I'm planning to take my first ever hiking trip next week, weather permitting. The trail winds around a lake.

I'm not planning to take a water filter, just some Potable Aqua tablets. I'll have to dunk my quart-sized water bottles into the lake in order to fill them up.

A couple questions. First, do I have to be so paranoid of bacteria and viruses that I need to wash my hands off with sanitizer gel after coming in contact with the lake water?

Second question, I've never looked at lake water too closely but I imagine there will be some particulate matter. I'm not really interested in drinking that. I thought I could try fixing a coffee filter around the water bottle to filter out the larger particles. Does that sound reasonable or is there a better way to do it?