Does Caney Creek Have Giardia and/or Crypto?

Posted by: 4evrplan

Does Caney Creek Have Giardia and/or Crypto? - 04/11/17 01:23 PM

My pack space for my Thursday trip is at a severe premium, so if I can leave behind my filter kit, that would really help. Chlorine dioxide (Aquamira) is effective against cysts, but it is relatively expensive, plus it's not available in stores in my town. If I were to pick some up "on the way" it would add about an hour to my trip. If I order online, I have to pay shipping, and it might not get here on time. The local WM does have an iodine based treatment (yuck), but I was thinking maybe bleach would fit the bill. I've read the US recommendations for sanitizing drinking water with bleach, and I'm comfortable with it. I also have a couple of in-bottle charcoal filters to help with the taste. However, bleach is not effective against giardia and cryptosporidium. Does anyone know if these are an issue in the Caney Creek Wilderness?
Posted by: wgiles

Re: Does Caney Creek Have Giardia and/or Crypto? - 04/11/17 09:17 PM

I have recently seen Aquatabs on clearance at Walmart for $2.50 to $5.00 for a package of 30 tablets. Aquatabs produce Chlorine Dioxide. If you can find some on clearance, it might be worth a look.
Posted by: 4evrplan

Re: Does Caney Creek Have Giardia and/or Crypto? - 04/11/17 11:09 PM

Okay, that would be the next aisle over from the non-clearance items. I'll take a look when I get back there.
Posted by: 41253

Re: Does Caney Creek Have Giardia and/or Crypto? - 04/12/17 02:34 PM

You've probably already considered this but Walmart also has sells the Sawyer Mini for $20 and it's pretty tiny.

You picked a great time of year to go to one of my favorite places! The Cossatot river might be high and cold if you're starting from the west side. I'm sure you know to prepare for ticks.
Posted by: 4evrplan

Re: Does Caney Creek Have Giardia and/or Crypto? - 04/12/17 11:49 PM

The Sawyer Mini is what I have, but with the dirty water bag and the back-flushing kit, tablets would take up less space.

It is a beautiful place; I've been once before, but I came from the East side and did the Buckeye - Caney Creek loop, so I never went as far as the river. I'm definitely keeping an eye out for ticks. Tomorrow, I'm going to treat our clothes with permethrin. Hopefully it's as miraculous as advertised.
Posted by: wgiles

Re: Does Caney Creek Have Giardia and/or Crypto? - 04/13/17 07:56 AM

You can use the Sawyer female inline adapter and a short piece of hose to backflush the Mini with a water bottle.

https://sawyer.com/products/sawyer-inline-hydration-pack-adapters/

The adapter also comes in the fast fill package.

https://sawyer.com/products/sawyer-fast-fill-hydration-pack-adapters/

All you need to use it is a Smart Water bottle (or similar).

Having the backflush water source connected to the filter is a lot better than trying to hold a syringe against the outlet.

The Sawyer cleaning coupling can be used with the Squeeze.

https://sawyer.com/products/sawyer-cleaning-coupling/

I think that this is a much better choice than the syringe for most people.

The videos are here:

https://sawyer.com/videos/sawyer-cleaning-coupling/

https://sawyer.com/videos/backwashing-tips-tricks/

Also, the rubber gasket on the inlet to the filter is the same as a garden hose gasket. You can carry one of these as a spare in case you drop the gasket. The Sawyer gaskets are often glued in place with a couple of drops of silicone, but they don't always hold the gasket.
Posted by: wandering_daisy

Re: Does Caney Creek Have Giardia and/or Crypto? - 04/15/17 02:02 PM

Paying for shipping is far less than paying for being treated for giardia. Did you "google" the area you are going to and giardia? If there has been testing it should be public information.

I use chlorine tabs. They really last quite a while. You only have to purify your drinking water. Cook water boils anyway so it does not have to be treated.

My sawyer squeeze broke after about a year's use. So I have given up on filters. Back to the chemicals. Lucikly much of the area I backpack is very high altitude with pure water so I just take the chance. But I always take chlorine tabs as a back up.
Posted by: 4evrplan

Re: Does Caney Creek Have Giardia and/or Crypto? - 04/17/17 09:32 AM

I'm back a day early everyone! The 12 YO had fun, but he was ready to come home. Anyway, I just wanted to report that I did end up bringing my Sawyer Mini. It wasn't so bad. I was extremely weight and space conscious with almost everything else, and the fact that the weather was so warm really helped. I even managed to stuff, barely, a bulky synthetic bag into the pack instead of lashed to the top (even though I ended up moving it to the top to balance the weight better). So, even with a couple of compromises and carrying an extra days food compared to my February trip to the same area last year, I was hauling about 10 pounds less weight than that trip, about 26 vs 35-37.

Thanks to everyone for the advice. Wgiles, I will definitely be looking into that adapter. That's a lot more convenient than using the syringe. And, WD I certainly had no intention of using an uncertain sterilization method. Though I had googled the terms you suggest, I found nothing definitive.

On a side note, the trail was popular this time around, and I'm wondering if I saw any forum members or lurkers? There was a family group of 18 that day hiked in and paced us most of the way. We also saw a man with his dog hammock camping. Finally, we saw a group of three from a distance hammock camping close to the creek at the junction to the Katy Falls spur trail, though we did not speak to them. This was all on the Caney Creek Trail in the Caney Creek Wilderness on Sat 4/15 and Easter Sun 4/16.
Posted by: 41253

Re: Does Caney Creek Have Giardia and/or Crypto? - 04/17/17 03:53 PM

The admin might move this discussion to "trips" if it continues. I was only there in spirit, it's been over 15 years but it remains a favorite place. New highways have made the trip from DFW to the west end of the OT and the Upper Kiamichi regions much quicker so we end up going there instead. We never had CC all to ourselves but noticed that over the years it got increasigly popular. I think that if I go back I'll try to route-find the old trail that the Buckeye trail replaced, I think it was a continuation of the Katy Falls spur. One time my son and I tried to bushwack a path on the western ridge, sort of a mirror image of tbe Buckeye trail. It turns out that there's a good reason that there's not a trail there already: it was like walking on a jetty.