[pct-l] Fwd: Water Purification

[Will Hiltz]

Hi Jim-


I am going to be an outlying point here, but I treated water comme ca during
my 2007 thru hike:


1) Campo to KM I used a Katadyn Guide filter.  Worked fine, and I used it at
nearly every water source.  The guide is a bit heavy, so I certainly
wouldn't carry that again.  The filter that was really catching my eye was
called the "Amigo" (not sure of the company) which you hang on a tree and
use gravity to get the water through the filter (so no pumping).  I saw
several folks with this kind of filter and everyone was really happy with it
(its also fairly light).


2) KM to CA I used practically no water treatment.  Aside from maybe 3-5
times at really murky stops, I did not use any filtration or chemicals the
rest of the hike to Canada.  I found that a fair number of folks were
willing to drink straight from surface water sources in the Sierras, but
that number fell a fair bit past lake tahoe.  I lost my filter in the
vicinity of Sierra City and never bothered with any sort of replacement.  I
drank straight from surface water the rest of the way, including out of
multiple ponds and lakes throughout Oregon.  Obviously I wouldn't be telling
you about this in positive terms if it hadn't worked well for me-- I didn't
get any GI sickness, either during the trip or (so far) now that its over.
I DID get giardia as a kid, so that may have provided me with some immunity.


If I had it to do over, I would bring some chemicals for emergency/cow pie
situations and not mess with a filter at all.  I like the iodine crystals
(polar pure).  Hey, if your GI system can handle it....


Hope this helps,

Easy





On Dec 12, 2007 1:21 PM, Jim Keener <jj at oldmanwalking.net> wrote:

> Greetings,
>
> Sorry to raise an old issue, but I have some specific questions about
> water purification.
>
> 1. How much of the PCT have you hiked?
> 2. What did you do about water purification?
> 3. Would you make changes? What would you change?
>
> Thanks,
> Jim Keener ( J J )
> http://oldmanwalking.net
>
>
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