Why Does Every Outdoorsy Person Have This Bottle?

Pat Boxall investigates the peculiar prevalence of the humble Nalgene bottle.

 

In 2009, I moved to Albury-Wodonga to study outdoor education. My first order of business? Buying a blue Nalgene bottle. It’s not like anybody forced me to get a Nalgene. This was pure instinct, a primal urge.

Like a migratory animal, my internal compass led me to Albury’s cosmopolitan main drag – shoutout to Dean Street – where I acquired the accoutrements of an outdoorsy person: a miniature carabiner, and a Nalgene. In the 17 years that have since passed, I’ve always had at least one Nalgene in my life.

But why?

The author Pat ‘Nalged up’ at Zion National Park

Why does every outdoorsy person have this bottle?  

I mean, water bottles have come a long way. They come with built-in straws now. Handles, too. They come engineered to fit in cup holders and bedazzled in rhinestones. Weren’t they trending on TikTok at one stage? It’s a glorious time to be alive as a water enthusiast, yet we outdoorsy folk refuse to part with a bottle that has barely changed in 60-odd years.

Rapt by this mystery, I spent every waking moment of the past few weeks exploring how Nalgene became synonymous with the outdoors.

Determined to get to the bottom of it, I took my research online. I connected with a group of fellow outdoor professionals and asked what keeps them loyal to Nalgene. Was I worried my inquiries might make it back to Nalgene? Did I fear uncovering a secret so dirty – a conspiracy so deep – that even a full litre of water decanted from a colourful plastic vessel couldn’t wash away the filth?

Uh, no.

Not really.

To be honest, I expected to be dragged into a discussion about… pee.

Let me explain. Since the dawn of time, there has been chatter in outdoor circles about peeing in a Nalgene. There’s no denying that the wide-mouth bottle would – I can only assume – upgrade the experience of an emergency pee. Anyone who’s been snow camping can speak to the horror of having to crawl out of your sleeping bag and trudge through sub-zero temperatures to pee in the middle of the night. Anyone who’s been stuck on a toiletless bus in southeast Asia having consumed one too many bottles of [insert preferred brand of watery Asian lager] can corroborate this.

Not everyone will admit to peeing in their bottle, of course, but it’s telling that the top comment on my Nalgene query – from my former university lecturer, no less – was, ‘I like the way they hold water but can also be used to hold other things which are not water.’

Nice.

Definitely not water

I dug deeper. Into reasons for having a Nalgene, I mean, rather than the ethics and mechanics of peeing into one. Though I will say the Tritan Renew plastic used to make a Nalgene is non-porous, lending itself beautifully to proper sterilisation without retaining certain, um, odours. Anyway – it turns out outdoorsy people really, really love their Nalgene. Frankly, some of them need to calm down. 

For starters, these bottles are essentially indestructible. A long-running rumour suggests you can send a photo of your broken bottle to Nalgene and they’ll send a replacement bottle plus a t-shirt with the slogan ‘I broke a Nalgene’.

Nalgene sadly confirmed that the t-shirt is an urban legend, though the bottles do have a 10 year warranty in Australia. I can also confirm – along with most of the outdoor community – that these bottles are seriously tough to break. I dropped mine years ago while scrambling at Mount Buffalo. I won’t say how far it fell in case my mother reads this, but it survived the tumble with nary a scar (as I assume I would’ve too).

The bottle’s resilience can be attributed to its beginnings. Originally, Nalgene specialised in making containers for scientific labs. The original logo, which still features on the lid, is an ‘N’ inside a beaker. At some point in the 1960s, scientists and lab workers who were into the outdoors began taking these leak-proof containers on hikes. Nalgene caught on to what was happening and made the most of an opportunity to enter the outdoor market. 

These days Nalgenes sport bright colours and don’t look anything like lab equipment

The bottle’s toughness also makes it a great protective case for Epipens, sunglasses, and other loose bits you don’t want damaged. Two miniature Nalgenes filled with hot water apparently make for effective boot driers, while a classic Nalgene inside a sock doubles as a hot-water bottle inside your sleeping bag.

A personal favourite is placing my head torch under a Nalgene to make a lovely lamp to sit around when a fire isn’t an option. Shake the bottle and you’ve got a makeshift disco ball. Have I done the same to set a romantic mood at home? Maybe. Did it work? No comment. You little gossip.

A photo so romantic it jumps off the screen

The list goes on. A colleague reckons a Nalgene takes a sticker better than any other bottle, while a stranger says he stores his trail mix in one. There are people rehydrating food in a bottle as they hike, then using the bottle as a roller to soothe their muscles once they get to camp. 

It begs the question: is a Nalgene THE indispensable piece of camp kit?

A cheeky post run Nalg roll never goes astray!

Because every second of every day, someone is using this bottle for something other than its intended purpose. Learning this has made me fall in love with my Nalgene even more. And with outdoorsy people as a crusty collective.

Yes, the Nalgene is a good water bottle. But it’s indispensable because we’ve decided it’s so much more. It’s a hot-water bottle, a lamp and a blank canvas on which to project your personality; a boot drier, food rehydrator and – depending on who you ask – a vessel for things decidedly not water. The Nalgene is a small, colourful monument to our shared weirdness. And every scratch and sun-damaged sticker tells the story of your one wild and BPA-free life.

Just promise me you won’t drink from a bottle marked with red tape. IYKYK.

Feature photo by @jonharris_photography