Water treatment for Baja beach camping?

Anyone have/used the Grayl GeoPress Water Filter and Purifier Bottle??

https://www.rei.com/product/150116/grayl-geopress-water-filter-and-purifier-bottle-24-fl-oz

How long and where are you going for that you will not be near any towns to get water? I’ve spent quite a bit of time surfing and camping on the beach in Baja. I’ve never done anything other than bring my own water or buy bottled water.

Unknown… first time driving and camping in Baja… but probably mostly avoiding towns… going for the beach camping… mostly.

Thanks

sawyer 0.02 filter treats viruses.  You could do it gravity mode.

I don’t see it on their website, maybe they don’t make it anymore

Lifestraw makes a 0.02 gravity filter. The lifestraw family. It’s $70. May be a good option.

I haven’t been too far down in Baja, but I thought there were very few fresh water sources in general.  I assume you will be getting tap water that you just want to filter/treat.  Correct me if I’m wrong.  Gravity is great in my opinion for base camps. Grayl is heavy compared to a be-free but does handle viruses.  Either way you will need a large dirty water reservoir and could filter + UV or something like the Grayl or MSR Guardian that does both.

I always drank the water. Washed it down with Tecate.

Theres a good fish market in Ensenada.

https://www.mexbound.com/ensenada-fish-market/

Thanks Bob… I don’t know quite what to expect as I have not been before… but I like to be prepared for various situations (and I like toys:). If in town, I could buy bottled water… assuming they are not out of stock when I am there. If I am camped out on a beach for several days, could be some tap water nearby… or even a stream possibly. I have read on FB that sometimes vendors come down to the beach with buckets of water for showers… certainly would not want to drink that without some of Terran’s Tecate, eh? :))

I’ve driven all the way to Cabo and surfed and camped at quite a few beaches along the way.  There are not too many out of the way places where you cannot make a run to a small tienda to get water and supplies.

I’ve never seen running water anywhere near the beach.

What area are you headed to?

Area heading to? Unknown… whatever strikes our ‘fancy’ on the way to Cabo… and back. Have Westfalia Syncro so can get to some places…

My one experience camping in Baja  was a parking lot next to the beach with a bunch of campers lined up. The beach was nice, but unless you’re surfing, there wasn’t much to do. We went horseback riding.  , but they didn’t go on the beach. They just took us through the village. The horses just plugged along. Went for a lobster dinner. I think they gave us the tourist menu. We’d only gone about 100 miles in. I’m sure there’s better places but I wasn’t impressed. I don’t like being a tourist and being treated like one. It is a nice drive though. Beautiful beaches.

They say “don’t drink the water”, like it all comes from a single source next to the septic. Then why isn’t everybody sick? Much of it has high alkaline content. If you’re not used to it, it can upset your stomach.

“They say “don’t drink the water”, like it all comes from a single source next to the septic. Then why isn’t everybody sick?”

People develop immunity that drink the water regularly?  If you drink it you’ll get sick, but eventually develop immunity yourself?

Immunity is only for the ones that survive.  Diarrhea is ranked second in causes of death in children under at 5 worldwide.  Unfortunately, I spent many years witnessing that.  I also don’t understand the opposition to using chlorine.  It and vaccines have saved more lives than any other interventions in history.  A little funny taste is certainly a good trade off.

Chlorine is a poisonous substance. And it upsets my stomach something terrible… I don’t like the taste or the smell of it either… I have a filter to remove it from my tap water at home…

I think in baja, you’ll be carrying water, especially if car camping. There just is not a lot of reliable water most places. Why wouldn’t you carry it?

I’ve flown the length of the Baja many times and stayed in several towns.  We’ve camped on mainland beaches a bunch of times. Fun, good fishing and relaxing. It is pretty dry desert and no flowing  freshwater streams along the Baja coast that I’ve seen.  Towns are where you need to re-supply. Berkey makes or used to make a purifier and that’s what we use at home. It is supposed to remove chlorine and many other chemicals. It does make the water taste good. Not for backpacking but might be okay for a camper vehicle. Don’t know how available they are as I heard of some issues and the need to find replacement filters elsewhere. It’s a gravity purifier but there may be similar alternatives.

I really liked all my travels in Mexico and did many for pleasure and also had 119 mapping missions deep in country.

Would be great to have some recommendations for gravity water filters.

Just reading some reviews, it seems the few that claim to filter out viruses take longer for each liter and may clog quicker. Which makes me think about maybe a filter for just bacteria and protozoa, but not viruses as it would be faster and take longer to clog… and I could just Steripen the filtered water as needed….

Thanks in advance for your recommendations on which filters…

Thanks…

Not answering your question, but you could use something like a Sawyer as a gravity filter and boil the water. Based on all my years going to Baja, I’ve never encountered untreated water. For extended trips, I have brought water in 5 gallon jugs and then bought bottled water, which is readily available. Anywhere you would encounter untreated water from someone’s tap would probably have bottled water available.

There are no running streams anywhere that I have ever seen. The only place I can think of is possibly in and around Mulege.

Thanks for the info, Bob…. nice to know about bottled water available… but I am a ‘boy scout’ and like to be prepared for all possibilities…

That lifestraw one I posted about on this thread is a gravity system.