Isle Royale Forums

Still working through all the details of my upcoming first trip to IR.
My latest Item of Intense, Anxious Scrutiny involves water filtration. We use a Sawyer system, (in the limited experience we have backpacking) but we're used to filling up at small streams and springs and such, where scooping the water cup-by-cup into the dirty bag is required. At IR, it seems we'll most likely be filtering from a lake the majority of the time.

For this reason, it seems as if some method of transporting a relatively large quantity of (unfiltered) water in one trip, from lakeshore to campsite, would be helpful. Does anyone have recommendations in this area? Perhaps a collapsible bucket or water bag of some sort that has worked for you, in bringing the water to your shelter or tent site, for more leisurely filtration while performing other tasks? The carrying bucket/bag would have be pretty collapsible and light, so we don't further weigh ourselves down.

Or perhaps I'm looking at this wrong; maybe the gathering at the shore (dock, etc) is part of the communal experience among backpackers, sort of like the oasis along desert paths, or the water cooler at the office?

If your Sawyer bag disconects can you take the "dirty" bag into the water to fill it? Otherwise we use a 5 liter stuff sack to fill our gravity filter. We have used a cook pot also to do this, making sure to boil water in it to remove any impurities.

johnhens wrote: ↑Fri Jul 05, 2019 9:38 am If your Sawyer bag disconects can you take the "dirty" bag into the water to fill it? .

Yes, we can still do it this way. It just seems like it would be more efficient to bring a lot of water back to the (relative) comfort of our campsite to do the filtering, rather than filtering one liter at a time on the dock.

I use a Platypus Water Tank so I can bring water back to my campsite and use/filter as needed. I apply a thin layer of petroleum jelly to the zipper when it becomes stiff and hard to zip.

Link ---> https://www.platy.com/bottles-storage/platy-water-tank

I sometimes use a Sea to Summit collapsible bucket that can transport a decent amount of water. I see a lot of people filtering on the docks, but I agree that it's generally easier to go back to a campsite.

I'll touch on a few points.

Most campsites are within seconds or a minute or two of the water source. I use the sawyer filter exclusively now. I filter one liter at the dock and refill my two liter container with dirty water to take back to camp. Three liters is enough to get me through dinner and breakfast unless I am actively re-hydrating. I like to filter fresh cold water for my trip out of camp the next morning.

Take your back flush syringe with you. After years of not needing it I left it at home this last trip. It was a miserable trip until I found a fellow camper with one. I thought I could back flush with the flexible water bottle, I could not. after returning home and doing the math, there is no way to develop enough pressure to equal the syringe.

Chilling at the dock is part of the experience, if you want it, but you can do that with a book or a camera too. I am told that it rains and pours occasionally. I heard something about bugs too. You may want to be prepared to go to camp.

I've used the dry bag method, works great.

I usually use an old 5 liter MSR dromedary container that I have laying around. There is usually something to hang it from at camp or in the shelters and I will gravity feed from there. My last trip I used a bucket: https://www.rei.com/product/847589/sea- ... ing-bucket because my students bought it for me, but I really liked the ability to just dunk and run. I had to fill bottles outside for fear of spilling, but... You could also get the 64oz squeeze containers: https://www.rei.com/product/837826/sawy ... ckage-of-2 , mark them as dirty, fill them, take them to camp and filter there. I've done that too.

Bottom line, don't stress the water. there are lots of options

p.s. I'm not a sales bot for REI, it's just an easy reference. I support my local mom and pop shop.

One thing we have done is bring 2 empty gallon water jugs. On one we had "Dirty" and the other "Clean" (in sharpie). I walked to the lake filled up the Sawyer bag, and "Dirty" gallon jug. Walked back to camp. At camp I hung the Sawyer from a tree so the end of the filter was just inside the opening of the "Clean" gallon jug. Then I set up camp. By the time our camp was in order we had some clean water.... no "squeeze" required. I would then refill the Sawyer bag as needed from the "Dirty" jug....
This year we are using "Rapid Pure - Explorer Camp" It had a dry bag with a filter inside attached to a nozzle and hose coming out the bottom. And it is RAPID. It gives us water as fast as it can flow through the tube, even filters out viruses, and can be frozen solid without harming it. Freeze a Sawyer...throw it away.

sgatz wrote: ↑Fri Jul 05, 2019 10:54 pm This year we are using "Rapid Pure - Explorer Camp" It had a dry bag with a filter inside attached to a nozzle and hose coming out the bottom. And it is RAPID. It gives us water as fast as it can flow through the tube, even filters out viruses, and can be frozen solid without harming it. Freeze a Sawyer...throw it away.

Can this filter be backflushed or cleaned someway in the field?

We used a collapsible bucket on the island. Worked for us. Sea to summit makes it. We just have the small one. Carried back to camp or used it at the dock. Both were nice.

I have a 4L MSR Dromolite I use for this, and also for long dry dayhikes. I'm outrageously fond of it, partly because it enables me to say things to mr torpified like "if you're out of water, I can drain my bladder into your water bottle." I use my cookpot to move water from the Dromolite to the sawyer squeeze pouches. This is a little fiddly, but works. (In horrifying tapeworm-free jurisdictions, I use tablets to purify water in the bladder overnight---then wake up with enough for breakfast and the morning's walk!)

Awesome. Thanks, all. I'm slowly checking off things to Stop Worrying About. Slowly.

On a related note, I have always had difficulty filling the Sawyer bag, even from a moving stream. I know use a one liter plastic pop bottle. I cut off the top three inches or so and put some duct tape around the sharp rip. I use this to scoop water into the Sawyer. A bonus: the empty bag and filter fit neatly inside the bottle.

Good ideas, JerryB. Thanks. Will consider that as we compile our list of gear.

thesneakymonkey wrote: ↑Sat Jul 06, 2019 7:57 pm We used a collapsible bucket on the island. Worked for us. Sea to summit makes it. We just have the small one. Carried back to camp or used it at the dock. Both were nice.

Pretty sure I saw y'all using that on your youtube series. Which, I'm also pretty sure, is what gave me the idea.
Thanks for that! We very much enjoyed seeing the island through your lenses. Keeps us in anticipation until we get there ourselves.

I've used a few dry bags as portable buckets or sinks for a few years. Filter water, do laundry, bath as needed. Great tools for the job, light weight, and they have a handy carry handle. Super cheap too at walmart for the 3 pack

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Outdoor-Prod ... g/10928125