Re: [pct-l] Re: Giardia exposure

[Paul A Magnanti <pmags@juno.com>]

> pathogens, I'll remain an iodine user. To me it's the lesser of 
> several
> evils. 


Since I have moved out to Colorado, and have discovered the wonderful
western phenomenom of horse droppings near the trail and water :),  I now
treat my water more than I used to.  Part of me knows that it is mainly
humans who transmit giardia to one another..but something about those
fragrant gifts from the horses make me add my Polar Pure! :D


    On the note about filters,  I stopped using my filter for the same
reasons as Ron. In the field, I admit to having been a bit sloppy about
keeping the tubes seperated. But the big reason why I no longer use a
filter is that the bloody thing clogged, had to be primed, and had to do
all kinds of voodoo rituals toget the darn thing working. (Sacrificing my
blue M&Ms in the gorp supply worked well. If I was REALLY desperate,  I
was going to have to sacrifice a Snickers).   Luckily I had iodine tabs
as a backup.
	  So I now have a dusty Pur Hiker, that hasn't been used in almost three
years,   and  looks quite good in that blue carrying bag.  And, as with
Ron, I would rather rest by a tree, wait a bit, and let the iodine do its
stuff. Though, pumping water did give some great forearm strength. :)

         Last year on the AT, two hikers who had the same type of filter,
and  were always canabilizng them to get one working filter. They seem to
spend more time working on the filters, than pumping water.  Needless to
say, they switched to iodine by Harpers Ferry...

OK...enough rambling. I am back to semi-lurker mode.. :)

Mags.......PCT hopeful...but in the meantime loving the Rockies and
seeing no reason to move back to Rhody and the Atlantic...

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