100 miles into our first long thruhike, the Pacific Crest Trail, it was hot. We hiked into Warner Springs, the first town the trail goes through, and hikers were congregating in the town community center to briefly enjoy some air conditioning. Shortly after we got there, another hiker stumbled in who was not in good shape. He was suffering from heat exhaustion, fatigue, dizziness, and was thinking of calling it quits. The first thing the people at the community center did to help him recover was hand him a bottle of Gatorade! They knew from watching hikers stumble in all summer long that on hot days, water alone isn’t enough to keep your body functioning right. You need electrolytes too!
So, what are electrolytes? They’re the minerals in our bodies that carry an electrical charge. They include sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium, and more. Normally, we get these through our diets and our bodies know how to regulate their electrolyte balances quite well. But when you sweat a lot, whether due to hot weather or exercise, you lose your electrolytes as you sweat. If you’ve ever had salt caked on your skin and clothing after sweating a lot, that is your lost electrolytes (the other minerals are caked in those clothes too, it’s just that it’s easier to notice the salt because of it’s taste). If you’re only drinking water to replenish what you’re sweating out, it doesn’t take long before your electrolyte levels will drop to low, or even dangerous, levels.
If you’ve ever experienced a headache, dizziness, or cramps during exercise, there’s a good chance it’s because of low electrolyte levels. Other more severe symptoms include:
- Fatigue
- Weakness
- Irregular heartbeat
- Dizziness
- Confusion
- Nausea
- Vomiting
- And even seizures in extreme cases
Fortunately, if you plan ahead, come prepared, and listen to your body when you’re out there, it usually isn’t too difficult to replenish electrolytes as you lose them and keep your body functioning well. Here are the strategies we employ:
1. Chewable Electrolyte Tablets:
Our favorite way to get electrolytes is in solid form using SaltStick tablets. These are tablets formulated to replace lost electrolytes. You just pop them into your mouth as you sweat. They taste like candy, but what makes them so convenient is their simplicity; there are no powders to mix into water and no heavy sports drinks to bring along. These don’t replace water, they compliment it (you still have to drink lots of water when sweating a lot). The instructions say to chew two tablets every thirty minutes during exercise, but in practice you might want more or less than that depending on how much you’re sweating. By checking in with our bodies periodically, we’ve found that it’s really straight-forward to get the right amount… We keep them with us on hikes and runs, and when we crave them, we have them.
Bonus: If you've been reading/watching us for a while, you know how much we love caffeine! Our Pacific Northwest Circuit trip probably wouldn't have been possible if it weren't for caffeine. SaltStick just released caffeinated FastChews! Tim brought them on his Ozark Trail Unsupported Fastest-Known-Time thruhike and is completely in love.
2. Electrolyte Drink Powders
We only learned about SaltStick in 2024. Before that, we always brought powdered electrolytes and/or dissolvable electrolyte tablets on our thruhikes, bikes, and runs. On thruhikes we’d mix up Gatorade powder when we wanted extra sugar, but too much sugar can feel heavy in the stomach, not to mention a week’s worth of sugary Gatorade powder actually gets pretty heavy to carry on our backs. So we also had lots of Skratch Labs hydration mix, which is lower in sugar and made from more natural ingredients. We discovered Skratch Labs when we were doing lots of training for an Ironman Triathlon. We’ve also enjoyed DripDrop on hikes. Electrolyte/sports drink powders are an excellent way to get electrolytes, the only problem is that they’re a little bit more complex than chews since they have to be mixed. This usually means pre-mixing before exercise. On backpacking trips we bring the powders along and stop trail-side to mix our drinks.
Suggestion: Try drinking hot Skratch Labs apple cider flavor for dessert on a backpacking trip. It's usually only available in the fall, and it's a great way to wrap up a day!3. Dissolvable Tablets
Another way to get electrolytes is in the form of dissolvable tablets like Nuun. These are tablets that you dissolve into a bottle of water to consume as you drink. They have very little sugar. For simplicity, these are the second-easiest way to get electrolytes on a backpacking trip (behind SaltStick). We’ve enjoyed plenty of Nuun on all of our thruhikes.
4. Bottled Sports Drinks
Regular sports drinks like Gatorade, Powerade, and Propel also provide the electrolytes needed to replenish what you’re sweating out. We drink them all the time, but not on long hikes or runs. The drawback is that it’s a lot heavier to carry a bottle full of liquid than it is to carry tablets or a powder that you mix into water that’s collected and filtered along the way (or in the case of long runs, collected from a drinking fountain). Plus, these are almost always more expensive per serving than tablets or the powdered version.
Don’t Forget to Hydrate
Remember, electrolytes are super important, but so is water! We tend to drink about 1 liter (~4 cups) of water every 5 miles whether we’re running or hiking. We have a little bit more when it’s really hot, and a little bit less when it’s cold. For counting, it doesn’t matter if your water is consumed alongside electrolyte tablets or as a mixed electrolyte drink — a liter counts as a liter either way. Have fun on the trail, and stay hydrated out there!
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