Chuck the filter and just stick your face into the water

The outfit that I ordered my new day pack from has no record of me ordering anything from them and my credit card has not been charged. Something must have gone wrong with the online order form. Maybe I failed to push the final button to finalize the deal.

I don't think I will re-order it. Instead I will use my Wally World pack a bit longer. I spent a fair amount of time modifying my Wally-World pack. I trimmed excessively long straps, cut off the sternum strap and added an ice axe loop. I also took off all the labels that were not embroidered to the fabric of the pack. I cut off the daisy chain and added a hip belt. End result was a cheap and lightweight day pack.

The new pack I was going to buy was a Golite "Dawn" it only weighs 14 ounces and is made of silnylon. Silnylon is waterproof. My current pack soaks up water and gets heavy at times. But I'm kind of attached to my old pack after all the work I put into it.

My pack has three zippered pockets and I had trouble remembering what pocket I had put things in. I seem to have developed a system now and usually know what pocket things are in.

Extra clothes in a silnylon stuff sack go in the main compartment. Food and cooking utensils go in the middle pocket. My wallet, keys, toilet paper and first aid kit go in the smallest pocket.

(I just ordered a hip pack from Dancing Light Gear to store my camera and T.P. in.)

I keep a small piece of tyvek in the hydration bladder compartment.

Most of the time I do not pack a water bottle or a water filter. Why on earth would one need to lug a water bottle through the rain forest? I drink directly out of the rivers and streams in Olympic National Park and Forest. This practice has not made me ill. It is slowly coming to light that most cases of back country stomach complaints have more to do with camp hygiene then the purity of the drinking water.

The single, most effective way to avoid illness is to wash your hands often with soap and water.

Giardia is a big business for water filter manufacturers though. Signs at each trail head warn of the dreaded Giardia and imply that you must filter, boil or treat your water to avoid catching Giardia.

What the signs fail to mention is that the majority of cases of Giardia are to be found in day care centers with children who are not toilet trained. Also not mentioned is that Iodine does not kill giardia cysts.

I might have ingested giardia on one trip. I was backpacking on the ocean beaches and treating my water with iodine. I would not drink water directly out of a stream on the beach! Two week later myself and my daughter came down with diarrhea that took months to resolve.

I will carry my water filter and lots of fresh water from home if I hike on the ocean beaches again. I will not drink water straight out of just any stream. I only do this when I am in the National Park where there are no major campgrounds, logging operations, cow pastures, housing developments or other industrial activities upstream.