Re: Water additives

Since we only do day hikes when we travel, we typically pick up several bottles of PowerAde Zero and do a roughly 50/50 mix of this with water in our Camelbaks. It adds a bit of flavor and also helps restore electrolytes and some vitamins. It's getting to be a bit harder to find, though (for example, on our way from SFO to Yosemite, our usual stops seem more and more only to carry GatorAde (which my wife doesn't like) or the full-sugar version of PowerAde (which I don't like).

I'm curious if anyone else bothers with any kind of water "fortification" like this. If you're backpacking, I'm sure that, at most, you'd add some kind of powder or tablets to your water (as opposed to the absurdity of carting bottles of PowerAde or GatorAde with you) but how many of you even bother with that? For anyone who DOES use water additives, what brands do you like? (I know PowerAde themselves make a powder (which I've only ever seen available via mail-order) but it's typically much more expensive to buy a small packet of powder than a large bottle of the mixed drink).

I use this stuff sometimes when I am cycling and seriously worried about dehydration. We've considered it when backpacking but have never actually done it. The stuff helps when you are concerned about serious dehydration, but I guess we don't work quite so hard backpacking as I do on a long cycling day...

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I usually don't bother but my son sometimes uses Emergen-C powder.

I like Nuun tablets. They come in a little plastic tube (formerly of 12, now of 10) and when you drop a tab in water, it fizzes for about two minutes as it dissolves. For hiking in warm weather, I usually alternate half a liter of plain water with half a liter of the Nuuned kind.

I find that when I get behind on electrolytes I get nasty leg cramps, especially in the middle of the night after a hike. I've learned to keep a few Nuun tablets and a half-liter bottle of water next to my bed. Once I dissolve the tab and drink a few ounces of the solution, the cramps fade within minutes. I bring the rest of the bottle with me the next day and use it as my first installment of hiking water (followed by plain water, followed by Nuun water, etc.)

I've looked at (and occasionally tried) other hydration products but they've all been too sweet for me, and usually pretty heavy on the Kool-Aidy flavoring. Nuun "Lemon+Lime" is pretty lightly flavored and not noticeably sweet. However, I'm a little alarmed to note that the last batch I bought has only 10 tablets per tube instead of 12, and they've taken out the sorbitol and replaced it with dextrose. I do so hope they haven't loused it up.

Here's the product listed at REI: https://www.rei.com/product/101656/nuun-active-tabs-hydration-tablets-10-servings Surprisingly, a big grocery store in my area carries it too, and for 50 cents less.

For my last trip, I picked up a bottle of Hammer Endurolytes. They're nearly flavorless, sugar-free capsules. But they got buried in the bear can after the first day, so I can't attest to their efficacy.