Last week while on vacation in Washington, I went hiking on Rainier. (More on the actual hike later) Accompanied by my father in law, brother in law, and two friend in laws. We hiked a section of the mountain I had never been to before and wasn't sure of the terrain we were going to be hiking. While preparing for the hike I asked my father in law how much water we would need. He said a water bottle or two would be fine because there would be plenty of snow melt where we were going.
With high temperatures and at such high elevations my water was gone pretty quick. I didn't really know how out of shape I was till we hit the mountain. Needless to say we all had to fill up our water bottles multiple times.
Being on vacation I didn't bring half the gear I normally would, even for a day hike. And I don't even own a water filter of any kind. I assumed my father in law had brought one, or at least tablets. But the entire time we were on the trail the running joke among the guys was "What is this water filter you speak of?" I didn't open my mouth. I wasn't about to be the yuppie wimp wondering why we weren't going to filter our water.
So at the base of a snow field we filled up our bottles, the water was flowing fast and clear. I later found that my father in law and his 55 year old buddy have never used water filters. Neither one has ever gotten sick
from water on the trail either. So are filters really needed? Maybe it was just because we were so high up or that the water came 5 feet from a snow field. All I know is I didn't get gut rot and wasn't crapping my pasts
for 3 days after words. To be honest I'll probably be buying a water filter in the future anyways.
With high temperatures and at such high elevations my water was gone pretty quick. I didn't really know how out of shape I was till we hit the mountain. Needless to say we all had to fill up our water bottles multiple times.
Being on vacation I didn't bring half the gear I normally would, even for a day hike. And I don't even own a water filter of any kind. I assumed my father in law had brought one, or at least tablets. But the entire time we were on the trail the running joke among the guys was "What is this water filter you speak of?" I didn't open my mouth. I wasn't about to be the yuppie wimp wondering why we weren't going to filter our water.
So at the base of a snow field we filled up our bottles, the water was flowing fast and clear. I later found that my father in law and his 55 year old buddy have never used water filters. Neither one has ever gotten sick
from water on the trail either. So are filters really needed? Maybe it was just because we were so high up or that the water came 5 feet from a snow field. All I know is I didn't get gut rot and wasn't crapping my pasts
for 3 days after words. To be honest I'll probably be buying a water filter in the future anyways.
I've heard of other people never filtering their water either. To be honest, I think that as long as you are always hiking AT the water source, i.e. the base of the now field or a spring, than you would be o.k., but you would be limited to hiking at those spots only. Hiking anywhere in Southern Utah forces you to filter the silt and sediment out of the water; taking water from a river during a run-off will force you to do the same thing; and hiking anywhere in most valleys would also force you to do the same thing. I guess if you know the terrain well enough than you could probably leave the filter home, but I still don't know if I would chance it.
ReplyDeleteAlso with ponds and smaller lakes where the water is still you would run into the problem that all stagnant water presents. Bacteria and all sorts of microbes thrive in this sort of environment...
nah, i too strong for some wussy little bacteria
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