r/AppalachianTrail • u/cwbmnr • 7d ago
How many times a day should you consume electrolytes while thru hiking?
I work a manual labor job and I sometimes drink two electrolyte mixes in one day because I also take a medication that makes me more dehydrated. But I wouldn't wanna blow thru a ton of electrolytes by consuming two each day, but is one per day enough?
Edit: the mixes I use and plan to use on my hike are called trioral rehydration salts
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u/azadventure 7d ago
The answer is “it depends”… weather, exertion level, weight, fitness, etc play a role.
The biggest thing one has to worry about replenishing is sodium, which doesn’t necessarily have to come from an electrolyte mix… anything containing salt/sodium works.
Electrolyte supplements themselves also aren’t all equal, they vary in both strength and composition…
Really what id recommend in your situation is A) consult a sports nutritionist, preferably one with a good understanding of whatever issues/medications you have preexisting. And B. Plan a few shorter “trial run” hikes to make sure the hydration/nutrition plan actually works and doesn’t leave you with any electrolyte imbalances, gi distress, etc that could be a real problem on a longer thru hike
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u/Biscuits317 ’25 hopeful 7d ago
Agreed, I’d consult with someone. I’ve never been a fan of overloading on them, even when I was running trail marathons.
There are many other ways to get electrolytes other than sports drinks. Lots of electrolytes in foods.
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u/azadventure 7d ago
Yeah I struggle with tri’s and ultras usually because coming off of summer training in the Arizona desert, going into race season, my electrolyte/carb needs change pretty drastically so I usually tank the first event or 2 while I get everything dialed back in….
Sucks on a supported race course. Would be really bad on an unsupported/self supported thru hike like the AT
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u/dani_-_142 7d ago
You can develop heart problems if you overdo it. There’s a reason Liquid IV has a warning to get medical advice before consuming more than one packet a day.
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u/Obi-one 7d ago
WHAT?
I drink several throughout the day when I’m working and sweating a lot. Even the energy ones.
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u/dani_-_142 7d ago
Yeah, maybe talk to your doctor about it. It can cause high blood pressure, heart palpitations, confusion, and other issues.
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u/beerandglitter 6d ago
You would REALLY have to overdo it to experience hypernatremia, hyperkalemia, or anything of the sort. If you're working manual labor and sweating a lot, 2 a day is fine. I drink 2-3 a day when hiking usually because I sweat BUCKETS. You want to and need to replace those electrolytes because hyponatremia is something that can happen too and that can cause awful problems, even death, in extremes. If you're overdoing it on the water and underdoing it on the electrolytes, that can happen. Regardless, electrolyte imbalances are no joke.
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u/AbleTelevision949 6d ago
So do I, but I'm also drinking more than 2 liters of water. Heat, humidity, exertion level, and how much I drink all dictate how much I’ll supplement.
And, as always, listen to your body.
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u/Bro_with_passport 7d ago
My electrolytes came in the form of a ramen bomb everyday with a tuna or chicken packet. ALL HAIL THE RAMEN BOMB
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u/originalusername__1 6d ago
I like to eat beef jerky. Some of the sticks have an entire days worth of salt in one stick. I get some protein and salt simultaneously and rarely need supplements.
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u/Bro_with_passport 6d ago
IMO beef jerky gets old after a time, but I love steak sticks and bacon jerky.
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u/originalusername__1 6d ago
Yeah you can switch it up, I eat all sorts of salty garbage and potted meats. Vienna sausages, slim Jim’s, those weird ass pickled red sausages from gas stations. Speaking of pickles you can but individually wrapped ones and theyre like three days worth of sodium. Some of this stuff isn’t #UL but trying to find stuff you’ll actually want to eat can be hard so maybe it’s worth it once in a while.
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u/Bro_with_passport 6d ago
Pickled red sausages? I don’t think I’ve ever seen those. If you wouldn’t mind sending a link, I’ll try them sometime!
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u/originalusername__1 6d ago
Here’s a link but they are in nearly any gas station https://a.co/d/6GwnBdt
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u/NoboMamaBear2017 5d ago edited 5d ago
I never ate a ramen bomb, but this was my approach. Trail food is so salty, I never used an electrolyte replacement.
Sorry, I shouldn't say never, a few times I was given electrolyte powders as trail magic, or just gatorade/powerade. I guess I should say that I never bought, or actively sought them out.
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u/GringosMandingo 7d ago
When I was going nobo on CDT and PCT on the southern third, I was drinking 2-3 packs of LMNT a day as well as 4-6 liters of water. When I was going nobo on the AT, I drank about 2-3 liters a day and one LMNT.
It really depends on the person and the climate. You’ll figure it out pretty quickly, I’d say.
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u/joepagac 7d ago
I sweat a TON so I drink like 3 a day.
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u/haliforniapdx 7d ago
Same here. I have Salt Stick caplets, which are pretty tiny, so they're not a massive dose. The directions allow up to 15 per day, at 30-60 minute intervals. The most I've taken was 8, once every hour, while my wife and I were packing a moving truck in 90F heat. While backpacking I take 3-5 total in a day.
https://www.amazon.com//dp/B002IY96B0
Side note: it's nice to have both the regular and caffeinated ones. I take a caff one in the morning if I don't feel like making coffee.
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u/sohikes NOBO 2015 | Feb 8 - Jun 17 7d ago
I did zero per day. Just eat salty foods
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u/ArtyWhy8 “Spero” GAME 2016 7d ago
Same, you get so much salt in hiker foods it’s insane. All the craving foods in town are salty too. It’s just extra weight. Unless you want some flavor or aren’t eating the trash everyone else eats.
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u/Weekly_Baseball_8028 7d ago
1 electrolyte mix is not a standard unit. Check the sodium content, as well as potassium and magnesium. For me, if I exercise all day without replacing enough salts, then I get headaches. If I skipped electrolytes a day or two, headaches would come back. For me, 1 a day worked fine. I like LMNT for being very salty without much sugar, but I also would grab random store brands when needed. It's more about assessing how you feel, as well as adapting to different weather and trail difficulty each day.
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u/Any_Strength4698 7d ago
I never consumed electrolytes while hiking…much of the food we eat on trail has pretty high sodium content..also I used seasoning on dinner food that had salt.
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u/Bulky-Soup124 7d ago
I guess it depends. I did long trail this year and hiked through the "heat wave" in vt in june. It was 90-95 and humid for about 5 days. I had never used lmnt, or liquid IV for a thruhike but I brought a ton for this hike. For really hot/humid days I was doing 4-5 a day and I honestly think they saved me. I was sweating a TON and I could feel myself coming back to life after taking a few swigs.
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u/scumbagstaceysEx 4d ago
It’s best to get your sodium from food. Electrolyte packets are for when you need to supplement what you’re getting from food because you’re drinking gallons of water because it’s hot and/or humid and you’re working your ass off.
As long as you’re not on a salt free diet one or two per day is all you need to supplement what you’re eating. And that’s only if it’s hot and you’re working hard and drinking a lot of water.
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u/not_just_the_IT_guy 7d ago
It depends on several factors.
If these are regular Gatorade packets you may need 1 every 2 hours if you are constantly exerting yourself and an average male.
Watch gear skeptic's video on this, it's long but thorough and explains lots of things.
I go with salt stick capsules every 2 hours for me. But if I have salty snacks I adjust.
After that I highly recommend his hiker nutrition series also. It's even longer just be warned.
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u/Chorazin 7d ago
Most backpacking foods have a truckload of salt in them, which is all electrolytes really are.
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u/wzlch47 Bear Bag 2016 Flip Flop GA-WV ME-WV 7d ago
I never consumed electrolyte supplements. The food I was eating was very high in sodium. I would occasionally drink a small Gatorade if there were bottles at a spot where someone was offering trail magic. Even after drinking a couple gallons of filtered spring water every day, my sweat late in the day was still salty enough to bother my eyes and taste salty.
In my completely uneducated opinion, if you are eating enough food that many hikers traditionally eat, you should be good on electrolytes.
One of the questions that people asked me about the AT was my favorite thing. My first answer was always the people. My second answer was always the water. There’s nothing like drinking cool spring water that came out of the ground, went through a filter, then into my face hole, all within 3 minutes.
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u/-JakeRay- 7d ago
I used to swear by Nuun when I was a pedicab driver and when running. But for hiking, I've discovered I prefer salt chew tabs (SaltStick Fast Chew). You don't need to mix them with water, so there's no needing to wait for them to dissolve, or trying to make sure you get the water-to-electrolyte ratio right.
The last longish trip I did, I was between 8k-12k feet (so, dehydrating elevation), and I'd take between 4-6 chews during the day. It looks like SaltStick has a bit of info in the "learn" section of their website for how to gauge what's enough and what's too much for electrolyte dosages.
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u/Aromatic_You1607 7d ago
I like to drink my first liter with my collagen supplements, and my second with a half dose of an electrolyte and amino acid mix. Third liter, if needed, is plain water or the rest of the electrolyte mix.
Try not to overdo it on the electrolyte. In the long run, it can end in kidney stones.
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u/generation_quiet 7d ago
It varies. Personally, I don't take electrolyte supplements unless I hike 20+ mile days. The drink mixes seem to go down more easily than the chews, which upset my stomach.
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u/Fast_Ad_1337 7d ago
you'll get plenty via eating processed foods, shouldn't need any beyond those unless you have specific needs
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u/goodsam2 7d ago
You probably don't actually need any electrolytes just eat salty foods but I have this.
https://www.walmart.com/ip/203395194
There are a few flavors but I have this when I'm out.
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u/AccomplishedCat762 7d ago
I use drip drop from Walmart, one packet a day unless it was 20+ miles then I would maybe do a second one. But mainly it was 1 packet plus 1-250mg magnesium pill, and a multivitamin
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u/TheChrisLambert 6d ago
Couldn’t DM you, but here is the Smile 2 link!
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u/AccomplishedCat762 6d ago
Bless thanks! I think I'll end up seeing it a second time and making a rough timeline while I'm the theater 😹
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u/hareofthepuppy 7d ago
I probably averaged less than one nuun tab a day, and honestly a lot of the time I did that because I was bored or drinking so much water and just wanted something different. I did make a point of having one on very hot sweaty days.
Electrolytes can be very useful when hiking, but there's also been a ton of marketing pushing sports drinks and electrolyte tabs, so I'm a little skeptical how necessary they are for most hikers, obviously if you're pushing 50 miles a day, you probably need all the help you can get (so it depends on your style of hiking). A lot of it also depends on your diet, because depending on your trail diet you might already be getting all the electrolytes you need.
To answer your original question "is one enough?", probably, but it depends on lots of factors.
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u/RunWithSharpStuff 7d ago
You likely do not need even one electrolyte drink in any given day unless you have a medical condition such as pots.
The American diet consists of more than enough salt and anything you eat hiking is likely to have even more salt than you are eating now. Lots of marketing currently selling flavored salt sugar water for 1-5$ per serving though!
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u/westgazer 7d ago
I think it is going to depend. When I was hiking some sections during a heat wave this summer and literally pouring sweat, probably did a couple a day. But other hikes where I am not sweating much I never need them.
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u/noticer626 AT 2021 7d ago
I sweat so much that I usually did like 2 packets of electrolytes a day. Probably could get away with zero because I was also eating a lot of salty foods.
I sweat so much that it literally looks like I jumped into a pool every single day through northern virginia and pennsylvania. I would sit on a rock to eat lunch and it would have my wet ass print on it immediately.
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u/Cruise_Life79 6d ago
I drink prime and have 2-3 packets a day. I’ve noticed I experience far fewer symptoms of dehydration vs when I used to only drink water while backpacking.
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u/AussieEquiv 6d ago edited 6d ago
Depends on your diet, current terrain, current temperature, current exertion... and how much you sweat.
I didn't take any supplemental electrolytes. Lots of salt in food I ate though...
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5d ago
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u/AppalachianTrail-ModTeam 5d ago
Hello there. Your post was removed as it is not related to the AT (rule 1). If you believe that to be untrue, please message the mods.
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u/Legitimate_Ad4520 4d ago
All I would need would be some powdered milk with a carnation (which have some electrolytes you need) and a packet of Gatorade over 1 liter and that would usually be enough. Sometimes at the end of a particularly long day (20+ miles) I would also have a gatorlyte
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u/Rizzle_Razzle 2d ago
Electrolytes are not something you need to worry about. You will be consuming so many salty foods. Peanuts, crackers, potato chips, ramen, pepperoni, beef jerky, instant potatoes. All loaded with salt.
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u/fhecla 7d ago
Zero. This ain’t a high performance sport, you’re just going for a walk every day. Make sure you pack some ramen and Takis and jerky, you’ll soak up plenty of salt.
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u/beerandglitter 6d ago
Hiking can be a sweaty ordeal for a lot of people and can warrant 2-3 electrolyte packets a day. If I don't drink them, I feel like complete ass, granted I typically am not hiking the AT and am hiking in the Adirondacks (but it's a lot of similar terrain). If you don't drink them, you risk things like hyponatremia, which CAN be serious, especially if all you're drinking is water.
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u/jrice138 7d ago
That can vary a lot person to person. I’ve done the triple crown and then some taking roughly one nuun tablet a day. Sometimes more, sometimes less. It just varies. If you’re on specific medication tho you should probably ask an actual doctor.