[Philmont] what I would do next time about hauling water

I did not allow water bladders on either our training hikes or at Philmont.
As an advisor, I wanted to see for myself how much my scouts were drinking,
and the Camelbacks make that all but impossible. I have had several scouts
on day hikes dehydrate even with the tube in their mouth all day.

The other issue for me was hygiene. Each crew member decorated one Nalgene
to make it readily identifiable as his drinking bottle. The other bottles
they carried were considered crew food, to be shared and used for cooking,
washing, and of course refilling the drinking bottles as they neared empty.
This made it easy to reallocate water as needed since some drank more than
others. A 3 liter Camelback is 3 liters of water that can't be shared.

Nalgenes are somewhat heavy for what they are, but they're pretty
bomb-proof. For myself, my family drinks a lot of seltzer water so I used 4
of the 1 liter PET plastic seltzer bottles for my water. They're about a
third of the weight of a Nalgene and very durable, and best of all they were
free.

For dry camps and the long haul from Clark's Fork over the Tooth we had
several collapsible Platypus bottles, lots of spare capacity for almost no
weight. In 2004 we had several of the zip-top Platypus bladders, but two of
the three developed leaks in the zipper and we switched to the conventional
style for our 2006 trek.

>Ched Hudson
Troop 994, Fairfax Station, VA
Philmont '67, '04, '06
  -----Original Message-----
  From: Philmont@troop47.com [mailto:Philmont@troop47.com]On Behalf Of
GEORGE TAYLOR
  Sent: Tuesday, July 17, 2007 2:33 PM
  To: Philmont List Member
  Subject: [Philmont] 30% pack weight limit--what I would do next time about
hauling water

  If there is one thing I would do differently the next time I go to
Philmont, it would be to mandate what water containers the boys carry.
Nalgenes are bulky and heavy and pretty much impossible to drink from while
you are on the move. My ideal setup would be to require that each boy carry
only one nalgene and that the primary water source be a three-liter bladder
with a drinking tube. That would give each boy the capacity to carry four
liters--more than enough for any dry camp. On most days, we would probably
carry the full nalgene and keep only two liters in the bladder. Having the
separate nalgene would keep a boy from drinking all his water without
knowing it. (Also helpful for advisers trying to keep up with water
supplies.)

  I used a bladder for the first time at Philmont this year and must say
that it made quite a difference in staying hydrated. Being able to take a
few plugs of water as I huffed and puffed up Baldy (and other various and
sundry unreasonably steep hills) frequently gave me the boost I needed to
make it. The bladder also centered the weight of the water squarely between
my shoulders rather than having it off-center or on the outside of pack.

  My son has a camelback three-liter bladder that has a wide-mouth screw on
cap, and it worked very well, but I use a platypus three-liter that has a
zip-lock top. The platypus weighs only four ounces!

  On this summer's trip, we required boys who thought they would like to
drink gatorade on the trek to take an extra empty Gatorade bottle to be used
for flavored drinks. That saved hauling nalgenes up in the bear bag at
night (they stayed by the sump) and worked very well for us. When we
encountered the water at Cimaroncito, I wished I had been able to mix
Gatorade with it.

  We also had one adviser who insisted from time to time on carrying (lots
of) extra water for the boys. This is not a practice I would recommend
because it sends the wrong message and avoids the very instructive moment
when a boy has to ask his mates to share.

  Good luck!

  George

-------------------------------------------------------
Scouting E-mail Discussion Lists @ usscouts.org
Listserv Commands at http://usscouts.org/lists/lc.asp
-------------------------------------------------------
Send listserv commands to: listserv@troop47.com
Send postings to: philmont@troop47.com
List FAQ found at: http://usscouts.org/lists/faq.asp
List Administrator: philmont_owner@troop47.com
-------------------------------------------------------
To Unsubscribe send text email to:

     To: listserv@troop47.com
     Subject: unsubscribe
     Body: unsubscribe philmont@troop47.com
-------------------------------------------------------

As you gather around this virtual campfire with fellow
Scouts and Scouters, do your best to be trustworthy,
loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient,
cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean and reverent.
-------------------------------------------------------

 
Received on Tue Jul 17 22:18:13 2007