Lanceman,
Another excellent article.
Water bottles and water-purification tablets. I have personal experience when I tell you that no matter how clear a mountain stream looks, someone is surely defecating or urinating into it upstream.
So True!
No matter where in the world you go, you will encounter this.
In most countries, you cannot trust the tap water either.
On my of my treks I find enthusiastic but inexperienced trekkers weighed down physically and metaphorically by wrong equipment.
Once, I heard a dull clanging on the trail. Then a guy walked by with a huge cast iron frying pan dangling from the back of his pack!
Maybe he liked to cook on the trail... but cast iron?
Prospective Hikers,
Another very important item is socks.
Whatever you do, do not wear cotton socks. As Lanceman mentions, you will regret it.
When cotton gets wet, it chafes and where it chafes, you will get a blister.
The first thing that many serious hikers will tell you is "Cotton Kills". That is especially true up here in the northern parts of the USA.
Some tricks that I was taught at NIM in Uttarkashi, about socks:
1. When it is cold enough to wear wool socks, wear a pair of nylon dress socks under them.
The nylon will wick away sweat and will provide a smooth relatively blister free experience for your feet.
2. Prior to wearing them, wash your (clean) wool socks with a mild detergent like Woolite or Dreft (not sure anymore what the Indian equivalents are) and just wring them out and dry them (instead of rinsing). This will help with chafing.
When I buy a pair of hiking shoes, I make sure that they will fit while wearing a thick pair of hiking socks.
Your feet must not be able to slide around in your shoes. When you tighten the laces, your feet must be immobile in your shoes.
I try to buy hiking socks that have some wool content in them. A decent summer pair might have something like 45% Acrylic, 40% Merino Wool, 13% Nylon, 2% Spandex. For winter, I like to increase the wool content and wear a pair of dress socks under.
I have been hiking since the 1970's and I have never had a blister. I've been sore many times but no actual blisters.
Watch this, now that I've said it; Mr. Murphy will be working overtime to prove me wrong.
