[pct-l] water purification questions

[ferejohn at hotmail.com (Marissa Ferejohn)]

Hi all,

I will be thru-hiking in 2004 and I've made a couple of
posts here with random questions over the past few months.
So now I guess I have a couple more random questions:

First, I am trying to figure out how to treat water on the PCT.
In past trips I have used Polar Pure and really liked it (easy,
don't mind the aftertaste, lasts forever, etc).  I even used
polar pure on gross cow water and some really silty waters
in Utah and not minded (I guess I'm not too squeemish about the
appearance of my water, as long as I know it's not full of nasty
diseases).  I have heard, however, that I will want a filter for
parts of the PCT, notably southern CA, because the water will
be coming from hard-to-extract places and I will need the pump
action of a filter.

So part one of my question is, is this true?  Is a filter necessary for
the desert because of difficult accessibility, or just becuase
the water is silty?  If I don't mind silty water, can I use Polar Pure
all the way?  Has anyone done this?

My other question is has anyone tried the MSR MIOX purifier yet?
It looks more expensive, but I'm sort of intrigued by the idea of
using salt and electricity to purify water, and it sounds a little
less sketchy than long term iodine use (I know nothing is proven about
any long terms risks of iodine, and I myself have used it
for several months in a row before, but I wouldn't mind avoiding
it if there is another lightweight alternative that is just as easy).

Thanks for your help!
-Marissa

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