Bumped into an old guy on the Pacific Crest Trail who showed me a faster way to filter water

Last month I was hiking a stretch near Crater Lake and ran out of water way before the next creek. An older hiker saw me struggling with my pump filter and just handed me a Sawyer squeeze bag. He said screw the pump, just fill the bag and hang it from a tree branch overnight. Gravity does the work and you don't have to stand there cranking for 20 minutes. Anyone else switch to a gravity setup and never look back?

2 comments

2 Comments

danieljenkins6d ago

You mentioned hanging it from a tree branch overnight and that part really hit home for me. I had almost the exact same experience on the John Muir Trail a few years back, a buddy of mine showed me his gravity setup and I honestly felt kinda dumb for cranking on my pump for so many miles. Switched to a simple bag and filter combo and it's been a game changer, especially when you're exhausted at camp and just want to eat and crash. Your mileage may vary but for me, gravity filtering is way less of a chore and I don't miss the arm workout one bit.

adamcoleman6d ago

Had a buddy who did the same thing on the PCT near Crater Lake. He was so proud of his hand pump, bragging about it for days. Then one night we're both dead tired, setting up camp in the dark, and he's down by the creek cranking away. Meanwhile another hiker, @danieljenkins, just hangs her dirty bag, kicks back, and within ten minutes she's got clean water. My buddy watched her do it, looked at his pump, and just sat there quiet for a solid minute. He swapped to a gravity setup at the next town and never looked back. That was four years ago and he still talks about it like it was some kind of religious conversion.