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LULU
06-13-2006, 18:32
Can I drink the water from the streams a long the trail?

Lone Wolf
06-13-2006, 18:38
I do and always have with no ill effects.

Butch Cassidy
06-13-2006, 18:58
I did not filter or treat Ga to Me and no problems.:cool:

Just Jeff
06-13-2006, 20:09
That's where most people get their water from - except they treat it first.

Make sure you know how to spot good water vs iffy water vs "don't drink here" water before you go around not treating your water. Things like cities and cattle pastures upstream are no-nos. For the most part, it's all pretty clean in the mountains, though. I often don't treat my water, but I usually use AquaMira.

Ridge
06-13-2006, 20:16
I strongly recommend that you get some books and do a lot of research along with doing a lot of day hiking. The only drawback in Florida is the highest elevation is just over 300 feet. We have that much elevation from the car to the trail head. Lots of Florida hikers have come up here only to find out what "ELEVATION" means: A big Heart atack-tack-tack!

Blissful
06-13-2006, 20:18
I wouldn't myself. Probably no problems with it esp. if it's a spring, but I'd hate for one bad episode to spoil my hike. And aqua mira is so easy to use.

goatmilk
06-13-2006, 21:59
I invested in a hiker water filter that filters giardia and cryptosporidium. I have yet to use it but a fellow hiker made a good point. "The water in Maine and New Hamphire is wonderful. Why spoil it with chemical treatment? How I wish for some right now." And then the hiker started drooling... :)

Ridge
06-13-2006, 23:05
I invested in a hiker water filter that filters giardia and cryptosporidium. I have yet to use it but a fellow hiker made a good point. "The water in Maine and New Hamphire is wonderful. Why spoil it with chemical treatment? How I wish for some right now." And then the hiker started drooling... :)

Lots of people, including myself for years, have never filtered the water on mountain trails. I carried a PUR Hiker filter during my thru-hike, sometimes I didn't use it, most times I did. I do encourage one to use a filter for their drinking water, its not necessary when cooking as long as it gets to a decent boil. Some new hikers have become severally dehydrated because of concerns over their drinking water. A hiker nearly died several years back due to it, thanks to the clinic at Suches Ga, he pulled thru. The water along the AT is probably better than that coming out of any water company's spigot. What I'm really trying to say is DRINK UP!

PS: I am amazed at the number of people using chemicals to treat such fine water. I would reserve iodine filters and chemicals for third world country's water supply. Also, be aware there are some things that can't be filtered or chemically treated, such as natural occurring arsenic found in some water sources across the world.

TIDE-HSV
06-13-2006, 23:10
I've always treated in the Appalachians. However, I did get a nasty case of Giardia in the Wyoming Wind River Range. I was boiling, but rinsing my pot, etc., in lake water. There was a big beaver in the lake. In fact, he had two big orange front teeth and an un-rodent like attitude, not to sound too "Jimmy Carterish."

Ridge
06-13-2006, 23:13
Are you sure it was a Beaver and not a Trail Maintenance worker?

Tinker
06-13-2006, 23:15
Sure you can, but you might get sick. I always filter or boil mine. One thing a lot of people don't think about is what sort of dead animal might be rotting upstream of where you're drawing water.

joec
06-14-2006, 08:51
I clean out my filter after each of my hikes, which have been mostly 2-3 days in length. The filter is very dirty after these hikes, leading me to think that it is better to clean all water.

Pennsylvania Rose
06-14-2006, 10:54
I treat or filter water from larger streams since you never know what has died upstream. I never bother with spring water and rarely with small streams. The only time I'm super careful is when my kids are with me. A friend's little boy almost died from Giardia because he dehydrated so quickly. As others have pointed out on previous threads, you're more likely to get sick from your own dirty hands than untreated water. So use some hand sanitizer before you eat and after you go.

TIDE-HSV
06-14-2006, 11:09
If it were a trail maintenance guy, then he never left the water. Every time we rounded the south end of the lake on the trail near his lodge, he'd make a bee line for us, hissing all the way. He never left the water, but I never hung around to tempt him...

Ewker
06-14-2006, 11:57
my luck runs so bad that everyone could drink from the same spring and I would be the only one to get sick :eek:

Ridge
06-14-2006, 12:14
my luck runs so bad that everyone could drink from the same spring and I would be the only one to get sick :eek:

I'd be the only one bitten by a Beaver!

Vi+
06-14-2006, 15:29
The state of Colorado tested ALL its water. They found all the water there is polluted. I’m not sure what definition of “polluted” they used.

We don’t hear about hikers dying all over Colorado. “Pollution” by their definition may not make everyone sick let alone be life threatening.

Hikers say, “I drink it all the time and I’m still alive.” This is a poor test. Their lifespan may not continue as long as they would otherwise expect. They may get sick later, or much sicker than they would otherwise become. Legendary hiker Earl Schaefer’s autopsy revealed he had several potentially life threatening health complications which customarily result from drinking polluted water.

Mountain water filtration can operate, by virtue of the rock ground composition, much as a pipe system. Animals seek water to lay in when they become feverish prior to dying. The water, which rotting animals lay in, can seep into rock fissures, rush along rock shelves, and emerge. Just because you see water coming from the ground doesn’t mean it has been naturally “filtered.”

Different people have different immune systems to resist health problems.

You, practically speaking, have to “drink the water from the streams a long the trail.” Treating the water is your decision.

Ridge
06-15-2006, 01:51
The state of Colorado tested ALL its water. They found all the water there is polluted. I’m not sure what definition of “polluted” they used........

........ Legendary hiker Earl Schaefer’s autopsy revealed he had several potentially life threatening health complications which customarily result from drinking polluted water..........


First of all, I would like more information concerning Earl Shaffer's autopsy and this polluted water thing...I've not heard about this.

Second.. Mountain Goat crap washes down the slopes of Colorado, thus more cooties per gallon than on the AT. You better filter all your water out west, even if you think you can climb higher than the goats, you really can't.

Vi+
06-15-2006, 11:26
Ridge,

You advise (Post #18), “I would like more information concerning Earl Shaffer's autopsy and this polluted water thing...I've not heard about this.”

Someone identifying himself as Earl Shaffer’s brother posted not much more than that information on a thread discussing whether water treatment is advisable. He didn’t say polluted water killed him. His point was more that the cause of his brother’s death (I’ve forgotten what that was) may not have killed him without the (I think there were three) additional conditions he had. He advised each of those conditions commonly arise from drinking polluted water.

If anyone is inclined to ignore this, go ahead. It isn’t air tight - the source(s) of those conditions could have been from something else - if this makes you feel better, This is just more information to consider, or ignore, in helping you make your decisions.

I carried a water filter. I discovered the obvious; water filters freeze when the water they are filtering becomes sufficiently cold. I reverted to my backup iodine tablets to treat drinking water. The time you’re required to wait after treating almost-freezing drinking water with iodine verges upon the ridiculous. I rarely wait the prescribed period of time in sub-freezing weather and, thus, probably negate the entire exercise.

My water filter was heavy. Iodine isn't. I haven’t used the filter since then.

I have fallen victim to the seductive charms of beautiful springs and running streams. It feels great to just drink cold water directly and immediately on a hot day. I have little doubt this will happen again. But that’s MY decision. If I wasn’t so lazy or impatient, maybe I’d expend the time and effort to effectively treat all my drinking water.

You further point out, “... Mountain Goat crap washes down the slopes of Colorado, thus more cooties per gallon than on the AT. You better filter all your water out west, even if you think you can climb higher than the goats, you really can't.”

I mentioned mountain water flow isn’t always well filtered. Notice, please, although we don’t have mountain goats or grizzlies nor many elk or wolves, we still have mammals which defecate. There are many sources of water pollution. Water continues to flow down hill here just as well as there.

Again, to make anyone so inclined feel better, the air we hikers breath in the east is polluted anyway.

LULU
06-15-2006, 16:38
If you fill out the bag inside that you bag pack is a lot a weight on those bags!!!!!!!

hacksaw
06-17-2006, 15:42
If you fill out the bag inside that you bag pack is a lot a weight on those bags!!!!!!!

Do What? .......

Peaks
06-17-2006, 18:17
As far as I know, Earl Shaffer died of prostate cancer. No reason for an autopsy, and I've never seen his brother post anything about an autopsy, nor speak about one.

Vi+
06-18-2006, 13:07
Peaks,

You advise (Post #22), “As far as I know, Earl Shaffer died of prostate cancer.”

You may be right.

“No reason for an autopsy ...”

I haven't the slightest idea why an autopsy was performed. I didn't challenge the person who claimed to be his brother passing along relevant information. You may be right.

“... I've never seen his brother post anything about an autopsy, nor speak about one.”

Maybe you haven’t seen all the posts I’ve read. I’ve never spoken with his brother.

I passed along what I read. I was not dropping names. The only point I was trying to make is, treating drinking water may be important. It may be more important for some water sources than for others. Water sources which need treatment may not be obvious. It may be more important for some hikers to treat their drinking water than it is for others.

Geez, if you don't want to treat your drinking water, don't treat it.