That guy who told me to skip the water filter on the JMT was dead wrong

Met a grizzled hiker at the Whitney Portal store last June who swore he'd never used a filter in 20 years... spent three days in Bishop with giardia after drinking straight from a creek near Muir Trail Ranch. Has anyone else gotten sick from trusting 'local knowledge' on a popular route?

3 comments

3 Comments

stellachen29d agoMost Upvoted

And yeah, I've seen that "I've been drinking straight for 20 years" thing way too often. The thing is, giardia takes a while to actually show symptoms so people think they're invincible when really they just got lucky. Spending three days sick in Bishop sounds like a nightmare honestly, better to just carry a filter and be safe than trust some random dude's anecdotal evidence.

milessmith26d ago

Yeah, that "I've been drinking straight for 20 years" thing is pure survivorship bias. Giardia's no joke and the three day wait to get sick just makes people feel invincible until they're not.

hayden14429d ago

Honestly, saw a guy filter water through his t-shirt on the PCT and he got really sick too.