hydration

Will always take a bladder with a sipper tube. Have a rough idea of what's left by taking 5 or 7 sips per go. If it's a mountain day-hike, might take 2x 1L collapsable bottles & make a point of emptying 1 at lunchtime. Like to start the the day with an effervescent multi-B tablet. Just the placebo effect's got to be a boost ?.

I will usually take a small amount of Gatorade/Powerade power mix and put a bit in my bottle water around lunch. I keep bladders for pure water only, I can just picture sugar getting stuck in a corner and would mean having to wash and could grow things if not cleaned well enough, not worth the effort IMO.

I also only put straight water in the bladders. If you keep them stored empty in your freezer at home, they don't get 'buggy'. I've also heard you can clean hydration gear with denture tablets ?. http://i5.walmartimages.com/dfw/dce07b8c-2f7c/k2-_2adf40ca-8fae-453b-ab03-96662047977d.v1.jpg You might not want a flavoured residue option ?.

Wow freezer is a great idea. I hang mine on the line inside, all tubes/nozzles detached. Normally put a nozzle inside to open up the space to dry faster. Still can take 4-5 days :(

most b vitamin supplements have excessive amounts of vitamins in them , several times the daily requirement, your body excretes them quickly and takes a lot of fluid with it, they are diuretics.... worst time to take them is before you start walking... there isnt a shred of scientific evidence that ongoing mega dosing on b vitamins does you any good, unless youre clinically deficient from a junk food diet, but the supplements available today would quickly reverse that problem.. baby bottle cleaner tablets can be used to clean bladders. rinse well afterwards...

Reservoirs: have Osprey 3L (with anti-microbial formula) that came with MTB daypacks. Only use water, empty afterwards and dry out with kitchen paper towels (use tongs) leave one dry scrunched up in it to keep sides apart. Dry by the evening. Blow out the tube. Dunno about the effects of 'storing' it in the freezer on the materials…? Overnight is ok. Disadvantage of reservoirs is not being able to see what's left (unless you buy a flow meter). On tramps we use Camelbak Eddy bottles with matching "Handsfree Adaptor" tube. Stored in pack side pockets you can see levels and is quick to refill. Great solution. Had to buy these from Oz as NZ supplier stopped bringing them in. http://www.camelbak.com/en/International/Sports-Recreation/Accessories/Hands-Free-Adapter.aspx Electrolytes: been using Pure Sports Nutrition on the MTB but in winter all it does is make us pee heaps! Despite sweating on hill climbs it's just too much so we stopped drinking it on cold days. Certainly prevents cramps and muscle fatigue on the MTB in summer but don't use it for tramping now. Just not sweating as much. http://www.drinkpure.co.nz Sipping is the way to go… best achieved with a tube-system as removing pack or asking companion to extract your bottle can get tiresome.

I have the Osprey too - it's three years old, gets hung out on the line after trips then stuffed in the gear cupboard (mouthpiece removed) and I've never had an issue with it going stanky. I've taken to using the same supplements I use road cycling when I'm on big tramps (GU gels, R Line sports drink) - both do the job well, no more 'hell cramps in the sleeping bag' for me.

Appreciated the sciencey post, Waynowski. I take magnesium tablets at bedtime. They're supposed to help with cramps and promote sleep. That trick to put the bladder and tube in the freezer sounds good. I have a pretty black drinking tube these days and the bladder has gone a faint pink colour! Water only too...

i found baby bottle cleaner tabs got rid of the black buildup in tubes after being flushed out.