High Country Water

[john_tn]

The past 2 years I've used water Purification Tablets and a filter water bottle in the high country. Are tablets necessary in high country streams? Some guy on youtube claims to drink pond water through his Aquamira Filtered bottle. Most of the water around us is coming right out of the ground, I feel pretty confident I could drink it straight. I hate the way tablets taste

 

[Laelkhunter]

The ranch I hunt on has a spring that flows pretty good, and the water is really cold. I am tempted to drink some of it, but I am afraid to end up with projectile diarrhea and ruin my hunt. I don't carry any purification methods, but a Camelbak, that I refill at lunchtime when we go back into town. It would be interesting to try the springwater- maybe on the last day of the hunt.

 

[fngTony]

I tried it straight and filtered with a sawyer mini from the same source. It was safe but tasted better filtered. For the money and convenience of the sawyer I only use tablets as a back up

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[PaulBunyan]

Steripen?

That's what I use and its been great. Fast, simple, light, and no after taste

 

[jtw]

I grew up with surface springs all around me and we'd drink straight from them. Until... my mom got some weird bacteria from the water and almost died. I dont remember what it was exactly (it wasn't from an animal source, some nayurally occurring bacteria or it might have been a protozoa) but since then I dont drink untreated surface.

 

[Back Country Hunter 2]

I always use a water filtration system. Not worth the risk in my eyes. I have taken water straight from a spring in high country above tree line without problems on a sheep hunt, but that was before I had a filtration system other than boiling at camp.

 

[vanish]

Regular old vitamin C (ascorbic acid) will remove the taste (Iodine
tablets are now sold with a companion "neutralizer" tablet, which is
nothing more than vitamin c. You will have to experiment a little to see
what amount you need to get rid of the concentration of
residual iodine that you have.

I've gotten used to the iodine taste, but its still nice to have some powdered drink mix, too!

 

[BroodBuster]

Chlorine dioxide doesn't effect the taste too much. Basically city water taste. But it does take four hours which turns off most folks.

My shiny new SteriPen is an awesome compliment to the CD tabs.

Drinking untreated water works great until it doesn't.

 

[Hunt'nFish]

John, here in Oregon I drink unfiltered mtn water all the time. But that said, a simple Bota filter dropped into a water bottle will go a long way toward filtering out the big bugs like giardia and the like. Viruses I'm not worried out.

While I have a Sawyer mini inline on my water bladder, I rarely pack it with me.... just not a bladder guy. But I have it for gravity filtering camp water.

I keep my Bota filter bottle in an UL water bottle holder designed for mtn bikes. No reason not do some minimal filtering.
Hunt'nFish

 

[john_tn]

Chlorine dioxide doesn't effect the taste too much. Basically city water taste. But it does take four hours which turns off most folks.

My shiny new SteriPen is an awesome compliment to the CD tabs.

Drinking untreated water works great until it doesn't.

Chlorine dioxide is what I've been using. I might be using too much, but I mix according the label

 

[Davebuech]

+1 What the Big Guy said!

Steripen?

That's what I use and its been great. Fast, simple, light, and no after taste

 

[archer wapiti]

Not really something to trifle with, though I've drank plenty of surface water when I was either ignorant as a small child, or could see the snow pack from where the water was melting in Alaska.
What's the incubation time for Giardia (or choose your favorite water-borne disease)? Do the math and try it when you know you'll be back in time to deal with it in civilization.

 

[atcflick]

Get a filter or use tablets. I would hate to have my hunt run short because I neglected water safety.

 

[LJ Buck]

Get the platypus gravity filter. I love it.

 

[Where's Bruce?]

You wanna Google Katadyne Hiker Pro videos.

 

[Jimbo V]

Not really something to trifle with, though I've drank plenty of surface water when I was either ignorant as a small child, or could see the snow pack from where the water was melting in Alaska.
What's the incubation time for Giardia (or choose your favorite water-borne disease)? Do the math and try it when you know you'll be back in time to deal with it in civilization.

CDC states 1-3 week incubation period so, with that being said you should be able to compete a week long hunt before you get a severe case of the green apple two steps!
I use the platypus 2 liter gravity filter and have been satisfied, much better than the MSR Sweetwater I was using.


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