High Sierra Topix

My friend and I recentlly finished a weeklong backpack trip in the high sierra. We decided to not treat or filter our water. We were careful to get water from spring or glacier run off. So far so good. I know it is a gamble but it was nice! There's certainly a possibility of getting giardia or cryptosporidium, but I think the odds are highly exaggerated in order to sell all the water treatment products. Has anyone here ever gotten giardia or cryptosporidium ? Have any of you done trips without treating your water?

Discussed not too long ago here: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=6452&hilit=giardia" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

OK sorry to rehash, but it was the buzz on the trail.

One, you don't know if you are in the 50% of the population who never manifest symptoms despite infection. Not getting sick just means you didn't get sick - not that the water was clean.

Two, it takes nine days or so to develop symptoms if you're going to.

Three, you don't know that waterways aren't contaminated. Even the springs. And giardia and crypto are but two of a number of things you can encounter. I'm especially aware of the need to filter in Yosemite, where e coli has been found in major waterways.

I've met 13 people who have had confirmed cases of giardia. Still counting. Seem to run into one or two each year. I always filter, regardless, because I'm no gambler - being broke and having no desire to spend time in the hospital, I take whatever precautions I can.

Maybe already mentioned before, but this article is pretty definitive on the need to filter.
http://www.rei.com/expertadvice/article ... er+QA.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Been backpacking 40 years and only filtered for a few years after the hype came out. Don't now, and never had a problem. Ensure everyone uses hand sanitizer and choose sources wisely. If you have to take water from a lake do so from the top 6" where the UV saturation is highest.

good point, fish hunter, about taking water off the top, I see in Africa they put water bottles in the sun for a few hours to purify the water using UV.

I talked to the ranger at Mclure meadows, he was saying there are around 2,000 people on the JMT trail this year, so take it this way, previous post said 13 people known w ith giardia, the odds are slim, BUT take in account the huge number of people, not to mention the PCT, who poop up there, I'm beginning to want to filter again, ha ha

I talked to someone who got it. He didn't treat his water. I also talked to someone who never treats his and has never gotten it. It's a gamble. Since I am not the gambling type I treat my water.

justm wrote:I talked to the ranger at Mclure meadows, he was saying there are around 2,000 people on the JMT trail this year, so take it this way, previous post said 13 people known w ith giardia, the odds are slim, BUT take in account the huge number of people, not to mention the PCT, who poop up there, I'm beginning to want to filter again, ha ha

I said 13 people I've talked to who have had it. That's only meaningful in the context of how many people I've talked to about giardia and contaminated water sources - which isn't many. People don't walk around announcing "I lost 30 lbs on the giardia diet thanks to projectile diarrhea!"

Yeah, this one has been talked to death. Because of the remote places I go to, I seldom bring a water filter, and this has been so for at least 20 years. However, there are place I most certainly bring my filter, and late season usually forces water filtering. I soon will be taking a noob friend on a week long trip through Yosemite which ends up along the Merced River, and I don't trust that water any further than I can spit it! So a water filter will be coming along. There is greatly reduced free-flowing water available late season and the water sources are questionable, which demands filtering. Early season provides plenty of choices to avoid filters. YMMV