Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Water

I know I'm supposed to use the search feature, but... if you're not bringing a water filter, how much water should you bring for a dayhike - the whole thing/portal-summit-portal. We haven't practiced filtering and are first timers and know the importance of hydrating.
Thanks, Cappy

You are doing 6k plus vertical feet, you will sweat, no matter the temp. There is plenty of water along the trail up to TC. Keep in mind you will need your iodine tabs to scour your water containers 30 minutes. Tablets are lighter than a filter, but a filter weighs about 11 ounces and you can drink water immediately so you need to figure that out for yourself.

I go through water like crazy, I am carrying a filter (and dumping the GPS, binoculars, etc.) I will bring only 2 qt. to LP Creek, from there if I need more water than that I can filter, from Trail Camp to summit I will carry about 4 quarts. I also will carry the iodine and clarifier tabs in case the filter messes up.

But that's just me.

According to the Bob R. research paper, which is exensive and well documented, the fast flowing water of the Sierra is actually quite clean. Bring Porta Aqua to purify the water if you feel you need it. It has a 2nd tablet to neutralize the iodine taste. Allow 20-30 minutes for it to work on the cold water before adding 2nd tablet. Available at outdoor stores.

As far as carrying water, you could drink as much as 7-8 quarts during a day hike...that is way too much to carry the whole time. Drink a quart or two before you start and stop at every lake/ river to get some more water. Carry enough water above trail camp to get to the top and back. This you can guess based on how much water you have been using. Most take around 3 quarts but it can vary.

Fill up your last time at the trailside meadow or consultation lake. Trail camp water is yucky. The spring up on the switchbacks might be a little frozen early in the morning, but could be running by midmorning. That would be your last possible water stop.

We summited last weekend. We did it as a 2 night three day trip, but figured that if we wanted to carry all of our water on a day hike without filter or iodine (something I don't recommend) that we would have to carry 2 gallons per person in order to stay hydrated and relativly headache free. That's a lot of weight, it surprises me that some day hikers do just carry their water(less then 2 gallons most likely) and don't bother with filters and iodine, I don't see the logic in that. I did see some staches on the way down and their were probably alot more then I saw, I would still rather use iodine.
During our backpack up from portal to Consultation (6 miles) we only carried a quart each and filtered as needed, much easier on the back.
On summit day, we carried 2 quarts each (meant to be three but goofed on the calculations, a bad mistake) ran out on they way down which caused me a severe headache. Three quarts for the ten miles from Trail Camp to summit and back would have been perfect for us.
P.S. we passed the spring on the switchbacks around 10 am, it was not running yet, but was, on the way back down.