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  1. #1
    Registered User Undershaft's Avatar
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    Default How do you fill your hydration bladder?

    I've decided to use aqua mira on my upcoming hike instead of my katahdin hiker filter. I have never used aqua mira before. I'm doing this to reduce my pack weight not because of any dissatisfaction with the filter. I use a 100 oz. Camelback and a 20 oz. gatorade bottle to carry water in. I also have my 0.9L pot and a campmug. My question is this: How do I fill the camelback from the water source before treating with the Aqua Mira? With a filter it was no problem and often wouldn't even remove the bladder from my pack when filling it from a trailside source. So what would you do? These are my thoughts:

    1 - Dip the bladder opening directly into the source and treat w/AM
    2 - Dip the 20 oz. bottle directly into source and use to fill bladder then treat w/AM
    3 - Dip pot or mug directly into source and use to fill bladder then treat w/AM

    The problem with options 2 and 3 is that those containers would be exposed to untreated water. I use the 20 oz. bottle in my hammock at night and not during the day (I fill it up from my camelback before turning in for the night). I use the mug for coffee/tea morning and evening and (obviously) fill it with boiling water from my pot. If I use either vessel this way it would be filled with treated water, but potentially still have nasties in it from dipping directly into the source. Using my pot would work because boiling would kill any residual nasties from dipping directly into a source, but it would be a royal PITA to unpack stove, stand, and windscreen from the pot each time I needed to fill up on water. Option 1 works only if the source is deep enough to submerge the bladder in, and many sources of water are shallow and muddy. I hope this isn't too confusing (I'm not gifted at explaining things in writing).

    Please help me figure out the best way to fill and treat without any exposure to untreated water. There is probably a simple solution that I just don't see, so I'm calling on the experience of others to help me with this conundrum.

    PS - I also plan to use something (bandanna, pantyhose, coffee filter) to filter out larger particles from the water source.

    Thanks!
    Mobilis in Mobili

  2. #2
    Registered User Jedeye's Avatar
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    Yeah, they can be a little difficult to fill at times. With water running down a slope but not deep enough to get under you can use a candy bar wrapper, a leaf or a plastic bag and let the water flow over the top of it. This will create something like a little bridge, where your bladder is at the end of it.
    I have also had times where I used just a bottle cap to scoop water from a non flowing shallow source. It took a long time, but I was desperate.
    You could also cut the bottom of a plastic water bottle off and use this as a scoop. It would weigh almost nothing and since you wouldn't be drinking from it you wouldn't have to worry about contamination.
    While on the AT I treated my water about 50% of the time without any problem.
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  3. #3
    PCT, Sheltowee, Pinhoti, LT , BMT, AT, SHT, CDT, TRT 10-K's Avatar
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    I know I beat on this all the time but off the top of my head I think I can count on one hand the number of people I've seen really treating water correctly.

    The people I observe are generally careless about getting contaminated water on threads, lids, etc. and seem to believe that pouring some AM into a container is going to make things good.

    I could be wrong, but I've heard and read that water is either contaminated or it isn't - there is no such thing as 'lightly contaminated water'.

    So... I guess my point is that short of using a pump properly I don't know how you'd fill a camelbak with Aqua Mira and do it right.

    My approach is to carefully choose my water sources and not treat anything but I do carry some tablets as a backup if absolutely necessary.

  4. #4

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    Honestly, calm down about contamination. The germs live in water. They do not live in dryness. So, use your pot to fill your bladder and then dry the pot.

    Or use your 20oz bottle to fill the bladder and also fill the 20oz bottle and put some aqua mira in it, too.

    The way I handled it was to use 1L platypus containers. I would fill them, treat the water, and as they emptied, swap out the screw cap for the hose cap.
    Some knew me as Piper, others as just Diane.
    I hiked the PCT: Mexico to Mt. Shasta, 2008. Santa Barbara to Canada, 2009.

  5. #5
    Registered User Tennessee Viking's Avatar
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    Generally I get water from piped sources or running water sources. When getting water from a stream, I get it from a cascade or churning water. Then use the directed amount AM.

    I have also been playing around with some flexible and lightweight plastic/PVC tubing to make a simple gadget to dig into the ground and gather water from low flowing sources or seeps.

    People say to wet your threads with water being treated. Or use a collapsable cup just for drawing and pouring untreated water.
    ''Tennessee Viking'
    Mountains to Sea Trail Hiker & Maintainer
    Former TEHCC (AT) Maintainer

  6. #6
    Registered User Rick500's Avatar
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    I have a 100 oz. Camelbak bladder and a couple 1 liter recycled water bottles. I use the bottles to fill the Camelbak, then generally also fill one of the bottles, then treat the Camelbak and the bottle with AquaMira.

    Once the bladder is closed, I turn it upside down and back a couple times. I'm satisfied that gets the AM-treated water to touch every surface that it's going to, inside the bladder until it's opened again.

    As for the threads on the bottle, I just squeeze the bottle and let a little sanitized water run over the threads the first time I open it after the water is sanitized.

  7. #7
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    At the start you may not need to worry so much about treatment - in the springtime it should be pretty easy to get water from springs or well-flowing streams (I like to check on map to make sure the trail doesn't cross the stream higher up before I trust drinking untreated water). The main thing I worry about on the trail is Giardia, but for most people it's pretty minor inconvenience, and 1/3 of people who've had it by blood test never had symptoms at all. I had it once and it was pretty mild. Highly unlikely to be exposed to anything like cholera, or nasty amoeba on the AT, even if you never treat. Shigella and salmonella are also quite unlikely, and for healthy people are generally mild and self-limited, typically clearing without treatment.
    HYOH, but IMO most healthy people just don't need to treat their water if they are at all careful with their sources. Hiking in late summer/fall when the sources are getting dry i think it's good to carry purification equipment so you have more options. and if you have medical problems like HIV infection, cancer, transplant recipient or are on immunosuppressive medications, then you really can't take these chances, because opportunistic pathogens that don't bother healthy hikers (and can be in even otherwise clear water) can make you seriously ill.

  8. #8
    Registered User Graywolf's Avatar
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    I second SBHikes. Your worrying way too much. The threads on the bottle shoudlnt be much of a problem. Just dip, pour, treat.

    Honestly, I really never treat my water except the few times I find water sources that are stagnant. Here in Texas, thats pretty common. On my section hike in 09 I treated none of the water and was just fine. The water taste so much better pure than it did coming from the faucet here in the city.

    You will be just fine..

    Graywolf
    "So what if theres a mountain, get over it!!!" - Graywolf, 2010

  9. #9
    mountain squid's Avatar
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    I have a 100 oz Platypus with drinking tube. ONLY ‘clean’ water goes into it.

    I also carry a 70 oz Platy reservoir for ‘dirty’ water. I add the necessary amount of water and treat as directed. When I need it, I transfer the now ‘clean’ water to the 100 oz Platy and drink away.

    I have a small plastic dipper for those times requiring one.

    Water for meals I do not treat, as boiling should kill all the nasties.

    The 100 ouncer never needs to leave pack, except, maybe, when adding town water which is ‘clean’. Don’t want to add town ‘clean’ water to the ‘dirty’ reservoir.

    See you on the trail,
    mt squid

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  10. #10
    Springer to Elk Park, NC/Andover to Katahdin
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    I third SBHikes and besides you cannot get a large enough concentration of giardia on or in your pot/gatorade bottle to cause you any harm. Contamination fear is something spread by filter/water treatment companies to sell their products. Just use a little common sense about your water sources and you will be fine.
    I am not young enough to know everything.

  11. #11

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    I use a 100oz camelbak in the above-freezing months and a friend of mine solved by bladder problems.

    We both use Katadyn water filters. Camelbak makes a little quick change port that you plug in behind your bite valve. Pop your bite valve off, plug in the Katadyn filter and start pumping. When you can't push the pump handle down anymore, it's full. Pop the pump off and put the bite valve back on. Get a pump cord long enough and you don't even have to take your pack off. It's a killer setup. I carry a Nalgene Cantene (like a big playtpus) that's also 100oz for camp. I much prefer camelbaks because I drink more often if I don't have to take my pack off to get my water.

    As for contamination, I keep my clean water valve separate from my pump.
    Cabin Fever
    You need God—to hope, to care, to love, to live.

  12. #12
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    Hydration bladders can and will get pretty funky nasty if you dont sanitize them properly and often.
    Mountain Squid nailed it with maintaining a "clean" and "dirty" bladder. Treat in one container, then drain onto its threads before transfering liquid to the clean bladder.
    Each time you get to town and you clean up, take a minute to clean your bladder and inspect it as well.

  13. #13

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    I UV blast the **** out of everything, and carry AM just in case the battery runs out. It's worked just fine for me so far.

  14. #14
    AT Thru Class of 2010 HDMama's Avatar
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    I used AM and two 2L bladders on my thru last year. Most times I didn't treat when pulling from a good source. By good source, I mean straight from the origination i.e. spring or faucet. If I pulled from a stream, I treated. I carried a 1 oz collapsable cup for filling if I couldn't get my bladder under the source. It's convenient to carry two bladders or a plastic bottle so you can treat smaller amounts, then pour it into your main bladder.

  15. #15
    Registered User TheYoungOne's Avatar
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    Get a ziplock bag. Freezer bags are more durable, but there is a little bit of a weight penality. Get gallon bags. You can use them for gathering water and for storing untreated water at camp. Always seperate dirty water gatherers and containers, from stuff that handles food and clean water.

  16. #16
    Registered User Undershaft's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by TheYoungOne View Post
    Get a ziplock bag. Freezer bags are more durable, but there is a little bit of a weight penality. Get gallon bags. You can use them for gathering water and for storing untreated water at camp. Always seperate dirty water gatherers and containers, from stuff that handles food and clean water.

    That's a good idea! I never thought of using a ziplock bag to gather water to fill my hydration bladder. I think thats what I'll do since I always carry a few extra ziplocks with me anyway. Thanks Man!
    Mobilis in Mobili

  17. #17
    aka Kudzu
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    Quote Originally Posted by Cabin Fever View Post
    I use a 100oz camelbak in the above-freezing months and a friend of mine solved by bladder problems.

    We both use Katadyn water filters. Camelbak makes a little quick change port that you plug in behind your bite valve. Pop your bite valve off, plug in the Katadyn filter and start pumping. When you can't push the pump handle down anymore, it's full. Pop the pump off and put the bite valve back on. Get a pump cord long enough and you don't even have to take your pack off. It's a killer setup. I carry a Nalgene Cantene (like a big playtpus) that's also 100oz for camp. I much prefer camelbaks because I drink more often if I don't have to take my pack off to get my water.

    As for contamination, I keep my clean water valve separate from my pump.
    Really? This works for you? I gave up on trying to fill the bladder with it still in the pack. Either I ended up filling it with more air than water or the other stuff in the pack made it hard to fill since the bladder was under compression. I gave up and just pull the bladder out now and filter.

    I'm thinking of switching to chemicals for the same weight savings as the OP. I just worry about spots that are little more than a mud hole instead of a decent spring.
    JaxHiker aka Kudzu - WFA
    Florida Trail Association: NE FL Trail Coordinator (Gold Head to Stephen Foster)
    Problems on the trail? Have a great experience? Please let me know. trails at northfloridatrailblazers dot org
    Blazing Trails with Kudzu @ www.idratherbehiking.com
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