A couple weeks ago I was in Austin, Texas with my fiancé checking out the city for the first time and exploring some of the local hiking spots.  We decided our last stop before heading home would be McKinney Falls State Park, about 13 miles southeast of downtown Austin.  It was late in the season, and dry, so there wasn't much water running over the falls but there was enough water there to test out my PurifiCup … [Read more...]

Well, the Hydration Summit is coming to a close and I've had a lot of time to put my Geigerrig, filter and my Rig 700 ballistic nylon pack to the test in exotic locations. I've taken my Geigerrig from cold mountain summits at over 17 000 feet to tropical jungles to dry deserts, It has gone zooming down the world's most dangerous road and sat in the backseat to distract the kids and keep them hydrated on long journeys. Its been filled with … [Read more...]

I have a GeigerRig Hydration Engine but my backpack was not made by GeigerRig now what? One of the things that I had wondered when I received my 3 liter GeigerRig Hydration Engine was how easy it would be to  hook that up to different backpacks that were not specifically created to use the GeigerRig Hydration Engine.  I was really not surprised at all at how easy it was to retrofit my 3 backpacks of choice with the system. Granted it did … [Read more...]

I was asked to contribute to the Summit, and to review the Geigerrig hydration system around the same time that a massive influx of work came my way.  This meant is has been difficult finding time to write this up.  Conversely, I have had ample opportunity to really use the system, and feel that I can give an honest review of its strengths and weaknesses. Aside from being nigh on indestructible (I’ve even stabbed rocks into it … [Read more...]

In my first post for the Hydration Summit, I took a good, hard look at the how's and why's of a pressurized hydration system. Prior to receiving my complimentary Geigerrig Rig 500 to test, I'd never thought about why I'd need to pressurize my hydration system or how it could be beneficial. Being able to squirt water out of the reservoir seemed like an unnecessary added feature; a feature that I might not even use as a recreational hiker, biker … [Read more...]

Regardless of how you choose to carry your water with you while hiking, it's pretty safe to say that the primary use of that water is going to be for staying hydrated - drinking. Whether you carry it in lightweight bottles in the side pockets of your backpack, in a spare Platypus type bladder inside your pack, or in a hydration bladder configured with your pack it's highly likely that you've practiced and perfected the art of getting to it … [Read more...]

“Water is life’s mater and matrix, mother and medium.  There is no life without water.” - Albert Szent-Gyorgyi The ease and convenience of hydration packs have made them a standard tool for athletes and outdoor enthusiasts alike.  Wherever your outdoor soul wanders, a hydration pack means there’s no need to slow down to take a sip of water, making the hydration process an almost effortless task.  Because hydration packs make the … [Read more...]

  Your headed to the amusement park, soccer game, the beach, farmer's market or the playground and you need to take along water. What do you usually carry water in for your family? A hydration bladder or water bottles for each person? Whichever it is, it adds up to a lot of bottles or bladders for a family. How about using a Geigerrig hydration pack for the ENTIRE family AND you can store snacks, sunscreen, sunglasses, wallets and … [Read more...]

When it comes to hydration packs, I admit that I am a rookie.  I enjoy camping sites that are road accessible.  With a family of five, all our excursions have adventure built in.  While camping, we enjoy fishing, hiking and biking but these adventures rarely last over several hours.  For hydration, we usually bring water bottles- lots of water bottles.  So when I was asked to review the Geigerrig RIG 500 hydration pack, I agreed although I … [Read more...]

For the past couple of months, I have been mountain biking and hiking exclusively with the Geigerrig RIG 700 hydration pack I was sent to test out as part of the Hydration Summit.  Geigerrig packs use a unique two-chamber hydration reservoir system, nicknamed the Geigerrig Hydration Engine, which is designed to pressurize the water within the reservoir. Geigerrig has taken a standard Hydrapak reservoir and modified it with a sealed air … [Read more...]