Water is everywhere! 71% of the earth’s surface is water covered. The oceans contain roughly 96 1/2 percent of all the Earth’s water. So even with all this water, dehydration has killed or hospitalized many hikers and campers.
I want to help you be better prepared for your next “Great Outdoor Adventure”. My brother and I went on a 5 day camping trip where we only had access to tea stained and stagnant water. We saw otters swimming around in it and racoons fishing on the banks. Honestly, we didn’t know what to do. I remembered seeing the 3 stage water filter in books and never thought it would come in handy… boy was I wrong!
This filter has three layers tied to a tripod. The first layer holds grass or pine straw in order to filter out all of the large debris. The second layer is filled with charcoal from your fire. This will absorb most of the nasty biological contaminants. It will also make the water taste better. Then the final layer is filled with sand. This gets rid of all the discoloration and charcoal dust and is where your water is truly filtered. The result… crystal clear water. Now this water still needs to be boiled in order to kill any biological yuckies that can get you sick! And this brings me to the second method of preparing your water.
Boiling your water is the sure fire best method to get rid of all the biological contaminants. It doesn’t necessarily get rid of all the chemicals but it still makes your water the safest to drink. All the viruses and bacteria are killed at 165°F and water boils at 212°F so by letting your water boil for a few minutes will make sure your water is safe to drink. After boiling your water, once it cools down, it’s ready to drink or store. I carry a 2.5 gallon collapsible water container to store all my water while I’m backpacking or camping for a few days.
Now on shorter trips like when I’m camping and Hiking, I like to use the Sawyer squeeze water filtration system. I’m not sponsored by them nor is this a paid advertisement or anything like that, I just use this personally in my backpack. This system is great for hiking and camping because it’s very lightweight, it fits in your backpack and it’s easy to use. Just fill up the supplied squeeze pouch with your water source, screw on the ceramic filter and its ready to drink. Squeeze the water into whatever container you want to use or drink right out of a filter. I made a gravity feed system by hanging the bag and filter about 6 to 8 feet high and connecting that filter via a hose from the home appliance store directly to another bag on the ground. I fill the first bag up then head off fishing or gathering firewood and come back and have a full bag of filtered water. This allows me to do more than one thing at a time and let’s me enjoy the great outdoors while I’m getting something done!
Check out this video below about water. In it I will demonstrate everything that I talked about in this post. Consider subscribing to my YouTube channel HERE and to this blog for more tips and tricks to use while you’re in the Great Outdoors!
