Pacific Crest Trail Water Strategy

Why water is so important

Water is essential for survival in the backcountry, but it is also one of the heaviest things you will have to carry in your pack. One quart of water weighs in at a whopping 2 lbs! So, it doesn’t make much sense to spend so much time and money reducing your pack weight only to carry too much water and weigh it down again. On the other hand, it’s also not smart to skimp on water just for the sake of reducing pack weight because that’s dangerous.

In this post you will discover where to find accurate water source information for the Pacific Crest Trail, what the best water containers are, how much water to carry between sources and some strategies I use to reduce the amount of water weight in my pack (without sacrificing safety or risking dehydration).

Pacific Crest Trail water source info

It is vitally important when hiking the PCT to know where the on-trail and off-trail water sources are located. Unlike other trails where the water is apparent and plentiful (with springs and streams crossing the path) water on the Pacific Crest Trail is often inconspicuous, hidden or located well off the trail.

Here are some resources which you can use to find water on the Pacific Crest Trail:

AsaBat’s SoCal PCT Water Report: Asabat’s SoCal PCT Water Report is a must-have if you are hiking the Pacific Crest Trail in Southern California (where water is not as reliable or as plentiful as in other sections). The water report is updated frequently based on recent first-hand accounts of the status of water sources made by hikers as they pass through. Print out the most recent version before you start hiking.

Pacific Crest Trail Atlas: My Pacific Crest Trail Atlas includes a comprehensive list of on-trail, near-trail and off-trail water sources for the entire Pacific Crest Trail, along with the distance between sources and information on whether they are typically “reliable” or “seasonal”

Pacific Crest Trail Water Source Information (Pacific Crest Trail Atlas 2nd Edition)

Yogi’s PCT Handbook: Yogi’s PCT Handbook does not include information for every water source, but does include detailed notes based on her own and other hiker’s past experiences regarding specific water sources that are known to be difficult to find, have varying reliability from year to year or are important because they lie in the middle of a long waterless stretch.

Pacific Crest Trail Data Book: The Pacific Crest Trail Data Book contains a comprehensive list of water sources for the entire Pacific Crest Trail compiled from the information in the Wilderness Press guides.

Types of water sources on the Pacific Crest Trail

Natural sources: Most of the places where you will get water on the Pacific Crest Trail (especially outside of Southern California) are natural springs, streams, creeks and occasionally lakes.

Manmade sources: There are not many man-made water sources along the Pacific Crest Trail, but on occasion you will get water from spigots, fire or stock tanks, reservoirs, private residences or businesses (with the owners permission) and in trail towns.

Water caches: In Southern California (where water is sparse) and a couple other areas of the PCT (such as the Hat Creek Rim in Northern California) trail angels will put out water caches for the hikers to use in the middle of particularly long, dry, waterless sections of trail. Caches vary in size and reliability and should never be relied on but can be useful (more on water caches later).

Water containers

The most common types of water containers on the Pacific Crest Trail are lightweight plastic 1 liter bottles (such as Aquafina bottles or Gatorade bottles) and lightweight water bladders (like those made by Platypus and MSR). Heavy-duty bottles like Nalgenes are overkill and too heavy.

Aquafina

Water bottles: The good thing about bottles is that they are sturdy and not easily punctured like bladders. They are also good for catching water from springs and scooping from shallow water holes (if you don’t have a pump filter). Bottles are also nice because they stand up on their own unlike bladders. To carry enough water for some of the longer stretches on the PCT using just bottles would be heavy and bulky though.

Platypus

Water bladders: Water bladders are convenient because they are lightweight and allow you to fit a lot of water in convenient spaces inside your pack. You can also attach a drinking tube and drink as you hike instead of having to stop and get out your bottles all of the time. The downside to water bladders is they are fragile and can get punctured at inopportune times (so don’t put all your water in one bladder).

Hybrid method: I like to use both bottles and bladders for transporting water on the Pacific Crest Trail. I carry one 1 liter Aquafina bottle and two 2.4 liter Platypus bladders. This gives me a maximum water carrying capacity of nearly 6 liters and weighs only 6.4 ounces (including a drinking hose).

Water treatment

Katadyn

Pump-filters: Pump water filters are, in my opinion, not a very good solution for filtering water. They are cumbersome and heavy (upward of 10 ounces when dry), tend to clog often and require replacement cartridges every 700 miles or so. Plus every time you want water it requires a lot of arm-pumping labor to get it. They are convenient for getting water out of shallow pools though.

Sawyer

Inline filters: A new and more elegant solution for water filtration is inline water filters, such as the Sawyer filter which I use. They weigh just a couple of ounces, go in-line in your drinking tube so the water is filtered as you suck it through (no arm-pumping required) and can be back-flushed in towns using a water faucet adaptor to extend their life indefinitely.

Aquamira

Chemicals: Another popular lightweight option for water filtration is chemical treatments, such as Aquamira, MSR Sweetwater drops, iodine, chlorine and bleach. One downside of chemical treatments is the taste and sometimes they take a while (between 5 and 30 minutes) to fully treat your water. I’ve used Aquamira and the MSR drops before and they worked well. I’ve never tried any of the other options.

Not filtering: I have to admit, 80% of the time I do NOT treat my water in the backcountry. The only time I treat water is when there is livestock (like cows) nearby, if the water is stagnant or at low elevations where it looks like there could be runoff from nearby towns or industry. I’ve never gotten really sick from drinking untreated water, but that doesn’t mean that you won’t (or that I won’t sometime in the future). Warning: Drink untreated water at your own risk.

How much water to carry between water sources?

I generally vary the amount of water I carry between water sources depending on the weather. If it is cool and cloudy I will carry less. If it’s hot and sunny I will carry more.

Cool weather: In cool weather I typically carry 1 liter of water for every 5-10 miles of hiking. So that would be 1-2 liters of water for a 10 mile stretch.

Hot weather: In hot weather I typically carry 1 liter of water for every 3-5 miles of hiking. So that would be 2-3 liters of water for a 10 mile stretch.

On average, there is water available about every 5-10 miles on the Pacific Crest Trail (either on-trail or less than half a mile off-trail). In Southern California the water sources tend to further apart (10-20 miles) and in the northern parts of the trail they are typically closer together (5-7 miles).

There are some stretches (not many) on the Pacific Crest Trail where the water sources are 20-30 miles apart. My maximum water carrying capacity is 6 liters (which is 12 pounds of water weight). Using some of the strategies below I can make this work for 30 or even 40 mile waterless stretches.

Strategies for carrying less water and staying hydrated

“Camel up” at water sources: This is my favorite technique. In hot weather, every time I hit a water source I’ll stop and rest for a while, and drink my fill (more than my fill) of water. I typically try to drink between 1-2 liters of water at the water sources (depending on how long I stay). Water in your stomach is easier to carry than water on your back (because it is closer to your center of gravity) and water in your stomach is also being used by your body (unlike water on your back, which is doing nothing but weighing you down).

Camp at water sources: Camping uses up a lot of water for cooking, cleaning and also keeping hydrated throughout the night (just because you stop hiking doesn’t mean you can stop drinking). If you “dry camp” that means you have to carry water not only for the miles you will hike, but extra water for the 10 hours you will spend in camp. In hot weather I make an effort to schedule my day so that rest stops and camp spots are at or near water sources. It doesn’t always work out that way, but if you can pull it off you will carry less water.

Carry an umbrella: Ray Jardine popularized this idea and it is a good one. An umbrella (especially a reflective umbrella like the Golite Chrome Dome) is superior to a sun hat for hot weather. It is like carrying a portable shade tree with you everywhere you go! An umbrella will help keep you cool, so you will sweat less, and lose less water.

Mid-day siestas: A popular trick among thru-hikers in the desert is to get up really early before the sun rises and hike until about 10am (when it starts to get hot). Then stop and rest in the shade (and hopefully near water) until 2pm or 4pm (when it starts to cool down). Then hike into the evening until your miles are done. By avoiding the hottest part of the day you can conserve water.

Night hiking: Taking the mid-day siesta technique to its extreme is simply to hike at night. Night hiking can be very pleasant in the desert (especially under a full moon) and because the temperature in the desert drops drastically at night you will use half as much water. One thing you have to be careful of not to pass up a water source or other important landmark (like a trail intersection) in the dark… pay close attention to where you are when night hiking.

Reduce your pack weight: The more weight you carry the more work your body has to do with every step you take. The more work you do the more you will sweat and the more water you will need just to keep putting one foot in front of the other. By reducing your base pack weight (all gear minus food and water) to 13 pounds or less you will have a more comfortable hike, and your pack weight will be reduced even further when you have to carry less water to support yourself.

How to use water caches

Water caches are a controversial subject on the PCT. Some people claim that they are a bad thing because they make the PCT less challenging and teach hikers not to be self-sufficient. I don’t disagree with this. But I can tell you from experience that when you are out there hiking in the hot sun nothing is more welcome and appreciated than a cache left by some kind trail angel.

Some people will recommend that you “NEVER rely on water caches”. I agree. You should never rely on water caches for survival or use a water cache as your primary water source. But I think it would be silly to pretend that the caches don’t exist, when they do. What I like to do is split the difference.

If I know that there is a large, reliable cache (which you can usually figure out from the water report) up ahead I will carry the bare minimum of water needed to safely get past the cache to the next reliable water source (in case the cache is empty). But I’ll plan to take a liter or two at the cache (if it does happen to be full). In my experience the big caches are usually well-stocked during thru-hiking season, so you have at least a 50% chance of finding water at one. Just be prepared to go the distance without it.