water treatment

The LifeStraw Go Water Bottle With 2-Stage Filtration.

Review: LifeStraw Go Water Bottle With 2-Stage Filtration

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Water Filter Bottle
LifeStraw Go Water Bottle With 2-Stage Filtration
$45, 8 oz.
22 ounces/650ml bottle capacity
moosejaw.com

On an 80-mile, five-day backpacking trip in the North Cascades National Park Complex in September, I stopped filling my pack’s bladder by the second day. I didn’t need it—I could just top off my LifeStraw Go bottle every time we passed one of the frequent creeks along our route, and continue hiking with hardly a pause. Rare is the piece of gear whose convenience and utility actually change the way I behave, but the LifeStraw Go does exactly that.

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Gear Review: Aquamira and LifeStraw Water Filter Bottles

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Lifestraw Go and Aquamira Frontier Flow Filtered Water Bottle
Lifestraw Go and Aquamira Frontier Flow Filtered Water Bottle.

Water Filter Bottles
Aquamira Frontier Flow Filtered Water Bottle
$50, 7 oz.
20 oz./0.6L bottle capacity (with filter)
mcnett.com/aquamira

LifeStraw Go
$35, 8 oz.
22 oz./0.65L bottle capacity (with filter)
buylifestraw.com

Treating water in the backcountry has always been time-consuming—until now. From long dayhikes on and off-trail in Idaho’s Sawtooth Mountains and Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness to a four-day, 34-mile backpacking trip on the Rockwall Trail in Kootenay National Park in the Canadian Rockies, I used both of these bottles to obtain treated, drinkable water by simply bending down, filling the bottle in a creek, screwing the cap back on, and then immediately sipping from a straw—that’s it.

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Gear Review: Katadyn Base Camp Pro 10L Gravity Filter

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Katadyn Base Camp Pro 10L Gravity Filter
Katadyn Base Camp Pro 10L Gravity Filter

Water Filter
Katadyn Base Camp Pro 10L Gravity Filter
$100, 12 oz.
Moosejaw.com

Treating water in the backcountry is usually a time-consuming chore—unless you use a gravity filter, which, once assembled, does most of the work for you. On a four-day, 86-mile, ultralight backpacking trip in northern Yosemite National Park in early September, a friend and I found the Katadyn Base Camp Pro 10L gravity filter simple to use and speedy, and it has the capacity to quickly treat water for a larger group or a family.

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Gear Review: Platypus GravityWorks Water Filter

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Platypus GravityWorks Water Filter

Platypus GravityWorks Water Filter
$120, 12 oz. (including mesh stuff sack)
moosejaw.com

There are two things I don’t like about filtering water in the backcountry: the weight of a filter in my pack and the time that pumping water requires. The GravityWorks filter addresses both gripes, but especially the latter. Here’s a filter that requires no pumping. It’s easy: Fill the four-liter reservoir labeled “dirty” with water from a creek or other source and seal its opening. Hang it from a tree branch or set it on elevated ground. Attach the quick-release hose-and-filter unit to the dirty reservoir, and then the “clean” reservoir to the hose below the filter. When you set the clean reservoir down in a spot lower than the dirty one, gravity does the work of filtering for you.

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