Packing the basics for family camping in a compact car: Water

Water is an absolute essential, and I'm always surprised at how much we go through. The standard estimation for hiking is one liter per person every two hours, which you can adjust for heat and difficult terrain which would require you to drink more to stay hydrated. Kids sometimes drink a little less, but you don't want to underestimate your needs.

Most of the campgrounds we stayed at had water. If we were lucky, a spigot right at our campsite. Others had spigots that were shared between several sites, and some you needed to go to the central bathroom or dishwashing area for water. On a hike, there are rarely places to fill up, so you need to carry as much as you think you'll need based on the mileage.

We prefer to not use the little plastic bottles, as reusable ones are better for the environment. Additionally, because you can't always rely on having potable water everywhere, it's important to have some way of rendering the water drinkable. In the past, I've used filters that you have to pump the water through into your bottle, iodine tablets, and simply boiled water on the stove. For our family travels, rather than pack a filter that we could lose or the kids could take apart or chew on, we opted for the LifeStraw.

We first discovered these when we were traveling in Asia for five months back in 2016, and they are amazing. There's a filter built into the lid of the bottle, and when you suck water up through the straw, you filter it. Even the baby, who was then 6-11 months old on that trip, could suck out of the straw. We had two of them then, and carried them everywhere. They are expensive bottles (about $45), but you can replace the filters for about $25.

I was kicking myself for throwing out a bottle when the little one sucked apple cider through it (never have I tasted something so nasty as water from that bottle post this incident), but we had one left and bought a new Lifestraw bottle for this trip so we would have two. The old bottle needed a new filter, so on the way to Davis Bayou, I bought what I thought was the replacement filter when I saw it. Turns out, it was what is called a “personal filter.” You stick it in any bottle or pot and suck through it to filter water, but it doesn't actually fit into the lid of our bottle. It wasn't what I wanted and I returned it the next day for a refund. We then ordered a replacement filter to be mailed to us, but it didn't fit, either. I think they must have changed the shape at some point.

So we had one liter of water to carry on short hikes and two liters for longer hikes. We also kept a gallon jug in the car that could be used when needed. As the kids get older, we'll need to have each person carry their own water bottle, but for now, this was all we needed.