[pct-l] Water Treatment & ending my hike

[Viajarapie]

<>> There's a fair bit of noise/variability in the 'information' 
surrounding back country water and how one should handle it, making it a 
little difficult for a newbie to know what to feel comfortable doing

so true. It's a shame. We live in this information era and lots of what 
we get is mis-information with hardly any means to tell the difference.

Regarding backcountry water, there's indeed lots of noise and it's 
difficult to get info you can trust. I don't have it. Yet I'll share 
some bits that I hope are correct.

Many of you will have probably seen this text about how nice it was to 
drink straight from the source back in the old days and how sad we can't 
do that anymore yet no explanation is given for that change in water 
quality. It seems it just happened. Human pressure has surely increased 
but, myself being in Europe, I still find the north american backcountry 
kind of pristine in comparison. And I still fail to see how spring or 
stream water can be contaminated when there's no human activity 
upstream. If it wasn't in the old days, it won't be today. This text is 
a good example that stands out as something that doesn't hold yet people 
seem to believe it. Last time I read this text was from a guidebook for 
a trail I was hiking this very summer (printed stuff, not some obscure 
internet corner). Wrong information can make it very far and we can't 
trust anything just because it comes from whatever reputable source. 
That's a shame.

Bugs are always in the water. It's not a black and white situation where 
the issue would be if there are or there aren't bugs but a rather grey 
cloud where the issue is how many bugs you swallow at a time. Our body 
can deal with some but may be overwhelmed and then illness follows and 
the dividing line is most probably not a line but a certain margin where 
you can experience some mild symptoms that mean no big deal and 
eventually disappear. We don't need 100% aseptic water, I don't even 
know if that's at all possible with our backcountry tools.

I think floaties are overstated. Dirt or twigs bits will make us no 
harm. I've read somewhere they may help holding microorganisms though 
but I wouldn't bother filtering if I'm doing chemicals later unless it's 
really cloudy water.

It takes several days without drinking to die of dehydration. Obviously 
this depends a lot on the conditions: temperature, humidity, level of 
activity... and it surely is not nice to get to that point of being 
dehydrated so a way out, if there is one, is probably the way to go... 
but it just makes me feel better to know it'll take several days for me 
to actually die. This basically means that in an (wide) area like the 
lower 48 you're not gonna die of dehydration if you keep calm and find 
your way out. I hope I never get to that point but it makes me feel 
better to be aware of this.

Ollen, the way you put it it seems clear you did the right thing for you 
at that moment and obviously the trail will be there next time you go. 
Good jugdement is everything. Now, that's easier said than done. As far 
as water goes, as a general rule, I think I'd rather risk illness than 
dehydration but you were fine eventually which is what matters.

If I was to ask about others' experiences, I'd ask the opposite 
question: not who was succesful but who got sick. What was the treatment 
used, what was the diagnosis and what was the most possible cause, 
taking care of not assuming it was the backcountry water for lack of 
treatment or treatment failure... it seems we tend to blame the water 
for everything that goes wrong from diarrhea to headaches to shin 
splints and we may be missing the real reasons sometimes. So, anyone?
rainskirt