Backcountry water....tablets or filter

[Heavily Armed Hiker]

I'm heading out for a 9 day backcountry elk hunt and wanted some input on what others do for water.  We have a filter in camp that we will use but I've also thought about buying some tablets in case we are far from camp and I run out of water.  I've heard the tablets taste awful but Cabelas offers a nuetralizing pill which supposedly takes out the iodine flavor.  Does anybody else have a good idea or comment on this issue?  Thanks in advance.

[Skillet]

They don't taste bad at all when you are really thirsty!
I've been doing tablets only for years on wildneress hunts.  Lightweight, nothing mechanical to go wrong, and cheap.

[Buckmark]

Wont kill all the iodine taste but some little power drink packets in your pack help..
I like the lemonade flavor myself.

[BLUEBULLS]

tablets!!

rinse the container before every refill and you'll hardly notice the iodine.

[Machias]

I just bought a steri pen, LOVE it!!!

[Ridgerunner]

I just bought a steri pen, LOVE it!!!

 

I bought one last year for teh high hunt, talk about a great idea.  Much lighter and easier to use than a filter and no bad taste with the pills. 

[halflife65]

I use both because I'm paranoid - a filter and the tablets.  The neutralizer tablet helps with the iodine taste.  I read somewhere that Vitamin C will counteract the iodine (I have no idea whether or not this is actually true) so if you use something like a drink packet like Emergen-C you'll want to wait a half hour or so (whatever the recommended time is) before you dump it in to give the iodine time to do its thing.  Like I said, I don't know if it's true but I don't take any chances.  My uncle got beaver fever and I don't ever want to get it.  He just threw a six pack into a lake to keep it cold and the water on the can was enough to make him sick (at least as far as we can tell this was the cause - he never drank any unfiltered water.)  It only takes a little bit to make you sick.

When I'm really thirsty, the iodine taste doesn't bother me a bit.  I do have one of those collapsable Nalgene drink containers and the iodine did stain it a sort of rust color.  Still usable and I take water from the sink at home in it and it's good.

The steri pens look like a really good device, too.  I haven't used one, though.

[PacificNWhunter]

Tablets are a good space saver if you have a filter at camp. Just remember some tablets take up to 20 min to work so plan ahead! Good luck on your hunt!

[uncoolperson]

aquamira drops and a gravity filter.

cooking water gets filtered, drinking water gets both.

[MikeWalking]

You can get Water bottles with built in filters...if you crush up Vitamin C tablets and add it after the waiting time for the pill to work that will kill the Iodine taste...I used Pills for a long time and bought a filter, less waiting before you can drink...

[Skyvalhunter]

yea throw in some Gatorade powder, crystal light besides you need the electolytes

[JackOfAllTrades]

Filter.    Take a couple of 20oz or other Nalgene bottles of filtered water with you on your day hikes/hunts. That's all you need. No need to wait for pills when out on the hunt. Filter/pill your hiking water the night before if you feel you need to do both. I don't drink from lakes if I can help it. On the wet side there's usually ample streems of running water to draw from. No, not always safe from contaminants and other things that grow and make you sick, but less chance than a still body of water. I have a buddy that will not  purify his water at all. Some day that might catch up with him, but he's pretty smart where he gets his water for the last 20 years. I used to carry a straw/filter for the day hikes, but I prefer to take filtered bottle or two with me for the day jaunts. All it takes is a little thought the night before. 

-Steve

[Oldguy]

I have used a product called "Aquamira" that was recommended by a doctor who was an outdoor type. It is easy, small and leaves no taste that I could discern. If you buy it, check the expiration date on the package. I think that REI has it.

[MikeWalking]

I've recently read moving water is more dangerous than still.  Cooties sink in still water

I got Giardia once from the stream draining Surprise/Glacier Lakes. It was the only untreated water I had that week, 90+degrees, steep trail, I got impatient..

[JackOfAllTrades]

Well... when it comes to that stuff that makes you sick, there really isn't anything that sinks to the bottom.

I have had the best of 'luck maybe' drawing from where water falls through the air. I am no scientist. But oxygenated water just plain sounds better to me.     I still filter it.

Take a read here:

http://www.trailspace.com/articles/backcountry-water-treatment-part-4-methods-for-making-water-safe.html

Uncoolperson suggested a gravity filter.  And for a basecamp of several guys back in, I would think the Katadyn Base Camp gravity filter would be the ticket. Drop a 'Y' fitting off of the hose to different 2 litre pop bottles, (that you packed in empty and crushed), One filtered bottle used for cooking, (bringing water to where bubbles appear, but not necessarily to a boil), and drop the correct amount of aquamira tabs in for the drinking water bottle.

I personally am most concerned about Bacteria and Parasites where I would draw water from. They can be filtered.  

I am not overly concerned about chemical contaminants, but there are natural asbestos and other natural deposits that aren't good for you that streams can transport.  

In the back country I am not concerned about Ecoli except where I know that there have been Free Range Stock. (I hate that every one of the water holes I saw this and last year below 6,500' were contaminated and torn up with cattle. -But that's a different rant)

My cooking water gets super heated. Maybe not a rolling boil, but hot. My drinking water gets filtered and still may be some of what got heated.

Since my office is within walking distance of REI, I'm going to go look for the Aquamira tabs as from what I read, they don't have the iodine taste. I'll throw some in my pack as I don't know the water sources where I'm going this weekend. Online, they look really inexpensive for the amount of water they purify.

-Steve