Gear

Hydration Supplements

I have been a gatorade guy for many years. It was the first hydration supplement and it is very inexpensive. Gatorade powder while messy, is transportable. I learned as a young boy that i sweat a lot, and that i must take care to avoid dehydration. I had a few bad spells with this before i learned my lesson.

I aim for two quarts of electrolyte replacement per day when backpacking*. That can get bulky, heavy, and turn into a bit of a sticky mess when dealing with Gatorade powder. On my quest to lighten my pack and re-think old systems, i decided it was high time to investigate the modern world of electrolyte replacements. A little research brought these five products to the front. I read about each of them and created a chart to compare costs. Hydration Supplement Cost

With the results from the cost comparison in hand, i decided that i wanted to try the Nuun tablets. The tablet concept sounds great. No messing about with powder or figuring out how to get it from a ziplock into your water vessel. The Nuun tabs are also approved for use in hydration bladders. I have not tried this yet and am not sure if i will, but it is nice to know that is a viable option. The Camelbak tabs seem very similar to the Nuun on paper, and may even be marginally cheaper, but i operate by quarts or liters in the woods and wanted a supplement that would lend itself well to that system. Nuun formulated their product so that one tab dissolves in 16 oz of water, two tabs for one quart. Camelbak designed their system so that one tab dissolves in 24 oz of water. This does not work well for me. If you operate on more of a base 12 water system, that may be the product for you.

My local EMS had a tube of the Active Hydration lemon lime tabs and i tried them out. The taste was a little more like mineral water than i prefer, but the ease of use and the savings in weight made up for that. After that initial test, i ordered a variety pack of U Natural Hydration. Not only do these have fewer ingredients and additives, they are smaller and lighter. They taste better than the original Nuun lemon lime tabs i tried as well. Check out these comparisons to Gatorade powder:

Though Gatorade powder is still the reigning champ when it comes to cost, the savings in weight and bulk, and the added convenience of the Nuun tabs has made these my new electrolyte replacement solution.

Next time: Cooking systems

Rock On!

* I tend to both drink and sweat more than many folks. The amount of water i consume is one of the things other backpackers and fitness people tend to argue about with me. You hydrate your way. I’ll carry my own water. I drink 5 liters of water a day minimum – and that is just a normal day at home. Other folks argue with me that “you don’t need electrolyte replacements”. I say again, you hydrate your way. I have been near dehydration several times and it is no fun. I have seen other trained and fit athletes stopped in their tracks, and in serious pain and some danger, due to dehydration. The first aid techniques i have studied all agree that water alone is not the best way to fight dehydration. In addition to all that, it is really nice to have something besides water to drink 🙂

I am going to rock through Hydration Bladders and Base Layers quickly today, paving the way for two more posts in this series: Hydration/Electrolyte Supplements and Cooking Systems.

I tested Patagonia’s Capeline 1 and 2 upper body base layers on this trip, hiking in the Cap 1 and sleeping in the Cap 2. I liked both of these items better than my old system using Under Armour Heat Gear as a base layer. The fabric on the Cap 1 feels great and looks super high-tech. The Cap 2 also feels very good. The weave looks a little weird though. You can sort of see through the weave almost like on a wide wale corduroy.

Cap 1 is supposed to be the lightest series they make. Cap 2 should be a little bit heavier and a little bit warmer. I noticed no difference in the warmth of the two garments (on this hike and in subsequent use). My Cap 1 weighs 6.75 ounces and my Cap 2 weighs 5.60 ounces. My Cap 1 dries noticeably faster than the Cap 2. The Cap 2 costs $14 more than Cap 1. I am going to continue testing and observing through the winter, but so far, i think that the Cap 1 is my new long sleeve base layer.

I also tested the Cap 1 base layer bottoms and really enjoyed them. I do not like to have a lot of material in the groinal zone while moving about, so i hike commando style. But it was great to pull these on when i got to camp. They felt nice, kept me warm, and did not bunch or pull. At 5.55 ounces, they are even lighter than the old traditional red long johns.

The first hydration bladder i ever had was a Camelbak 3 liter model. I wanted a way to easily carry and drink water while dog walking and this was a great system. I have been using that bladder for backpacking as well. Only during my recent campaign to lose pack weight did i stop to think about my water systems. The Camelbak has some nice features, but it is also quite heavy for a bladder. I have switched to a Platypus Hoser 3 Liter. This is lighter and worked just fine. It does not come with a shutoff valve which is a drawback. One of the first things my buddy Jake taught me about having a hydration bladder is this: always engage the shutoff valve before you set your pack down. If you are in town, your house, someone’s car – setting your pack down on the bite valve can cause you to drain water all over someone’s property. If you are in the woods, worse than getting your stuff wet, you can LOSE ALL YOUR WATER. I was very careful on this trip to always set my pack down with the bladder side up and free of encumbrances.

I did order a shutoff valve but this had some issues upon arrival. A shutoff valve should have one piece that can “easily” be moved by a thumb or finger and a second stationary piece that acts as a stop. On the Camelbak, this system is simple and works well.

* Looking at these two Camelbak photos, you can see that the yellow piece moves and that there is decent access to the yellow tab when in the open position. *

On the Platypus, the piece that moves to activate the shutoff and the backstop are exactly the same size, so that you have to use a finger nail or other thin object to separate the two halves before you can activate the shutoff. This fails the simple and easy to do with a thumb or finger test, or even one hand test. However, a few careful cuts made with a tiny saw from a leatherman, and i was able to chop the stationary stopping piece down to size so that the moving piece is now easily accessible and easy to activate with just a thumb or finger. 

* Looking at the Platypus pics, you can see that the clear plastic piece moves. The blue plastic was the exact same size as that clear plastic tab. Now that i have cut away some of the excess blue plastic, this Platypus valve is easier to work than the Camelbak. It is difficult to understand how the shutoff valve cleared product testing “as-is”. *

Despite the minor inconveniences faced in getting a working shutoff valve, i like the switch to Platypus. Camelbak has changed their design since my last purchase years ago, moving all their bladders and hoses to a “quick disconnect” system. I do not like these. For me they are trying to fix a problem that does not exist and adding in more parts that can and will fail.My old Camelbak 3 liter weighs 7.55 ounces and my new Platypus 3 liter weighs 3.7 ounces. Platypus wins!

**UPDATE: the Camelbak shutoff valves DO fit the Platypus tubes. These are cheaper, available off the shelf at your local hiking store, and work much better with no modifications. My current set-up: Playtpus Hoser 1 Liter bladder with Camelbak shutoff valve as my drinky bladder. 2 liter platy closed with platy cap to re-fill. The 1 liter size makes it much easier to monitor your intake and not drink more than you intend. The smaller 1 L size is also super easy to flip up out of a backpack and re-fill without having to remove all your gear.

A final anecdote from the last hike. After all of my careful planning and thinking about gear, all the time spent going through my gear again and again, and all the time weighing gear – i forgot to pack a spoon. I ended up using the handle of my toothbrush to stir my food (oatmeal breakfasts – custom dehydrated bean mix dinners) and just made the meals thinner and drank them. Perhaps i need to make a checklist? My dad was ribbing me about it and saying “maybe you need to get another spoon!” The saddest part may be this, i have 4 hiking spoons…

I ain’t perfect. Live and learn. Adapt and evolve!

Rock On!