Water Filters or Boiling? Which do you prefer?

[SouthernKevlar]

Be really safe: Prefilter for the sediment, Aqua Pure, filter then boil for 10 minutes!

Just kidding. Although I have used all the above methods, my usual is this: If I have a fire I will boil and keep a pot warm, but usually use a gravity filter around camp. For my last birthday my wife gave me a Sawyer Mini filter the I have not tried in the field but looks like it will be handy for water while on the move.

 

[LarrySw45]

Be really safe: Prefilter for the sediment, Aqua Pure, filter then boil for 10 minutes!

Just kidding. Although I have used all the above methods, my usual is this: If I have a fire I will boil and keep a pot warm, but usually use a gravity filter around camp. For my last birthday my wife gave me a Sawyer Mini filter the I have not tried in the field but looks like it will be handy for water while on the move.

The Sawyer Filters have worked very well for me since 2014 but always carry the big syringe so you can backflush as needed.
Larry S

 

[stephaniefisher]

I don't drink ANY "wild" water locally except in one particular area (Kisatchie Hills Wilderness Area) after it's been raining, and I'm sure it's mostly rain water. That I'll treat with iodine (Polar Pure). For the rest of my trips in/around Louisiana, I carry it all in a 5 gallon container. If I do the Neches someday (about 40 miles west, in TX) I might treat it, but as long as I have the canoe, I prefer to draw it from the tap. There is just too much ag runoff here in this part of the country (bottom of the Mississippi watershed), the local loggers think nothing of spilling a 5-gallon bucket of hydraulic oil on the ground and kicking dirt over it to avoid cleaning it up, and lord only knows what else has been dumped over the years at Fort Polk (2 major streams originate there).

In the Smokies and Adirondacks, I just treat it all with iodine for drinking, or boil it as part of a meal (I'm lazy... dehydrated meals are about all I do.) Boiling is a major pain... my biggest pot is about 2 qts/1.9l, and I go through a bit more than that in a day. Water is also heavy, so I don't like to carry more than 2 qts, especially when backpacking. I usually have one brewing and one to drink from.

I don't filter... tried it backpacking for a couple years, but the filter alone is a pound... Tried Aqua Mira drops, but the mixing is inconvenient. Iodine is a bit faster, stupid-simple, and takes no longer how to boil water when camping. So once I tried Polar Pure, I never looked back. You can't get it anymore, but they still sell the jar (with the insert to keep the crystals from falling out). You can buy the crystals ("prilled iodine") through eBay or a company in Canada called RAEMS.

I drink a lot of water on the trail, and I filter + boil each evening when I set up camp. So that I don’t tread / retread the soils near watersources, I try to get all the water I’ll need for dinner, breakfast, and the next day all at once. It takes a while to get it all boiled, but I prefer boiling to other purification methods. Anyhow, I wish I knew a good method of cooling the water before pouring it into my hydration pouch. Or, I wish I had a hydration pouch that was “safe” to pour very hot liquids into. My current method is to pour into a Nalgene container, let it sit for a while, and then pour into the hydration pouch. But the Nalgene does such a good job of insulating the water that I usually get tired of waiting and just pour too-hot water into the pouch. Then I worry that it’s going to melt or be ruined and soak everything the next day on the trail. Bah. Any suggestions from the group re: cooling water, or hot-water-safe hydration pouches?

 

[Chip]

But the Nalgene does such a good job of insulating the water that I usually get tired of waiting and just pour too-hot water into the pouch. Then I worry that it’s going to melt or be ruined and soak everything the next day on the trail. Bah. Any suggestions from the group re: cooling water, or hot-water-safe hydration pouches?

Try using metal water bottles.

or, why not leave water in the pan overnight? Transfer to the pouch in the morning.

 

[Nick Pending]

Or put those bottles you're trying to cool the hot water in back in the original (cool) water they came from, lake or stream, that big heat sink. Properly leashed, of course.