I was wondering if anybody out there has any advice for carrying 5L of water at a time. I often use a GG Mariposa which is easy to fit 5L into because of the large volume and tall mesh pockets. However, I recently bought a 35L Golite Jam to try out smaller volume packs because the Mariposa was just too big for my 3-season gear. I have been enjoying the smaller volume and the tougher material of the Golite until I tried to stick 5L of water into it. The pack carried just fine when I had 4L of the water in two 2L platy's inside the pack body. The other 1L was just a store-bought disposable bottle that I keep in a mesh pocket. However, the platy's were very difficult to access when placed in this manner and required me to take most of my gear out of the pack so I could yank them out (the inside of the 210D dyneema-grid material is surprisingly tacky). I also tried sticking them in the mesh pockets on the outside of the pack which worked well until they started flopping over about 10 steps later. My next attempt involved sticking the platy's closer to my back, but that caused the pack to be uncomfortably bulgy. My final attempt was to just stick the 4L of water on top of everything, but that made the pack uncomfortably unstable and caused it to pull back considerably.

Am I just stuck with taking a bunch of gear out of my pack when I want to access my water? It wouldn't be too bad if I just filled the 1L bottle occasionally, but there has to be a more elegant solution.

I seem to have come full circle on the Ultralight pack deal, with regards to water hauling. I live in the desert too and often have to carry 6-10 liters. I didn't even like the way that my Mariposa plus dealt with that and my Burn was much worse.

I'm in the process of trying a small capacity heavy pack, with better frame and hip belts, to see if that solves the problem. I don't know any other solution, as my experience is that ultralight packs and mucho water, just don't seem to mix well, at least not in a comfortable sort of way.

You do not need to access five liters of water at a time.

Reconsider your route if it requires you to haul that much water.

I had to carry four gallons of water one time.

--B.G.--

you can use 2 platys with hoses, each running to the top or outside the pack, youll need to take yr stuff out when refilling, but if yr carrying alot of water, that shouldnt be often

Ive carried 4.5L before, so has my 12yo son. A 2L platy actually holds 2.5. We put our two 1L bottles in side pockets on Circuit, and the 2.5 platy in the back pocket.

Actually, we could fit 4x1L in the sides, and still put platy in the back for 6.5L with no issues, except more weight.

If you are hauling that much water, you probably are drinking constantly and not refiling any water, so get a 3L hydration bladder with hose. The few extra oz for the hose is worth it, and hopefully your pack has a pocket to keep that 3L close to your back---the optimal location.

Now all your other water does not need to be accessible. The best place is close to your spine, higher is better than lower.

If I'm taking 10L, I have 3L in my hydration bladder, a 1L soda bottle, and a 6L MSR Dromlite bladder. The 3L bladder is in the pocket by my back, the 6L goes lengthwise on top main compartment, so that it sits approx at the height of my shoulder blades, close to my back. The 1L bottle goes wherever.

When hauling that much water, I find that carrying some on the front of my shoulder straps helps out a lot. In the picture below, I have a 2L bladder in the side pocket and each water bottle on the shoulder straps is 0.5L giving me 3L. These water bottles are easy to access and they really help to redistribute the weight. Whenever I run low in the bottles, I just stop and fill them up from my bladder. I could easily put another 2L bladder in my other side pocket.

Sometimes I'll carry a 4 liter Platypus in my hand for up to a few miles.

Not good for desert hiking where you need to carry enough water for day(s), but good if you want to camp up to a few miles from a water source.