How do you guys go about procuring or making water while you are out?
Having backpacked in Montana for nearly 30 years, I have never once treated water in the mountains… one of the benefits of living here.
That was always the case in Idaho, too, until maybe 20 or 30 years ago. Then giardia started showing up in high mountain creeks and springs. It was apparently carried by rodents, if anyone really knows for sure. MT has it, too, lots of it. You just haven't drank from the right creek yet. Getting it when you're 5 miles back in the mountains is something you really won't want to do twice. It's not in every creek or spring but how do you tell whether its in THIS creek? You're playing intestinal roulette.
