With the arrival of the summer comes the time for camping and outdoor adventure. Summer camping is more or less common in every American household. Whether you are out camping with friends, family, or loved ones, one thing you should do is get your gears in check.
Apart from your essential gear and equipment like a camping tent and compass, you also need to account for food and drinks. And in that regard, a common question is how much water do you want to bring for camping.
If you take too much, it can be difficult to carry it with you. Too little, and you risk dehydration. It might seem like an easy thing to cover, but when you think about it, there are a lot of factors to consider.
In this article, we will tackle this important factor along with the importance of keeping yourself hydrated on a camping trip.
So How Much Do You Really Need?
Well, the trouble is there is no right answer for this question. How much water you need as we said, depends on a number of factors like how many people are going on the trip or the sort of activities that you want to do.
Here are a few things that you should think about before deciding how much water to bring for camping.
- Number of People
The most obvious element to consider is how many people are going on the camping trip. You will not bring the same amount of water if you are going solo as opposed to if you were going with a group of four or five friends.
Ideally, you want to bring at least one gallon of water per person since that is what an average person consumes daily. So if there are five people on this trip, you want to have five gallons of water in total. You can even bring more, but that is the least amount you want to take.
- Climate
The weather and climate also play a vital role in deciding how much water to bring. In a warm climate, you need to drink more water to keep yourself hydrated. On the other hand, colder temperature causes us to drink less water in general since we do not get thirsty as much.
However, during the rainy season, you can probably get by without bringing too much water with you. Since rain is a natural source of water, you can purify collected rainwater for later consumption. But that strictly depends on your ability to collect rainwater.
- Activity Intensity
Another factor that dictates how much water to bring is the sort of activity you want to do on your camping trip. Some people like to sit around the campfire singing songs or telling stories. This sort of activity is not very taxing and will not force you to drink water more frequently.
However, if you are planning to go hiking or play games with friends, you might require more water. Since these activities take a toll on the body, you will feel the need to stay hydrated. In that case, you might want to take more than a gallon of water per person.
- Cooking and Dish Washing
Drinking water might not be the only element you need to worry about. You also need it for preparing food or washing the dishes once you are done eating. This is even more important if you are camping in a location that has no nearby ponds or water sources.
This means, in addition to bringing water for consumption, you need to set aside a certain amount for other necessities. Thankfully, you can get away with using one-time plastic plates for eating food. However, while cooking, you definitely need to consider bringing a set amount of water.
- Nearby Water Sources
If you are camping at a place where there is a water source nearby, you can reduce the amount of water you bring. However, you need to know how to purify water from natural sources. There used to be a time when waterbodies contained pure germ-free water. Sadly, this is not the case anymore.
So before you drink water from any source that you do not trust completely, it might be a good idea to boil it to eliminate any germs or bacteria it might contain. The process is simple and takes only two minutes. Once boiled, the water is safe to be consumed and can fully quench your thirst.
Final Thoughts
Nothing is more important than having access to pure drinking water when you are out on a camping trip. So make sure you pack enough or even extra before heading out. You know it is one of the most important things that you must know about camping.
We hope our article could help you calculate just how much water you need to bring on your next camping trip.
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