Thanks for the write up.
Tip for boiled water: bring packets of crystal light or similar. Makes bad water taste decent.
Thanks for the write up.
Tip for boiled water: bring packets of crystal light or similar. Makes bad water taste decent.
Why would boiled water taste bad? I guess it all depends on what kind of water it was before you boiled it.
"A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds." Ralph Waldo Emerson
A couple of years ago, I tried a shortcut to a campsite in the NJ Pine Barrens and got lost. This was in early March, and the water was deathly cold. After I realized I was lost, I thought I could get back on course by swimming across a river. I took all my clothes off and put them in my pack. I swam across the river and darned near froze to death. I thought I was back on track, but in a couple of hundred yards I encountered another river. My brain was already going wacky from hypothermia, so I swam across this river too. It was only about 15 or 20 feet wide, but I went under and wasn't at all sure I would make it to the other bank. By now I was extremely hypothermic, only to find another river probably 100 yards wide. There was no way I could swim across it, so I got in my hammock, warmed up, and went to sleep.
In the morning a friend paddled his canoe up river and came to get me. I know for certain I will never swim across a river (or two) in winter again. Not one of my brighter ideas, and I'm lucky to be alive!
"A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds." Ralph Waldo Emerson
I've no idea. It was the filtered meltwater, it just didn't taste as good as the unboiled water. It was boiled in my titanium pot, and that's not used for anything other than heating water, so it wasn't tainted by food. It was just bland. I think a taste test may be needed!
Thanks for the tip. Though I'll admit I'm hoping that the need to boil drinking water -- except for coffee, tea, and chocolate -- is something I won't encounter again for a long time.
I know Sweet and Sour Pork is just fine, but it'll be associated with this experience for a long while! So I'll give it a pass for a while.
I hope so too. Even if it's just a reminder to brush up our map navigation skills every now and then, and not take things for granted.
Warning: Physical Chemistry Nerd Alert!
Boiled water tastes flat because it has been outgassed. See the tiny bubbles that form when you heat water, but before reaching a rolling boil? That's air coming out of solution. Unlike most solids like sugar and salt, the solubility of gases in water actually decreases with increasing temperature. If you cool the boiled water, and re-heat it soon thereafter, you don't get the tiny bubbles, because air has not had time to re-dissolve.
If you boil water, and just let it sit for a few hours or overnight, eventually air redissolves, and the taste returns to what you are used to.
P.S. This is why your kitchen faucet has an aerator: it's to promote rapid dissolving of air.
Bummer on the illness and hope you are feeling better. You need to download Gaiagps on your phone and you would know exactly where you were. I carry paper maps but I always use Gaia to see where I am.
That one sentence above is the best part of your trip report because it's the most meaningful. Sometimes the best thing to do in a bad situation is nothing but sit and think about how to not make a bad thing worse than it is. Kudos for that bit of good thinking, which makes this hike a cautionary tale and not a tragedy.
As for the rest, I truly enjoyed reading your report and appreciate the photos and the GPS track. You've told a compelling story. Good job on the list of lessons at the end.
Cheers.
"...the height of hammock snobbery!"
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