by denfinella » Sat Jan 16, 2021 12:45 am
My system is very formulaic, which probably says quite a lot about me, but it seems to work well.
I mostly use old 1 litre squash bottles, and take 1 bottle / litre for every 4 hours I expect to be walking for, plus one more to leave in the car for when I get back. This is made more flexible as I always walk with my partner, so the combined formula becomes 1 litre between us for every 2 hours (usually rounded up).
The warmer the weather forecast / more strenuous the walk, the more likely we are to round up. On days that are both hot and strenuous we might take an extra bottle.
e.g. 7 hours in summer would be a "4 bottle day" (4 litres between us), plus a 5th in the car.
Our backpacks can each store 2 bottles on the outside, so for most day walks, all the water can fit on the outside which is more comfortable and more convenient. If more than 4 litres are required, we also have a useful stash of 1.25 litre bottles...
Usually we will end up with most of the last bottle remaining upon finishing a day's walk, in addition to the bottle already waiting in the car. This is definitely preferable to the couple of times where we have run out.