Wonderland Trail Gear List

[Sarah Kirkconnell]

Bob, you can get HEET pretty much at any gas station or grocery store around Rainier. It is NOT an issue to find it. There are plenty of places to stop at going to Rainier – from every direction. Beyond that, if one does take a white gas stove or a canister stove you can get fuel locally as well.
If anyone has a fuel question of where to buy I most likely can answer that.

[EndoftheTrail]

YMMV thing, but to me, the tablets have their advantages: ease of use and much lighter weight.

I've used both — and reading the labels of both — the tablets have 3x the concentration of liquids! I've also confirmed this on a phone conversation with an AM rep. Both Micropur and AM advertise the tablets as effective against all three baddies: viruses, bacteria and protozoa (e.g. crypto, giardia). But AM indicates effectiveness only against bacteria for its weaker liquid product. This is also why the tablets cost more.

In the field, tablets eliminate the need for two bottles — and eliminates the need to count drops and the 5-minute premixing wait time. There's also no worries about spillage. For those who use less drops than instructed — it is an easy thing to split the tablet in halves — or in fourths even. But for dicey water source, at least you know the full dosage has the power to treat all three types of baddies mentioned. Finally, the bubble package is extremely compact and light weight.

Some folks have indicated their need to use scissors to cut open the bubble packaging — but for me, I just use my fingers to tear the package open — never encountered any difficulty, even when my hands are wet.

Food for thought… but sometimes, different alternatives have their respective advantages — and not so "slam dunk".

[Chad “Stick” Poindexter]

Just a thought here, but is splitting the AM tabs ok? In medicine it is not always a great idea to split or break a pill unless it is already scored. Reason being, pills aren't the same through and through meaning there may be more medicine in one corner of the pill than the other. So, it could then be possible to get a full dose by splitting it in one half and none in the other. If this is the case with AM, what if one half of the tablet does not have any of the bug killer in it and you drop it in some water, then it wouldn't treat the water.

Just wondering if anyone knows if it is technically safe to split the AM tabs. Seems like if it were they would already be scored…

Just sayin'

[EndoftheTrail]

My guess — looking at the complete uniformity of the tab when broken up into halves and fourths — and how each resulting component sizzles up like Alka Seltzer the same way — is that it is perfectly fine to break them. Won't hurt to verify with either AM or Micropur.

[Mike M]

MP vs AM tabs- are they identical?

[Chad “Stick” Poindexter]

I guess I am just wondering if the concentration is the same through and through since I know it is not the case in most medicines (and the ones that are come scored). Just curious is all. I am fine using my drops for now though.

[David Ure]

Splitting is touch and go. More than often the other side of the tab will crumble into dust. No idea how one could cut it into thirds.

Maybe Ben can post a video of such?

[EndoftheTrail]

"MP vs AM tabs- are they identical?"

I no longer have the labels, but I recall both being made in Spain. ¡Viva España!

As for breaking up the tablets, I've never had a problem. And coming to think of it… for those who wish to treat just 16oz. and they want to dilute further… breaking the tablet up into powder form will give them infinite dosage control. Not that I would do it myself… but reading all the posts about people's water treatment idiosyncrasies, it's more "black magic" than science anyway. :)

[Mike M]

^ thanks

sometime the tabs break nicely (I use 1/2 liter platys for gatorade), sometimes not so nicely (most of these times the tab is already broke within the packaging)- when not so nicely I simply put the powdered portion in the bottle

[Mark Hurd]

From a medical standpoint water treatment only needs to decrease the number of "bugs" to a non infective level. Most bacterial infections require 1000's to 100,000's organisms to infect you. If you ingest less than that amount then you don't get sick.

For Giardia, however, it takes 1 to 10 to infect you. This implies that your treatment method should be pretty fool proof if your water happens to be contaminated with Giardia, which you can't tell by looking at it.

That said, not all people are affected by Giardia and may be infected and asymptomatic. The good news it that if you do get infected if may take a week or more for symptoms to show up, often after that "week on the trail" is over. Finally, it is usually easily treated with metronidazole 500mg twice a day for a week. However, a small fraction of people end up with chronic antibiotic resistant infections.

-Happy Trails,
-Mark

Some FDA info:
http://www.fda.gov/food/foodsafety/foodborneillness/foodborneillnessfoodbornepathogensnaturaltoxins/badbugbook/ucm070716.htm

[Brian Austin]

I have not carried tablets in years and years in W.Washington. I used to. Never used them but once, then when I went to use them they were a powder paste from being carried in my pack so long and never been used. Still even had the cotton filler in the top. Why? Because unless you are the blindest, least forward thinking idiot on the planet, you can ALWAYS find snow drips, small streams, and yes, even glacier melt to drink from in W. Washington. This is even true on the Eastern side of Washington as well. This is doubly triply true for running around a big Steep ol' rain catcher like Ranier! Yo, on glacier melt, to whoever was the idiot who said you can't drink it, put in a pan, let it settle, pour off the clean water on top and then throw out the silt. DUH!

Besides, he is carrying a stove, so if you are really desperate, heat said water to above 165F for 5 mins and that kills ALLLLL microorgainisms. You can tell this temp without a thermometer by the fact that its almost at a boil. The old' adage that you have to have said water boiling is pure BS.

Just like when you go to Africa you take a "fishing tackle" clear plastic sorting box with jet black back panel and dump water into it and then seal the lid, placing it out in the sun. Some of them even have aluminum "lenses" on the side to make the water come to temp faster. In fact they even have aluminum cardboard "LENSES" for cooking. IE use a black pot. When water/food reaches 165 or 5 minutes you know everything has been killed. Dump it out let it cool and drink.

PS. The best camping spots in Mt. Ranier NP are not designated camp spots. Get 1/4 mile off the trail, and for starters you don't have to worry about bears, mice, and other wildlife pests. 2nd of all you don't have to hear/smell everyone else camping with you. 3rd of all you won't have to go to your selected prison cell in said campground with its designated number with crappy gravel to camp on. 4th of all you actually get a view. Yikes, I mean you actually get a view as well as all of their stupid camping spots or nearly all are stuffed into the trees where you have to go take a damned hike to get a view!

PPS. Yes, I try to make it a rule to NEVER camp in a designated camp ground, can't ya tell? Off trail camping spots don't fill nearly as quickly if ever. I have never found one to be "filled" yet. I have had plenty of "normal" spots filled and unable to camp there, what a shame, let the suckers have em, I say. Just show up, select the off trail sections for camping in/on your trip around rainier and enjoy solitude and better pictures, and a better experience.

[Mike Clelland]

Brian Austin = MY MAIN MAN!

Right on LW brother!

[Jeffs Eleven]

Mike, for full disclosure: Brian carries copious amounts of TP;)

[Sarah Kirkconnell]

For the most part getting cross country permits if you are doing the Wonderland is not going to happen. If you are backpacking anywhere else, yeah, not so much an issue.

While sometimes X/C permits do get issued for WT permits it isn't the norm.

And you have to know what zone to ask for as well when getting permitted.

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