Water sources in AK

[Panhandler80]

I’ll be doing a drop hunt in AK next fall. Only a 10 day season and will be in field a minimum of 11 days.

I had planned on bringing filtration system (not yet sure what) for drinking water and maybe even a backup. Our pilot, who also does some guiding, said he has always just drank water from the ground and that’s what he suggests his customers do. Said nobody has ever had a problem. Not sure how comfortable I am with that. I’ve had a bad intestinal issue before and i would have been in BAD shape by day 10 with dehydration had I not gotten a hold of some cipro.

Thoughts?

prospect of one less thing to pack and unlimited quick and easy water is appealing, but not sure risk is worth it.

 

[VernAK]

"water from the ground".......can mean many things from drinking out of a moose track to a clear stream or glacier runoff......I usually take one of the large bag type filters with me.

 

[bachunt]

Why risk a disease or infection when a gravity filter does all the work for you IMO

 

[AKDoc]

I’ll be doing a drop hunt in AK next fall. Only a 10 day season and will be in field a minimum of 11 days.

I had planned on bringing filtration system (not yet sure what) for drinking water and maybe even a backup. Our pilot, who also does some guiding, said he has always just drank water from the ground and that’s what he suggests his customers do. Said nobody has ever had a problem. Not sure how comfortable I am with that. I’ve had a bad intestinal issue before and i would have been in BAD shape by day 10 with dehydration had I not gotten a hold of some cipro.

Thoughts?

prospect of one less thing to pack and unlimited quick and easy water is appealing, but not sure risk is worth it.

Trust what your gut is telling you (pun intended)...filter the water!

Not worth the risk whatsoever...giardia and other gut ailments suck, especially when they were preventable! Gravity filter and a Steripen back-up for me, and bring extra filters...it's amazing how quickly sometimes that "drinkable water from the ground" can clog-up a filter.

 

[Panhandler80]

"water from the ground".......can mean many things from drinking out of a moose track to a clear stream or glacier runoff......I usually take one of the large bag type filters with me.

Hahaha. Pretty sure I’d pass on the stagnant mud puddle.

10-4. I’ll look into flirtation options. A little surprised that his standard advice is to not filter.

 

[Dexter Grayson]

I’ve done both, drank unfiltered and filtered with no problems. But I had a good buddy say ‘it’s not worth ruining your hunt!’ Which really struck home. So I take a filter. MSR makes them under a pound, and if weight is that big of a deal take iodine tabs.

 

[kwackkillncrew]

Hahaha. Pretty sure I’d pass on the stagnant mud puddle.

10-4. I’ll look into flirtation options. A little surprised that his standard advice is to not filter.

some times all you have is that mud puddle....
we bring the big filter bag and hang it at camp. We have a 6 liter water bag that we carry out with us hunting empty and on the hike back from hunting we fill that up and then dump it in the camp gravity bag.

 

[Nick Muche]

Aqua Mira is all I use 90% of the time up here. The other 10% of the time I just dehydrate myself.

 

[Panhandler80]

Aqua Mira is all I use 90% of the time up here. The other 10% of the time I just dehydrate myself.

As in drops for water treatment?

 

[MaraviaDave]

+1 for Aquamira

 

[mtnbiker208]

you need something to filter the water, i have drank out of the ground, and when i was living there i did not have running water, i got water from a seep. I did get giardia and you do not want it. I don't know if i got giardia from the seep or when i was mtn biking and drank out of the creek a couple of times.

 

[AKBorn]

Hahaha. Pretty sure I’d pass on the stagnant mud puddle.

10-4. I’ll look into flirtation options. A little surprised that his standard advice is to not filter.

A puddle may be your best option in some spots, unless you are willing to hike a mile or so to get a better water source.

Do NOT take your pilot's advice on this one, take a filter and hopefully a backup filter as well. Why risk the trip of a lifetime to get giardia?

 

[Yellowknife]

I've known plenty of people up here that have contracted Giardia, including several in my family. I'll drink out of springs and seeps, but otherwise I try and treat it. Not only is the bug pretty terrible, but the "cure" messes up your gut too.

Some people are relatively immune to the symptoms. Your pilot is likely one of them.

 

[Fronttrack]

Do you filter it first then use the Aquamiri tablets?

 

[Trial153]

I only filter if it’s chunky, otherwise aquamire. Last season for our main camp we hauled water from swift stream that basically came out of the side of a mountain, worth the hump rather then filtering a treating closer water. Aquamire is the way to go for me

 

[HighUintas]

It depends on how murky the water is. If it's a little cloudy, awuamira still works fine. You just might want to let the chems work longer before drinking. You can use a bandana to filter out larger particles and junk.

I LOVE it as a lightweight option. Get the aquamira two part liquid dropper bottles. You mix the two in the right ratio, let sit 5 min, then out in the water and 30 minutes later you're good to go!!

My favorite filter that is a little heavier but really reliable is msr miniworks. Field serviceable and you can buy replacement/spare ceramic filters.

A lightweight backpacking filter option I like is the katadyn befree.

So depending on your camp setup and expected water needs, one of those should work

 

[AKSandman]

@Panhandler80 totally depends on where you are going in Alaska and if it was a hot dry year or a cooler wetter one. I don’t even own a water filter and have hunted all over the state. That being said there are times then a filter is nice (you can get water out of a salmon stream for example) I always am careful about where I get water from and do carry bleach drops in an old eye drops style container just in case I am forced into using questionable water source but have only used then twice in about a decade.
bottom line is that it is very realistic to just drink the water available as long as you use good sense to pick your sources, however, it is understandable that this may weird you out a bit if you are not familiar with the practice.

 

[FLATHEAD]

I did a 10 day fly in Brown Bear hunt in '11.
No filters whatsoever. We dug a hole at camp and put a tarp in it.
It rained every day, so that was our water source.
However, once while going after a nice Bear towards the end
of the day, we were out of water.
Coming back, exhausted and very thirsty we had to cross a creek.
We filled our bottles and drank till we couldnt drink any more.
The next day we were on top of a mtn. looking for that bear.
I could see the creek with my binos, and as I followed it up the valley
I could see it was coming out of a beaver pond, with a Moose standing in it.
Amazing we never had any stomach issues.
Still, doesnt hurt anything to have a filter.
Never know where you're going to need a drink.

 

[Htm84]

Imagine drinking a bunch of unfiltered water then finding this up stream.