A guy on the bus in Boise said he plans his whole route around where he can filter water, and that blew my mind

Quinn Nguyen · 2026-10-03T15:05:04.066781+00:00

I sat next to this older hiker on the bus in Boise last Tuesday and he saw my map hanging out of my pack. He said he never picks a route by mileage first, he picks it by water sources first, then fills in the miles after. He showed me his map and it had little circles at every creek and spring between Stanley and the Sawtooths, and he said that one habit cut his pack weight by almost 5 pounds because he stopped carrying so much water. I tried it on a 3 day loop near McCall and honestly I felt way better at the end of each day. Does anyone else plan routes water first, or am I late to this?

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A guy on the bus in Boise said he plans his whole route around where he can filter water, and that blew my mind | Backpacking Routes - HW Forums