Question from Brittney
My husband & I are taking a 5-7 day hiking trip into the mountains in Washington state. We will have some access to creeks & lakes at a high elevation. I was wondering what a good portable water filter brand would be for that or sould we just use a camel pack or some kind of container? If you recommend a container, what would you recommend that we use? We have to pack light so something light weight, collapsable or something I could clip to my pack would be preferred. Thanks.
Debra’s Answer
I haven’t been backpacking for years, so haven’t researched this lately. Readers, what are your recommendations?
When I traveled to Brazil I brought a small Katadyn portable water filter which I purchased at a local camping store, before the days of the internet. This company is still around and although I have not researched this topic, their filter was amazing quality, and would turn even brown water to clear drinking water. I don’t know what they are like now but it looks like they have a number of options at http://www.katadyn.com/usen/katadyn-products/products/katadynshopconnect/katadyn-water-filters/
The REI website has good info about water filters and comparisons. I have shopped there for over a decade and trust any info they give.
On the note of lightweight backpacking water containers:
It depends on how “green” you want to go…
Listed from light to heavy, then green to not-green:
A lined aluminum bottle seems to be the best of both worlds. I don’t use one however, I admit because I am addicted to going as light as possible and there is just no comparison from a metal bottle to a very lightweight disposable one. I recycle them when I get home. Sure, it would be greener to not have to recycle, but that one bottle is certainly re-use-use-use-use-use-used. All of the aluminum bottles (though still lighter than stainless steel) are still relatively heavy and made extra thick (I’m sure to keep it from getting dented from being dropped, etc.)
If you do use a Camelback or Platypus, do know that if you drink from a tube, to be sure to keep that tube cleaned after your trip (it should be fine for a 5-7 trip since you’ll be using it every day) and dry it out well before storage so mildew doesn’t develop, which is very difficult to remove. If you use one of the collapsable Platypus bottles without a tube but rather a drinking spout, be sure to sterilize it by filling with boiling water post trip since it will be difficult to wash thoroughly and your saliva has likely backwashed into the container.
I am not a big fan of Camelbak brand anymore because of the type of plastic used to make the bladders, but since I have not looked at them in a few years, maybe that has changed. Generally, softer plastics (such as Camelbak) contain more toxic “leachable” chemicals than do harder plastics (such as Platypus). I also have had mold/mildew grow in my Camelbak because they are so difficult to dry properly as compared to the Platypus (which stay open and dry out more easily).
The lined aluminum bottles are hard to find and if you do find one, even harder to find one labeled BPA-free. BPA is not an issue with disposable plastic bottles labeled “1” (which most are), if I recall correctly.
Wash your bottles every 2-3 days to keep funk from growing in them (if you use Aquamira, it may not be necessary to wash them) and/or sterlize them with boiling water. Don’t pour boiling water into a disposable plastic bottle, as it will likely melt.
A tip for reducing your pack weight: When you find a water source, completely drink your fill and carry a small amount of water with you to carry you over to your next water source (or none at all if water is always around). In WA state, this tip works well west of the Cascade crest year round and east of the crest until late summer or early fall, though some areas have water year round.
As an avid backpacker for over 20 years (mostly in WA state), I’ve tried a number of water purification systems.
I used to use filter systems for backpacking. They do work. The ones I have used are the ceramic-based MSR Miniworks (it may have a different name now), the PUR Hiker and a Seychelle in-line filter I used in a gravity fed system. All all filters will certainly clog, some more than others. The advantage of the ceramic-based filters is you can scrub the filter element in the field and restore flow rate.
If you’re hiking in Washington’s alpine’s regions, most likely the water is safe to drink straight. The key word here is “most likely”, which you have to decide if the risk is worth it. I still do it occasionally, based upon my intuition about it. If it’s a VERY popular area, I always treat or filter the water. So far, so good, knock on wood. The most dramatic result I saw from a water filter was using the MSR filter in Eastern Washington from a relatively remote lake that was downstream from large agriculture and cattle operations. The lake was rather nasty looking and full of algae. The filtered water looked and tasted just fine. The biggest problems with water filters are: 1) they clog, 2) they get heavy from being saturated with water the first time you use it on a trip and don’t dry out for a week or more once you get home and take it apart so it can dry out, 3) they will freeze and destroy the filter element (expensive to replace) in winter, 4) hiking is enough work, why add the work of pumping a filter?! Granted, when these filters clog, they generally don’t just stop working completely, but their flow rate will dramatically decrease and you will spend much more time pumping to get the same amount of water.
These days (I’m sure Debra will gasp at this), I usually use a chemical solution for my water purification. I use the Aquamira brand drops, which are used by mixing together two different chemicals that react and create chlorine dioxide, the same chemical used by municipal water companies. The water is good to drink in 20-30 minutes, longer if the water is very cold. In the relatively clean mountain WA waters, I often use 50-75% of the recommended dosage because 1) I don’t think the water needs that much chemical and 2) it dramatically cuts down on the slight chlorine smell (I can’t taste it like I can in tap water). I have been using Aquamira for over 10 years now and have used it in known contaminated water (leptosporosis is in some of the water on Kauai, there I DID use it full strength). I’ve never gotten sick using it. It is also incredibly lightweight and doesn’t freeze in winter. Like chlorine in your tapwater, if you are camped, you can open your water containers and place them somewhere they won’t get spilled and the chlorine will evaporate out (after the 30 minute contact time has been reached).
Another option we have recently begun using it the Steripen. It is a battery powered UV light designed for hiking and backpacking. In 1 minute it will kill any pathogens in a quart of water, which you can drink immediately. However, if you are downstream of any farming activity, I wouldn’t recommend it because there could be toxic chemicals in the water from the farms, which the Steripen won’t affect. If you’re in the mountains, you should be fine. The upside of the Steripen is it is fast and light (especially if you use lithium batteries) and won’t gain water weight the first time you use it like a filter will. The downside is it IS battery powered (what happens if it get’s broken or just doesn’t work right? I carry Aquamira as a backup) and you have to use it with a nalgene-type widemouth bottle with an adapter so you can swish the water around inside the bottle while the UV light is working. Not a big deal, it just limits what you can use for a water bottle or you need at least one in which you can pour the sterlized water into other containers.
Happy backpacking!