One thing I learned in the Scouts is that when collecting water from a lake, wade out a little bit, let the sediment settle, place your hand over the opening of your container, dunk it down a few inches into the water and then let go of the opening. This prevents anything that's floating on the surface to get into your water. We did this in a lake, but I suppose it could work on rivers as well.
I have to imagine that in most cases youll still find particles in your bottle even after doing this. Did you ever fill then go and inspect to see just how much (or little) "stuff" was in there?
@@bernardlyons2422 use of PTFE at an old job is what made me think of this on trail solution. 😅 I don't know if actual PTFE would be right/better in this case though. We're screwing and unscrewing the filter from the bottle, which in my experience tore up PTFE rapidly. At least with SS Pipe, if we took a fitting off, that thread had to be replaced 100% of the time. Maybe plastic threads would be different?
I made a washer from a few layers of duct tape. Cutting the hole in the center was the hardest challenge. It got the job done. Your method seems better. Nice work.
I keep a syringe with me period now..even my EDC stuff ... do construction and always getting trash in my eyes all the time so I kept a small syringe with my eye wash even backpacking... Until I got my sawyer I jus use it . that little bit of pressure makes all the difference washing wounds etc. And yea multiuse
unnecessary, I busted my shin open fishing, just went and stood in the river to wash it out a bit, then stood in the sun for the UV's to do their work, repeat a few times in a cycle, cus I'm fishing anyways on a hot day, and bam, giant gash healed up real nice.
@@SometimesTurtleIrrigating a cut with straight, unfiltered river water and airdrying it because you were too lazy/macho to carry clean water and sterile gauze has to be some of the most braindead advice I've ever heard.
I always use a "dirty" bottle or bag. every time I am filling the dirty vessel I cover the mouth with either a bandana, or shemagh to pre-filter the sediment and debris out. not only does it keep that crap out of my filter, it also helps when I am boiling the water first, to keep it out of my cook pot. I am old, and got used to metal water bottles, way before the stainless steel market exploded. I had ARMY surplus aluminum canteens back as far as when I was 6 years old. I was very happy with the canteen cups that came with these, so I now use a Kleen Kanteen bottle with a 24 oz nesting cup, and that serves as my cook pot. on longer trips I put a second nesting cup on the top of the bottle to use as a drinking cup so the larger one on the bottom is the cook pot and food cup. Sawyer filters are my go to because of the sheer volume of water they can filter.
Most youtube hikers seem to leave the sawyer pouch at home, and now that i tried to use it on trail, I know why! After 1 trip, replaced it with a CNOC bladder, which opens on the end to fill. Seems to be a popular choice.
The combination of the Sawyer filter and CNOC bladder can also be easily adapted to make a nifty gravity filter. You add a second CNOC bladder, a union and any strap (I like velcro straps myself). The CNOC bladders are conveniently available in various colors to minimize the risk of mixing the "clean" bladder with the "dirty" bladder. It looks like this i.imgur.com/yDAP59C.jpeg . You don't even need a tree, trekking poles will do the job.
I used my Sawyer pouch as my clean water reservoir once. I will say, it's the lightest reservoir you can get. But it's difficult to handle and that crinkling plastic sound inside the pack drove me mad.
Glad you found something that works. I will say I have not had huge trouble with the Sawyer pouches. There is a method to it, you want to blow into it like she showed, but also squeeze the side inward slightly (squeeze the seams towards each other) and it actually adds a lot of structural rigidity to the pouch. Enough for me to fully submerge it and it fills up nicely.
Hot water and vinegar backwash & soak for a Sawyer Squeeze. Had to do that with one yesterday and it worked like a charm. Went from very little flow, to just like brand new.
I like the Cnoc bladders as the dirty water source and squeeze through a sawyer into my clean bottle. The Cnoc are much easier to fill than the Sawyer bags
Agree. I switched and never went back. All of my backpacking tribe uses them. They are super easy to fill and are great for when you need to carry extra water.
Dan Becker just made another video on Sawyer, with some discussion on how viruses are unlikely to get through their filters. Seems feasible. And the field results they talk to are pretty compelling
Something like: In the US, they test with dead viruses which do get through filter. Live viruses, on the other hand, are always hitching a ride on something larger which will get caught by the filter. Since they can't test with live viruses, Sawyer can't claim the filter stops them. But also millions of people with some of the worst water sanitation conditions in the world are using sawyer filters for years and not getting any viruses from them. -Per Sawyer President Kurt Avery
I hiked the Panorama Trail in Yosemite back in 2005 and learned three things: 1) Work boots are not hiking boots 2) Going down isn't a cakewalk. At some point your calves will refuse to negotiate any more switchbacks, and (back on topic) 3) For a man of size and stature such as myself, any water carry estimates should be tripled. When I finally reached the Mist trailhead, the fountain water tasted strongly of bleach, but I didn't care. I chugged water like it was going out of style.
I have also read that if your sawyer filter flow rate decreases and back flushing doesn't work, soak it in white vinegar for half and hour. Afterwards flush with hot water (not boiling hot but hot enough you can put your hand in it) This breaks up and calcium deposits on the inner fibers of the filter. Also pre soaking your filter before you head out helps.
The instructions for doing this vinegar soak can be found on Sawyer's website, too. They've got a link to this video which brings up the vinegar technique at about the 1:40 mark: ruclips.net/video/0KeLHMUfEtY/видео.html
I like the vinegar method. It sounds like solution for specific trails though. Clogging with mica is very common…and if backfluching doesn’t work so well…time for a new filter. They are only 20 to 30 bucks.
So excited to see a One Bottle on Dixie's channel! Loved my hose but not the water bladder, so I hunted and hunted for something like that, and found it last fall! My husband never drank enough water on trail so I got one for him too! Super convenient, easy to use, worked great. The guy who makes them has great customer service, too! Small manufacturer, deserves to go big!
Good tips, Dixie. thanks My dad was a farmer in the '40's and 50's and he would always "camel up" before he went to work in the fields. Maybe a quart at most. Yes, Hyponatremia is a thing. If you're going to drink more than a quart (or liter), add electrolytes. It's probably a good idea to add electrolytes anyway.
The CapriSun is a great scoop. It is very lightweight, can be carried flat and used only for dirty water. One of my grandchildren gladly drank one for me so I could use the container.
Great video! One thing ill add... When melting snow for water on a stove, theres a big difference in fuel consumption between using 100% snow vs first adding a small amount of water in the bottom to get snow heating/melting kick started. I got this one from Shug the YT hammock camper who lives up north.
I was out for a 3 day solo trip, and my filter failed. On day 1! I had to boil all my water for 3 days. It was also late fall, and quite cold, and it was windy, so the stove isn’t as efficient and I was very worried I would run out of fuel before the end of my trip! Now I always have some Aquatabs in my pack. I don't like using the chemicals, but it's better than getting beaver fever!
That happened to me on the Olympic Peninsula in the middle of summer. I was able to have a fire, so I wasn't worried about fuel, but the Luke worm boiled water tastes like crap!
@Olympia_Outdoors yeah, it tastes kind of flat 😝 so it's also a good idea to have some flavoring of some sort too. Like electrolytes, Crystal Lite, if you can drink that suff 😝 or tea, coffee, hot chocolate, etc...I have powdered tea that dissolves in cold or hot water. 😋
Thank you! I'm still new to hiking and not in the best shape so I stick to well known trails and carry quite a bit of water. However, I did buy a Sawyer squeeze to keep with me just in case I need to refill on trail for some reason, and I appreciate all the videos that are out there to learn from. I hope to continue building strength and endurance so I can attempt some longer hikes so it's great to learn some tips and tricks and build up my hiking knowledge along with my physical strength. Have a great spring and summer everyone!
If you dont have a bunch of stuff on your shoulders, we like bottle sleeves rather than the bungies to hold water bottles in. Bonus: The balance it offers against the weight on your back is nice too, especially if you double up on the bottle sleeves up front. Love the tips ya always give as well. Thanks for all the great content.
With a lot of hikes, I've tended to be fine with a bit of extra weight early on for more water with me. I also know that if I know that I have extra water that I'll end up drinking it rather than trying to force myself to conserve it for as long as possible which tends to leave me better off than I would without dealing with the extra weight of an extra bottle or two stashed in my pack. As a side note, with drink mixes, test them before you use them and try using them in something made out of the same material as you use drink from. Some mixes can screw with each other and add tastes to other things until you clean the bottle entirely after a trip, and some don't mix well with others that way.
12:05 you could use your cook pot as a scoop. Rinse out whatever dirt or debris might have gotten in there, air dry it and then you’ll be boiling water in it later anyways.
It was good to see you out on a trail! There is a plumbers’ tape made especially for threads which keeps a connection from leaking. This might be worth a try. I’m not ashamed to say I had a good chuckle at the end of the hike when you had more miles left than daylight. Classic Dixie😁
Use of teflon tape at an old job is exactly what made me think of using what I had on hand on a trip where I lost my o-ring! 😅 I was carrying Tenacious Tape at the time. A little trial and error, and, as I mentioned to Dixie on my FB reply, it worked extremely well. Didn't have to bail on my hike. My one concern about using actual teflon tape is the constant screwing and unscrewing the filter from the bottle. It's not, in my experience durable, to that sort of action. That was with stainless steel though, so maybe with plastic it would be different.
@@paulsmart5199I've used Teflon tape to secure the fill plug in my powder horn! Both the end cap and the screw in plug are wood, and the threads got stripped out. A bit of Teflon tape on the plug, carefully screw it in, and violà! Good as new, for a while at least.
Great vlog - Have used many filters over the years, been using the MSR Guardian for a long time now purely for that reason regarding virus filtration. The way it self flushes, the flow rate and the 10,000 litre cartridge life is a no brainer. Whilst its not small or light, it far exceed other systems. I still take a small handgel size bottle of bleach for long trips - again never failed but yea you need to know what your doing. Stay safe and enjoy your trek's - greetings from the UK and Alps!
Great video again - staying hydrated is so important. One thing you didn't mention is, that hydration effects your brain too and dehydration leads to poor choices, that might get you killed. #7 camel up with caution - while hiking, you will sweat a lot, not only loosing water, but electrolytes too. Diarrhoea-treatments help, but they are fairly expensive (1.80-3.50$/liter), so I buy the (dry) ingredients in larger batches and mix them myself, lowering the cost to 9ct/liter. The Locke-Ringer-acetate-solution or Balanced-Salts-Solution (BSS) give the Ingredients and ratios. 25ml-plastic containers keep the salts for 2 liters of water, so it's easy to treat 1 and 2 liter bottles. #8 use drink mixes - Flavour Drops in small bottles to flavour cocktails, coffee or wine are another great option, I personally am fond of maracuja. Drink mixes are always on the sweet side, so on a hike I look forward to a boullion-cube in hot water at night (or lunch-break) to fill up my reservoir with something spicy. #10+11 backup water treatment - seems to me, the other way round would be more logic, from source to 'black' bottle- through filter- into pot- into drinking bottle. Either way, stay hydrated and be well Dixie
Thanks for the video! I would also let people know that eating the snow is not a good idea because it can drop core body temperature which can led to other issues, just to explain why melting the snow is important. Thanks again and have a great day!
It's an odd one, growing up in the Scottish Highlands we went on the basic premise... Running water is fairly ok. Never got sick. Now in Canada and decades older and hopefully wiser, sawyer mini for personal use and a 10l MSR gravity bag for groups. Failing that... Boil
I always prefer to have second filter with me as back up. It is Befree(similar to Sawyer) and LifeStraw. LieStraw is great to have a quick drink along the way with my mug, which I also, like you, use for collecting water from shallow water sources. This allows me to extend time before I need to stop and fill up my bottles. And I always soak my filters in water before my hike. Thanks for the video. Be well.
@@lukasmakarios4998 My cousin is a botanist. Thank goodness, while hiking to camp, she takes pictures and saves the real identification process to the day hikes. She can sit in a field of wildflowers all day, happily picking apart flowers with tweezers, using her loop to ID all the parts, and looking up an accurate ID.
The magic Knowledgeable one again doing what she knows best, and a big thank you for, that, In all my days of tramping here in New Zealand, I never had to do any filtration, however nowadays with the long TeAraRoa trail, it has become a factor. Proximity to farms, villages, etc., and a decided reduction in reliable sources, except in the backcountry, then you have to make appropriate moves to change things. Never a dull moment on the trail...........
Love these ideas! The Sawyer bag i use as a scoop. Cut the bottom open, put the lid on and pour into my water bottle. Then drink from the bottle with the filter connected ❤
ZipFizz is a good alternative to drink mixes like LMNT -- cheaper, slightly fizzy, has more electrolytes per serving, etc. I also really like the True Lemon / Lime sachets as just a flavor enhancer. Literally just citric acid and fruit oil, costs pennies if you buy in bulk, and it's also good for sprinkling on food.
I use the bungee system for bottle retention. I used to stow my bottles "tip up" like in the picture description you provided until i had to run to the bathroom which resulted in my bottles launching all over the place. I quickly learned if you invert the top of the bottle down, it is easier to manage getting in and out of the bungees AND when running away from rabid squirrels doesn't result in prematurely launching my bottles across the forest. 😎
Great vid thanks! couple of tips that i have learned first - Sawyer makes a decent filter, but where I hike, the water sources flow through limestone. Spruce and pine trees add a lot of tannins, the water is tea colored. I found sawyer filters clog easily from the limestone, and I needed to soak it with in white vinegar on a regular basis. Works, but it took a lot of flushing to get the taste out. I have since switched to HydroBlu filter. Lighter, faster filtering, very easy to clean. they have a window to easily check on the filter condition. Second - I prefer bladders over bottles. Yes they are heavier, but I need a LOT of water hiking in the MidAtlantic area. I have a system that allows me to fill my bladder while it is still in my pack. Works quite well, and I've used this system for more than 20 years. Easily converted to a gravity fed filtration system in camp. I carry a 3 liter clean water bladder in my pack ( never carry more than 1.5 liters at a time though) and have a 3 liter Cnoc bag to collect dirty water. I hike solo, and like to stealth camp away from other people. this system allows me to have up to 6 liters of water for camp use if I need that much. I tried using plastic water bottles but found them (for me now!!) to be a pain to use. For one thing, Photography is one of the main reasons why I hike, and the combination of having photo gear and water bottles was too much hassle. so Bladder it is! For those interested - Bladder Hydrapak, filter - Hydroblu, I have quick disconnect hoses for my filter that allow me to attache it between the dirty water bag and the clean water bag to allow filling bladder in the pack, or using it as a gravity filter in camp, including an on-off valve. Instant camp faucet!
My best friend in collecting water is a tent pole. I know not many tents have these now a days . But I still camp with one. Another tip is bring coffee filters. Maybe one for every day of camping. Lightweight and keep those organic particles from rolling around in your boiled water. Nice water tips,thank you. Happy trails to you!
I almost always modify my kit. Currently, my best setup is a “scoop and go” dirty water bottle that hangs by a leather thong from the top of my pack. That runs by tube through a sawyer filter to a two hole cap on my clean bottle. The second hole is for a tube/bite valve that is attached to my shoulder strap. My first try didn’t work due to vacuum buildup preventing proper drainage from my dirty water bottle. I fixed this by making a two hole cap and installing a vent tube running from the inside bottom of the dirty bottle to the outside bottom of the bottle, allowing air inside as the bottle drained into the sawyer. This also prevented vacuum buildup in my clean water bottle. I made the two hole caps by using a soldering iron to open holes in the plastic caps, and hot gluing short hard plastic barb fittings into them. The flexible tubing is rubber (tygon?) tubing that friction fits over the barbs glued into the caps. The vent tube on the dirty water bottle is hot glued to the outside and has a little slack so I can get the cap off. The dirty water bottle has a tiny carabiner glued to the bottom of the bottle to attach it to a leather thong loop tied to the top of my backpack. To use, I detach the carabiner, disconnect the vent tube, and unscrew the dirty bottle from the cap. Scoop, reassemble, reattach, and let the dirty bottle hang upside down. It slowly drains through the filter into the clean bottle. I backwash the filter each night while making dinner. The drawbacks are that it is a real pain to have to detach the vent tube to get the dirty bottle detached for a scoop. I am thinking of running the vent through the side of the bottle instead of the cap because of this. In addition, the dirty bottle hanging down the back of my pack swings around a lot, and prevents monitoring water flow through the filter, so I have decided to reroute my tubing and hang the dirty bottle down my packstrap in the front, and use a bungee to keep it from flopping around. The carabiner has broken the glue a couple of times, so this is probably a better solution anyway. For my clean water bottle I use a US Army plastic canteen/tin cup in a pouch setup attached to my pack belt. I can access the cup easily for scooping water as required, and I cook my meals in it, meaning I don’t need a pot. I do carry a small plastic tube of dishsoap to wash it out before and after to kill germs and keep the food smell off it. I can’t seem to find unscented soap, but have been told they are out there for people with chemical sensitivity. I have had problems with this setup in very cold weather freezing my sawyer and destroying it. In those conditions, I detach it and attach it to a neck thong so I can wear it like a necklace next to my skin. I do this regardless of weather conditions when in my tent to prevent losing it. I also always carry a spare. It is small and lightweight and critical failure equipment, so I tell the weight nazis where to go when they complain. Like I said, I almost always modify my equipment, and very little of it resembles what I originally purchased. Then I try it out and see what works and what needs further modification. I carry a notebook and pen to make notes of problems and possible solutions while on the trail. I really wish vendors would spend time on the trail working on stuff like this, but as far as I can tell, all they do is try to one-up the competition. My real problem is hiking in places like the Angeles National Forest, where there are no water sources anywhere. There I am limited to short overnighters, and in the summer, when the temperatures are frequently north of 100, I have to carry a 2 gallon canteen and hike at night. I leave my purification system at home for those hikes. I also carry a 1 foot long 1-1/2” OD flexible tube in my snivel gear. In an emergency, tie a bandanna over the end, and fill it with ground up charcoal from your fire. Pour water through it. The charcoal from a campfire will remove most organic and chemical contaminants. Boil the water before using this setup. I know Dixie said five minutes is enough, but at high altitudes, the boiling point drops, so I recommend 7-10 minutes. I used to use chemical tabs, but stopped after overuse made me sick while hiking in the Rubicon Wilderness. It was early in my hiking days, before filters were commonly available, so I may have used them improperly, but I decided to avoid them in the future. Your milage may vary. My brother prefers to carry a small plastic eye dropper bottle of bleach. To each their own. In worst case conditions, where no solutions are available, go ahead and drink, then immediately head to civilization. They say you can go three days without water, but that is in ideal conditions. In high temperatures or at high altitudes, the available time before dehydration becomes disabling can be reduced to a few hours. Mostly, use your head, and think ahead. Plan where you will get your next water before leaving your current source, and remember, the map is not the territory. That blue line on the map may be dry when you get there. Always ask people coming the other way on the trail about wildlife, weather, trail conditions, and water sources. And always have a bailout plan modified for current conditions. No matter where you are, in the lower 48 you are rarely far from civilization. Always have a plan for how to get to the closest town or road in an emergency. As Dixie can attest, rescue services are expensive! (But don’t let that stop you using them if self rescue is not an option). BTW, if you read this Dixie, did Garmin ever come through on the rescue insurance?
@@BeefNEggs057 I could have written a lot more. This is my current solution, but I have been hiking for over 50 years, mostly in the Sierras and the Nevada desert. I know all sorts of tricks I didn’t cover. This was just the basics.😎
I love your information! I am currently in a country (a post Soviet one), and I have no way of getting a water filtration system like you have in the US. I just had to take an activated charcoal bc the water here is so polluted. Looked like a beautiful hike.
I love Propel, all the basics in an affordable package. And it's not too strongly flavored, so it doesn't get tedious to drink. If you're interested in something a little fancier, Key Nutrients is a little more expensive, but not bad (Amazon). They include some micronutrients, which might be useful if you're not eating particularly well on trail.
Obviously Ms. Dixie knows what she's doing on a trail. Having worked 25 years treating water for a municipal system & also serving as a scoutmaster I've had good reason to professionally test many of the treatment systems on the market. My choice is Sawyer as well, mainly because it can be backwashed. Other filter systems work just as well & in some cases a little better but only until the filters clog. If I'm by myself two Sawyers are my choice. I leave one dry as a backup & use the other. Here's what I've found for backup systems: For a group nothing beats a Steripen with pre filter. Quick, easy & kills viruses & cryptosporidium & giardia as well. But it's extra weight & batteries so I only use it when I'm with my boys. Chlorine dioxide tablets work better than bleach & are lighter. Follow the instructions & always keep in a waterproof container; two ziploc bags together works well. Iodine works & I still have a bottle of Polar Pure. Leave water in it & carry in a sealed container or live with Iodine stains when it leaks; and it will. Obviously boiling is a last resort & I have titanium bottles for that. Bite valves & hoses not cleaned will make you sick. Not if but when. Bleach will clean them but hydrogen peroxide is better. They must be maintained & replaced when needed. I allowed my scouts to use them until one got sick. Now I require two one quart bottles per hoodlum(they're good hoodlums) before we leave. I always take a Sawyer syringe with me. They can be useful for more than cleaning a filter. The only time I use gravity filters is when I camp for several days by a water source; not worth the weight or time to use otherwise as Ms. Dixie pointed out. Finally, I agree on keeping things simple. I won't speak to flavoring water because I'm allergic to most sweeteners especially stevia. Thanks for your thoughts Ms. Dixie.
I think that you’re pretty right on…but…i would recommend a visine eyedropper for bleach…as opposed to tablets. Weight isn’t an issue on small scale but highly functional items like bleach. Tablets need to dissolve. Drops are instant. Think about your water supply. It’s only natural to want to drink right then during a break than wait for the proper contact time with a tablet. Personal preference…but more natural to most. Just my .02
@dougw63 you might want to look up & read about chemical contact time for disinfectants. I used Polar Pure iodine for years & it basically stays in liquid form for instant use. At work we use chlorine gas. The guys that fix broken pipes clean them out with powdered chemical because it's easy to transport & handle. All forms of disinfectant require 2 hrs of contact in the water at minimum & 4 hours preferred. If you're drinking water immediately after treating you're drinking contaminated water. That's why my chlorine dioxide tablets are the last resort. There's no problem with using the bleach if done right but I prefer methods that allow me immediate use too & you need to understand bleach doesn't allow that. A lot of people think as you do that bleach is instant treatment. I stress again it's not. I'm glad you commented & allowed me to address that.
I use an old sweeter pump style filter to pump water into my bottles. I added an in line sawyer and it works great. It does add a little weight but it works great.
I purchased the Bottle Rocket pouch from Gossamer Gear to fit on the shoulder strap of my pack. I keep a 20 oz or 1L bottle with a flip top in there, usually with electrolytes. Of our group of 4 backpacking buddies, I generally drink the most water on trail because my water is easily accessible and almost in my face.
Love Lake Martin. My daughter's inlaws have a house on the lake there. The fire tower is a great hike there. Sawyers all the way too. Ivestarted using a soft collapsible 720 l bottle. It's easier to squeeze than the hard bottles.
I started out with the sawyer sqeeze and a smart water bottle on a back packing trip. I had it in the side pocket, but it's so top heavy that it fell out somewhere on trail. Just be aware that this can happen. I had also brought water purification tablets, so i had to use those for the remainder of our hike.
There are 3D printable shoulder strap clips that nicely hold a smart water bottle or similar. Worked well for me! Big fan of Sawyer Squeeze and the BeFree.
I like to combo the Sawyer Squeeze with the CNOC Vecto 2L because it works so much better than the bags the filter comes with. I fill my bottles right when I collect water, and can load up the bag with extra water if I need to.
I think using the sawyer to feed the grail is a great way to keep your grail running longer and be safe, although, I haven’t done it yet because I haven’t been backpacking with that setup but my sweet water finally broke so that’s my plan
Glad to see that you’re using the one_bottle_hydration kit! I have been using mine for a few years and it has served me well. The guy that owns this “garage grown” business is on top of improving his products, and his adapters fit a wide variety of bottle sizes and types. I get no financial benefit from one_bottle. Just a septuagenarian who wants to share my experiences from rucking and hiking! Keep on charging, y’all.Stay safe out there. 😊
Be carefully with water near Vulcano 's and hot springs! Could be to accid sometimes pure acid Sometimes water can contain natural heavy metals ( in my region were very old tin & leadmines 100 A.C) So i use Greal geopress in my region! If i hike some where else Sawjer one!
Great video. When selecting a water bottle type, I always use a wide mouth bottle option. It’s a little heavier than a smart water bottle but it’s much more user friendly when filling it in just about all types of stream flows.
I agree check before go. I was hiking along the Nāpali Coast this last fall and broke out the filter only to find it totally plugged. The second hint from this story is that if you dutifully back flush your filter when you get home with tap water and you have hard water, you can get calcium build up. I tried everything to revive the filter and just before I ordered a new one I saw a hint on a board about soak the filter in a baggie of distilled vinegar, then back flush.... backflush a lot if you don't like vinegar flavor. Then always do your final rinse with distilled water. Only tried it once, but it worked perfectly.
I like the Sawyer but had one that gave nasty taste to bottled water. They will filter down to 100 nm, so will filter some of the medium to large viruses but not small ones. Thank you for another excellent video.
Walked about Lake Martin once, support the Coosa River Keepers too. A bit after staying in Alabama I found it & was like, "No one should have to keep an eye on such important ecosystems by oneself." They (Coosa Riverkeepers) used to have some nice events: cookout & such, music...and they keep an eye on things.
I would recommend carrying a couple of "AquaTabs" in your med-kit as a back-up plan. much better than bleach and incredibly light. I used them a couple of times when I lost my filter.
Good information. I'm old school. I carry Negen wide mouth 0ne liter bottle(s) Rule Number one is always pre filter your water to eliminate cloudy water or debris whether using chlorine or a filter system. It is much easier to put a coffee filter or a layered bandanna over a 3inch opening that a one inch drink bottle. When using chlorine first check the chlorine bottle to find out the percent/strength of the chlorine. It comes in concentrations from 1% to 10% use only the recommended number of drops. Carry a small dropper. A drop is an actual amount. One drop = 0.05 ml. 12 drops =1/8 of a tea spoon. Too much is not better. You only want to kill the bad germs. Mix thoroughly and let stand for 30 minutes. If the water is clear and cold, it may several hours to overnight to have safe water. If you boil or as they say in the South, Ball. Your water it will taste flat. Pouring back and forth between pots will aerate the water.
I made a hydration system from a one pound peanut bottle. I drilled a hole in the cap, put a rubber grommet in it, and used the hose and bite valve from an old, leaky bladder system. It fit perfectly in my Zpacks shoulder strap bottle carrier. I used it on my two 275 mile LASH hikes to finish the AT in 2022 and my 2023 thruhike attempt (DNF because of a fall and resulting knee injury). My trail name will be "Halfway" when I make another attempt (SOBO) with a new knee next year. I will be 71. I used a Sawyer Squeeze and 2 liter CNOC bag for filtering. I thought about using chemical treatments, but, the thought about adding chemicals to dead bugs (KILLED by the chemicals that you're about to drink), not to mention the chemicals that might ALREADY be in the water, persuaded me to stick with filtration. I would use a First Need filter if viral contamination was likely. Tinker, AT 2023, half-way.
You might check out Cnoc water bags, they open the end to dip water then seal up so you can screw the Sawyer filter on the other end. You should also keep a backup Sawyer filter, one is none two is one. NIce video!
One thing I learned in the Scouts is that when collecting water from a lake, wade out a little bit, let the sediment settle, place your hand over the opening of your container, dunk it down a few inches into the water and then let go of the opening. This prevents anything that's floating on the surface to get into your water. We did this in a lake, but I suppose it could work on rivers as well.
I have to imagine that in most cases youll still find particles in your bottle even after doing this. Did you ever fill then go and inspect to see just how much (or little) "stuff" was in there?
I like to use a bandana to filter out the particles.
Great tip 🙌 thanks 🤙
@@socketpuppet8880 I like to use a coffee filter for that.
The O-ring of a Grolsch flip-cap beer bottle works well with the Sawyer Squeeze. And if you buy one of these, it comes with free beer!
Well, color me honored to have my On-Trail DIY Sawyer repair get mentioned in one of your videos, Dixie. 😊
PTFE tape would do this job too. You might not find it on trail ;) but any hardware or diy store will have it.
@@bernardlyons2422 use of PTFE at an old job is what made me think of this on trail solution. 😅
I don't know if actual PTFE would be right/better in this case though. We're screwing and unscrewing the filter from the bottle, which in my experience tore up PTFE rapidly. At least with SS Pipe, if we took a fitting off, that thread had to be replaced 100% of the time. Maybe plastic threads would be different?
I made a washer from a few layers of duct tape. Cutting the hole in the center was the hardest challenge. It got the job done. Your method seems better. Nice work.
@@eda715 that is an awesome fix though! I would be willing to bet it's more durable than my thread tape solution!
Yea, when your gasket fails or gets lost. It is an immediate concern. Strolling by the old hardware store is not an option in the woods.
Keep that Sawyer Syringe in First Aid Kit to irrigate cuts & wounds to remove dirt & bacteria to avoid infection
Yes, multi use!
I keep a syringe with me period now..even my EDC stuff ... do construction and always getting trash in my eyes all the time so I kept a small syringe with my eye wash even backpacking... Until I got my sawyer I jus use it . that little bit of pressure makes all the difference washing wounds etc. And yea multiuse
unnecessary, I busted my shin open fishing, just went and stood in the river to wash it out a bit, then stood in the sun for the UV's to do their work, repeat a few times in a cycle, cus I'm fishing anyways on a hot day, and bam, giant gash healed up real nice.
@@SometimesTurtleIrrigating a cut with straight, unfiltered river water and airdrying it because you were too lazy/macho to carry clean water and sterile gauze has to be some of the most braindead advice I've ever heard.
I always use a "dirty" bottle or bag. every time I am filling the dirty vessel I cover the mouth with either a bandana, or shemagh to pre-filter the sediment and debris out. not only does it keep that crap out of my filter, it also helps when I am boiling the water first, to keep it out of my cook pot. I am old, and got used to metal water bottles, way before the stainless steel market exploded. I had ARMY surplus aluminum canteens back as far as when I was 6 years old. I was very happy with the canteen cups that came with these, so I now use a Kleen Kanteen bottle with a 24 oz nesting cup, and that serves as my cook pot. on longer trips I put a second nesting cup on the top of the bottle to use as a drinking cup so the larger one on the bottom is the cook pot and food cup. Sawyer filters are my go to because of the sheer volume of water they can filter.
Most youtube hikers seem to leave the sawyer pouch at home, and now that i tried to use it on trail, I know why! After 1 trip, replaced it with a CNOC bladder, which opens on the end to fill. Seems to be a popular choice.
The combination of the Sawyer filter and CNOC bladder can also be easily adapted to make a nifty gravity filter. You add a second CNOC bladder, a union and any strap (I like velcro straps myself). The CNOC bladders are conveniently available in various colors to minimize the risk of mixing the "clean" bladder with the "dirty" bladder. It looks like this i.imgur.com/yDAP59C.jpeg . You don't even need a tree, trekking poles will do the job.
I used my Sawyer pouch as my clean water reservoir once. I will say, it's the lightest reservoir you can get. But it's difficult to handle and that crinkling plastic sound inside the pack drove me mad.
I came here to say the same thing I love my CNOC very valuable piece of gear IMHO
Glad you found something that works. I will say I have not had huge trouble with the Sawyer pouches. There is a method to it, you want to blow into it like she showed, but also squeeze the side inward slightly (squeeze the seams towards each other) and it actually adds a lot of structural rigidity to the pouch. Enough for me to fully submerge it and it fills up nicely.
Hot water and vinegar backwash & soak for a Sawyer Squeeze. Had to do that with one yesterday and it worked like a charm. Went from very little flow, to just like brand new.
I do that too. Just make sure to rinse **very well**. I've gotten back out on trail and the first bottle water tasted like vinegar! 😂
It's good to see you out and about 😊
I like the Cnoc bladders as the dirty water source and squeeze through a sawyer into my clean bottle. The Cnoc are much easier to fill than the Sawyer bags
Agree. I switched and never went back. All of my backpacking tribe uses them. They are super easy to fill and are great for when you need to carry extra water.
Yes Indeed👍
I still can't for the life of me work out what makes the Sawyer pouches so difficult to fill. There is some demon of water physics.
I love the messages on the trail, rocks, sky etc. Very fun and creative.
Dan Becker just made another video on Sawyer, with some discussion on how viruses are unlikely to get through their filters. Seems feasible. And the field results they talk to are pretty compelling
Something like: In the US, they test with dead viruses which do get through filter. Live viruses, on the other hand, are always hitching a ride on something larger which will get caught by the filter. Since they can't test with live viruses, Sawyer can't claim the filter stops them. But also millions of people with some of the worst water sanitation conditions in the world are using sawyer filters for years and not getting any viruses from them. -Per Sawyer President Kurt Avery
when in doubt filter then use a purifying tablet
I hiked the Panorama Trail in Yosemite back in 2005 and learned three things: 1) Work boots are not hiking boots 2) Going down isn't a cakewalk. At some point your calves will refuse to negotiate any more switchbacks, and (back on topic) 3) For a man of size and stature such as myself, any water carry estimates should be tripled. When I finally reached the Mist trailhead, the fountain water tasted strongly of bleach, but I didn't care. I chugged water like it was going out of style.
I have also read that if your sawyer filter flow rate decreases and back flushing doesn't work, soak it in white vinegar for half and hour. Afterwards flush with hot water (not boiling hot but hot enough you can put your hand in it) This breaks up and calcium deposits on the inner fibers of the filter. Also pre soaking your filter before you head out helps.
The instructions for doing this vinegar soak can be found on Sawyer's website, too. They've got a link to this video which brings up the vinegar technique at about the 1:40 mark: ruclips.net/video/0KeLHMUfEtY/видео.html
I've used the vinegar method to ressurect a clogged Sawyer, it works very well.
I like the vinegar method. It sounds like solution for specific trails though. Clogging with mica is very common…and if backfluching doesn’t work so well…time for a new filter. They are only 20 to 30 bucks.
So excited to see a One Bottle on Dixie's channel! Loved my hose but not the water bladder, so I hunted and hunted for something like that, and found it last fall! My husband never drank enough water on trail so I got one for him too! Super convenient, easy to use, worked great. The guy who makes them has great customer service, too! Small manufacturer, deserves to go big!
I just ordered one due to this video! Would love to put the bladder system in my rearview mirror!
Screened garden hose gaskets work in your Sawyer, not only seals but 'prefilters' the big crap out. Also look up a WAPI
great idea
WAPI will save you a lot of fuel if you choose to boil.
Good tips, Dixie. thanks
My dad was a farmer in the '40's and 50's and he would always "camel up" before he went to work in the fields. Maybe a quart at most.
Yes, Hyponatremia is a thing. If you're going to drink more than a quart (or liter), add electrolytes. It's probably a good idea to add electrolytes anyway.
I like to cut the top off of a Capri Sun for a "scoop". I also have a sawyer coupling for back flushing.
The CapriSun is a great scoop. It is very lightweight, can be carried flat and used only for dirty water. One of my grandchildren gladly drank one for me so I could use the container.
Same with the bottom of a sawyer pouch - either one you replaced or found in most any hiker box
Great video! One thing ill add... When melting snow for water on a stove, theres a big difference in fuel consumption between using 100% snow vs first adding a small amount of water in the bottom to get snow heating/melting kick started. I got this one from Shug the YT hammock camper who lives up north.
Yes, if you don't have a little water in th the melting pot you can actually scorch the snow. Better water than sorry!
I was out for a 3 day solo trip, and my filter failed. On day 1! I had to boil all my water for 3 days. It was also late fall, and quite cold, and it was windy, so the stove isn’t as efficient and I was very worried I would run out of fuel before the end of my trip! Now I always have some Aquatabs in my pack. I don't like using the chemicals, but it's better than getting beaver fever!
always carry purifying tablets
@@hanskloss1331 I do now!
That happened to me on the Olympic Peninsula in the middle of summer. I was able to have a fire, so I wasn't worried about fuel, but the Luke worm boiled water tastes like crap!
@Olympia_Outdoors yeah, it tastes kind of flat 😝 so it's also a good idea to have some flavoring of some sort too. Like electrolytes, Crystal Lite, if you can drink that suff 😝 or tea, coffee, hot chocolate, etc...I have powdered tea that dissolves in cold or hot water. 😋
Thank you! I'm still new to hiking and not in the best shape so I stick to well known trails and carry quite a bit of water. However, I did buy a Sawyer squeeze to keep with me just in case I need to refill on trail for some reason, and I appreciate all the videos that are out there to learn from. I hope to continue building strength and endurance so I can attempt some longer hikes so it's great to learn some tips and tricks and build up my hiking knowledge along with my physical strength. Have a great spring and summer everyone!
Tapping the Sawyer Squeeze when back flushing to loosen things up is a great tip. Thanks!
I love my Onebottle hose set up. It’s the best combination of hose in water bottle. Simple and effective way to easily stay hydrated.
If you dont have a bunch of stuff on your shoulders, we like bottle sleeves rather than the bungies to hold water bottles in. Bonus: The balance it offers against the weight on your back is nice too, especially if you double up on the bottle sleeves up front. Love the tips ya always give as well. Thanks for all the great content.
With a lot of hikes, I've tended to be fine with a bit of extra weight early on for more water with me. I also know that if I know that I have extra water that I'll end up drinking it rather than trying to force myself to conserve it for as long as possible which tends to leave me better off than I would without dealing with the extra weight of an extra bottle or two stashed in my pack.
As a side note, with drink mixes, test them before you use them and try using them in something made out of the same material as you use drink from. Some mixes can screw with each other and add tastes to other things until you clean the bottle entirely after a trip, and some don't mix well with others that way.
Good to see you hiking and thanks for the tips!
This video was worth it just for the one tip about using the SmartWater flip cap with the Sawyer Squeeze!!!
You rock!
12:05 you could use your cook pot as a scoop. Rinse out whatever dirt or debris might have gotten in there, air dry it and then you’ll be boiling water in it later anyways.
It was good to see you out on a trail!
There is a plumbers’ tape made especially for threads which keeps a connection from leaking. This might be worth a try.
I’m not ashamed to say I had a good chuckle at the end of the hike when you had more miles left than daylight. Classic Dixie😁
Yup Teflon tape. Super light, works a charm
Use of teflon tape at an old job is exactly what made me think of using what I had on hand on a trip where I lost my o-ring! 😅 I was carrying Tenacious Tape at the time.
A little trial and error, and, as I mentioned to Dixie on my FB reply, it worked extremely well. Didn't have to bail on my hike.
My one concern about using actual teflon tape is the constant screwing and unscrewing the filter from the bottle. It's not, in my experience durable, to that sort of action. That was with stainless steel though, so maybe with plastic it would be different.
@@paulsmart5199 Also called PTFE tape in some places.
@@paulsmart5199I've used Teflon tape to secure the fill plug in my powder horn! Both the end cap and the screw in plug are wood, and the threads got stripped out. A bit of Teflon tape on the plug, carefully screw it in, and violà! Good as new, for a while at least.
There's also the green "oilless" teflon tape that you use on scuba fittings thats serves same purpose.
@2:19 Beautiful bluets. The tip about the extra gasket is one I will put on my notes. Thanks Dixie
Great vlog - Have used many filters over the years, been using the MSR Guardian for a long time now purely for that reason regarding virus filtration. The way it self flushes, the flow rate and the 10,000 litre cartridge life is a no brainer. Whilst its not small or light, it far exceed other systems. I still take a small handgel size bottle of bleach for long trips - again never failed but yea you need to know what your doing. Stay safe and enjoy your trek's - greetings from the UK and Alps!
Helpful as always. Congratulations on your marriage!❤
👍Sawyer absolutely my favorite👍 Thanks for the video I’ve been looking for a water video that covers the ancillary things a hiker may experience 👍😁👍
Great video again - staying hydrated is so important. One thing you didn't mention is, that hydration effects your brain too and dehydration leads to poor choices, that might get you killed.
#7 camel up with caution - while hiking, you will sweat a lot, not only loosing water, but electrolytes too. Diarrhoea-treatments help, but they are fairly expensive (1.80-3.50$/liter), so I buy the (dry) ingredients in larger batches and mix them myself, lowering the cost to 9ct/liter. The Locke-Ringer-acetate-solution or Balanced-Salts-Solution (BSS) give the Ingredients and ratios. 25ml-plastic containers keep the salts for 2 liters of water, so it's easy to treat 1 and 2 liter bottles.
#8 use drink mixes - Flavour Drops in small bottles to flavour cocktails, coffee or wine are another great option, I personally am fond of maracuja. Drink mixes are always on the sweet side, so on a hike I look forward to a boullion-cube in hot water at night (or lunch-break) to fill up my reservoir with something spicy.
#10+11 backup water treatment - seems to me, the other way round would be more logic, from source to 'black' bottle- through filter- into pot- into drinking bottle.
Either way, stay hydrated and be well Dixie
Thanks for the video! I would also let people know that eating the snow is not a good idea because it can drop core body temperature which can led to other issues, just to explain why melting the snow is important. Thanks again and have a great day!
In Canada, we learn in school how to melt the snow in our hand, and drip it into our mouth so as not to freeze to death from the inside 😁
Love this informational video format! Interesting and very informative 😊
One of your best for information for new hikers.
So good to see you out there!! Thank you for all the great tips!
It's an odd one, growing up in the Scottish Highlands we went on the basic premise... Running water is fairly ok. Never got sick. Now in Canada and decades older and hopefully wiser, sawyer mini for personal use and a 10l MSR gravity bag for groups. Failing that... Boil
I always prefer to have second filter with me as back up. It is Befree(similar to Sawyer) and LifeStraw. LieStraw is great to have a quick drink along the way with my mug, which I also, like you, use for collecting water from shallow water sources. This allows me to extend time before I need to stop and fill up my bottles. And I always soak my filters in water before my hike. Thanks for the video. Be well.
Great subject matter to cover A lot of things that I do as a hiker that I forget to share❤❤
Ya 😂😂😂
2:17 - Azure Bluet (Houstonia Caerulea). And yes, they are very pretty and lil.
Thank you.
We need a botanist on trail.
@@lukasmakarios4998 My cousin is a botanist. Thank goodness, while hiking to camp, she takes pictures and saves the real identification process to the day hikes. She can sit in a field of wildflowers all day, happily picking apart flowers with tweezers, using her loop to ID all the parts, and looking up an accurate ID.
The magic Knowledgeable one again doing what she knows best, and a big thank you for, that, In all my days of tramping here in New Zealand, I never had to do any filtration, however nowadays with the long TeAraRoa trail, it has become a factor. Proximity to farms, villages, etc., and a decided reduction in reliable sources, except in the backcountry, then you have to make appropriate moves to change things. Never a dull moment on the trail...........
I didn't think I would, but I learned some things from this video. Thanks
Why did you watch it then lol
Love these ideas! The Sawyer bag i use as a scoop. Cut the bottom open, put the lid on and pour into my water bottle. Then drink from the bottle with the filter connected ❤
ZipFizz is a good alternative to drink mixes like LMNT -- cheaper, slightly fizzy, has more electrolytes per serving, etc.
I also really like the True Lemon / Lime sachets as just a flavor enhancer. Literally just citric acid and fruit oil, costs pennies if you buy in bulk, and it's also good for sprinkling on food.
I use the bungee system for bottle retention. I used to stow my bottles "tip up" like in the picture description you provided until i had to run to the bathroom which resulted in my bottles launching all over the place. I quickly learned if you invert the top of the bottle down, it is easier to manage getting in and out of the bungees AND when running away from rabid squirrels doesn't result in prematurely launching my bottles across the forest. 😎
Great vid thanks! couple of tips that i have learned
first - Sawyer makes a decent filter, but where I hike, the water sources flow through limestone. Spruce and pine trees add a lot of tannins, the water is tea colored. I found sawyer filters clog easily from the limestone, and I needed to soak it with in white vinegar on a regular basis. Works, but it took a lot of flushing to get the taste out. I have since switched to HydroBlu filter. Lighter, faster filtering, very easy to clean. they have a window to easily check on the filter condition.
Second - I prefer bladders over bottles. Yes they are heavier, but I need a LOT of water hiking in the MidAtlantic area. I have a system that allows me to fill my bladder while it is still in my pack. Works quite well, and I've used this system for more than 20 years. Easily converted to a gravity fed filtration system in camp. I carry a 3 liter clean water bladder in my pack ( never carry more than 1.5 liters at a time though) and have a 3 liter Cnoc bag to collect dirty water. I hike solo, and like to stealth camp away from other people. this system allows me to have up to 6 liters of water for camp use if I need that much.
I tried using plastic water bottles but found them (for me now!!) to be a pain to use. For one thing, Photography is one of the main reasons why I hike, and the combination of having photo gear and water bottles was too much hassle. so Bladder it is! For those interested - Bladder Hydrapak, filter - Hydroblu, I have quick disconnect hoses for my filter that allow me to attache it between the dirty water bag and the clean water bag to allow filling bladder in the pack, or using it as a gravity filter in camp, including an on-off valve. Instant camp faucet!
Depends on which bag I use.. Katadyn to top off bladder, or Grayl and a Ti storage bottle with a hose.
I carry a Sawyer as a backup.
I use both the Katadyne and Sawyer. The Katadyne BeFree for the 'scoop and go', the Sawyer Squeeze for camp (using a CNOC bag for water collection).
My best friend in collecting water is a tent pole. I know not many tents have these now a days . But I still camp with one. Another tip is bring coffee filters. Maybe one for every day of camping. Lightweight and keep those organic particles from rolling around in your boiled water. Nice water tips,thank you. Happy trails to you!
I almost always modify my kit. Currently, my best setup is a “scoop and go” dirty water bottle that hangs by a leather thong from the top of my pack.
That runs by tube through a sawyer filter to a two hole cap on my clean bottle. The second hole is for a tube/bite valve that is attached to my shoulder strap.
My first try didn’t work due to vacuum buildup preventing proper drainage from my dirty water bottle. I fixed this by making a two hole cap and installing a vent tube running from the inside bottom of the dirty bottle to the outside bottom of the bottle, allowing air inside as the bottle drained into the sawyer.
This also prevented vacuum buildup in my clean water bottle.
I made the two hole caps by using a soldering iron to open holes in the plastic caps, and hot gluing short hard plastic barb fittings into them. The flexible tubing is rubber (tygon?) tubing that friction fits over the barbs glued into the caps.
The vent tube on the dirty water bottle is hot glued to the outside and has a little slack so I can get the cap off.
The dirty water bottle has a tiny carabiner glued to the bottom of the bottle to attach it to a leather thong loop tied to the top of my backpack.
To use, I detach the carabiner, disconnect the vent tube, and unscrew the dirty bottle from the cap. Scoop, reassemble, reattach, and let the dirty bottle hang upside down. It slowly drains through the filter into the clean bottle.
I backwash the filter each night while making dinner.
The drawbacks are that it is a real pain to have to detach the vent tube to get the dirty bottle detached for a scoop. I am thinking of running the vent through the side of the bottle instead of the cap because of this.
In addition, the dirty bottle hanging down the back of my pack swings around a lot, and prevents monitoring water flow through the filter, so I have decided to reroute my tubing and hang the dirty bottle down my packstrap in the front, and use a bungee to keep it from flopping around. The carabiner has broken the glue a couple of times, so this is probably a better solution anyway.
For my clean water bottle I use a US Army plastic canteen/tin cup in a pouch setup attached to my pack belt. I can access the cup easily for scooping water as required, and I cook my meals in it, meaning I don’t need a pot. I do carry a small plastic tube of dishsoap to wash it out before and after to kill germs and keep the food smell off it.
I can’t seem to find unscented soap, but have been told they are out there for people with chemical sensitivity.
I have had problems with this setup in very cold weather freezing my sawyer and destroying it. In those conditions, I detach it and attach it to a neck thong so I can wear it like a necklace next to my skin. I do this regardless of weather conditions when in my tent to prevent losing it.
I also always carry a spare. It is small and lightweight and critical failure equipment, so I tell the weight nazis where to go when they complain.
Like I said, I almost always modify my equipment, and very little of it resembles what I originally purchased. Then I try it out and see what works and what needs further modification. I carry a notebook and pen to make notes of problems and possible solutions while on the trail.
I really wish vendors would spend time on the trail working on stuff like this, but as far as I can tell, all they do is try to one-up the competition.
My real problem is hiking in places like the Angeles National Forest, where there are no water sources anywhere. There I am limited to short overnighters, and in the summer, when the temperatures are frequently north of 100, I have to carry a 2 gallon canteen and hike at night. I leave my purification system at home for those hikes.
I also carry a 1 foot long 1-1/2” OD flexible tube in my snivel gear. In an emergency, tie a bandanna over the end, and fill it with ground up charcoal from your fire. Pour water through it. The charcoal from a campfire will remove most organic and chemical contaminants. Boil the water before using this setup. I know Dixie said five minutes is enough, but at high altitudes, the boiling point drops, so I recommend 7-10 minutes.
I used to use chemical tabs, but stopped after overuse made me sick while hiking in the Rubicon Wilderness. It was early in my hiking days, before filters were commonly available, so I may have used them improperly, but I decided to avoid them in the future. Your milage may vary. My brother prefers to carry a small plastic eye dropper bottle of bleach. To each their own.
In worst case conditions, where no solutions are available, go ahead and drink, then immediately head to civilization. They say you can go three days without water, but that is in ideal conditions. In high temperatures or at high altitudes, the available time before dehydration becomes disabling can be reduced to a few hours.
Mostly, use your head, and think ahead. Plan where you will get your next water before leaving your current source, and remember, the map is not the territory.
That blue line on the map may be dry when you get there. Always ask people coming the other way on the trail about wildlife, weather, trail conditions, and water sources. And always have a bailout plan modified for current conditions.
No matter where you are, in the lower 48 you are rarely far from civilization. Always have a plan for how to get to the closest town or road in an emergency. As Dixie can attest, rescue services are expensive! (But don’t let that stop you using them if self rescue is not an option).
BTW, if you read this Dixie, did Garmin ever come through on the rescue insurance?
Write a novel next time 😬
@@BeefNEggs057 I could have written a lot more. This is my current solution, but I have been hiking for over 50 years, mostly in the Sierras and the Nevada desert. I know all sorts of tricks I didn’t cover. This was just the basics.😎
I love your information! I am currently in a country (a post Soviet one), and I have no way of getting a water filtration system like you have in the US. I just had to take an activated charcoal bc the water here is so polluted. Looked like a beautiful hike.
Great and very helpful video, Dixie! I love the editorial addition of the headings on the landscape. So creative!
Drink mixers - I've found Drip Drop to be a good, balanced electrolyte mix.
Night hiking on the day hike…sounds about right 😉😁 ❤
It's cool to see you hike and talk when you're in your element.
This is a good style of video
I've used Propel for electrolyte drink mixes for years. Fifty cents per serving vs two dollars or more for other frequently advertised options.
I love Propel, all the basics in an affordable package. And it's not too strongly flavored, so it doesn't get tedious to drink.
If you're interested in something a little fancier, Key Nutrients is a little more expensive, but not bad (Amazon). They include some micronutrients, which might be useful if you're not eating particularly well on trail.
The blue Sawyer bags makes a nice foldable water scoop when you cut the bag in half and toss the top of the bag.
Good stuff.
Loved seeing you with your ring.
I've never had a gasket issue before, but now that I know it's a possibility I'll be carrying a spare. Thanks, Dixie!
Great vid mate. Full of info. Cheers from Australia.
Fantastic video Dixie - Keep up the great work. Much love and all the best on your next adventure.
Obviously Ms. Dixie knows what she's doing on a trail. Having worked 25 years treating water for a municipal system & also serving as a scoutmaster I've had good reason to professionally test many of the treatment systems on the market. My choice is Sawyer as well, mainly because it can be backwashed. Other filter systems work just as well & in some cases a little better but only until the filters clog. If I'm by myself two Sawyers are my choice. I leave one dry as a backup & use the other. Here's what I've found for backup systems:
For a group nothing beats a Steripen with pre filter. Quick, easy & kills viruses & cryptosporidium & giardia as well. But it's extra weight & batteries so I only use it when I'm with my boys. Chlorine dioxide tablets work better than bleach & are lighter. Follow the instructions & always keep in a waterproof container; two ziploc bags together works well. Iodine works & I still have a bottle of Polar Pure. Leave water in it & carry in a sealed container or live with Iodine stains when it leaks; and it will. Obviously boiling is a last resort & I have titanium bottles for that. Bite valves & hoses not cleaned will make you sick. Not if but when. Bleach will clean them but hydrogen peroxide is better. They must be maintained & replaced when needed. I allowed my scouts to use them until one got sick. Now I require two one quart bottles per hoodlum(they're good hoodlums) before we leave. I always take a Sawyer syringe with me. They can be useful for more than cleaning a filter. The only time I use gravity filters is when I camp for several days by a water source; not worth the weight or time to use otherwise as Ms. Dixie pointed out.
Finally, I agree on keeping things simple. I won't speak to flavoring water because I'm allergic to most sweeteners especially stevia. Thanks for your thoughts Ms. Dixie.
I think that you’re pretty right on…but…i would recommend a visine eyedropper for bleach…as opposed to tablets. Weight isn’t an issue on small scale but highly functional items like bleach. Tablets need to dissolve. Drops are instant. Think about your water supply. It’s only natural to want to drink right then during a break than wait for the proper contact time with a tablet. Personal preference…but more natural to most. Just my .02
@dougw63 you might want to look up & read about chemical contact time for disinfectants. I used Polar Pure iodine for years & it basically stays in liquid form for instant use. At work we use chlorine gas. The guys that fix broken pipes clean them out with powdered chemical because it's easy to transport & handle. All forms of disinfectant require 2 hrs of contact in the water at minimum & 4 hours preferred. If you're drinking water immediately after treating you're drinking contaminated water. That's why my chlorine dioxide tablets are the last resort. There's no problem with using the bleach if done right but I prefer methods that allow me immediate use too & you need to understand bleach doesn't allow that. A lot of people think as you do that bleach is instant treatment. I stress again it's not. I'm glad you commented & allowed me to address that.
Sardinia
I use the GRAYL water treatment bottle & am 100% satisfied
@@mikemcgee6810 I've read their information & see no reason they wouldn't work, I just haven't tested that brand like I have the ones I mentioned.
I use an old sweeter pump style filter to pump water into my bottles. I added an in line sawyer and it works great. It does add a little weight but it works great.
I learned so much from this video! I've been looking for an alternative to the bladder and a good electrolyte mix. Excited to try One Bottle and LMNT!
I purchased the Bottle Rocket pouch from Gossamer Gear to fit on the shoulder strap of my pack. I keep a 20 oz or 1L bottle with a flip top in there, usually with electrolytes. Of our group of 4 backpacking buddies, I generally drink the most water on trail because my water is easily accessible and almost in my face.
I use a silicone muffin cup to scoop with. Also doubles as a steamer in my cook pot.
Love Lake Martin. My daughter's inlaws have a house on the lake there. The fire tower is a great hike there. Sawyers all the way too. Ivestarted using a soft collapsible 720 l bottle. It's easier to squeeze than the hard bottles.
I’ve been thinking of trying this! Now I think I will!
Thanks for loads of useful information. Have found that "plumber's pipe thread" works well for tightening a sawyer water filter to a water bottle.
Leaving for my very first solo trip on Friday. Literally stopped the video to take notes... a few times 😂
Thanks! Your beautiful vids got me thru the pandemic. Keep on hiking and 🙏
As a backup, the technology/chemistry of the P&G Purifier packets (PUR) is pretty amazing. Mark Rober did a good video on it.
I love my geigerrig water filter system here in the Great lakes I use it hiking and well kayaking
This was great info Dixie! Thanks for sharing! 🥾🥾🥰
For distinguishing dirty/clean bottles, you could of course write "dirty" on one of them. Blue tape and sharpie work well.
I started out with the sawyer sqeeze and a smart water bottle on a back packing trip. I had it in the side pocket, but it's so top heavy that it fell out somewhere on trail. Just be aware that this can happen. I had also brought water purification tablets, so i had to use those for the remainder of our hike.
There are 3D printable shoulder strap clips that nicely hold a smart water bottle or similar. Worked well for me! Big fan of Sawyer Squeeze and the BeFree.
Thank you; very helpful. I have not needed to filter yet but it's nice to start out with benefit of your experience as communicated in this video.
I like to combo the Sawyer Squeeze with the CNOC Vecto 2L because it works so much better than the bags the filter comes with. I fill my bottles right when I collect water, and can load up the bag with extra water if I need to.
I think using the sawyer to feed the grail is a great way to keep your grail running longer and be safe, although, I haven’t done it yet because I haven’t been backpacking with that setup but my sweet water finally broke so that’s my plan
I use a BeFree filter. It has its water pouch for dirty water so I keep all my bottles for clean water.
Glad to see that you’re using the one_bottle_hydration kit! I have been using mine for a few years and it has served me well. The guy that owns this “garage grown” business is on top of improving his products, and his adapters fit a wide variety of bottle sizes and types. I get no financial benefit from one_bottle. Just a septuagenarian who wants to share my experiences from rucking and hiking! Keep on charging, y’all.Stay safe out there. 😊
Be carefully with water near Vulcano 's and hot springs! Could be to accid sometimes pure acid
Sometimes water can contain natural heavy metals ( in my region were very old tin & leadmines 100 A.C)
So i use Greal geopress in my region!
If i hike some where else Sawjer one!
used to fish lake martin when I was a teenager many many years ago. Awesome video, thanks for the tips!
You and chinal grateful for me iam BK From Port Blair
Great video. Dixie, if you have time watch Dan Beckers interview with the founder of Sawyer.
I watched that vid.. Amazing and very informative.
They wouldn’t admit that there is no evidence it doesn’t filter viruses.. dangerous viseo
Great video. When selecting a water bottle type, I always use a wide mouth bottle option. It’s a little heavier than a smart water bottle but it’s much more user friendly when filling it in just about all types of stream flows.
My spare sox ride in a peanut butter jar . The jar can double as a scoop to dip water and as an alternative water carrier.
Great tips Dixie, you being an accomplished thru hiker makes me feel confident in your advice. Keep up the great videos.
I agree check before go. I was hiking along the Nāpali Coast this last fall and broke out the filter only to find it totally plugged. The second hint from this story is that if you dutifully back flush your filter when you get home with tap water and you have hard water, you can get calcium build up. I tried everything to revive the filter and just before I ordered a new one I saw a hint on a board about soak the filter in a baggie of distilled vinegar, then back flush.... backflush a lot if you don't like vinegar flavor. Then always do your final rinse with distilled water. Only tried it once, but it worked perfectly.
Thank you! I am about to snatch up a One Bottle Straw after seeing this.
your content is awesome and makes my backpack trips seem so far away as i sit in my office, thanks!
I like the Sawyer but had one that gave nasty taste to bottled water. They will filter down to 100 nm, so will filter some of the medium to large viruses but not small ones. Thank you for another excellent video.
Walked about Lake Martin once, support the Coosa River Keepers too. A bit after staying in Alabama I found it & was like, "No one should have to keep an eye on such important ecosystems by oneself." They (Coosa Riverkeepers) used to have some nice events: cookout & such, music...and they keep an eye on things.
I would recommend carrying a couple of "AquaTabs" in your med-kit as a back-up plan. much better than bleach and incredibly light.
I used them a couple of times when I lost my filter.
I have watched hours and hours and hours of RUclips hydration vids and this is the best one 👍
Could use colored zip ties on the neck to mark clean/dirty water bottles.
I tried to use permanent marker to mark my smellable bottle. But it wore off real fast.
Good information. I'm old school. I carry Negen wide mouth 0ne liter bottle(s) Rule Number one is always pre filter your water to eliminate cloudy water or debris whether using chlorine or a filter system. It is much easier to put a coffee filter or a layered bandanna over a 3inch opening that a one inch drink bottle. When using chlorine first check the chlorine bottle to find out the percent/strength of the chlorine. It comes in concentrations from 1% to 10% use only the recommended number of drops. Carry a small dropper. A drop is an actual amount. One drop = 0.05 ml. 12 drops =1/8 of a tea spoon. Too much is not better. You only want to kill the bad germs. Mix thoroughly and let stand for 30 minutes. If the water is clear and cold, it may several hours to overnight to have safe water. If you boil or as they say in the South, Ball. Your water it will taste flat. Pouring back and forth between pots will aerate the water.
I made a hydration system from a one pound peanut bottle. I drilled a hole in the cap, put a rubber grommet in it, and used the hose and bite valve from an old, leaky bladder system. It fit perfectly in my Zpacks shoulder strap bottle carrier. I used it on my two 275 mile LASH hikes to finish the AT in 2022 and my 2023 thruhike attempt (DNF because of a fall and resulting knee injury). My trail name will be "Halfway" when I make another attempt (SOBO) with a new knee next year. I will be 71.
I used a Sawyer Squeeze and 2 liter CNOC bag for filtering.
I thought about using chemical treatments, but, the thought about adding chemicals to dead bugs (KILLED by the chemicals that you're about to drink), not to mention the chemicals that might ALREADY be in the water, persuaded me to stick with filtration. I would use a First Need filter if viral contamination was likely.
Tinker, AT 2023, half-way.
You might check out Cnoc water bags, they open the end to dip water then seal up so you can screw the Sawyer filter on the other end. You should also keep a backup Sawyer filter, one is none two is one. NIce video!