[pct-l] Re: pct-l-digest V1 #850

[Carl Mears <carl@remss.com>]

>
>
> I suspect for every hiker like GoForth who gets really sick from the bug, 
> there is a hiker who never treats the water and never gets sick. 
>
> - -Brick 
>
>
> Have any recent (1990's) thru hikers or section hikers gone = 
> "filter-free"? 
>
> Greg "Strider" Hummel 


In '97 I hiked CA and didn't use a filter north of Kennedy Meadows. What I can
say is this:  I was no sicker after hiking than before, but my GI tract has
always been a bit funny.  I grew up drinking from a shallow (20 ft) well in
an 
area infested by septic systems, so maybe I'm a carrier....  I had a test done
a few years ago, but in the light of false negatives I'm about to do an 
experiment with some tinidazole (sp?) to find out.  

South of KM some water sources are too nasty to consider without a filter,
including Kelso Valley Spring, where our Sweetwater filter (the little one 
that seems to have disappeared from the market) clogged after pumping less 
than a liter!

>
> (swimming is a luxury that most thruhikers have little time for).
>  
> Goforth - ----


Yes, but if you go just a little slower, there's lots of time.  And it almost
certainly increases your evaporative cooling rate for a few hours, until 
the salt builds up again.  We swam 98 times in '97 (but certainly NOT at Kelso
Valley).  

-Carl Mears

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