My water filter failed on day 3 of a 10 day trip in the Wind Rivers

Last August I was hiking the Highline Trail loop in the Wind River Range. About three days in, I went to pump water from a creek and my Katadyn Hiker Pro just stopped building pressure. The gasket inside the pump head had split. I had no backup. Ended up boiling water for the rest of the trip, which meant carrying extra fuel and waiting forever for it to cool. Has anyone else had a filter crap out mid route? What do you carry as a backup that's still light?

2 comments

2 Comments

aarons3622d ago

Yeah that's rough, I've seen a few people just ditch the pump entirely and go with chemical treatment like Aquamira drops as their main source... they weigh almost nothing and never break. The trick is you gotta plan for the taste and the wait time, maybe pre-treat a liter while you hike so it's ready at camp. Another lightweight backup nobody talks about is just carrying a spare O-ring or two from a hardware store for your specific pump, takes up zero space and can save your trip if the seal goes.

thomas_young22d ago

Read somewhere that some folks are actually using those UV wands now too, like the Steripen. They're faster than chemicals but still need spare batteries which kind of defeats the no-break advantage you mentioned.