Camelbak Alpine rocks my world

So I bought a 2010 Alpine Explorer on clearance and man does it rock. Just enough space to cram in all my gear for an overnight trip but small enough to use for day hikes. The only problem is the 3L reservoir would only keep me hydrated for one day since I drink a lot of water.

Today a lightbulb came on and I slipped my SixBac 6lt reservoir into the back and voila. It fit perfectly. Now I've got 6L of water.

6L = 12 pounds!!!!

Where are you hiking that is so dry that you need to carry that much water?

I've been known to drink 3L a day including meals so if there isn't a place with water that gives me a day to get there and a day to get back.

I have water filtration and smaller bladders for the times when I can refill.

No sure where alex is from but a friend always takes his "Beast" 6L bladder on hikes with no water sources plus a few bottles. We live in he Desert SW so a lot of the places we hike water sources are unreliable early in the season to non existent by late summer. Ive seen a stream by running good one weekend and a few weeks later bone dry.

Hiking in the Guadalupe Mtns (which by some slim chance you actually find water, your asked to leave it for the wildlife)your advised to carry a gal of water per day... so 2 gals on an overnight. I usually get by with 6L on those hikes but because its only about 4-6miles tops. If I were to hike farther I would need the Gal/day.

I actually live in lush and green Sonoma county. Unfortunately something a lot of people do not know about the area is that they used to mine cinnabar here to make mercury during the gold rush. So some sources in the hills are heavily contaminated. The hills above Healdsburg are the worst.

There's also supposed to be something left over from when the area was the nation's egg basket but I couldn't tell you what.

So really I'd rather have to hump the extra weight than purify that junk. Besides I'm training to climb Shasta in August so the extra weight will do me good.