[pct-l] Water Treatment & ending my hike
Viajarapie
ietura at viajarapie.info
Fri Sep 19 16:14:34 CDT 2008
<>> There's a fair bit of noise/variability in the 'information'
surrounding back country water and how one should handle it, making it a
little difficult for a newbie to know what to feel comfortable doing
so true. It's a shame. We live in this information era and lots of what
we get is mis-information with hardly any means to tell the difference.
Regarding backcountry water, there's indeed lots of noise and it's
difficult to get info you can trust. I don't have it. Yet I'll share
some bits that I hope are correct.
Many of you will have probably seen this text about how nice it was to
drink straight from the source back in the old days and how sad we can't
do that anymore yet no explanation is given for that change in water
quality. It seems it just happened. Human pressure has surely increased
but, myself being in Europe, I still find the north american backcountry
kind of pristine in comparison. And I still fail to see how spring or
stream water can be contaminated when there's no human activity
upstream. If it wasn't in the old days, it won't be today. This text is
a good example that stands out as something that doesn't hold yet people
seem to believe it. Last time I read this text was from a guidebook for
a trail I was hiking this very summer (printed stuff, not some obscure
internet corner). Wrong information can make it very far and we can't
trust anything just because it comes from whatever reputable source.
That's a shame.
Bugs are always in the water. It's not a black and white situation where
the issue would be if there are or there aren't bugs but a rather grey
cloud where the issue is how many bugs you swallow at a time. Our body
can deal with some but may be overwhelmed and then illness follows and
the dividing line is most probably not a line but a certain margin where
you can experience some mild symptoms that mean no big deal and
eventually disappear. We don't need 100% aseptic water, I don't even
know if that's at all possible with our backcountry tools.
I think floaties are overstated. Dirt or twigs bits will make us no
harm. I've read somewhere they may help holding microorganisms though
but I wouldn't bother filtering if I'm doing chemicals later unless it's
really cloudy water.
It takes several days without drinking to die of dehydration. Obviously
this depends a lot on the conditions: temperature, humidity, level of
activity... and it surely is not nice to get to that point of being
dehydrated so a way out, if there is one, is probably the way to go...
but it just makes me feel better to know it'll take several days for me
to actually die. This basically means that in an (wide) area like the
lower 48 you're not gonna die of dehydration if you keep calm and find
your way out. I hope I never get to that point but it makes me feel
better to be aware of this.
Ollen, the way you put it it seems clear you did the right thing for you
at that moment and obviously the trail will be there next time you go.
Good jugdement is everything. Now, that's easier said than done. As far
as water goes, as a general rule, I think I'd rather risk illness than
dehydration but you were fine eventually which is what matters.
If I was to ask about others' experiences, I'd ask the opposite
question: not who was succesful but who got sick. What was the treatment
used, what was the diagnosis and what was the most possible cause,
taking care of not assuming it was the backcountry water for lack of
treatment or treatment failure... it seems we tend to blame the water
for everything that goes wrong from diarrhea to headaches to shin
splints and we may be missing the real reasons sometimes. So, anyone?
rainskirt
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