-1

That one day on the JMT where my filter broke at 11,000 feet

I was 6 days into the John Muir Trail near Squaw Lake when my water filter just gave up on me. No warning, just wouldnt push a drop through, and I still had 4 miles of sunbaked granite to cover before camp. I ended up boiling water in my titanium pot for every sip that afternoon, which took forever and tasted faintly of my last freeze dried meal. Has anyone else had a filter die mid-route? I'm curious if there's a reliable backup trick that doesnt mean carrying a second heavy pump.

1 comments

Log in to join the discussion

Log In

1 Comment

eva_thompson2mo ago

...and here I was proud of myself for remembering to bring a backup lighter that day, turns out the real backup I needed was a second filter, not fire. I ended up using my bandana as a pre-filter and squeezing water through it into the pot, which was slow and gross but kept the worst of the grit out. Honestly, my best trick now is just boiling first thing in the morning and carrying that water through the hot part of the day, saves you the misery of stopping to boil every hour.

6