Was dead set against using a water filter on trail until I got giardia near Yosemite

I used to think boiling water was fine and filters were just extra weight. After three days of pure misery puking my guts out by Half Dome last fall, I dropped $40 on a Sawyer Squeeze and never looked back. Anyone else stubbornly skip the filter until something bad happened?

2 comments

2 Comments

wren_jackson1d ago

Went through something similar myself but with a twist. I was camped near a lake in the Desolation Wilderness and thought "eh, it's glacier melt, how bad could it be?" Three days later I was lying in my tent hallucinating from dehydration because I couldn't keep anything down. @loganm52 your motel toilet story hits close to home, except my "luxury" was a pit toilet at a ranger station that smelled like death. Now I carry two filters just in case one breaks. I even filter water from the tap before I leave my house now, it's THAT paranoid I've become. Giardia and crypto don't mess around. They'll turn your dream hike into a nightmare real fast.

loganm521d ago

Honestly, THREE DAYS of puking your guts out by Half Dome? That's like my actual nightmare. I thought I was tough skipping the filter too, figured my stomach could handle anything. Nope, got nailed with cryptosporidium from some "crystal clear" stream in the Sierras and spent a weekend hugging a toilet at a trailhead motel. I don't mess around anymore, the Sawyer Squeeze is basically glued to my pack now.