Arkansas Canoe Club Forums

Considering a multi day hike. Tell me about water treatment. Can't boil it like on the river.

Normally do day trips and car camp so have plenty at camp/car and carry some drops for backup emergencies. Drops, tablets, filters????

I've always used a filter for backpacking. I've had a Pur Hiker (now the Katadyn Hiker) for about eight years and have been totally happy with it. It's the filter most of my backpacking friends use, also. Link below:

http://products.katadyn.com/brands-and- ... er_30.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Some folks argue in favor of tablets or drops for weight savings but, for me, the taste, convenience and speed of filtered water is absolutely worth the few extra ounces.

We have a Katadyn Backcountry series hiher microfilter. Works great easy to use and cleaning unit is simple. Oh and we haven't been sick yet.

I meant hiker.

I have a kaytadyn pocket filter. If you are going the filter route one thing to consider is how often you will use it. The katadyn hiker costs 50-60 dollars and filters up to 200 gallons with a replacement filter costing 35-40 dollars I believe. The pocket model cost 200-210 dollars, but filters up to 13,000 gallons. Also, they now have ultra violet water filters that you might look at.

good luck

eric

I have Aquarmira Frontier Pro filter in my kayak now for emergencies. It only costs about $20 and you can screw it directly on to platypus or water bottle (or drink directly from the water). I also carry some Katadyn Micropur MP-1 tablets for more questionable water. I'm experimenting with the same setup for backpacking. I've heard of people using just the filter for the whole John Muir Trail. My pump filter is an MSR Hyperflow. It's pricey, but it's light and fast. People have problems with them clogging, but I'm told it's from them not being familiar with the pump and maintaining it properly. I backflush mine regularly and haven't had any problems so far.
http://www.msrgear.com/watertreatment/hyperflow.asp
http://aquamira.com/preparedness/fronti ... er-system/

Filtration: Make sure that the filter you select will filter down to 0.2 microns. This ensures that you filter out bacteria, protozoa, and spores, the most common of which are giardia and cryptosporidium. Their average sizes are much larger than 0.2 microns. The other plus for the filter is that it will take dirty looking water and make it clean looking. (it will be safe to drink too, but this is why most people choose filters, because mentally if its clean looking, its clean) If you are concerned about potential viral infections, the purification is necessary. Filters w/o a viral converstion (such as the top end Sweetwater filter) will not protect you against viruses. The virus, from what I've read, that you're at the most risk of getting from water is Hepatitis A. There have been instances in the United States of people getting Hepatitis A from the wild.

Purification: If there was one way to kill everything in your water, it is through purification. The only draw back here when hiking/backpacking/wilderness travel is that there is a wait. Most purification systems are chemical in nature, ie iodine, chlorination, etc... Someone did mention a UV system and that is available too. This system requires the least amount of wait time, about 90 seconds for a liter of water. The system is expensive, about $120.00 on average, but will treat up to 2000 liters of water. Again the only issue with purification, in most cases, is that the floaties are still present.

Boiling is always an option. But when backpacking, the added weight of fuel to boil almost always is more than what a filtration/purification system would weigh. There's also a wait time here, that some people don't adhere to. 10 minutes of boiling. How much will that yield. I don't know many people that backpack with a 3 liter pot. This all changes if you're boiling water, over say...a blowlog Then there's the added fun factor.

You're only decision is how often you're going to backpack versus the cost of water system. I've been using an MSR Miox purifier for the past 3 years and have been semi-happy with it. I don't like to wait for water, so I'm switching to the MSR Hyperflow filter. 7.4 ounces and 3 Liters a minute.

Jeremy M wrote:I'm switching to the MSR Hyperflow filter. 7.4 ounces and 3 Liters a minute.

With a little creativity, you can drop a couple more ounces too.