The History of Trail Drinks from Switchel to Liquid IV
A refreshing drink is something most people take for granted until they are hot, tired, and thirsty. What types of drinks have hikers and backpackers relied on throughout history? The history of trail drinks and backpacking hydration has shifted over the decades. A bottle of cool water has and will always reign supreme, but backpackers love to add other ingredients too. Of course, every trail drink depends on one thing first: carrying water itself. The containers hikers have used to transport that water have changed dramatically over time. (See: History of Backpacking Water Containers.)
Refreshing drinks are no new phenomenon. The ancient Romans used a cocktail known as posca that was made by mixing wine, vinegar, and water or sometimes just vinegar with water. It was sometimes flavored with honey, herbs like coriander, or salt, and was known for its health benefits, including disinfecting water and preventing scurvy. It was the drink of soldiers and laborers, not the upper classes. So, it mirrors modern sports drinks as a primarily functional beverage.
By the time recreational backpacking and hiking emerged in the 19th century, the beverage options had greatly multiplied. Coffee and tea were probably the most common trail beverages in the latter 19th century as they were easy to carry and offered a caffeine boost.
Early campers sometimes carried apple cider vinegar, and a sweetener to mix into a refreshing electrolyte drink. It was often known as switchel. "Swanky," "switchy," and "haymaker’s punch" were other names because it was also popular among farmers and field workers. New Englanders often sweetened their switchel with molasses, while frontier settlers relied on honey, and Southern settlers used sorghum. Some would mix in a citrus juice like lemon or orange when available, however it could be prohibitively expensive. Another ingredient sometimes added was ginger to add an extra bite of flavor. In many ways, switchel was the sports drink of its era and represents one of the earliest examples of backpacking hydration beyond plain water.
While historic farmers didn't understand the science of carbohydrates or electrolytes, their recipe was an accidental masterpiece of hydration science. The trace potassium from the apple cider vinegar, combined with the mineral-dense blackstrap molasses or maple syrup (high in potassium, magnesium, and calcium), paired with the sodium in water and anti-inflammatory ginger, created a natural carbohydrate-electrolyte drink perfectly designed to replenish what was lost in sweat.Laura Ingalls Wilder, known for her tales of pioneer life, called it “ginger-water”. A historic recipe calls for one-quart cool water, 3/4 cup sugar, 1/3 cup apple cider vinegar, one tsp ground ginger. Switchel was most popular among those who could easily access the liquid ingredients, but many early camping guides recommend carrying one or more of the core ingredients including vinegar and ground ginger. These were believed to offer medicinal benefits too.
George Washington Sears, "Nessmuk", mentions these ingredients in Woodcraft and Camping (1884). While he prioritized coffee as a primary beverage, he often wrote about the medicinal value of ginger and sugar in water to settle the stomach and provide a quick energy boost during arduous treks.Horace Kephart's Camping and Woodcraft (1906) often discussed the importance of acidic or spicy drinks to mask the taste of poor trail water. He also lists lemons as an essential for hot weather. He advises citric acid crystals as a substitute, but it should be noted that this would only add flavor not electrolytes. Alternatively, he recommends combining water, ginger, and molasses into a "ginger tea."
He adds another piece of advice in Camp Cookery to manage thirst in hot weather, "a much better thirst-quencher is a bit of raw onion carried in the mouth. One can go a long time without drinking if he has an onion with him; this also prevents one's lips from cracking in alkali dust."1
One man is widely recognized for groundbreaking research on this topic. Dr. Dilip Mahalanabis, a pediatrician from India, used oral rehydration salts (a medical grade electrolyte mix) to dramatically reduce death rates during a 1971 cholera outbreak in refugee camps. He used a mix of salt, potassium, glucose, and water to reverse dehydration caused by the disease. He successfully convinced global health organizations that ORS worked at scale as a substitute for IV electrolyte delivery. His success helped change first aid medicine around the world.2
In the early 1990's, Gatorade marketed heavily to the general public to increase sales using their "Be Like Mike" campaign starring Michael Jordan. Prior to the 1990s, electrolyte drinks were primarily found on refreshment tables at professional sports venues. The rising popularity of Gatorade and spread of oral rehydration salts packets in first aid kits helped make backpackers more aware of the benefits of electrolyte consumption.
Combining electrolytes and caffeine in the same drink was the next logical step. The first successful dehydrated "energy" electrolyte drink mix was Kona Cola sold by Nuun released around 2008 to very limited success.6 It was discontinued but it started a revolution. Since then, an entire submarket of caffeinated electrolyte drink mixes and tablets has flooded the market. I've tried several of these products and can certainly understand the appeal after a long day on the trail.
Nestlé Quik, now Nesquik, launched in 1948. Its main selling point was that it dissolved easily in liquids, even cold milk.9 However, it still required milk to make a traditional chocolate drink. Powdered milk had been widely available for over 50 years, so bringing milk powder was no real trial for backpackers. However, as Colin Fletcher noted in The Complete Walker, powdered milk in that era did not mix into water well, often remaining lumpy.4
Swiss Miss hot chocolate hit store shelves in 1961 and offered a revolution for hot chocolate in camp. It included powdered milk and became the first true instant hot chocolate mix. Just add hot water. Swiss Miss has remained popular thanks to how smoothly it mixes into water.
Perhaps the most successful energy drink seen on the trail is Red Bull. It began in 1987 and slowly rose to global dominance in the energy drink market. Red Bull is the clear winner when one desires energy as it contains about double the caffeine of Mt. Dew and Dr. Enuf and about three times that of Coca-Cola. Red Bull also has B vitamins, and another energy compound called taurine. Yet, it is still nowhere near the popularity of coffee, which wins on two counts: caffeine and portability. At this point in the article, I'm starting to think I missed my calling as an encyclopedia author.
No history of trail drinks would be complete without discussing coffee and tea. Caffeine is key to everyone's favorite morning beverages, coffee, or for the more refined, tea. These beverages are universally loved for their high caffeine content and ability to pair well with sugar. They have been a staple of outdoor pursuits for generations. The coffee percolator was invented in 1889 and quickly becoming the standard method for preparing coffee while camping. Priscilla Ware made an iconic aluminum design that is still influential today. A related and classic method is the Bialetti Moka pot which has been a staple around the world for nearly a century. It is small enough to still be considered lightweight today, but it has waned in popularity and is only carried by the strictest coffee aficionados.
I'm not sure I could find Kephart's spartan advice of sucking on raw onion palatable. I have experimented with a few switchel recipes found online and they are quite nice, especially after a hike on a hot day. One can easily titrate the ingredients to adjust the tang to their unique taste sensibilities.
The 1911 Official Handbook for Boys recommended ginger and vinegar as essential medicinal and survival supplies. For generations, hikers relied on homemade mixtures. The twentieth century would gradually replace those kitchen remedies with factory-made powders.
In 1927, Edwin Perkins invented powdered Kool-Ade, a sugary fruit drink that required only the addition of water. For the first time, hikers could carry the flavor of fruit juice without carrying the fruit. Its low cost and shelf-stability meant it arrived just in time for the Great Depression which aided its flow into every American kitchen. Tang arrived in 1957 to compete against Kool-Ade but initially struggled to gain market traction until NASA used it on John Glenn's Mercury flight in 1962. Its association with astronauts made it a household staple throughout the 1960s and 70s.
These and other sugary fruit drink powders became widely available in the mid-20th century and were known affectionately as "bug juice" among scouts and summer campers. These products could be mixed with cold water and thus made for an easy trail-side energy boost. Tang and similar drink's real appeal wasn't nutrition. It was morale. It can turn even the foulest creek water into a refreshing drink. The lemon flavor of Wyler's was especially popular among hikers and is still remembered fondly today by those who grew up drinking it on the trail.
Dehydrated fruit juice became available slowly as freeze-dried techniques improved throughout the 1970s and 80s. Freeze-dried orange juice and lemonade products were available for a premium price from survival food companies like Perma-Pak. However, these early products did not see widespread success, due to their lackluster taste. Modern products such as True Citrus are more successful, with many hikers using them to add a burst of citrus flavor to trail meals and drinks.
The idea of electrolyte replacement is relatively recent. The history of electrolyte replacement in the field began in earnest during WWII when the U.S. and British militaries began systematically distributing salt packets to soldiers in hot regions. One of the earliest commercial electrolyte replacement drinks was developed by Dr. Martin J. Broussard in 1958. He was working as the head athletic trainer at Louisiana State University and developed Bengal Punch after noticing athletes losing salt on their uniforms. Bengal Punch became a commercial product but was discontinued in the 2010s.3
The first well-known electrolyte-focused sports drinks traces back to Gatorade, which was originally made for the Florida Gators sports teams to provide both rehydration and vital electrolytes. It quickly became a commercial product and has remained popular since. By the late-1960s a powdered form was available and could be used by backpackers and hikers out on the trail.5 However, electrolyte drinks did not become a menu staple for many years.
In his classic, The Complete Walker (1968), author Colin Fletcher discusses the benefits of salt tablets for use while backpacking in hot weather.4 Fletcher's book provides a clue into how limited electrolyte replacement science was understood at the time.
One man is widely recognized for groundbreaking research on this topic. Dr. Dilip Mahalanabis, a pediatrician from India, used oral rehydration salts (a medical grade electrolyte mix) to dramatically reduce death rates during a 1971 cholera outbreak in refugee camps. He used a mix of salt, potassium, glucose, and water to reverse dehydration caused by the disease. He successfully convinced global health organizations that ORS worked at scale as a substitute for IV electrolyte delivery. His success helped change first aid medicine around the world.2
In the 2010s electrolyte drinks became a wellness fad. Several new brands came to market with products formulated for endurance activities. Several of these new brands, like Nuun and Liquid IV founded in 2004 and 2012 respectively, both sell powder packets. Backpackers quickly latched on to these as they were better formulated for endurance activity than previous products. Liquid IV has a variety of electrolyte mixes and is among the dominate brands in the market today.
The electrolyte drink market is now larger than the entire backpacking industry, a remarkable outcome for a category that barely existed half a century ago. Modern electrolyte drinks offer incredible benefits, but as someone who has tried both modern electrolytes and homemade switchel, I'm not entirely convinced we've improved the flavor.
This tale would be incomplete without mentioning that deliciously sweet fire-side drink--hot chocolate. Hot chocolate was often paired with other classic camp foods and trail snacks that evolved alongside it. (See: History of Backpacking Food). This beverage is much older than most realize. It originated in Mesoamerica hundreds of years ago and was considered a food of the gods. Europeans changed the original recipe by adding sugar and mixing the concoction in milk rather than water and thus, hot chocolate was born.
In 1828, Dutch inventor Coenraad van Houten created the first modern cocoa powder. His hydraulic press removed cocoa butter, leaving a dry powder that could be mixed into liquid. Early backpackers in the late 19th century carried dried cakes of powdered cocoa and sugar to mix into a beverage. Some elected to carry milk powder to mix with it. Horace Kephart mentions powdered milk as a useful ingredient in Camping and Woodcraft which helped to popularize it.7
Ovaltine, a chocolate-flavored malt extract, found its way to U.S. stores by 1915. It offered a more convenient alternative to traditional hot chocolate.8 It contains B vitamins and minerals so after a cold day of hiking in 1925, a mug of Ovaltine probably felt every bit as restorative as a modern recovery drink.
Swiss Miss hot chocolate hit store shelves in 1961 and offered a revolution for hot chocolate in camp. It included powdered milk and became the first true instant hot chocolate mix. Just add hot water. Swiss Miss has remained popular thanks to how smoothly it mixes into water.
Energy drinks are a fairly popular beverage on the trail today but trace their roots to soda culture. Coca-Cola is the oldest and most popular. Early on its ability to provide "energy" and "vitality" was a central selling point. Dr. Enuf, first sold in the 1950s, is a regional soda sometimes touted as the original energy drink because it was the first to combine B vitamins and caffeine in a drink. Mt. Dew, another soda, was rebranded in the 1970s as an "outdoorsy energy drink" to appeal to young, active consumers.
Interestingly, all three of these drinks were invented in the Southern Appalachian mountain region where hiking is steep and hot. Some backpackers do choose to carry one or two bottles on short trips and chill the drink in a cool creek. Evidence of their presence in the backcountry can be found along remote trails sometimes. However, soda has never been highly popular among backpackers.
Perhaps the most successful energy drink seen on the trail is Red Bull. It began in 1987 and slowly rose to global dominance in the energy drink market. Red Bull is the clear winner when one desires energy as it contains about double the caffeine of Mt. Dew and Dr. Enuf and about three times that of Coca-Cola. Red Bull also has B vitamins, and another energy compound called taurine. Yet, it is still nowhere near the popularity of coffee, which wins on two counts: caffeine and portability. At this point in the article, I'm starting to think I missed my calling as an encyclopedia author.
No history of trail drinks would be complete without discussing coffee and tea. Caffeine is key to everyone's favorite morning beverages, coffee, or for the more refined, tea. These beverages are universally loved for their high caffeine content and ability to pair well with sugar. They have been a staple of outdoor pursuits for generations. The coffee percolator was invented in 1889 and quickly becoming the standard method for preparing coffee while camping. Priscilla Ware made an iconic aluminum design that is still influential today. A related and classic method is the Bialetti Moka pot which has been a staple around the world for nearly a century. It is small enough to still be considered lightweight today, but it has waned in popularity and is only carried by the strictest coffee aficionados.
Prior to the percolator, generations of Americans boiled coffee grounds, or in a pinch, whole beans, directly in water. After boiling, the grounds settle at the bottom, allowing campers to sip the coffee from the top. This method is known by various names, including cowboy coffee and Turkish coffee. In Turkish coffee preparation, a small amount of cold water is sometimes added after brewing to help the grounds settle at the bottom.
Turkish and cowboy brewing methods were common throughout the 19th century, while percolation was the norm during the 20th century. In the 21st century, numerous brewing methods have become trail-ready to cater to diverse tastes. For example, Stanley offers a compact metal French press, and there are many options for pour-over. One of the most popular pour-over options is the Kuju Pocket Pourover which is a disposable filter that sits on the rim of the cup requiring no equipment. The grounds come prepacked in the filter for mess-free coffee prep. Alternatively, there are various folding V60-style filter cones available.
Instant coffee has been around since the 1890s but often received criticism for its bitter taste. Modern methods for processing instant coffee have improved the flavor. One popular choice among campers is Alpine Start, which began in 2016 and is widely renowned for its quality. Instant coffee remains one of the most popular and lightweight options for the trail today. However, the variety of trail-ready coffee prep options available means that everyone is able to make coffee almost exactly as they do at home. While I will always prefer my French press, I will suffer the taste of instant coffee any day over an onion. (see A History of Backpacking Coffee Gear for more detail)
Tea, coffee's little sibling, is also popular on the trail. Lightweight copper teapots have been used in mountaineering and on the trail for centuries. Aluminum teapots became available in the late 1800s when the price of aluminum became competitive. Since the late 20th century, compact aluminum or steel teapots have been available that nest neatly with other cookware to save room in a pack. The disposable teabag rose to popularity in the early 20th century, simplifying backcountry tea brewing even further and remains a staple today.
Historically, spirits like whiskey, bourbon, rum, and vodka were popular among backpackers because they provided a high alcohol content without requiring refrigeration. Colin Fletcher himself was fond of bourbon and Scotch. In recent decades, ultralight backpackers have pushed that logic even further, often favoring high-proof spirits such as Everclear.
Finally, the drink everyone has been wondering about--alcohol. This adult-only beverage is less popular on the trail than other categories on this list, but it is still widespread. In past decades it was more than just a luxury, it was considered medicinal. Today, it is primarily carried for its recreational properties.
Alcohol causes the blood vessels in the body to expand and release body heat. This makes one feel warmer in the moment, but can lower core body temperature, increasing one's risk for hypothermia. Alcohol hastens heat escaping from the body and should be consumed responsibly in cold weather.
Other common alcohol brands include Budweiser, especially Bud Light, and Coors Light. These are popular thanks to their cheapness and mild flavor. There are many durable flasks to transport one's prized "trail magic" into the backcountry. They range from durable metal like the Yeti flask to the ultralight Vapur Incognito flask weighing just over one ounce.
If you're into cocktails, here is a great pack-ready recipe for a refreshing drink after a long hike from Backpacker Magazine. Mix Tang into cold stream water. Combine that in a ratio of two parts Tang to one part vodka. Add 8 ounces of premixed lemonade. Garnish with a sprig of wild berries.10
The history of trail drinks stretches from frontier switchel to modern electrolyte powders, energy drinks, coffee, and sports drinks. Whether it was switchel carried on the frontier, Tang inspired by astronauts, or modern electrolyte mixes, hikers have always pursued the same thing: a drink that makes the next mile easier. While I acknowledge that Horace Kephart probably knew what he was talking about when he advised readers to suck on onions, I won't be trying that anytime soon, or ever. Instead, I believe Ron Swanson said it best, "Camping without beer is just sitting in the woods."
By David F. Garner
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Sources:
2. "Gatorade," Wikipedia, last modified August 5, 2026, 09:40, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gatorade.
3. Jane Steger, "Hydrating Athletes Then and Now," Cramer Sports Medicine, October 1, 2018, https://www.cramersportsmed.com/first-aider/hydrating-athletes-then-and-now.html.
5. "Dilip Mahalanabis," Wikipedia, last modified July 7, 2026, 15:53, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dilip_Mahalanabis.
7. Cornell University Library, "Coenraad Van Houten," CHOCOLATE: Food of the Gods, accessed August 5, 2026, https://exhibits.library.cornell.edu/chocolate-food-of-the-gods/feature/coenraad-van-houten.
8. "Ovaltine," Wikipedia, last modified June 30, 2026, 16:28, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ovaltine.
9. "Nesquik," Wikipedia, last modified July 29, 2026, 13:04, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nesquik.
10. Jimmy the Bartender, "Mix the Perfect Wilderness Cocktail," Backpacker 31, no. 8 (October 2003): 16.