Water is Life

At 5AM and still under the veil of darkness, I laid out across the bonnet of our car all the drinking water I would carry for today’s hike: a 2.5L bladder, a 1.5L aluminium flask, and three 1L Nalgene bottles. Seven litres of water, in five different containers.

My daypack, even without adding all this water, seemed nearly full. I’d already jammed food, a first aid kit, a PLB, emergency overnight gear and my camera equipment into the pack. Fitting in this seven litres meant I needed to cram everything else in tighter still.

I scanned our map and the proposed route once more. Several months earlier, my buddy Paul and I had set our sights on climbing the Northern Territory’s highest peak, Urlatherrke/Mt Zeil (1,531m). Now at the mountain’s base, we stared at the squiggles of contour lines on the map, illuminated in the darkness by the light of my headtorch. We weren’t exactly sure the total distance we’d end up hiking today, but as the crow flies our summit peak was a mere six kilometres away. The hike there and back should take us no more than eight hours. The temperatures weren’t expected to get much above 27°C.

For this amount of time and distance, did I really need seven litres of water? But more importantly, did I really want to be carrying an additional seven kilos of weight?

At this early hour, the air was cool. And so, without much more thought, I tossed one of the Nalgene bottles back in the car. I’d still be carrying six litres of water; more than enough, I thought. Little did I know that this moment, so inconsequential