felixhenderson•5d agoProlific Poster

I finally learned why you never skip checking the water report before a trip

Last summer I was hiking the Rae Lakes Loop in Kings Canyon and ran out of water way sooner than I planned. I had filtered from a stream but it was this super silty glacier melt and my filter clogged up after like 2 liters. I ended up having to backtrack 4 miles to a ranger station where I refilled from a spigot. Came home and looked up the area's water report online and turns out July through August most of the streams there run heavy with sediment. Now I always check the NPS water conditions page before I head out. Has anyone else had a filter fail on them at a bad time?

3 comments

3 Comments

patricia325d ago

Happened to me on the Highline Trail in Glacier... I had this cheap pump filter and it just gave up halfway through the day. I was so mad because I had checked the weather but never thought to look at the water report. Turns out the creek I was counting on had a big beaver dam upstream and it was just full of algae and sediment. Now I carry a backup chemical treatment like Aquatabs just in case my filter fails again. It's saved me twice since then. That silty glacier melt is the worst though, clogs everything up no matter how much you pre-filter.

brooket435d agoMost Upvoted

Oh @patricia32, I totally feel you, I had the exact same nightmare with a clogged filter on the JMT and swore by Aquatabs ever since.

mason_reed475d ago

And then you get that moment of panic when you realize you're out of water and your backup plan is basically a tiny iodine tablet that tastes like a swimming pool, which is TOTALLY fine after you've been hiking all day. I swear my filter only breaks down when I'm miles from anywhere and the only water source looks like chocolate milk from all the sediment. I once tried to pre-filter through my bandana and just ended up with a wet, muddy rag and the same clogged filter situation. Aquatabs are honestly my emergency backup now too, even though I still feel like a clown when I have to use them because it means I forgot to clean my filter the night before.