That time my buddy said to skip the water filter on the JMT and I nearly quit

A friend told me the streams in the Sierra were so clean I could just drink straight from them on the John Muir Trail. Two days in I got really bad stomach cramps and had to stop every hour. Turns out even clear water can have giardia (who knew, right?). Has anyone else trusted bad advice like that and regretted it?

2 comments

2 Comments

rose_hart6d ago

Saw a news piece once where a guy got giardia from a stream that looked like something out of a bottled water ad. Crystal clear, no mud, nothing. Still made him sick for weeks. The thing with giardia is you can't see it, taste it, or smell it. All that clear mountain water does is give you a false sense of security. Your buddy probably meant well, but that's one of those "I learned the hard way" lessons a lot of hikers figure out after getting wrecked by some invisible bug.

lee726d ago

Yeah I used to think clear water was safe too. This changed my mind.