How to Collect Water - Need Words of Wisdom

[TurtleTracker]

My planned water system is to have a light 2L dirty bag and a 2L clean bladder (likely a platy hoser). I plan to attach a sawyer mini to the dirty bag and use an adapter to take off the nozzle of the clean bladder for a fast fill.

The thing I'm concerned about is that all the light weight bladders I've seen have screw off sections for filling, but isn't this hard to fill a bag if the water level is low and/or not moving? I'm curious about how easy it is to collect water at sources along the trail into a bag that has a small screw lid like those below (Hoser and Sawyer bag)

http://www.rei.com/product/767111/platypus-hoser-30l-reservoir-100-fl-oz
http://www.mountainlaureldesigns.com/shop/popup_image.php?pID=200&image=0


Also, I know zip tops are available (like the one below) and I'm considering that as an option, but a zip top doesn't compare to the weight/compactibility of the bags that the sawyer squeeze bags (or something equivalent).
http://www.backcountry.com/platypus-big-zip-sl-hydration-bladder

Any answers/thoughts are welcome.

[SteelCut]

Use a ziplock bag for collecting water from low sources. You can then pinch the lip of the bag and essentially make a funnel for pouring into dirty water bag. Works great.

[TurtleTracker]

Use a ziplock bag for collecting water from low sources. You can then pinch the lip of the bag and essentially make a funnel for pouring into dirty water bag. Works great.

Stupidly brilliant. I was over thinking this...

Out of curiosity, do you know how often this is necessary on the trail?

[Odd Man Out]

I used the Sawyer bag this summer and did find it a pain to fill. What I am working on is using a silnylon water bag fitted with a quick connect hose to attach to the filter. But I'm still waiting on the quick connect fittings so I can't tell you how it will work just yet. I used a similar system a number of years ago that was made by ULA (it has since been discontinued). With that one, the filter was in the bag, instead of attached outside the bag, and the hose was not removable, which made filling a bit of a pain.

[Odd Man Out]

One other tip I am going to try is to use a lightweight plastic water bottle with the top cut of as a bailing scoop to fill your bladder from shallow pools. When you are done, you can roll up all your water gear and use the cup for storage.

[SteelCut]

Stupidly brilliant. I was over thinking this...

Out of curiosity, do you know how often this is necessary on the trail?

Not too often in the locations that I have hiked a lot. I have found that I may need to do this during the fall or when shallow flowing water sources are encountered. I use the quart size bag but I have heard of others using a gallon bag. The nice thing that I've found is that the bag basically floats and if you just get one part of the bag under the water, you will be not stir up dirt and silt. I can usually get the bag half full before I pour into the dirty water bag.

[Dogwood]

I'm very choosy about water sources focused on not taking water where I believe parasites or contaminated water may prevail. To me, that CAN BE highly impacted by humans shallow water sources I much prefer to fill up at waterfalls/flowing water, large and small, even riffles, and in areas away or not downstream from areas highly impacted by humans. AT shelter areas are questionably highly impacted areas to me. I prefer to camp and capture water away from these places when I have the choice. The AT has extremely well documented and rather very frequent water sources during typical thru-hiking season so one does tend to have choices on that trail. Look for these water locations and their typical availability/reliability notes in the AT Thru-Hikers Book. Filling up at these sites is easier and, I believe, makes me less prone to ingesting bacteria, viruses, other organic matter, etc

I have a 3L Platypus Hoser reservoir with a corner spout where I removed the hose and that I took the cap from another Platy and placed on it(cap threads were the same, I use the Hoser this way because it's made from a tougher stronger thicker BPA-free polyethylene material which I use in areas where I want greater durability ie; the desert, remote hikes, etc, wt is about 2.8 ozs like this, it's similar, maybe the same, to the Platypus Plus bottle material), and a 2L(actually it's 2.4 L, 1,3 oz) lighter wt BPA-free polyethylene Platypus Bottle with center spout. I almost always only carry one of these and only as a backup for dry campsites. To that I carry a hard sided water bottle(Nalgene, Sigg Aluminum, bicycle, BPA soft plastic left over water bottle from something else I drank), rarely two, on backpack shoulder straps. If I was to thru the AT again, the Platys would be used rather sparingly being totally filled. It's part of trail water logistics.

In the situations you describe, like absolutely having no other choice than to capture water at shallow water, a seep, etc, I'll first see if I can capture water into the hard sided bottle(like a Nalgene, bicycle bottle, etc) and transfer some to a Platy. If that doesn't work I break out my cookware pot dipping into the water and then transferring to a Platy or other hard sided water bottle. I've also sopped up water with a bandana and then squeezing it into a water receptacle. You can use Steelcut's plastic bag method that can work even better too. When capturing water at both deeper and shallower water sites I try to disturb the water as least as possible dipping a bit under the surface when I start collecting(don't want to drink what's on the surface) and tend to treat my water more often at such water capturing locations.

[Riocielo]

I used a Platy Big Zip LP reservoir for clean water and a Boil 5L collspsible water tank for dirty water.

The big tank does have a screw in cap at the bottom. I put a hole in the center that just does for the straw to the Sawyer mini. I put some glue on it to secure it in place.

I attached tubing to the other end of the Sawyer and used the Camelbak male/female quick adapters.

I was surprised how quickly the Sawyer handled that amount of water (for two of us.)

I love the big mouth of the Platy and the way it closes so securely.

[July]

In a trickle or thin flow/feed, you can create a makeshift 'dam' to create a pool to retrieve.

[July]

This thread brought back to memory a few years back not far from Springer I came upon a hiker. This man was extremely overweight, wearing what I would term semi town clothes and carrying town baggage. He had an old flannel covered 1qt canteen. Upon approaching he asked if I had any water. I said follow me, it was kinda dry spot but within walking less than 5 minutes found a small stream coming through the rocks. Give a man a fish and he will eat once, teach him to fish...

[rhjanes]

I have a 1L playty type bag, top cut off. It rolls up, weighs next to nothing. Good for scooping. I also have a Smartwater bottle with the bottom cut off. Also functions as a scoop. It doubles up in that the 1L bag, a 2L bag, the mini sawyer (or larger sawyer), adapters and such all slide inside the smartwater bottom....so it is the holder. That all is in a mesh type sack in an outer pocket.

[Furlough]

I just use my titanium mug. Dip it in the water pour the water into the bag, attach my squeeze and filter. Wipe out mug and stow all away.

[Slo-go'en]

I just use my titanium mug. Dip it in the water pour the water into the bag, attach my squeeze and filter. Wipe out mug and stow all away.

^^ This. Unless I know for sure it's a piped spring, I'll carry my titanium pot down to the source to scoop out water. This is often needed during the summer when the springs start to dry up and aren't flowing very good.

[rafe]

I use an old-fashoned pump filter. Platy bag stays in the pack all day. I fill the bag directly from the pump through the same tube that I sip out of.

[theoilman]

One other tip I am going to try is to use a lightweight plastic water bottle with the top cut of as a bailing scoop to fill your bladder from shallow pools. When you are done, you can roll up all your water gear and use the cup for storage.
This is exactly what I do with my Sawyer Squeeze. Works great! When done, I roll my dirty bag around the filter and stow in the "scoop".

[lonehiker]

I use an old-fashoned pump filter. Platy bag stays in the pack all day. I fill the bag directly from the pump through the same tube that I sip out of.

I used the First Need for a couple of decades and filled my bladder the same way. About 4 years ago finally switched to a Sawyer. I sure do miss the convenience but like the lighter and smaller filter.

[garlic08]

In the Southern Appalachians, use a rhododendron leaf as a spout. The year I hiked, someone hiking before me made a bunch of nice semi-permanent spouts with leaves and pebbles--beautiful things. I tried making a few, but didn't quite have that touch.

For where rhodies are not present, I carry a plastic version of the Sierra cup for dipping into shallow pools and filling a bottle.

There were so many excellent springs on the AT the year I hiked, a fairly wet year, I rarely treated my drinking water. I estimate I treated ten gallons the entire hike and I'm pretty careful about water.

[gbolt]

This is exactly what I do with my Sawyer Squeeze. Works great! When done, I roll my dirty bag around the filter and stow in the "scoop".

To add to this, I followed the same idea with a slight twist for the scoop. The bags that came with the Sawyer Squeeze had a bad rep for leaking. So I took the smallest bag (1 liter?), figuring that under pressure it was the most likely to leak, and cut the top off. I then use it as part of the system to scoop water into the dirty water bag. It works great and when cut at an angle along the edge, it pours nicely. When done, I roll it around the Sawyer Squeeze and inside the larger bag and slide it all into a mesh bag carrier.

[xokie]

I use an old-fashoned pump filter. Platy bag stays in the pack all day. I fill the bag directly from the pump through the same tube that I sip out of.

...and this is why I stick with the slight extra weight and hassle of a 6 year old MSR Sweetwater. It'll suck water out of boot heel well.