Going on a hike? Don't forget the most important Item

I dont' remember exactly when it was, possibly sometime in June or July, but I had planned a trip up the the white Mountains for an over night hike. I had packed up my motorcycle with everything I thought I was going to need and off I went, blasting down the highway to get to curvy new Hampshire back roads and enjoy a day of spirited riding up to the the white mountains.

I arrived pretty late from what I remember, probably around 6pm. I got my things situated, threw on my pack at the trail head and hiked in about a mile and a half where I got to a water source to set up my hammock and get settle in to for the night.

After a quite night by a babbling stream I packed up my things topped off my water supply and got ready for a long day of hiking, I had planned on hitting 5 peaks.

However my plans changed.

It was hot, really hot.

Usually I plan my hikes for the spring and fall not the middle of summer. Once I got to the top of my first peak I was basically out of water, I think I had about a cup of water left for the other 4 peaks until I got down into the valley to another water source.

It'd be cool to tell you I made a brutal trek along to ridgeline and pushed my self to a salvation at a stream miles away.

But that isn't what ended up happening.

I had to make the decision to turn around and go down the trail

I hiked up instead of the loop I had planned.

LAME.

I wasn't happy about it but it wasn't worth the risk of running out of water alone in the mountains, since past experience has shown me things can get pretty serious quickly.

So Instead of running out of water on a cool ridge line, I ran out of water hiking down into the valley.

After getting to the stream I had stayed at the night before I topped off my bottle, and spent the rest of the day taking a relaxing low elevation hike back to the bike to enjoy some more spirited riding to a steak house and back to Massachusetts.

Even though the trip didn't go as planned it was still great.

But I did learn a valuable lesson, a very obvious one, but valuable nonetheless.

You probably cant bring to much water on your hikes, especially in the middle of the summer.

I bought a large water bottle and my pump water filter to top off my supply when the opportunity presents itself, However sometimes things go wrong.

Some times its hot as hell and your drinking water like crazy, and sometimes that water sources on the map is basically dried out from an extended period of no rain.

Either way having too much water isn't a bad thing.

Aside from the extra weight while your carrying it.

So since you need it how are you going to carry it?

A bladder for a backpack is best in my opinion if your just drinking water, the weight is on your back and close to your body so that weight wont be swinging around while your moving. I really like the new bladders in the ofspree bags the filling system is the best I've, super simple and good design. It works almost like a dry bag instead of the screw cap with a gasket that can leak if you bag falls over while your taking a rest.

Then a lightweight bottle for if/when your bag bladder runs dry. the bottle also makies things a little easier if you plan on breaking out your pocket stove for tea/coffee on top of a ridge or cooking dinner at your camp spot for the night.

All of this is probably sounds pretty obvious but until you run out of water in the middle of nowhere you may not see why this is really important.

Stay Hydrated, Don't die.