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Originally Posted by kai
yea... i can't imagine backpacking with a cooler. seems kind of sacreligious to me, but then again, its way too hot down here to go backpacking for me anyway, so who am i to judge?  I think I would get half way there and be cursing the cooler though. then again, i drink my water at room temperature anyway... |
There are some good insulated water "pouches" and other packable containers that keep water cold surprisingly well, even in the Texas summer. Since I seem to have a big problem with heat exhaustion (Palo Duro Canyon being my worst experience, since it turned into full heat stroke), I bought an insulated CamelBak pack a couple years ago. My CamelBak's a low end model, but holds enough water to stay well hydrated on a 3 to 4 hour day hike in warm or hot weather. One "unsung" advantage of it over water bottles is you don't have to stop hiking and fumble for your holstered water bottles, you just reach for the bite nozzle and drink. One reason so many people get heat exhaustion or heat stroke is they only drink when they're THIRSTY, rather than drinking at regular intervals throughout their activity -- the latter is key to staying properly hydrated.
There are many models of CamelBaks, including some that integrate well into full size backpacks. I wear mine as a backpack (it has its own straps, but can also be slung inside a backpack), and then put my camera's shoulder strap on top of that; the bite-nozzle for my CamelBak then gets strapped within easy reach. REI has some snazzy new models of CamelBak bags online right now (I visited to see if they still sold my exact model, so I could provide a link to it for reference -- they don't. That's not to say it isn't still manufactured and sold, of course.)
For backpacking, I'd load up on as much water as I could comfortably carry unless I owned a reliable water filter (and backup water purification tablets) and had proven myself at locating reliable water sources.