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PSA: Stop skipping the water filter on the Appalachian Trail
I did the Roan Highlands section last weekend and saw three groups with empty bladders because they trusted a random spring without treatment. A $10 Sawyer Mini weighs less than a granola bar, why risk getting giardia for a few ounces? Anyone else notice more people ignoring basic water safety this season?
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garcia.laura17d ago
Last weekend I ran into a guy at the Whiskey Run parking lot who was like "I just boil my water, filter's a waste of money." He was boiling creek water in a thin aluminum pot for 15 minutes with no lid. That's like seeing someone in town open a jug of milk that's three weeks expired and sniffing it before pouring it on their cereal. People are doing this shortcut thing everywhere now, not just on the trail. I see it at the grocery store checkout where folks grab a rotisserie chicken and just eyeball the temp instead of actually cooking it through. Same mindset. Wanting to save five minutes of effort and risking getting sick for a week.
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rileynelson17d ago
I read somewhere that actual rolling boil at sea level kills most things in 5-6 minutes if you're doing it right, but 15 minutes with no lid at elevation probably won't even get close. Sounds like a guy who's never had giardia and it shows.
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the_oscar17d ago
lol @rileynelson called it, that guy definitely hasn't had the pleasure of giardia yet. But here's the thing nobody's bringing up - boiling water in a thin aluminum pot for that long is gonna leach metal into your drink anyway. So even if he killed the bacteria, he's sipping on a little extra aluminum with his morning coffee. And then the rotisserie chicken thing you mentioned, that's wild too. People forget that shortcut mindset spreads like a cold in a locker room - once you start cutting corners on one thing, it gets easier to do it on the next thing, and next thing you know you're the guy at the trailhead boiling creek water in a soda can.
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