Loading…
14
I finally stopped carrying my water filter on every trip after a 12 mile day in the Winds
For years I treated my water filter like it was glued to my pack. Every route I planned, I would stop at every creek and pump, even when I was only 2 miles from a clean source. On a 12 mile loop through the Wind River Range near Titcomb Basin, I ended up carrying a full 3 liter bladder the whole way because I kept topping off out of habit. My pack weighed 31 pounds at the start and my shoulders were wrecked by the time I hit the car. A ranger at the trailhead asked why I was filtering water that came straight off a snowfield, and honestly I didn't have a good answer. I started reading up on when you actually need to treat water versus when it's just overkill, and the rules are way more clear than I thought. I cut the filter from my kit for a 3 day trip on the Continental Divide Trail in Wyoming and never felt unsafe once. Now I want to know how other people decide when a source is clean enough to skip the filter.
1 comments
Log in to join the discussion
Log In1 Comment
the_thomas26d ago
Yeah the filter glued to your pack thing hits home, been there too.
8