Cindy and I first backpacked the Needles District of Canyonlands National Park in 2017. Since then, I’ve returned to backpack 6 times–4 of those times as a backpacking guide. I know a lot about this area! Still, whether you are going for a short hike or are spending a few nights in the outdoors, it’s important to follow the first Leave No Trace principle before you hit the trail and “Plan Ahead and Prepare.” This is especially important when it comes to making sure you have access to water in the desert.
Being Prepared with Your Own Water
The Needles District can be a challenge for backpackers because there is no reliable water source. Cindy and I knew when we began planning the Wine Hiking Society beginner backpacking trip. That meant we would need to carry all of our water . . . for the whole weekend. To do that, we’d need a durable, secure way for each woman on the trip to carry 9 liters of water.
Finding a Durable and Packable Water Storage Solution
When we did our women’s beginner backpacking trip to the Needles District in April, we used Hydrapak’s Seeker 4L water storage bag to carry extra water. Hydrapak’s Seeker water storage bag is tough but lightweight, two important qualities for backpacking. With the cold desert nights, the last thing you want to worry about is the water leaking from your storage bag onto your clothes and sleeping bag. That’d make for a cold, miserable night.
The Hydrapak Seeker 4L (4 liter) is designed with heavy-duty material to fit on the inside or be strapped on the outside of your pack. And while it’s durable, it’s also lightweight. That’s important because at 2.2 pounds per liter, water alone is already heavy enough! The Hydrapak Seeker is also packable, so it collapses and stows away nicely when you’re done with it.
The Hydrapak Seeker comes in 2L, 3L, and 4L. I even have the Expedition 8L, which my friends and I cached when we did the Zion Traverse the beginning of May.
For our women-only beginner backpacking trip, each woman had to carry an extra 6 liters of water in addition to our 3L bladders. If you do the math, that’s 20 pounds just in water weight! Our women rocked that weight up and down the trail! You can read more about our most recent trip here.
Carrying that much water would have been nearly impossible without the Hydrapak Seeker 4L. Some of the women in our group also used the Stash 1L to carry the other 2 liters of water for the weekend. The Stash 1L is perfect for drinking water around camp so you’re not stuck sipping from the bladder in your backpack. Plus, these 1L bottles are half the weight of a hard-sided water bottle and are collapsible.
Without planning ahead and without our Hydrapak reservoirs, we wouldn’t have been able to enjoy 3 days and 2 nights in the beautiful backcountry of Canyonlands National Park.