Three Pro-Tips for Staying Hydrated on the Trails

Water. Probably one of the poorest planned and most important aspects of the 10 essentials when we go out for a day hike.

Don't get me wrong, I know almost all of us grab a water bottle (or two?) before we head out, but do we really think about our hydration much more than this:

"I've got some water; I'll drink it when I'm thirsty. I hope it lasts."

A recent Twitter conversation with friend Limax7 prompted me to share three simple pro-tips to make sure you are well hydrated on your hikes, regardless of where they are or what season it is.

Tip #1 - Pre-Hydrate

Uh, what does that even mean? It's as simple as it sounds. Drink some water BEFORE the hike. 

Top advice from professional trainers, athletes, and first aid folks is consistent on this point. Plan on your morning before your hike to drink about 1 litre (1 quart, or 34 fluid ounces) of water in small amounts. We'll talk about the drawbacks to "chugging" water in tip #2. 

This is super important as you'll be losing fluids through the day and this way you are off to a solid start on staying well hydrated.

Tip #2 - Bring the Right Amount for Your Day

Exactly how much water you will need for any hike will of course be affected by certain variables - heat, duration of the hike, incline of the hike, your personal health, etc. 

Most medical professionals agree that people should drink 2 litres (~1/2 gallon, 2 quarts, or 67 fluid ounces) of water per day. So use that as a baseline, minimal amount to bring on a day hike.

I get it though - water is HEAVY! Consider "caching" water along your route to have it available on your way back and not have to carry it the full distance. Have a .5 or 1 litre water bottle tucked behind a tree or under some rocks (sealed tightly, and with no flavouring so as not to attract animals to it) then drop a waypoint on your GPSr or phone.

Split your daily water carry between members of your team, and consider using lighter containers for the water such as collapsible water bottles, or maybe even a hydration pack. The small amounts of weight & space it saves can end up making a big difference.

On a hot day, or a longer hike, add another 1-2 litres to your daily carry of water. You can cache a litre at the "half way back" point of your hike (of course, not if you are hiking a loop!). 

Ultimately, you need to be the best judge of how much water to carry but you will rarely regret carrying too much.

Lastly, don't "chug" your water. It's tempting and we've all done it. But you are far better off to "sip" your water at regular intervals, perhaps every 10 minutes as a guide. On a hot day day or at high elevations your water intake should equal approximately 1 litre per hour. 

So doing the math, if you are going on a 4 hour hike on a hot day, you should pre-hydrate, and then carry approximately 4 litres of water! I know - that's a lot of weight!

Tip #3 - Have a Back-Up Plan

Plan B, right? So what happens if you didn't bring enough water? We won't get into the details of heat stroke, heat exhaustion, dehydration, muscle cramps... you likely know all this. But be aware, running out of water is serious business. 

So what's your Plan B? Essentially what I'm getting at is how will you get water while you are out on the trail?

Try and figure out if there are natural or man-made water sources along your planned route. Hiking trail review sites or geocaching logs are good sources of intel - don't rely on the fact that your topo maps show a creek or pond!

In the event there is no water source on your hike, then make certain you bring MORE than enough with you. 

Myself and many of my hiking friends always carry a LifeStraw with us. It's a great "Plan B" because it filters the Cryptosporidium and Giardia from natural water sources. The beauty of these types of filters is they are reusable, inexpensive, effective, and light to carry.

If you are planning a longer hike, consider a pump or bottle-press type filter such as Katadyn products. These are a bit bulkier and heavier, but can process larger amounts of water that you can bottle/store for later use.

Get Home Safe!

So that's my quick three pro-tips you can use to make sure you avoid any issues with hydration on your geocaching or other hikes. 

One last note - don't get tricked by Winter or cool Spring/Fall weather! Your body needs the same base amount of water regardless of the temperature and climate, so don't fall into the trap of "it's cold out so I only need 500ml for a day of hiking." 

So that all said, go outside and "cache safely, and cache often!"



LANMonkey's Geocaching Adventures are written by Jay Kennedy, outdoor adventurer and photo-journalist. All content is affiliated with the Wander Network. Experience his adventures on Twitter and Instagram by following @LANMonkeyGC, and subscribing to LANMonkey on YouTube. He is also a regular co-host of the Caching in the Northwest geocaching podcast. 

Three Quick Tips to be Tsunami-Safe When Geocaching

Hey Geocachers, 

So we had a "near miss event" overnight in the Northwest - a tsunami warning from the 7.9 Magnitude earthquake off the coast of Alaska. Great news is that all regions I've heard about were not hit by a tsunami of any significant size.

So after a collective sigh of relief, I thought it would be handy to share a bit of insight into what tsunamis are, why it's something to keep in mind in the coastal Northwest (and really, any coastal area), and what geocachers should know about tsunamis.

A tsunami is not the same as a tidal wave. A tsunami is a series of large waves, triggered by some sort of under-water seismic event such as an earthquake, volcano, etc. The key points here are that it can be a series of waves - not a single large rogue wave - which can significantly impact low-lying coastal areas, and that they are triggered by some sort of seismic event, most of which are monitored by government facilities.

This is really good news, because in *most* cases it means that in the event of a potential tsunami, there will likely be an hour or more warning that it is coming - that of course depends on where the seismic activity occurred relative to where you are at the time.


Further, here's some interesting facts about tsunamis borrowed from the Government of Canada's "Get Prepared" emergency awareness website:

• Tsunamis are a series of large waves caused by events such as submarine earthquakes, landslides, volcanic eruptions, and less commonly, meteoric impacts. Tsunamis can also occur in large lakes.
• They can occur with little warning in the ocean and in lakes.
• A tsunami can be triggered by a large, high energy, but relatively short duration disturbance of the sea floor. Such waves can travel across the ocean at high speed (800 km/h, the speed of a jet plane).
• As the tsunami waves approach the shoreline and water depth shallows, the wave speed slows, but wave height will increase as wave length decreases. In 20 m of water, wave speed will be 50 km/h.
• Tsunamis can occur as individual or multiple waves following each other by minutes and even hours.
• Tsunamis can grow to 60 or more metres in height (the size of a ten-story building).

So with the events of this morning, and the knowledge that this seismic activity is monitored by US and Canadian governments, it's helpful to know that when you are geocaching in low lying coastal areas - or along river/water systems  connected to the oceans - to have your mobile phone configured to receive any alerts of this nature. 

In the US, many states subscribe to the emergency broadcast alerts via the Commercial Mobile Alert System and can send messages directly to your mobile phone over most mobility networks. While this may result in the occasional erroneous incoming ballistic missile false alarm, it will give you a head's up of an incoming tsunami or other significant natural disaster.

Here in Canada however, our CRTC has not permitted this "push" technology yet. Therefore, to be notified of tsunamis while out geocaching in coastal Canada, it is important to subscribe to a service such as the Emergency Info BC Twitter account. In April 2018 the BC Government is committed to having a text service available as a component of the BC Emergency Alert system, which will most certainly be helpful.

So as a geocacher, what can you do to be tsunami-prepared? There's really three simple things to do:

1. Understand what areas may be tsunami susceptible when you are out caching.
2. Watch for "tsunami evacuation route" signs to know which direction to head should there be an alert.
3. Subscribe to any emergency broadcast services available, and keep an ear open for tsunami alert sirens if you are ear-shot of such notification systems.

Most of all, we hope that you all cache safely, and cache often!

"The Rules"

Hi Geocachers!

This week's Podcacher podcast featured a snippet of "The Rules of Geocaching" as defined by the LANMonkeys.

A while ago we started building a set of rules to optimal geocaching, and every once in a while we add to them. Since they got a little plug on Podcacher (thanks Sonny, Sandy, and Sean!) we thought we'd share them with you all.

#1 Cache safely, and cache often.

 Our geocaching motto, and just a good concise rule.

#2 Always carry two pens and some paper.

 One pen is never enough. You lose it and you're hosed. If it stops writing, you're hosed. And make one a sharpie.

#3 Always carry a knife. In fact, carry two knives. You’re gonna want a knife.

I can think of fewer things more useful to have than a knife. One can be a Swiss Army knife or Leatherman, and the other a good survival or hunting knife. So one is practical and can serve as many TOTTs, and the other can help you fend off wild beasts or FTF competitors.

#4 Don’t be the last person at an event (unless you want all the left-over TBs).

Stay and help cleanup, make sure you spend time socializing and meeting new cachers, but please - PLEASE - don't be the last person there or you WILL go home with the 10-pin bowling ball or 6 foot stuffed hot pepper trackable.

#5 Don’t walk and read an electronic device at the same time.

Unless you are OK with concussions. Then, by all means.

#6 “Poke it with a stick” - thanks HeadHardHat, this is always good advice.

OK, yeah. We stole this one. But seriously, do you want to put your hand in THERE?!

#7 Tell everyone to stay hydrated repeatedly.

So yes, Mr. LANMonkey does tend to go on about staying hydrated. But it's important people! Bring fluids, stop for drink breaks, and stay hydrated. Often. And safely.

#8 Tell someone where you are going, when you are coming back, and make sure they care.

Always a good practice to make sure someone knows where you are going, and when you'll be back. But what if they don't care? That doesn't help at all. 

#9 Take more pictures than you think you need.

It's free right, so why not? And everyone else will wait around happily while you take photos of the TB you are dropping off in different poses around the cache, various angles of the view past the trees, and - hey! Did you see that squirrel? It's TOTALLY different than the other one! Get a picture, quick!

#10 Always bring a compass.

Your phone has a compass? Your GPS has a compass? Great. Bring an actual compass. Don't argue with me. Just do it.

#11 Bring more batteries than you think you need.

Double A's, external phone chargers, those are ideal. Motorcycle batteries are great too, but tend to be a bit on the heavy side. But you can't beat the 12V and deep cycle. 

#12 Read the signs. Heed the signs. Take pictures of the signs. Signs.

 Earthcache interpretive signs. Plaques for the virtuals. Poison Oak. Cliff ahead. Don't feed the ducks. All extremely important signage.

#13 Don’t throw down. You don’t want to be “that Geocacher.”

'Nuff said.

#14 Never take directions from someone on a ride-on mower.
 Seriously. One time we rescued a family from the top of a long hike up a hill who had taken the wrong way based on information they had been provided by a "local" they met at the bottom of the hill on their ride-on mower. And thus was born rule #14.


So that's it. 14 rules so far.

We're open to adding to the rules and are really curious if you have any we haven't though of yet. 

So what rules would you agree with, disagree with, or add? 

In the meantime, don't forget rule #1!
"Cache safely, and cache often!"