Would a newbie survive PCT w/ a steripen?

Well, that depends. The Steripen Journey/Opti is great for 2 week trips. It has held up since it was introduced. I worry around rocks, or with mishandling, but it seems reliable. I had an older Journey with the metal contacts that worked well, too. The trick is to flip one of the batteries with every use. Otherwise, the trickle current drain will kill the batteries prematurely. They still haven't changed over to a mechanical switch to prevent this. They have their reasons, I guess.

I always bring a couple small 1/2oz bottles of AM drops as backup. Roughly 1.5oz counting the bottle weight for both parts. This is about a week's supply of drinking water.

I boil water in the morning. Soo, I use dirty water for breakfast, around three 10oz cups. I make the same or a bit more at night, 2 for meals, one for cocoa and scotch.

I carry two gatoraid bottles, each 500ml. On the PCT, I might map out what I need because there are a few stretches you need to carry a day or twos worth. Usually this is some type of Platy bladder.

As far as resistance or immunity to Gardia, about 1/3 of the population is fairly immune to it and only suffer symptoms for a day or two. I cannot find any clear answer on resistance, or, if it is possible to build up an immunity. I sort of doubt it, since you have a hard time with other parasites.

I had a friend who took a SteriPen to Haiti to treat his drinking water when he assisted with relief after the big quake. He had no problems over several weeks, despite water that was almost always much more concerning than most any of the water sources along the PCT. While I dont consider it the "end all" of water treatment options, it does work very well and in some cases I think it to be the best option. A side benefit is that in places like the Sierras (where the water is some of the most refreshing in the world IMO), its the only method that doesn't affect the taste.

Like James said, battery care for it is necessary, and chemical back up (I carry a few individually wrapped tablets at all times when hiking)is prudent as well. My SteriPen has been very reliable, but it is still an electronic device.

> Would a newbie survive PCT w/ a steripen?
Well, used correctly, a newbie should not have water problems that way.
Whether he would survive the PCT based on that alone … :-)

Cheers

Since so many people with steripens have asked to use my filter when the pen fails, I tend to have a bias. It extends to anything electronic that is not fixable on the trail. I favor backflushable filters. I carry a very light Platypus Cleanstream unit grafted into a ULA gravity filter (no longer available) that doubles as a shower or a bucket.

I have spoken with a lady who is not only symptomatic and tests positive for giardia, she has remained so for the past 10 years despite multiple treatments. She is on a SAR dog team and never believed she had to treat water. Since dogs can get it too, she now filters water for her dog and herself religiously. Giardia is not the only thing that can be in the water – waterways in Yosemite tested positive for e coli, at least when they bothered to test it – look at all the nekkid butts and places where people have washed up dishes and left partially eaten food in the water (yuck) and it's pretty clear heavy use begets transmission of critters.

On a heavily used trail (the PCT counts for me, plenty of people will just do a section or two) I will definitely be treating every drop of water.

Couple of points:

1. If your water sources are reasonably clear and OK tasting, Steripen can work wonderfully. The UV technology is a proven one.

2. Regardless of which filtering method you use, always carry a back up of some kind. Be it Steripen or mechanical filter, I would recommend a reasonable supply of chemicals as backup. And if I am carrying a backup anyway, then I wouldn't worry about electronics failing. Mechanical gadgets can (and do) fail as well.

Not sure if they all come with expensive proprietary batteries still but that will be your main problem. You'll be hiking for months!

In 2013 I stopped filtering/treating after SoCal. I only added bleach to lake water in OR but otherwise was smart about my sources and never got sick.

Not saying the Steripen is the end all… but you can carry quite a few sets of those tiny CR123 batts and still be saving weight and space as compared to a pump filter.

I would think a good option for a thru-hiker might be the Steripen Freedom – 2.6 oz weight and USB rechargeable battery. If you are carrying other electronic devices which are USB-chargeable (camera, phone), then a small external battery could be used to charge all of them as needed on the trail.

Note: I don't own a Steripen, but I'm thinking of getting one for the shoulder seasons and winter when it's harder to keep a filter from freezing

> Not sure if they all come with expensive proprietary batteries
Not these days, afaik.
Just buy GOOD (ie top brands and more expensive) CR123 batteries (for the Opti), and you will be fine. Do not try to use the cheap web batteries: they cannot provide the current needed. Fine for torches, but not for Steripens.

Cheers

Currently using the adventure model on PCT, got batteries on Amazon in bulk, never had any problems with them, great price. Streamlight 85177. Always take backup tablets but I have not had to use them. Most of the water on the PCT is great anyhow, I can only remember two or three times where I had to strain it through my buff first to get rid of any questionable floaties. When you can carry ONE small device and a few extra batteries between resupplies, why deal with bags, (that don't last and fail) squeezing, back flushing and misthreadded filter (possible contamination issues) and the TIME it takes to use the sawyer? And yes I used them for a while but with all things fussy it went down the road for me, gone.