TL;DR - I got a high-quality water filtration system a few years ago and never used it; we will definitely be using it this time!
Everyone needs water.
Everyone needs water.
I got a General Ecology First Need XL Elite for my overnight to Panamint City but never ended up using it. As with much of the other gear, it was recommended by Randy as a filter that he used and liked. His description was enough for me to not even really consider any other systems:
I'm probably not the best person to ask about this since I'm very picky about the water I drink (I have a hard time drinking water that's not ice cold). Because of that I carry a First Need XLE Water Purifier, which not only makes the water safe, but also removes any tastes. This is important to me, especially since I do a lot of desert backpacking where the quality of water is not always great.
The downside of this filter is that it's larger and heavier than most others, but I'm willing to carry the extra weight so I can actually drink the water I filter.
Randy
The one thing I'm not sure about with this filter is that it's not supposed to freeze. If it does, an integrity test must be performed - after thoroughly thawing out the filter - in order to ensure that it's still filtering properly. This shouldn't be an issue on our first trip to the Grand Gulch, but it's something I'll be curious about over time.
I should try this thing before we have to use it on the gross water in Grand Gulch.
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