From: Dave Edelman (dedelman@iname.com)
Date: Wed Dec 18 2002 - 22:02:53 CST
John,
You make a point here that really needs to be highlighted. John repeatedly
says that he SIPS some water from the bite block. Any PhilTreker with GERD
(Gastro-Esophageal Reflux Disease) or a diaphragmatic hernia would do well
to take frequent sips of water as compared with a huge bolus of water that
(as my late Grandmother would say) just lays there. This is also a good
argument for not eating an taking off without a bit of time to relax and
truly "enjoy" you meal.
Dave
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-philmont@troop47.com [mailto:owner-philmont@troop47.com] On
Behalf Of Johnlebl@aol.com
Sent: Wednesday, December 18, 2002 3:00 PM
To: Multiple recipients of list philmont
Subject: [Philmont]: Listening To The Grass Grow
Subtitled: The Water Budget.
Ladies and gentlemen, I live where it rains 64 inches per year. This year
it has rained 69 inches so far, breaking the all time record. I like water!
I like it wet. I like wet trails, wet campsites and wet.........no, I did
not say that.
I am also a canoeist and a kayaker. Canoeists and kayakers paddle their
craft on water for good reason. They like water. They like water carrying
them instead of them carrying the water.
I get the distinct feeling of paranoia by some on this list concerning
PhilWater. PhilWater won't kill you!
Seems like I'm hearing mommys and daddys hollering their last bits of advise
through closed windows and hopefully closed ears to junior as he leaves for
Philmont on the bus, train or plane as it rolls down the highway, rails or
tarmac headed to New Mexico............DON'T DRINK THE WATER BILLY OR YOU'LL
GET SICK!!!!!!
Pholks, this is NEW Mexico not south of the border in OLD Mexico! You can
drink the water and NOT get sick!
This paranoia is the absolutely most WRONG message to be sending your
Scouts. I hope this stays on this list and NOT in your crew training
discussions.
<<But as John states, if you plan properly, you'll have the water you need
when
you get to camp, and can wait for the PolarPure to work. It depends on
whether you want to carry the pump, extra filter, spare parts and spend
probably 10-15min pumping, or carry the extra water weight on the trail
so you don't have to pump when you get there.>>
It is adaptable to PolarPure OR filter pumps.
Here is a typical day on the trail.......waterwise.
You wake up and somehow decide you need breakfast. That's not a hard
decision after hiking some 35 miles on the trail so far. It's a hot cereal
day and a good thing too because the temp is hovering just above freezing.
Or so it seems. And something hot to drink would be good too.
Water gathered last night from the stream is in the pot just waiting to be
put on the stove. The stove is lit and while gear is packed the water comes
to a boil......or almost. And that is fine because all you need to do is
get it to 180 degrees F to kill anything that grows in water anyway. Water
boils at 212 F, so boiling it is overkill.
The water comes to a boil anyway.......just to make sure someone says, and
each person takes their turn dunking bowl, cup and spoon in the hot water
leaving behind any bacteria to be destroyed by the heat and a few bits of
pine needles, dirt and rocks they did not see on the bottom of the cup. It
all gets sterilized together.
Anyway, you take your plastic or lexan bowl and dump in Quaker Instant maple
and brown sugar oatmeal from the food bag. You take your stainless steel
cup and dump in some Swiss Miss with marshmallows in it. One of the crew
ladles some hot water into your cup and bowl and you are in bidness.
You saunter over to a rock overlooking the stream and sit to eat with your
back to the cooking fire ring just to relieve the view and reduce it to more
simple things so you can relax during your meal.
It's good, warm and filling. You lick the bowl clean.........literally!
Not a drop is left in the cup either. Human sumping they call it. You have
been doing it for years whenever you mother did not catch you doing it.
You saunter over to "your tree" which has your pack propped up against it
and your 3L Camelback Unbottle hanging from a branch stub and rotate the 90
degree block valve to the on position. You squirt an ounce or two into the
bowl, swirl it around and drink it down. Some call this human sumping.
Some don't even call it, but just do it. Same for the cup into which you
swish around the spoon. Bottoms up the cup. You fill the cup with cool,
clear iodinated water from the Unbottle bite valve and get out your "morning
pills". Every adult on trek has their "morning pills" simply because they
are getting older. Even if you don't do drugs, you pop three Advil just for
good measure! Vitamin I Cooper Wright calls them.
Chase them down with the whole cup of water. Tastes so good, you draw
another and drink that too.
You put away your cup, bowl and spoon in their proper place.
Finally your slow tent partner is out of the tent with his stuff, so while
he packs (you already have) you take the tent down divide it up and pack
away your share. You then take his part of the bargain to him to pack up.
He thanks you.
While watching the crew get their act together, you draw and drink another
couple of cups of water from the bite valve. Danged this mountain water
tastes good! You don't even notice the iodine taste simply because you
aren't trying to. Your thoughts are on what a beautiful place the campsite
was and not about what iodine tastes like anyway.
Finally you are ready to "saddle up" and hit the trail. Before cinching
down your pack top flap, you decide to "camel up" and take one more long
draw of water from the bite valve.
You take your 1 L Nalgene bottle out of the side pocket and dump it into the
Unbottle hydration bladder. You had filled the 1 L bottle last night and
added the proper amount of Polar Pure. It sat all night so you aren't
worried about how long since it was treated.
You go to the creek and find the spot that the crew member assigned as
"water bearer" designated or improved to get water from and fill your bottle
to 1/2 inch below the rim. Back at "your tree", you add the right amount of
Polar Pure to the water bottle according to what your Ranger taught you and
place both in the pack pocket after refilling the Polar Pure bottle and
turning the water bottle upside down and "bleeding the threads".
All secured, you are ready to hit the trail.
You are carrying three liters of ready to drink water in the hydration
bladder. It's cold from hanging in the cold night mountain air overnight
and will stay that way all day because of the 1/8" neoprene insulation of
the Unbottle and the fact it is packed INSIDE your pack out of the sun.
The 1 L Lexan bottle has to wait 30 minutes before it is ready to drink.
You notice the time and make mental note. It resides in the side pocket of
the pack. You more than likely won't even use it today because it is just a
10 mile hike to the next camp and you are high where it is cool and in a
valley in the shade. And it is raining.
Along the way you sip water constantly from the bite valve, not worrying at
all about running out of water in the hydration bladder because you are
carrying that 3 liters plus another liter backup in the lexan bottle.
When the crew stops for lunch, you decide Gatorade would go good with the
PBJ on crackers, so you dump a little powder into the stainless steel cup
and squeeze the bite valve to fill the cup.
After lunch you wash down the sides of the cup with the fine stream produced
by the bite valve and human sump your cup and put it away.
Each meal you want Gatorade you do the same thing and therefore you don't
have any water containers besides your cup that have had drink mix in them
so none need go up in the bear bag.
When you get to camp, the "water bearer" takes off to find "clean water" and
returns with two buckets full for the evening meal.
It was a long trail today so you examine your 3L Unbottle and find that it
only contains about a half cup of water. Your 1L bottle is still not been
touched, so you still have a good reserve. You ask where the "water faucet"
is and he tells you up around the bend in the creek and over off the edge of
the big gray flat rock. With those directions, you take the 3L Unbottle and
your 1L Nalgene and go to fill them up. Away from the stream you pour the
1L bottle into the 3L Unbottle because you know that to spill iodine treated
water into the stream would harm some of the biota living in the stream and
as a good land steward you don't want to do that.
After pouring the 1L into the 3L, you dip the 1L full and use it to fill the
3L and then fill the 1L also.
You return to "your tree" where you get out the PolarPure and add the
requisite amount to the 3L Unbottle and the 1L Nalgene, you "bleed the
threads" and refil the PolarPure bottle.
After waiting the required thirty minutes, all your water is drinkable.
You repeat this daily for each day on the trail. You are never without 4L
of water starting out each day. You never are drinking your last water from
the bladder and not knowing how much water you have left.
You are budgeting your water but that does not mean skimping on it. You
drink freely from the bite valve and when others holler "water stop" you
simply stand there enjoying the view knowing full well that they are getting
dehydrated and you are not because you continuously sip water as you walk.
And that is all there is to it.
The only addendum is on extra long trail days, I fill a 1L Platypus roll up
bottle fore a total of 5 liters of available water.
If you have a dry camp.roper food and meal planning should not require
anything but each person filling their extra 1L Platy roll bottle.
If a crew chooses to carry on of those "water buffalo bladders" then
somebody had to be the mule. Better it be your crew than mine, but so be it
if you got to do that. I just know that it isn't necessary.
If one chooses to use a filter pump, then they can do the same thing only
pumping their water.
>From observation and practical application, it takes about 30 minutes to
get out the pump, set it up, pump the days supply of water and put the pump
away again.
The decision to pump or not is yours and yours alone.
Personally I got more to do in those ten days on the trail at Philmont than
spend 5 hours plus pumping water.
Sometimes I just want to sit there and listen to the grass grow.
John LeBlanc
Eagle Class of 1959
Phirst Phil Ptrek 1959
PhilTrek 2002 630H2 Trek 16
My latest adventure was yesterday,
Today is not over yet!
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