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Re: [at-l] Gear List (now: water bags)

At 07:38 AM 3/18/97 PST, jrowen@pop500.gsfc.nasa.gov (Jim Owen) wrote:
>At one time I tried keeping the water bag for filtered water
>only - but it was a real hassle.  Now I don't worry about it.

Jim,

Thanks for the info.  I always like to hear how other folks use their
gear... that's often more helpful to me than knowing what gear someone
carries!

Was the hassle the extra pumping, or managing all the hoses?  I've been
thinking of getting a 4 liter MSR bag that attaches directly to my pump.
The bag would do double duty... I'd carry a liter or so in it during the
day, then refill it just before camp.  In addition to the MSR bag, I'd also
carry a bicycle bottle that is easy to keep accessible on my pack (probably
one of the Nalgene ones that also fit my filter).  The alternative is
carrying a water bag (I have one) and an extra Nalgene bottle... but that
costs me another 4 oz.  The cost of using the MSR bag would be using
(laboriously) filtered water for cleanup & cooking.

I've always used the 1 liter Nalgene bottles before, but I haven't found a
convenient way to carry one on the outside of my new (lighter) pack.  The
pack has a side "holster", but the fatter bottles are hard to get in and
tend to bump my arm when I walk.

My goal is to make filtering water at stream crossings really easy.  Last
fall, I noticed that I drank a lot more water AFTER my water filter broke
and I switched to iodine!  The iodine was easier to use... so I used it
more often!  Actually, if it wasn't for the reports that iodine doesn't
work on cryptosporidium I'd ditch the filter for short hikes in areas with
clean water.

-- Jim

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