Water filter or Purifier Tablets?

[tory8411]

My friend and I have made our own gravity water filter that weighs 4oz. It's a combination of a couple off the shelf products. We can filter about a liter of water every few minutes (no pumping, yeah!). We have often debated bringing one at all, but for 4oz, why take the chance. It's a pretty simple design and has been modified a bit through the years for less weight.
Tory

[rrivera]

It really depends most places in Yosemite I take in a filter (Katadyn)...more remote places I take MicroPur or some Iodine like this past weekend when I was off trail in Emigrant...and other times nothing if it is really remote like many areas in SEKI.

[MountainMinstrel]

You can call me paranoid if you want, but I filter all my water. You just never know what is upstream from you. I have only been backpacking again for the last three years, but in that time, I have seen things that make me glad I filter (a carcass in an otherwise pristine stream, and people not following the rules for camping literally on top of streams). IMHO, a filter is worth its weight in peace of mind.

[hikerbob]

Hello Kevin,
Hey I'm a newbie to this forum also. Seems like a great place to exchange thoughts, Ideas and experiences in the sierras.

I have never really had a bad experience drinking water from sierra snow melt or other apparently "safe" flows of water. Common sense of where you pull water, of course. I did recently buy some aqua purifier tablets for my emergency/first aid kit but my guess is I'll probably never need them.

Hiker Bob