The Backpacking Water Shortage
A free B1-level English story for language learners, readable online in English, with an option to listen via the free Storyteller app.
Two students on a school backpacking trip find their planned water source has dried up and have to ration carefully to reach the next one.
Rohan and Meera are two days into a three-day backpacking trip with their school's outdoor club. They are hiking a loop trail that circles a wide valley. Their route plan lists a stream at the halfway point. Every group refills their water bottles there.
When they reach the stream on the afternoon of day two, it is nearly dry. Only a thin trickle runs over dusty stones. A note taped to a nearby signpost explains why. The summer has been unusually hot this year. Several water sources on the trail have dried up early.
Meera checks their bottles. There is barely enough for the rest of today, with nothing left for tomorrow's climb. "We should ration what we have," she says, "and hope the next source is better."
Rohan pulls out the paper trail map their teacher gave them before the trip. Another water source is marked about three miles ahead, near a ranger station. It should still be staffed this late in the season. If they hike steadily, they can reach it before sunset.
They agree to drink only small sips for the rest of the afternoon. They will save the larger amount for whenever they actually feel thirsty. Meera suggests they eat less salty food too, since salt makes people thirstier faster.
The three miles feel longer than usual, mostly because they are both thinking about water the whole time. When they finally spot the ranger station's tin roof through the trees, Rohan laughs out loud with relief.
The ranger is an older woman who has clearly heard this story before this season. She fills both their bottles from a large tank. She also adds a few extra warnings about the dry sources ahead. She gives them a printed list of which streams have reliably held water this month.
That night, sitting by their tent with full water bottles, Meera admits something. She has never paid attention to a water source on a map before this trip. She's fairly sure she always will from now on.
