[pct-l] Water Filters

[Ernie Castillo]

One of my regrets from my through hike in 1980: not treating my water.

It was a combination of feeling invincible, trusting nature, and laziness.

It caught up to me in Northern California as I was hiking ahead of my group. I came across a stream, not moving that fast, but looking clean and pristine. So I just dipped my water bottle into the stream.

Big mistake. I didn't notice the cows grazing by the side of the stream less than a 100 yards away.My hiking buddies pointed it out to me once they caught up.

The next day, I was the only having to catch up because I kept having to take the proverbial dump in the woods. It got worse. I realized later that I may have got a bout of salmonella poisoning, e coli bacteria, or H pylori. I was sick for about a week, had trouble keeping food down, had non-stop diarrhea, and even thought about leaving the trail to find a doctor. But I persevered and learned a valuable lesson.

 If in doubt, boil it out.

Ernie Castillo
erniec01 at hotmail.com
248 884 5201



 
> From: brooklynkayak at gmail.com
> Date: Fri, 4 Dec 2009 07:18:01 -0500
> To: pct-l at backcountry.net
> Subject: Re: [pct-l] Water Filters
> 
> I either boil, chemically treat and/or filter all water.
> 
> Many people have developed their systems to the point that they can
> drink almost anything.
> 
> Maybe some day I'll work on that, but for now I don't want to take any chances.
> 
> 
> On Fri, Dec 4, 2009 at 7:09 AM, Michael Peterson <depthhappens at gmail.com> wrote:
> > Thanks Steve. Did you ever not treat the water?
> >
> >
> >
> > On Fri, Dec 4, 2009 at 8:35 PM, Steve McAllister <brooklynkayak at gmail.com>
> > wrote:
> >>
> >> Filters can make nasty water taste better. Water from forest fire
> >> areas, water with lots of tannin or other nasty stuff in it can be
> >> turned into god tasting water.
> >>
> >> Pre-filtering is very important. You can plug up a filter very quickly
> >> if the water has a lot of suspended particles.
> >>
> >> I have totally plugged up a prefilter from filtering just 2 liters
> >> from a clear flowing stream in the fall. Turns out there was a lot of
> >> particles from fallen leaves in the water.
> >>
> >> I use Aqua Mira drops, but will also filter with a very light
> >> "Frontier Pro2" if the water is nasty.
> >>
> >> On Thu, Dec 3, 2009 at 11:17 PM, Michael Peterson
> >> <wordgrouper at hotmail.com> wrote:
> >> > What's the wisdom from the trail regarding water filters?
> >> >
> >> > M
> >> >
> >> > --
> >> >
> >> > "A little learning is a dang'rous thing;
> >> >   Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring:
> >> >   There shallow draughts intoxicate the brain,
> >> >   And drinking largely sobers us again."        -  A.Pope
> >> > _______________________________________________
> >> > Pct-l mailing list
> >> > Pct-l at backcountry.net
> >> > http://mailman.backcountry.net/mailman/listinfo/pct-l
> >> >
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> --
> >> ... when your feeling blue, and you've lost all your dreams, there's
> >> nothing like a campfire and a can of beans!
> >>   -- Tom Waits
> >>
> >> http://kayakbrooklyn.blogspot.com
> >>
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> >
> > "A little learning is a dang'rous thing;
> >    Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring:
> >    There shallow draughts intoxicate the brain,
> >    And drinking largely sobers us again."        -  A.Pope
> >
> >
> >
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> ... when your feeling blue, and you've lost all your dreams, there's
> nothing like a campfire and a can of beans!
> -- Tom Waits
> 
> http://kayakbrooklyn.blogspot.com
> _______________________________________________
> Pct-l mailing list
> Pct-l at backcountry.net
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