Broke my favorite water filter on day 2 of a 6 day trip in the Sierras

Was filtering out of a creek near Bishop. Dropped the ceramic cartridge on a rock. Cracked it clean in half. Had to boil water the rest of the trip. Extra fuel weight. Extra time every stop. What do you carry as a backup now?

2 comments

2 Comments

lewis.troy27d ago

Friend did the exact same thing near Tuolumne Meadows last year. Ceramic cartridge just exploded on a granite slab. We spent the rest of the trip boiling everything. Extra five pounds of fuel felt like fifty by day four. Now I always carry a little squeeze filter as a backup. Never again.

jana11920d ago

Squeeze filter is the way to go, I learned that lesson the hard way on the JMT a few years back. My buddy dropped his pump filter on a rock and the handle snapped clean off, we were lucky there was a stream nearby but still had to ration water like crazy. Boiling everything just eats up your day, you stop for hours waiting for water to cool, and it drains your fuel faster than you think. Now I carry a cheap backup filter that weighs next to nothing, it lives in the bottom of my pack and I never touch it unless the main one breaks... but I wouldnt leave camp without it. That little piece of plastic has saved more than one trip for me, trust me.