Water you supposed to do about H20

Now after dealing with Food, my next logical step was how to deal with water. The blogosphere is full of opinions(like most of the internet) of how to deal with hydrating yourself with streamwater .

“Aqumira is only way to go man.”

“My Katadyn filter lasted my whole hike, wouldn’t buy anything else.”

“Sawyer, Sawyer, Sawyer. It is all I saw out there on my hike.”

Just a myriad of opinions and they are all right. The weight conscious ultralight hiker has different priorities than the weekend warrior. Going solo on this hike, I wanted to keep myself as safe as possible. Getting stricken with Giardia is not something I want to experience. Possibly laying there miserable in my tent, only thinking about how I could have prevented this is haunting my dreams.

What I plan on using:

Sawyer Squeeze: This will be for the majority of my water. Having a threaded end to be able to screw on to most bottles and bladders makes it an incredibly versatile tool. Using the included bag, along with a platypus bladder for dirty water, this 4oz piece of plastic will undoubtedly save my ass. My load out for water containers will undoubtedly change. Starting out with a Nalgene seems optimal, but with the frequency you pass water sources, something lighter like SmartWater and Gatorade bottles might be what I head out with.

Potable Aqua: If my thirst cannot wait the extra miles, and I come to a questionable looking stagnant like pond, this will be my savior. Think that scene in Wild(where she just wants some water, but them good ol’ boy bow-hunters come into the picture.)

I will most likely use the sawyer for the big floaties, but use these tablets to go the extra mile. There is a waiting time of 35 minutes for full effectiveness, but hopefully I will not have run out of previously filtered non-good ol’ boy infested, high quality H20.

Lifestraw: This is where a beautiful lightweight industrial design meets a practical solution. This invention of the year by Time magazine will be my trusted backup if all else fails. This simple device has no moving parts and has the capacity to filter up to 264 gallons.

There isn’t a page that I can see in the AWOL AT Guide that does not have at least one water source. It may seem that all these tools are overkill, but I never wanted to skimp on anything that goes on or into my body.

Let us just imagine if I used all three. I Sawyer some stream water into my Nalgene, then I Aqua tablet that shit. Then use the Lifestraw to suck it out of the bottle. As the great Hydrologist Bobby Boucher once said, “Now that’s what I call high quality H20.”