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Starchild
09-10-2012, 07:28
I would like to know what methods you used or plan to us to purify water, or perhaps not use any method and just drink it 'straight up on the rocks' (without purification).

I don't plan to use chemicals, although it is a weight savings, part of the experience for me is tasting the waters of the location, it's a oneness with nature thing and chemicals destroy that experience for me, though I would like to know about other people's experience with it.

I am planning to use the steripen as my primary safe water method. I would like to know who has used one for the thru-hike and how it worked for you and what model you have in particularly what batteries it takes.

I have the steripen classic which uses 4 AA's and with energizer lithium I can get about 200 uses out of it which translates to about 200 quarts before the batteries should be replaced. I assume that alkaline AA batteries are very available, but alkaline only last 20-30 on this device (due to such a high draw current), what about the energizer lithium availability? They have a smaller and lighter model which uses a different 'non standard' battery, is it worth switching to this model and what is the availability of that battery along the trail?

Also what is the common distance between viable water refill locations, how much water does one typically need to be able to carry and what are the extremes to that? Is it commonly necessary to come off the trail long distances to refill?

surfnturk
09-10-2012, 07:38
don't plan to use chemicals, although it is a weight savings, part of the experience for me is tasting the waters of the location, it's a oneness with nature thing and chemicals destroy that experience for me, though I would like to know about other people's experience with it.

I am planning to use the steripen as my primary safe water method. I would like to know who has used one for the thru-hike and how it worked for you and what model you have in particularly what batteries it takes.

"I have the steripen classic which uses 4 AA's and with energizer lithium I can get about 200 uses out of it which translates to about 200 quarts before the batteries should be replaced. I assume that alkaline AA batteries are very available, but alkaline only last 20-30 on this device (due to such a high draw current), what about the energizer lithium availability? They have a smaller and lighter model which uses a different 'non standard' battery, is it worth switching to this model and what is the availability of that battery along the trail?"

Yeah the 4 double aa battteries sound very natural and should put you in touch with mother nature.

Maddog
09-10-2012, 07:45
I'm currently using the infamous Sawyer 3-way Inline Water Filter(SIWF) and AquaMira or Chlorine Dioxide as backup! Maddog:D

Lone Wolf
09-10-2012, 07:48
i filter through my teeth

Spokes
09-10-2012, 07:58
SteriPen is crap (yes, I own one). Might as well stick your finger in your water bottle and swish it around. Everybody loves them until they're in the back country staring at a blinking red light and wondering why the probe isn't lighting up. Thirsty?

Most thru hikers use pr end up switching to AquaMira. Throw an extra set in the bottom of your food bag as a back-up. Sawyer Squeeze is worth looking at too but keep that set of AquaMira handy.

I don't gamble with water on the trail. I play craps in Vegas.

Maddog
09-10-2012, 08:03
SteriPen is crap (yes, I own one). Do what most thru hikers do and use AquaMira. Throw an extra set in the bottom of your food bag as a back-up. Sawyer Squeeze is worth looking at too but keep that set of AquaMira handy.....

Want to take chances? Gamble in Vegas not on the trail.

+1 My experience with SteriPen is that it is garbage! It overheated and melted when I removed the plastic battery tab! Maddog:D

Starchild
09-10-2012, 08:11
I plan to have a backup incase of malfunction :D I have had great luck with my steripen so far with a couple of hundred cycles, but I still carry around some iodine tabs to get me though if needed.

Slo-go'en
09-10-2012, 10:10
How often you come across water varies with location and time of year. A thru hiker starting out at Springer in the spring will find water every couple of miles and will rarely need to treat it, as many of the water sources are springs. This starts to change as you get into Virginia and the mid Atlantic states. Water holes start to get farther apart with longer (and sometimes very steep decents/climbs off the ridge line) walks to find it. Once back into the "real" mountains of New England, good water once again becomes easialy available.

On my recent Long Trail thru, I filtered most of my water simply to take the dirt and insects out of it. Most of the springs weren't running very well and dipping water out of the shallow pool usually sturred up the dirt. Thankfully, I use a cheap filter which doesn't clog up very fast. I suppose I could have just strained the water through a bandana instead. Humm, I should build a dirt strainer into my water bag...

As for the Steripen, they do seem to have a reliability issue, but hard to say how much of this is the users fault. And the way I see most people use them, I think the only reason they seem to work is that most water is safe to drink as is.

rusty bumper
09-10-2012, 15:59
I drank spring water right out of the ground and I treated all stream and pond water with Aqua Mira (AM). I used very little AM in the southern states due to prevalence of springs...that changed as I moved north. BTW, I could never detect the effect of AM on the taste of water.

Hikes in Rain
09-10-2012, 19:34
I've been using the MIOX, which generates (mostly) chlorine dioxide out of untreated water, salt and electricity. It's light, pretty much unbreakable, can treat tons of water without a noticeable (to me, anyway) taste. And it has a serious cool factor going for it, what with the high tech and the bubbling and fizzing when you hit the generate button. But it electrical, which means it could break down or have dead batteries.

yellowsirocco
09-10-2012, 19:53
I drink it straight if I can. Sometimes there is just too much junk for my tastes so I carry a filter. Sometimes the water is just not flowing that much and you have to get it from a puddle and the filter helps with that too.

Another Kevin
09-10-2012, 19:58
The MIOX is discontinued, isn't it? I thought the company now just does larger-scale chlorine generation for community and industrial water systems.

Hikes in Rain
09-11-2012, 20:17
I didn't know that, but Googling sure seems to indicate it is. Darn. Guess I won't be replacing it if I break it. Not that I really would, those things were expensive. I got mine as a gift.