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c/backpacking-routesthe_kevinthe_kevin14d agoProlific Poster

PSA: That 80 dollar water filter I bought almost got me sick on the JMT

Spent 80 bucks on a lightweight squeeze filter before my John Muir Trail trip. Clogged up on day three from silty water and I spent an hour trying to backflush it. Anyone else ditch those for tablets or a heavier pump?
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2 Comments
patricia317
Squeeze filters work FLAWLESSLY if you actually pre-filter the silty water through a bandana or something. Eighty bucks is NOTHING compared to blowing out your guts from bad tablets that might not even work right in cold or cloudy water. A lightweight pump like the Katadyn Microfilter would have saved you that whole hour of frustration without adding that much weight to your pack.
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rileynelson
My first trip with a squeeze filter I forgot the dirty bag and ended up scooping water into a ziploc with a hole poked in it. Took me 45 minutes to filter enough water for one meal. The bandana trick would have been a whole lot smarter than my dumb ziploc engineering. I ended up buying the Katadyn after that and never looked back. Some of us just need the pump to stop us from doing stupid stuff.
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