Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Water On The Trail

I will be attempting to summit for the first time in September....I guess I'm not clear on the opportunities to replenish water supply along the way. There are or are not places to replenish without filtering?
Your info is appreciated.

Lots of water on the trail, until the spring above trail camp. Sometimes the spring is frozen early in the morning in September

http://members12.clubphoto.com/robert634908/2492263/guest.phtml

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The quintessential resource on water sources is Bob R.

Below is a discussion thread where he provides a map and further up the thread are a couple of other URL's further defining where they are.

http://www.whitneyportalstore.com/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=002790

Don't be concerned, there is more than adequate sources.

You specified "without filtering"...to which I would say, "no."

Lots of water, lots of people, adds up to a significant risk of contamination somewhere along the line. I would always filter or otherwise treat water from any source along the main trail.

The last dependable water source is at Trail Camp. The "spring" that runs across the switchbacks higher up may be frozen in the a.m. or might well have dried up by September when you'll be there.

contributor here, Bob R, has written the definitive paper on the subject, accessible from literally hundreds of sites on the internet, here is one:
http://www.yosemite.org/naturenotes/Giardia.htm
You should read it yourself, and make your own decision. I never filter water in the Sierra.

in it, it says:

One conclusion of this paper is that you can indeed contract giardiasis on visits to the Sierra Nevada, but it won’t be from the water. So drink freely and confidently: Proper personal hygiene is far more important in avoiding giardiasis than treating the water.

First, an excerpt written by a highly regarded wilderness physician:

“In recent years, frantic alarms about the perils of giardiasis have aroused exaggerated concern about this infestation. Government agencies, particularly the United States Park Service and the National Forest Service, have filtered hundreds of gallons of water from wilderness streams, found one or two organisms (far less than enough to be infective), and erected garish signs proclaiming the water ‘hazardous.’” [1]

And another, by researchers who surveyed the health departments in all 50 states and scanned the medical literature looking for evidence that giardiasis is a significant threat to outdoor folk:

“Neither health department surveillance nor the medical literature supports the widely held perception that giardiasis is a significant risk to backpackers in the United States. In some respects, this situation resembles (the threat to beachgoers of a) shark attack: an extraordinarily rare event to which the public and press have seemingly devoted inappropriate attention.” [2]

I've had friends who have contracted Giardia and needless to say they will never drink unfiltered water. It could have been contracted from water or bad hygiene, either way, there is a possibility and I will always treat my water.
Eric J Lee

To filter or not? First, everything I read confirms that the number one way to prevent sickness whether in the city or mountains is to wash or disinfect your hands frequently especially before preparing food and eating. Avoid touching your eyes, nose, ears or mouth until you wash. The vast majority of bugs are transmitted from another person. In all my hiking 10 to 20+ years ago, we never filtered. Didn't know what it was. Took the old Sierra cup and dipped it right in any running water. Never got sick. Today I filter because the technology is available and I use a lot more water than I use to from less than pristine running water sources. If I run across a lightly traveled high mountain running stream with no pack mule leftovers in sight, I have no problem taking a straight drink.

Ken, well said and well quoted!

Eric and Alan, you do what you feel is right.

I've had the pleasure of drinking the water next to Dr. Rockwell on the slopes of Mt. Whitney--purely unfiltered. I've been drinking Sierra waters for more than 50 years, as has Bob R. (only for more years), and I have never had an ill effect. I have drunk water in other mountain ranges, however, that have made me quite sick, due to my own stupidity. Bob R. does recommend drinking smart, and does not force his conclusions on anyone. But for you believers, Bob R.'s writings on the purity of Whitney water are most excellent.

Perhaps I should point out that my concerns over water flowing along the main Whitney trail are more over human fecal coliform contamination than Giardia.

The Giardia debate has been raging for several years across numerous forums (fora?) across the country, not just in California about the Sierra. I don't pretend to be the expert in Giardia, but I know for certain that Giardia is not the only villain involved.

Let's face it...with 200 or so people up and down the main trail every day, do you want to risk that the last slob to cross the creek upstream of where you filled your bottle did his "business" in the process?

Personally, I'll carry my First Need filter and pump water. It won't cost me anything but a minute per liter of time plus a pound of weight in my pack, and if it saves me being incapacitated in mid-climb, it's more than worth it.

(Here in MO, we deal with a lot of hog and cattle farms along our rivers, so we get a little more paranoid about treating water than hikers in the mountains well upstream from any farming.)

As has been mentioned in the water discussion before, there is more then one reason to use a filter.

Filtered water has no dirt, bugs, moss, floaters and the like.

I personally drink unfiltered water from time to time away from the big crouds and have had no problem. But on the regular Mt. Whitney trail I wouldn't feel that comfortable not filtering. There are too many variables and people to take the chance. A filter is only one pound for the whole group. They pump 1 litter a minute and give you a chance to take a break.

Gonehiking,

Can you tell me what pump you have that only weighs one pound and has a through put of one liter per minute?

My First Need doesn't come anywhere near that performance.

Kashcraft,

That spring was bone dry last late September, and I was really looking forward to its chilled unfiltered waters.

My guess is it won't be problem come this September.

Gone hiking uses the pur hiker, which is now made by Katadyn...the Katadyn hiker microfilter.

The current weight is listed as 14 ounces.

http://www.katadyn.net/katadyn_guide.html

wbtravis: thanks for the heads up about the spring. I haven't been there in September lately. It would be a drag to have it dry on the way up or down and mess up the water plans. It's water was good last August.

One more thing about filters. My first filter was a cheaper ceramic filter....what a waste...it was very slow.

I also have a Pur Hiker filter, along with a Sweetwater Guardian water filter. When I have hiked with my Nephew Richard, he uses the blue First Need water filter.

of all those water filters my Pur Hiker has been my favorite. It does seem to pump about 1 quart a minute since the water flows on both the upstroke and downstroke. When it finally gives out I will update to the Katadyn water filter also.

Thanks for the information, I have read about the throughput on most all of the filters on the market and they range from about .75 to 1.4 liters per minute. I have never timed my water filtering, it just seems to me that I spend a long time pumping.

My First Need flows when pumping in both directions and is rated high on throughput, I don;t seem to be able to acheive that rating so it must have more to do with the operator than the filter.

Memory lapse, Kashcraft is correct about my choice of filters. He should know, being my brother.....
http://client.webshots.com/photo/219976883/219981141YBokTP

We both have a preference for the Katydyn pur hiker filter, probably because it has worked well for us and everyone has their favorite. The filter you have is a good filter also from what I understand.

I suppose the output maximum is under the best of circumstances with the greatest effort. Certainly I don't feel like pumping that hard when I am putting in a hard day on the rock.

Thanks Kashcraft and Gonehiking,

I just hate to pump water so I'm always looking for alternatives. I sometimes dip when I beleive the area is infrequently traveled and there is a good flow to the water but there are times when you feel you just have to pump.

Memory Lapse, I know how you feel. Since I read the full Bob R. paper I have been drinking freely more often. Often we have a filter in the group but it is not always convenient or the person with the filter is a little further ahead or something.

I have to think that many people, who grew up swimming in rivers and lakes, have some natural immunity already. Others like my children, probably don't have that as much. So when they are along we pump water.

As a rule I would be more cautious on the regular trail. On other trails I try to drink smart and often don't bother to get out the filter. So far it has worked fine for me.

It is not an easy choice. I often carry my filter just in case, although I don't always use it.

When a group of us were in the Yellowstone backcountry last year, some filtered and some did not. One guy got very sick - turned out that the rangers had taken a number of horses and mules along the stream the prior day and they left a few 'gifts' in the stream. I usually bring a filter with me everywhere on the premise that the extra few ounces are cheap insurance against some (though not all) contaminants. There is also a new device I sawecently that is very light, though pricey. Iodine pills (plus neutralizer if you don't like the taste) weigh almost nothing and kill almost everything (more than filters alone).