how big a jug?

[Alpo]

Let's suppose, just for supposing, that you are at a campsite. And the only water available is at a faucet a quarter of a mile away. So you going to walk. That's a half mile round trip.

 

And of course you need a container to bring the water back. There are three of you that are going to fetch water.

 

In the book - yes this is from a book - they took the tea kettle and a couple of saucepans. And I thought they would probably do better with actual water jugs. The tea kettle might not be too bad - it has a bale after all. But open saucepans - that just seems like you would spill about half of it before you got back. Buckets would work, but you would slop a lot.

 

Then I got to idly wondering - because I wonder idly frequently - how big a jug would be the best to carry if you're going to make a half mile walk. Gallon? 2 gallons? 5 gallons would be ludicrous.

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

Two one gallon jugs

[watab kid]

i generally take my water with me so dont havre to go to the welkl , but if i had to id carry the lergest i had to make it in one trip , if that was what you were asking , if i missed somethging here - never mind i already have all the water i need 

[Matthew Duncan]

Water weighs 8.3 pounds per gallon..  How many pounds can you carry for a half of a mile?

[Pat Riot]

My options:

1. Like @watab kid, I bring all the water I think I will need when camping.

2. IF I needed water when camping and the source was 1/4 mile away I would move camp to where the water is. 
3. I have only camped where I wasn’t near my vehicle a few times. In those instances I carried my water on my back in my pack. I estimated what I thought I would need and doubled it. 
3. If I did end up camping somewhere without my vehicle and water was 1/4 mile away (see item 2) it would probably be because I was taken hostage or captured and was being forced to walk to get water. In this case this would probably be a one way trip for either me or my captor as I would be planning to over power or outsmart any dipstick dumb enough to go into the woods with me thinking I was their mule. That or I would end up dead.

 

Also, I won’t hike or camp with people too lazy, stupid or conniving to bring the water they need. I did not share in instances like these when I was young and hiking up a mountain to spend the night with a bunch of so-called friends / coworkers when I thought that type of thing was “fun”. 
 

 

[Subdeacon Joe]

Instead of avoiding answering the question, I'll take a stab at it.  

Doing reenacting I've faced that situation.  No choice in where our camp was in relation to where the water was.  3 gallon buckets which you put 2 gallons in, and rig some sort of shoulder yolk to hang the buckets on.  Why only 2 gallons?  Because if you fill it to 3 gallons you will likely have a gallon slosh out before getting back to camp.    If you have some sort of closed container, say 3 gallons, you fill it to 3 gallons, and again, hope to have a pair of them and hang them from a shoulder yolk even if it's just an improvised one.  

If  you only have sauce pans, you do the best you can.Every quart of water you bring back is a quart you don't have to walk for later. 

 

And make it a rule, everyone who is going to be near the water source ALWAYS takes am empty bucket or jug and brings back more water.  Or some firewood.  One thing I noticed in our reenacting unit was that those who were always profligate with firewood in the evening were the least likely to be the ones fetching the firewood.  They also tended to use the last of the water and not get more.  Or do something stupid like clean their mess gear in the bucket that you would be pouring out of for coffee or other cleaning.  And not be willing to carry water back to camp.  

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

1 hour ago, Subdeacon Joe said:

Instead of avoiding answering the question, I'll take a stab at it.  

Doing reenacting I've faced that situation.  No choice in where our camp was in relation to where the water was.  3 gallon buckets which you put 2 gallons in, and rig some sort of shoulder yolk to hang the buckets on.  Why only 2 gallons?  Because if you fill it to 3 gallons you will likely have a gallon slosh out before getting back to camp.    If you have some sort of closed container, say 3 gallons, you fill it to 3 gallons, and again, hope to have a pair of them and hang them from a shoulder yolk even if it's just an improvised one.  

If  you only have sauce pans, you do the best you can.Every quart of water you bring back is a quart you don't have to walk for later. 

 

And make it a rule, everyone who is going to be near the water source ALWAYS takes am empty bucket or jug and brings back more water.  Or some firewood.  One thing I noticed in our reenacting unit was that those who were always profligate with firewood in the evening were the least likely to be the ones fetching the firewood.  They also tended to use the last of the water and not get more.  Or do something stupid like clean their mess gear in the bucket that you would be pouring out of for coffee or other cleaning.  And not be willing to carry water back to camp.  

I suppose HDPE jugs would be frowned upon.

[Subdeacon Joe]

1 hour ago, Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 said:

I suppose HDPE jugs would be frowned upon.

 

If you're "campaigning" yes. About the only non-period thing allowed was modern medications.   

 

At most events,  as long as they aren't visible to the public, almost nobody cared.  And even those are easier to carry with a yolk.

[Stump Water]

4 hours ago, Matthew Duncan said:

Water weighs 8.3 pounds per gallon..  How many pounds can you carry for a half of a mile?

 

Quarter mile.  

[Jabez Cowboy,SASS # 50129]

In Uganda East Africa, the women balance a 5 gallon container (sealed) on their heads and carry a two gallon water can (sealed) in each hand they walk a mile. then they rest before completing the remaining mile walk back to the village...

Most of these ladies don't weigh much over 100 pounds... I was so glad when we were able to supply our village with safe drinking water piped to eight sites in the village. This was a joint project with the government of Iceland...

 

Jabez Cowboy  

Edited March 22 by Jabez Cowboy,SASS # 50129

[Cypress Sun]

Two gallons or 8 liters if I were in most other countries.

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

7 minutes ago, Cypress Sun said:

Two gallons or 8 liters if I were in most other countries.

Them being metric and all, 10 liters is likely.

[Alpo]

I was searching for water jugs, to see if they actually made one gallon jugs. Aside from milk jugs which are crappy plastic and fall apart.

 

And I found some 11 Liter containers.

 

 

Which would be about what - 3 gallon?

 

I've not found a 20 liter container, either. Lots of 19s, but no 20s.

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

3 minutes ago, Alpo said:

I was searching for water jugs, to see if they actually made one gallon jugs. Aside from milk jugs which are crappy plastic and fall apart.

 

And I found some 11 Liter containers.

 

 

Which would be about what - 3 gallon?

 

I've not found a 20 liter container, either. Lots of 19s, but no 20s.

I’d bet they were made to be 5 gallons.  )))

[Pat Riot]

5 hours ago, Subdeacon Joe said:

One thing I noticed in our reenacting unit was that those who were always profligate with firewood in the evening were the least likely to be the ones fetching the firewood.  They also tended to use the last of the water and not get more.  Or do something stupid like clean their mess gear in the bucket that you would be pouring out of for coffee or other cleaning.  And not be willing to carry water back to camp.  

Isn’t that always the case? 
 

I recall one overnight hike I went on with some coworkers, the last one, I carried a 1 gallon jug in my backpack and 2 - 1 quart WW2 canteens on a web belt up a 7 mile trail to the top of a mountain.

Dinner time came and some people had dehydrated food “because it’s light to carry” and NO WATER to make it with, because they drank the 1 quart they each had hiking up the mountain. 
I had made the mistake of saying I had a gallon of water in my pack when we started the hike. 
So, not only did I collect all the firewood “we” were using I was told by a boss at work that I needed to ante up some of my water. 
I pretty much told him to shove it and that away from work he wasn’t a boss and sure as heck not my boss at work or away. 
I stuck to my guns. 
In the morning I made myself some instant coffee and had some peanut butter and crackers and I still had nearly a gallon of water. I filled my 2 canteens.

The hike down was very quiet and mixed with harsh looks and murmured commentary as I left this band of overeducated buttholes back down the trail. 
When we reached the parking lot at the trail head I made a big to-do about dumping the last quart and a half of water onto the pavement. 
I yelled “Bye Everybody”, waved and got into my truck and left. 

 

For some strange reason I was never invited out again with them. Screw ‘em! I preferred shooting, motorcycling, surfing and rock climbing on my weekends anyway. 

[Subdeacon Joe]

17 minutes ago, Pat Riot said:

I recall one overnight hike I went on with some coworkers, the last one, I carried a 1 gallon jug in my backpack and 2 - 1 quart WW2 canteens on a web belt up a 7 mile trail to the top of a mountain.

Dinner time came and some people had dehydrated food “because it’s light to carry” and NO WATER to make it with, because they drank the 1 quart they each had hiking up the mountain. 
I had made the mistake of saying I had a gallon of water in my pack when we started the hike. 
So, not only did I collect all the firewood “we” were using I was told by a boss at work that I needed to ante up some of my water. 

 

What kind of idjit thinks that one quart of water is enough for TWO DAYS?  Especially with a moderate mountain hike?  AND with dehydrated meals that will take at least a cup (1/4 of a quart), and more likely closer to a pint (1/2 of a quart), to prepare the meal?

 

So you started with about 12 pounds of water and Mr. Bigshot expected you to happily share?  

 

Only thing I would have done differently was in the morning,  after filling my canteens, would be give them the rest so I didn't have to carry it out.  That would have been 3 pounds that I didn't have to carry.  Plus it would have been fun to watch them try to divy it up among themselves. 

[Forty Rod SASS 3935]

On 3/21/2025 at 10:39 PM, Alpo said:

Let's suppose, just for supposing, that you are at a campsite. And the only water available is at a faucet a quarter of a mile away. So you going to walk. That's a half mile round trip.

 

And of course you need a container to bring the water back. There are three of you that are going to fetch water.

 

In the book - yes this is from a book - they took the tea kettle and a couple of saucepans. And I thought they would probably do better with actual water jugs. The tea kettle might not be too bad - it has a bale after all. But open saucepans - that just seems like you would spill about half of it before you got back. Buckets would work, but you would slop a lot.

 

Then I got to idly wondering - because I wonder idly frequently - how big a jug would be the best to carry if you're going to make a half mile walk. Gallon? 2 gallons? 5 gallons would be ludicrous.

Two three gallon water canvas bags, or one per person, were standard equipment when we were still going camping and hunting and just traveling around.  They carry well when empty, aren'y all the heavy when empty and not ridiculously heavy when full, keep water cool from evaporation if you hang them in the shade, and back then they cost under a dollar each.

 

I haven't laid eyes one one in about 25 years. 

Edited March 23 by Forty Rod SASS 3935

[Sedalia Dave]

19 Liters is just a hair over 5 gallons

 

11 Liters is just a few ounces short of 3 gallons.

[Subdeacon Joe]

8 hours ago, Alpo said:

I was searching for water jugs, to see if they actually made one gallon jugs. Aside from milk jugs which are crappy plastic and fall apart.

 

And I found some 11 Liter containers.

 

 

Which would be about what - 3 gallon?

 

I've not found a 20 liter container, either. Lots of 19s, but no 20s.

 

Those look like they are meant to be carried by 2 people. 

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

 

[Alpo]

"World war eye eye"

[Forty Rod SASS 3935]

11 hours ago, Subdeacon Joe said:

 

Those look like they are meant to be carried by 2 people. 

Clumsy, hard to carry and / store.

[Stump Water]

Back in my backpacking days, if we didn't overnight at water (which was rare) we broke out the water bag.   Nothing fancy like today's "hydration bladders", but something like this.   When not in use it was rolled up and stuffed in a pack.

[Sundog]

This is a fair-sized "jug"

 

[watab kid]

On 3/22/2025 at 5:39 AM, Pat Riot said:

My options:

1. Like @watab kid, I bring all the water I think I will need when camping.

2. IF I needed water when camping and the source was 1/4 mile away I would move camp to where the water is. 
3. I have only camped where I wasn’t near my vehicle a few times. In those instances I carried my water on my back in my pack. I estimated what I thought I would need and doubled it. 
3. If I did end up camping somewhere without my vehicle and water was 1/4 mile away (see item 2) it would probably be because I was taken hostage or captured and was being forced to walk to get water. In this case this would probably be a one way trip for either me or my captor as I would be planning to over power or outsmart any dipstick dumb enough to go into the woods with me thinking I was their mule. That or I would end up dead.

 

Also, I won’t hike or camp with people too lazy, stupid or conniving to bring the water they need. I did not share in instances like these when I was young and hiking up a mountain to spend the night with a bunch of so-called friends / coworkers when I thought that type of thing was “fun”. 
 

 

i camp with folks that also bring water , generally we all go home with extra water thats left over , but better to be doing that than running short , we also always have leftover food that was extra to our needs , sometimes quite a bit depending on the conditions of the occasion , my wife and i with another couple ventured into the BWCA [boundary waters canoe area ] we brought more than enough food in with us , but....,

 

once there we caught fish , we found mushrooms and we found plants that added to our diets , you just have to know what your looking at and how to prepare it , we did and we really had gormet meals in an are that ofyten only sees freeze dried stuff , but both girls are good cooks , i was a good fisherman and my frind was an expert in mushrooms and plants , in a weeks time we ate nearly a third of what we consumed from the land and water , the rest came from the coolers but as i said we had ample before we started so there was a bunch that came home with us , 

 

these days iim too lold to backpack stuff in and we dont spend as much time in the woods - but if need be there is an abundance here on my 2 1/2 acres to be harvested - the meat might be an issue because we cant shoot here in town [i would if needed] but the river offers a lot and my lawn hhas a lot of what we found up north since we keep it pretty wild here ,