[pct-l] Desert water filters

[Scott Williams]

Hey Timberline,

How early you start and how much rain we've gotten in CA are important
factors in figuring out your question.  I hiked the PCT in a relatively wet
year and started early.  Sources that were flowing for me were not for
others who followed a few weeks or a month behind.  They probably
prefiltered more than I did.  I think I used my bandana 5 or 6 times all
summer.  Not much, and all of that was in the desert sections.  I used a
Steri Pen for that hike.  Last year I used a Sawyer Squeeze on the CDT and
prefiltered 5 or 6 times, in NM and the Great Basin.  A bandana still gets
out the chunks.  It does nothing for the brown color.  You just hope it's
mud and not cow!  That was much more of an issue on the CDT than it was on
the PCT.  The CDT has way more animals overall, elk, pronghorn, beaver,
mountain goats, bighorn sheep, grizz, and millions of domestic cattle and
sheep.  It's the National Barnyard for thousands of miles.

Happy filtering.

Shroomer


On Wed, May 29, 2013 at 3:06 PM, Dan Welch <welchenergy at gmail.com> wrote:

> I didn't want to hijack the thread about the Sawyer squeeze filter - so
> I'll
> start a new one. I'm gathering gear this year to try out in prep for a 2014
> PCT thru.  In my Sierra hikes, I've often used steripens and Aqua Mira
> drops
> and have been happy with both.  I'm leaning towards the AM drops for
> weight,
> simplicity, and robustness.  However, I realize there may be times when
> water calls out to be pre-filtered - mainly to get rid of the Yuck factor.
> I know some people use bandanas, some people use coffee filters, etc...
> Something like the Sawyer Squeeze seems like overkill and more prone to
> clogging for truly yucky water.
>
> So my question is this - on a typical PCT thru, how often does water need
> to
> be pre-filtered to make it "aesthetically acceptable"?  Keep in mind I'm
> not
> looking for crystal clear water.  I'm OK with somewhat cloudy water, but I
> think I would drink less water (not a good thing) if it was frequently
> brown
> or I was often picking things out of my teeth (!).
>
> The frequency of occurrence matters to me because if it's just a time or
> two
> the whole trip, I can live with the bandana filter.  If I need to do that
> several times a week in the desert, I'll probably want to go with something
> more robust and convenient.
>
> I know this is a subjective question, but I would appreciate your
> experience
> and I'll figure it out from there.  Also, if you have ideas about
> pre-filters that have worked for you (as opposed to total filters like the
> Sawyer treatment systems) I'd love to hear them.
>
> Thanks!
> Timberline
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: pct-l-bounces at backcountry.net [mailto:pct-l-bounces at backcountry.net]
> On Behalf Of Justin West
> Sent: Wednesday, May 29, 2013 5:06 AM
> To: pct-l at backcountry.net
> Subject: [pct-l] Sawyer Squeeze
>
>  I hiked the PCT over the past two years using an older model sawyer inline
> filter.  this worked great.  I would recommend just buying the sawyer
> inline
> filter and forget their bag system.  Get a platypus 2L bag, put the sawyer
> low on the hose (far from the bag to create as much head as possible).
> these bags are easy to fill even in low flow situations.  Carry a
> lightweight water bottle like a gatorade bottle.  tie a bit of cord to the
> handle of the platypus bag.  when you need to fill up; fill the bag, hang
> it
> from a branch, or perch it on a rock, and let gravity filter your water
> into
> your gatorade bottle while you eat something and stare off into the stream.
> I don't like trying to suck water through a filter while I am breathing
> heavy and moving along.  I prefer to be able to gulp from a bottle.  I
> mostly hiked with just the one quart bottle of water and an empty platypus
> bag, but in the event I needed to carry more water I had capacity for two
> more quarts in the bag.
> if you have a bounce box, put the backwash attachment in it and USE IT in
> towns.  find a tap and run  a few gallons of water back through it
> regularly.  this little filter has probably done about 800-1000 quarts and
> shows no signs of slowing up using this method
>
> only downside I found was that sometimes if the filter ran all the way
> empty
> (I stared off into the stream too long) and sucked up air, it would not run
> well, in which case just unscrewing the two halves of the filter housing
> (not sure if the new ones allow you to do this) would prime it fine again.
>
> justin
> www.storythewalk.wordpress.com
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