For most hikers, the Pacific Crest Trail begins in a blazing desert without encountering a sure water source for just over twenty miles. The trend continues – for the first 700 miles there is little shade, temperatures often reach over 100 degrees …
Read More »Hydration and Water Treatment
MYOG: A Gravity-fed Water Filtration System using the Sawyer Mini Water Filter by Nathan Taylor
I have used hand-pump water filters like the First Need or the Katadyn for years, believing them to be the only “real” option for filtering out cryptosporidium, giardia and other bacteria from the water sources in the Pacific Northwest where I hike. But I’ve been …
Read More »A Close Call with Heat Exhaustion
I didn’t put two and two together when I was experiencing the symptoms of heat exhaustion during a high exertion hike last week, but after a friend pointed it out to me, I realized that I’d had a close call. While I’d taken …
Read More »Backcountry Water Sources
When you’re out on a long day hike or a backpacking trip, you will eventually run out of water and need to resupply. When that happens, it helps to understand what’s a good water source and what’s an iffy one. Water Sources …
Read More »Winter Sports Enhancement using Cytomax and GU
I have never been a fan of sports recovery drinks or powders like Gatorade and don’t normally use them for 3 season backpacking because I feel that frequent all day snacking with unprocessed foods provides me with adequate calories and sodium. However, I …
Read More »Preventing Mold in Hydration Systems
Do you see that red stain on the inside of my platypus hydration bladder in the picture below? That’s mold, like the stuff that grows on our bathroom shower curtain. I only noticed it on my last backpacking trip, and since getting …
Read More »The Limitations of Water Filters and Water Purification
Most of the water filters carried by backpackers and long distance hikers cannot remove organisms smaller than 3 microns in size. While protozoa such as Giardia (shown below) and Cryptosporidium are about 5 microns in size, water filters miss bacteria such as …
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