Potable Water While Floating/camping?

[Jack Jones]

When the weather gets cooler this fall, I am contemplating making an attempt at an overnight float trip. Before that I intend to camp out at a state park first since I've never actually camped before.....but that's another story.....

When floating/camping overnight, what do you guys usually do for water for drinking/cooking? Do you carry in? Do you filter/purify from the river you are floating?

I will probably end up floating the James overnight, if that helps, but may consider other rivers. What are your suggestions?

[zander]

I always would try to plan on 1 gallon of water per day for everything. I rarely used that much but it was nice to know I had it. You can get by on less in cooler temps. I have a nice little water filter that I have never used once. I never trusted it for some reason. It was too easy to just bring water along. For overnight trips you can pack it and not worry about the weight because tge more you drink the less it will weigh. On extended camping trips I boiled the tar out of water.

The more you camp the more you learn. It should be fun for you.

[gotmuddy]

Why have you never been camping?

[Wayne SW/MO]

Jack you basically have 2 alternatives, carry or filter/purify. The fact you haven't camped sort of eliminates the latter because of cost. An overnight isn't all that bad any way and you can usually get by with ice water. Freeze some clean containers of water for consumption and helping the cooler stay cold. You'll still want some bag ice and you can use that for cooking, coffee etc. I would carry some purifying tablets for an emergency.

If you decide to do it a lot more I would get a good filter. I've used one for many years with no problems. On extended trips we start with the cooler water because it's clean and when it gets scarce the stream water. The only drawback is that when using stream water around here it's best to pre-filter and that means more to mess with.

[Jack Jones]

Thanks Wayne. I hadn't thought of freezing empty containers. Do you have an estimate on how much water, quantity-wise, you typically bring on an overnight for two people?

[Wayne SW/MO]

The gallon per day per person is the old rule and isn't too bad, but it's also old. If you use paper and burn it or carry it out it there will be less to wash. You can also clean pans by boiling stream water in them. You can use stream water for utensils and plates, just use lots of soap and wipe them, after they dry, with anti-bacterial wipes, you should rinse before use though. Any drinks that don't dehydrate you will replace water and I always take the Gatorade class drinks for that reason. Having said all that I would probably take about 2, 1/2 gallon containers. You will also probably have some ice melt that works fine for cooking if you clean and sanitize you cooler.

Beer can be a real downer when it's this hot and a good rule is to drink as much water or "ade" as beer during the heat of the day.

[Slewfoot dan]

Howdy, the gallon a day rule has served me well for a good while. For two people overnight I'd say two frozen gallons and two regular. Like was already said above, you can use river water for dishes and such. Most microorganisms that you have to worry about won't survive being boiled and dried overnight on whatever dishes you wash. Just a thought, you can use a steel coffee pot like you find in camping stores to boil extra drinking / cooking water. If you filter the water thru a hankercheif before adding it to the pot to take care of the bigger debris and then boil the heck out of it you should be ok. Hope this helps, have a good time man.