Lightest Water System so far...

[prm]

Has anyone tested water in the mountains to see how common the bad stuff really is? I spent my entire youth hiking around the local mountains in CO drinking straight out of the creeks and never got sick. Did anyone filter water in the 70s or early 80s? I don’t think I ever knew it was a thing.

Now, I do prefer the steripen with a wide mouth nalgene. But is is electronic… I’ve had issues with Sawyers but never with my Steripen. I need to try the potable aqua tablets. The iodine ones are disgusting.

 

[mtnbound]

Has anyone tested water in the mountains to see how common the bad stuff really is? I spent my entire youth hiking around the local mountains in CO drinking straight out of the creeks and never got sick. Did anyone filter water in the 70s or early 80s? I don’t think I ever knew it was a thing.

Now, I do prefer the steripen with a wide mouth nalgene. But is is electronic… I’ve had issues with Sawyers but never with my Steripen. I need to try the potable aqua tablets. The iodine ones are disgusting.

I will still drink from flowing water in the backcountry, but if I have to use stagnant or pooled water, I will use my filter system, as it takes no time.

 

[mad_angler]

Any more updates....

I still use my old Katadyn hiker. It just takes a few minutes to fill several nalgenes and/or my bladder.
It is heavy but reliable...

I have tabs along just in case.

 

[HilltopHitman]

Hydrapack with filter. And one more hydrapack for packing clean water. Best system by far

 

[Macintosh]

Hydrapack with filter. And one more hydrapack for packing clean water. Best system by far

Could you give a rundown of specifically what it is that sets it apart and which others houve compared it to? Thatd certainly make it easier for me to get a sense of what you’re seeing.

 

[HilltopHitman]

Could you give a rundown of specifically what it is that sets it apart and which others houve compared it to? Thatd certainly make it easier for me to get a sense of what you’re seeing.

No hoses for one. The simplicity of the system adds to reliability. They are tough. I haven’t had it leak yet. Multiple sizes. Cost effective.

 

[longrangelead]

Post in thread 'Lightweight water systems in 2025'

Aug 22, 2025

I have 2, 3 and 4L Hydrapaks and a Katadyn filter. The size I take depends on how much water I need to carry and how far from the source I'm going.
I'm buying a 10L for a camp reservoir for a potentially dry hunt if there isn't any alpine springs this year.

I prefer using Smart Water bottles in my pack. they're tough, cheap to replace and less likely to get a hole over several days.

I have the Hardside drink tube for the Smart bottle too.

I also found the little bottle connector used to make a "tornado in a bottle" school project also connects the Smart bottle and filter. I hang them up...

• longrangelead

• 

I use the Katadyne direct thread filter for Hydrapaks.

click for pic

 

[HilltopHitman]

Post in thread 'Lightweight water systems in 2025'

Aug 22, 2025

I have 2, 3 and 4L Hydrapaks and a Katadyn filter. The size I take depends on how much water I need to carry and how far from the source I'm going.
I'm buying a 10L for a camp reservoir for a potentially dry hunt if there isn't any alpine springs this year.

I prefer using Smart Water bottles in my pack. they're tough, cheap to replace and less likely to get a hole over several days.

I have the Hardside drink tube for the Smart bottle too.

I also found the little bottle connector used to make a "tornado in a bottle" school project also connects the Smart bottle and filter. I hang them up...

• longrangelead

• 

I use the Katadyne direct thread filter for Hydrapaks.

click for pic

I will be getting one of those filters. That’s slick.

 

[gtriple]

Post in thread 'Lightweight water systems in 2025'

Aug 22, 2025

I have 2, 3 and 4L Hydrapaks and a Katadyn filter. The size I take depends on how much water I need to carry and how far from the source I'm going.
I'm buying a 10L for a camp reservoir for a potentially dry hunt if there isn't any alpine springs this year.

I prefer using Smart Water bottles in my pack. they're tough, cheap to replace and less likely to get a hole over several days.

I have the Hardside drink tube for the Smart bottle too.

I also found the little bottle connector used to make a "tornado in a bottle" school project also connects the Smart bottle and filter. I hang them up...

• longrangelead

• 

I use the Katadyne direct thread filter for Hydrapaks.

click for pic

I also have gone back to SmartWater bottles. I used to use the lightweight Nalgene bottle with a Swig Rig. I just found that the Nalgene does nothing better than a Smartwater bottle. The Nalgene is harder to drink out of. I like the sports cap on the Smartwater bottle for a lot of water quickly. I mark in sharpie on the bottle lines to measure ounces of water to cook.

Also, if you’ve ever hunted in freezing temperatures, the Nalgene with or without Swig Rig is useless. It just freezes up completely and makes it really hard to drink. With the Smartwater bottle, it’s small enough to fit against your body inside your shirt and it’s flexible so you can break up the ice inside it.

I run a Hydrapak 4L, Vecto 3L bag, and both the BeFree and Hydrapak filters. Just depends on the amount of water I need and the type of drinking system I have. If I’m running a Swig Rig, I run the BeFree. Otherwise I take one of each.

 

[Beendare]

Has anyone tested water in the mountains to see how common the bad stuff really is? I spent my entire youth hiking around the local mountains in CO drinking straight out of the creeks and never got sick. Did anyone filter water in the 70s or early 80s? I don’t think I ever knew it was a thing.

I have drank straight from a lot of streams in the backcountry. The caveat is, I only do it from streams near origination....OR where I know where the water is coming from. Sometimes these streams originate in a flat spot with a nasty elk wallow- not good. Know what's up stream.

I get people admonishing me when I drink from a spring along one of the busiest trails in the nation- the Yosemite mist trail. It comes right out of the mountain filtered by thousands of feet of rock. Same with a couple other springs on mountain hunts in western states- best water on the planet.

 

[mtwarden]

^I'm that way as well. I do treat water, but springs coming out of the side of a mountain, directly off snowpack, etc—nope.

 

[JoeK]

I was down the water treatment rabbit hole again the other night.
Can any of you educated water folks address the efficacy difference between Aquatabs aka "Dichloroisocyanurate" and Aquamira A+B "Chlorine dioxide" drops? The tabs would be much more convenient to carry and apply but it seems they do not effectively treat crypto cysts?

 

[mtwarden]

If you’re considering tabs I’d suggest Potable Aqua—it uses Chlorine Dioxide just like Aquamira. More effective for crypto.

 

[JoeK]

most of the potable aqua tabs are iodine based, but they do also have chlorine dioxide tablets, and it appears the same as Katadyn Micropur tablets. expensive little buggers, guess it's the cost of convenience.

 

[AH_703]

I got a befree a year or so ago and loved it. BUT I went to use it on a HOT day in early summer and it had crapped out. I replaced it with another, but Im scared to rely on it. I tried the aqua mira drops this fall, fine so far., that could become my go-to. But that little filter sure is nice when it works. What do you guys with the mini filters do with them in cold wx? Most of my use is below freezing temps.

Do you just run the tablets then?

 

[Macintosh]

Do you just run the tablets then?

The quoted post is only from a couple months ago and I havent used it enough over the winter to have changed anything. Still using combo of befree and aquamira drops, and Ive also got a couple tabs in my FA kit. Cold wx is really the biggest thing that would likely cause me to change. I would say wx above freezing the befree is primary and drops are backup. Below freezing drops are primary and befree is backup. Tbd if anything changes on this. I dont feel particularly dialed with either one yet when cold wx is likely.

 

[Mike Islander]

You typically don’t find viruses in backcountry water. It would take an infected person to infect a water source and then you take water from that source. Highly unlikely to happen. Now if you were to take water coming in from Mexico say from that Tijuana cesspool of a river then absolutely chemically treat it

Research your destination water source and decide from there how to deal with it. Many states have published info for that.

As kids we used to clam the Tijuana Slough. Often ate clams raw on the spot. I'm permanently immune to all waterborne illness. Actually probably lucky to be alive.