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Not a fan of drinking water? I get it. Sometime the blandness of water can get you down and make it hard to drink, (especially when we live in a world of vast drink options).

When this happens, I have a few water substitutes that I go to and thought it would be useful to share. This is also really helpful for those who are looking to stay hydrated , especially during the summer months!

Water Infused with Fruit

Okay, adding fruit to your water may not add a TON of flavor, but you will notice a taste difference. There’s a never ending number of combinations that can be delicious for infusing water. Here are some suggestions:

• Strawberry, Blueberry and Lemon
• Orange and Lemon
• Orange and Blueberries
• Mint leaves and Cucumber
• Lemon and Cucumber (my personal favorite)

The combinations are endless! That’s what makes infusing water so fun! You can…

A Journey through Flagstaff’s Lava River Cave

The blue steller’s jay birds dance around the big and empty dirt parking lot, greeting us as we pull our stiff bodies up and out of the car.

It is early morning and although the sun came up two hours ago, the tall ponderosa trees are completely saturated in sunlight.

I pull out my day pack from the back of the car and unzip
the pocket, retrieving my trusty and worn headlamp. I leave my sunglasses on
the seat. It’s been a few years since I’ve done this trail and I remember to
not let the sun or its warmth fool me.

We follow down the familiar wide and worn dirt path leading into the forest towards the main event we came see. Shortly, upon our right side, a big brown trail sign greets us. Carved and painted in bright…

Have you ever been dehydrated before? It is not a fun ride to be on.

When you are not replacing the fluids in your body, you will become dehydrated. This is extremely easy to do in Phoenix, especially for us hikers.

Along the trails we can be sweating without even realizing it, seeing as it instantly evaporates off our skin.

When our bodies start to begin to become dehydrated the
first thing that happens is we feel thirsty. Yep! That’s right! If you feel
thirsty then you already dehydrated.

As we keep losing fluids our blood will actually become thicker, which tells the kidneys to start saving up any water left, stopping us from urinating. Your kidneys are literally holding on to what it can.

Due to our blood being thicker, our heart has to pump much harder than normal. This puts stress on our system, which causes it…

Besides me, who else on the trail has hiked past litter? Ugh. It can completely ruin the hike.

Right when you feel as if you are in the middle of nowhere and one with nature, you look down to find a bright white used Kleenex laying on the dirt ground. Or a plastic water bottle. Or a Circle-K cup. Or candy wrappers. Or a variety of these items all scattered around. Nothing can take you out of the feeling of being in nature than seeing litter along the trail.

I can’t understand why people would litter in the first place, but then especially while on a hike.

Along the Phoenix hiking websites and trail signs you may have noticed signs informing hikers of the “Leave No Trace” policy.  This policy is exactly how it sounds. Leave No Trace that you were ever there.

Keep nature wild, right?! Right.

So, when…