual activity, the terrain, the weather, your current hydration level, your gender, your height, your weight, and your choice of water sources while you are out and about. However, as a general rule, for an average adult doing moderate activity, half a liter of water per hour is considered standard. If you’re hiking on rough uphill terrain in hot weather, then you can raise that amount to a liter per hour.

Carrying All Your Water or Filling Up As You Go?

The actual amount of how much water to bring on a hike depends on whether you will have access to clean water sources or not. If you’re in an area where you know you will have access to fresh water sources, then you may choose to physically carry less water on you. Having a well-defined schedule and map comes into play here because you must know precisely what intervals your next water source is available at so you can ration your water on the way there.

Water Purification

You can also look into various water purifiers depending on the state of the water around you. Just because water “looks” clean does not mean that it is safe to drink, so one should never make that assumption. Arm yourself with knowledge about the water sources you will come across so that you know what the best process is for purifying the water for drinking purposes. In some instances, simply boiling water in a pan could be sufficient to get it safe for drinking. However, in some cases, you may need to invest in a water filter or purifier that is designed to filter out the debris, bacteria, and viruses in your specific area. Purifiers can rely on chemicals or ultraviolet light to kill viruses, and many come with activated charcoal mesh that removes most distasteful flavors from water as well. If you plan well and get the perfect purifying system ahead of time, then you might not need to carry any more than one liter of water for your whole journey.

The three main ways of water purification while hiking are boiling, mixing in purification tablets, and using filtration straws.

If you choose to boil your water, you must keep into consideration that the water will require time to cool down and this could slow you down. You must boil water for at least one minute if you’re under altitudes of 2000 meters and for three minutes if you’re above that threshold.

There are many purification tablets available on the market, and most come with a 30-minute waiting period before your water is safe to drink. This requires some foresight and planning to execute; however, it is a relatively straightforward and reliable method to use. Here are some from Potable Aqua that have been acclaimed by over 1700 users. You will need two of these tablets to treat 1 liter of water so pack accordingly.

Life straw is a brand that needs no introduction as it has become a household name by this point and for a good reason. Their state-of-the-art filtration straws are ideal for outdoor hiking. The original LifeStraw is the ultimate survival tool as it weighs only 2 ounces and can purify up to 4000 liters of water. You can use it directly in streams, or you can fill up a bottle and use this as a purifying straw.  

The Intensity Level of Your Activity and the Terrain

It is a no-brainer that less physical exertion requires less water and vice versa. You should factor in the terrain and the incline of your hike when you’re deciding how much water to take as well. The more “difficult” and time-consuming the terrain is, the more you will exert yourself and the more water you will need to replenish yourself. The weather in your area also influences how much water your body requires as higher temperatures warrant the need for more hydration.

Your Gender, Height, Weight, and Body Type

We all have different bodies, and so we require different amounts of water to perform the same task. On average, men require a liter more than women do in identical situations due to their physical differences. Your weight also determines how much water you need. As a guide, you can multiply your weight (in pounds) by 2/3, and your answer will be how much water you need per day (without any significant activity). You can then increase this amount as per your activity level and determine your water requirements accordingly.

The more you weigh and the taller you are, the more water you will need throughout the day. It’s simple really- if our bodies are made up of 75% water and I have a “bigger” body than yours in terms of height or weight or both, then my body requires more water than yours. This is extremely important to remember as you cannot solely rely on someone’s “perfect” recommendation for how much water you should drink unless you are certain that your bodies are perfectly comparable as well.

Your body type and fitness level play a significant role in the decision of how much water to carry as well. We already discussed that water can be heavy, so if you’re not physically fit, you probably cannot carry more than three liters of water on you at any given time. You might want to take more, but you must be mindful of your physical limitations or else you might end up overexerting yourself.

Another important factor about your physicality that comes at play here is your sweat rate. Our bodies naturally produce different amounts of sweat, and the weather can affect the amount of sweat produced as well. Sweat is essentially your body’s cooling mechanism whereby you lose some water through your skin. Men, on average, produce more sweat than women do. Hotter temperatures trigger sweat responses more than cooler temperatures do. Keep these in mind and factor in your sweating tendencies into how much water you will need to replenish yourself as you sweat.

How to Keep Drinks Cold in a Backpack - Drink

Your Level of Thirst

There is no quantifiable way to describe thirst, but I’m sure we all know what it means. Some people are just generally thirstier than others. Do they require more water than others to survive? No. Do they tend to drink more water than others and feel better when they’re drinking water? Yes. If you’re the kind of person who’s always found sipping on some water, then you may need to increase the amount of how much water to bring on a hike. Any intense physical activity involves a great deal of mental and psychological prowess as well, so if you feel like you need to drink more water than others then listen to yourself and do what’s best for you.

Tips to Stay Well-Hydrated and Need Less Water

  • Plan ahead and know your trail extremely well.
  • Check the weather app at least a day before your outdoor adventure, so you know what to expect.
  • Pre-hydrate yourself for your hike or camping session at breakfast or on the way there.
  • Sip, don’t chug.
  • Do not wait till you feel thirsty. Keep drinking a little bit of water as you go to prevent dehydration.
  • Seek shade whenever you can and take breaks as often as you need to.

Backpacking Water - How Much to Bring? - Conclusion

There is no real “one size fits all” solution to the question of how much water to bring with you when backpacking. However, a good starting point is between half a liter and one liter per hour times the number of hours you’ll be outside. Once you get more experienced in hiking, you will become genuinely in tune with your body, and you will be able to gauge YOUR perfect amount of water to carry backpacking. If you’re looking for more useful information regarding hydration, check out our article “How To Keep Drinks Cold In A Backpack“. Alternatively, if you’re looking for gifts for the outdoorsmen in your life, consider reading “40 Unique Gifts for Outdoor Enthusiasts“. Happy traveling!

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