How do you hydrate?

[giantbrookie]

I use Nalgene bottles and, for harder trips, use some sort of an electrolyte replacement drink. For years in my youth, this was ERG (Gookinade), and even as a kid I seemed to notice the difference in recovery and the reduction in post-trip soreness compared to without. In the years since then I found that I had a hard time finding Gookinade, so I simply picked up powdered Gatorade which I reconstituted with water on my trips. I never ran any sort of a semi-controlled test to see if Gatorade worked as well as Gookinade, but the results certainly seem superior to plain water alone. The only negative experience I've had with various drink mixes like this was one brand I bought at REI (forget the name of the drink) that I took on my Tunechuck trip of 2008. For some odd reason (I think to add protein?) this powdered drink included a hefty proportion of milk. This contributed to a less-than-stellar day 1 on the Tunecheck trip. By early afternoon I was noticing that I felt sort of weak and soon after noticed that my stomach was getting increasingly upset and that this upset was beginning to work its way down my GI tract. Finally I looked at the ingredients on my drink mix (which I should have done when I purchased the thing because I couldn't find Gookinade anymore). In any case the my immense milk consumption while downing liters of this mix (probably 4 liters before I realized what hit me) really took its toll as my stomach was really messed up and I suspect my nutrient uptake was also severely impeded. My hiking gradually slowed and I had to settle for camping in a valley below Hummingbird Lake, then the original plan of blasting all the way to Blue Canyon on day 1 (probably feasible without the pronounced late day slow down). On days 2 to 5 I avoided using the drink mix and drank water alone and my stomach was pretty much back in order from day 2 onward. I felt much better for the rest of the trip. I will take powdered Gatorade on my next trip (first serious backpacking trip since 2008).

[larroyo33]

For water while hiking I use a 100 oz camelback bladder inside my backpack. When I get to camp, I have a 34 oz Platypus that I use for Gatorade or Gu Brew.

[Mike McGuire]

I have had some ferocious times with leg cramps on strenuous trips. Lying the sleeping bag I would get hamstring cramps in both legs. As I pull those out by straightening my legs, my quads cramped followed by the sartorius which is the one that runs a long the inner thigh. In all rather a "Grande Mal" of the legs. So I got serious about replacing electrolytes

I don't much like the taste of any of the commercial electrolyte mixes like Gatorade, so I did a little math on the nutrition label on it, an on regular table salt (NaCl) and Morton Lite Salt which is 50/50 sodium/potassium chloride (NaCl/KCl). So what I do is mix those two salts together in equal parts for a 75/25 NaCl/KCl mix. I put a quarter teaspoon per quart or liter in my Platypus hydration system. Crystal Lite lemonade mix masks the salty flavor pretty well. It's not uncommon for me to go through a whole 2 1/2 liters in a day.

Mike

[Mradford]

The only negative experience I've had with various drink mixes like this was one brand I bought at REI (forget the name of the drink) that I took on my Tunechuck trip of 2008. For some odd reason (I think to add protein?) this powdered drink included a hefty proportion of milk.

A lot of recovery type drinks use milk or soy as their main source of protein. I have had similar experiences when I was swimming in college. Mine were less...controllable...as yours

[Jimr]

Evidently, I hydrate by leaving my water bottle behind at rest stops 30 years of backpacking and I never left my water behind. Did it twice this last trip.