I figured out yesterday morning that the 2.5 gallon container that I thought had drinking water in it did not in fact have drinking water in it. Instead, the container, into which I’d made over a gallon of inroads over the weekend, contained distilled water.
Now, drinking distilled water won’t kill you. It tends to be less flavorful than mineralized water, though I didn’t notice that. I had instead felt lightheaded and loopy, a little out of sorts. I have to wonder now if the other container that I finished off over the weekend also had distilled water, but it’s long in the recycling bin by now.
I didn’t drink a lot of water yesterday because I don’t like the taste of the water that comes out of the sink. But I did eat a lot of watermelon, so that’s got to count for something.
I want to start feeling better, and I hope that this water mistake can be blamed for any feelings of not-well-ness I’ve been having because Ambrose and I are going on a long backpacking trip next week and I want to be completely ready. Back to the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness to see if we can make a better go of it this time.
As I told my co-workers, this year, instead of pressing on when we reach the small campsite on the jeep road, a tactic that ended with Ambrose stumbling into camp after 1 in the morning, we will be stopping there and finishing the trek in the morning when we reach that point. Along with another change in route, and familiarity with most of the route, the hike should be easier than last year, but that doesn’t mean easy.
So I’m going to make sure I’m drinking water complete with tasty minerals for the rest of the week.