June, 2006. My friend Padre is a minister, a cleric from Ohio, and we get together most years for a backpack in the high country. As we load up packs at the trailhead for the Never Summer Mountains in Rocky Mountain National Park, I ask Padre if we dare leave the water filter behind. We’ve decided to use only unfiltered water on this trip, but he says we should carry the filter just in case. So I toss it in my pack. Throughout the trip we enjoy cold and very pure natural waters - with no gut wrenching regrets later - and the filter remains in the pack, unused.
I’ve often felt a nice connection to the natural world that comes from reaching right down into a stream and sipping handfuls of icy water on a hot day. I make it a regular part of my hiking practice to look for good water and drink some on every hike. Over the years I’ve realized that with proper and systematic evaluation of a water source, one can probably obtain clean and pure drinking water by using careful selection criteria. This article describes the methods I use to decide which waters to sip from. I’ve been doing it continuously now for almost twenty years and never once acquired any intestinal illness during that time.
ARTICLE OUTLINE
- Introduction
- Background - Giardia in the Jarbidge
- Enjoying the Taste of Natural Water
- Doc’s Rules for Sipping the Waters
- General Principles of Sipping the Waters
- First Principle: Get water close to its source
- Second Principle: Make sure the water is cold
- Third Principle: Look for fast-moving water
- Fourth Principle: Take water that is naturally filtered
- Fifth Principle: Avoid large mammals
- Beavers
- Cattle
- Closing Comments
- About the Author
# WORDS: 26000
# PHOTOS: 5
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Discussion
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Hi Frank,
Per your post: "I notice that McNett has introduced the Aquamira Frontier Pro Filter, which appears to be exactly what I was looking for last year. Namely, something that filters worms and other large parasites but isn't so fine as to clog easily. I'll be using this on future trips."
I have had positive and negative experiences with the frontier pro; recently having it clog up from suspended solids from what could fairly be considered fairly pristine sources within 200 verticle feet of the uppermost ridge. Maybe I was getting suspended leaf mold that would be less of a problem once things greened up but the water appeared to be VERY clear and was coming out of the ground within sight. (this was late March, southern appalachians)I'd pre-fiter with a bandanna or something and be careful! If the little cotton type pre-filter disk clogs you'd better have a back-up or you to will be drinking al fresco sans filtro or whatever.
I'm in the process of making a home-made amigo pro
Let me lead off by saying that water treatment is a personal choice.
That said, the author’s rules are not backed with good data. The author suggests looking for cold water, while other authors point out that giardia cysts survive longer in cold water, making it more risky. The author suggests using fast moving water, some have suggested lakes are safer as giardia cysts tend to sink in calm water. The author suggests avoiding main streams, other authors say main streams are safer because “dilution is the solution.” The point is, these are theories without solid data to back them up.
It is human nature to believe in our own experience. In threads like this there are usually people who’ve gotten giardia after drinking backcountry water. I’m one of them. Will someone’s experience match mine, or someone who has never gotten sick? There’s no way of knowing.
The EPA says Cysts have been found all months of the year in surface waters from the Arctic to the tropics in even the most pristine of surface waters. Another quote from that paper Hibler (1988) found Giardia cysts in 19% of springs. Look at that paper and do a search for “pristine” and see how often giardia is found in even pristine waters.
Some people can build some immunity over time to various waterborne diseases, but there are many strains of giardia. I’ve had giardia three times and it’s easy to find tales from other hikers who have been stricken multiple times over many years, just as it’s easy to find hikers who rarely or never treat and have never gotten sick.
The incubation period of giardia is usually 3-25 days, but can be as little as 1 day. The Dr’s reported onset was on the 4th day after drinking the suspect water.
Sheep DO sometimes carry a strain of giardia that can infect humans, as can many other species of animals.
“Giardia and crypto are also easily shaken off by a healthy adult.” Sometimes. Sometimes not. Several backpackers appear weekly at Centinela Mammoth Hospital in Mammoth Lakes sick enough with giardiasis to need urgent care
“Incidentally, there is no reason to get too worried about cow manure near the water.” …animal manure can carry many pathogens ranging from Giardia to Salmonella to E. coli. Here’s a fact I recently uncovered: Giardia-infected cattle excrete nearly 100 million Giardia cysts per day Dr Robert Derlet.
Unfortunately while researching this I was saddened to learn that the author of this article, along with his daughter, lost their lives in the Colorado mountains in 2011.
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