Cleaning the bladder.

Back in June, for my birthday, I received the backpack pictured here. It's made by The North Face and is called Dogfish. The reason I got it was because I needed something to help carry my hydration and food needs on long runs. It's been working great!

If you are unfamiliar with "Hydration Packs" they come with a water bladder inside that looks like this.




Before my first use I figured I should clean out the thing but couldn't find any instructions anywhere. So of course I Googled it but still nothing. So after owning it for a few months I figured I should post a blog on how to clean it out for future hydration pack owners. It's not like it's rocket science but I searched and didn't find anything and we can't have that happening on the good old world wide web now can we?

So the biggest issue is really drying it out after it's been cleaned. I haven't noticed any taste issues by using normal dish detergent when washing so that's what I would suggest doing. Hot water and soap. If you've just got water in it in the first place it shouldn't be a big deal but if you don't get it dry, that's when things can get gross. Things will grow and then yuck! So the best thing to do after cleaning is to just stuff a towel in it and move it around until it's dry. Brilliant eh? As for the straw, I'm open to suggestions. But I think it dries out pretty good if you just hang it in such a way that in can drip.

There you go new hydration pack owners. You are welcome and enjoy your new pack!!