skylark
04-01-2006, 08:54
I had my first trail hiking experience Thursday and Friday on the North Country Trail, in the Manistee National Forest in Michigan. I hiked 6 miles in on Thursday and back out on Friday.
Because it is so early in the season here, the campground where I was planning to get water was not open and I could not find any water pump or faucet. The campground was the only opportunity for well water as shown on the map. I had started out with 2 liters, and I had 1 liter of water left, but was hot and thirsty and needed to cook dinner.
I turned around and hiked back a couple miles to stealth camp near a lake. The lake was surrounded by marshy areas, and I didn't want to drink water from the shore, it was too ... full of life.
I tied a fishing line around a gatorade bottle and threw it out as far as I could and let it fill, then hauled it in. I filtered it through a tee shirt and boiled it. I tasted it and it tasted like pond water, I did not want to drink it. I used the water to cook with, boiling it again, and drank half of my good water, saving the other half liter for the next day. I was thirsty most of the night.
It rained the next morning and I kind of caught some tarp runoff in my hands and drank a little rain water, which tasted great. I probably should have caught more rain water and my problems would have been solved.
I hiked back out the next morning nonstop and was out of water by the time I got to the car, where I had more water stashed, so there was no emergency, apart from worrying about running out and being a little thirsty that evening. But being thirsty sucks. In order to do longer hikes, I really need to figure out the water situation, so I am asking for advice.
So my questions are:
1. How much water should you carry?
2. How do you get water from a lake or stream?
3. What is the best way to carry water, bottles, soft container or ???
4. How do you treat natural water?
5. What is a good way to catch rain water off of a tarp?
If anyone knows of a good site on the net with advice on getting water, I would appreciate a link.
Here is a picture of the lake:
http://cruisenews.net/whacked/NorthCountryTrail/lakeview.jpg
(http://cruisenews.net/whacked/lake.jpg)
Because it is so early in the season here, the campground where I was planning to get water was not open and I could not find any water pump or faucet. The campground was the only opportunity for well water as shown on the map. I had started out with 2 liters, and I had 1 liter of water left, but was hot and thirsty and needed to cook dinner.
I turned around and hiked back a couple miles to stealth camp near a lake. The lake was surrounded by marshy areas, and I didn't want to drink water from the shore, it was too ... full of life.
I tied a fishing line around a gatorade bottle and threw it out as far as I could and let it fill, then hauled it in. I filtered it through a tee shirt and boiled it. I tasted it and it tasted like pond water, I did not want to drink it. I used the water to cook with, boiling it again, and drank half of my good water, saving the other half liter for the next day. I was thirsty most of the night.
It rained the next morning and I kind of caught some tarp runoff in my hands and drank a little rain water, which tasted great. I probably should have caught more rain water and my problems would have been solved.
I hiked back out the next morning nonstop and was out of water by the time I got to the car, where I had more water stashed, so there was no emergency, apart from worrying about running out and being a little thirsty that evening. But being thirsty sucks. In order to do longer hikes, I really need to figure out the water situation, so I am asking for advice.
So my questions are:
1. How much water should you carry?
2. How do you get water from a lake or stream?
3. What is the best way to carry water, bottles, soft container or ???
4. How do you treat natural water?
5. What is a good way to catch rain water off of a tarp?
If anyone knows of a good site on the net with advice on getting water, I would appreciate a link.
Here is a picture of the lake:
http://cruisenews.net/whacked/NorthCountryTrail/lakeview.jpg
(http://cruisenews.net/whacked/lake.jpg)