J&D,

Maybe you should have titled your post "New Post on Water TREATMENT" as many like myself no longer use filters but use UV pans like my SteriPen Adventurer and/or chlorine dioxide liquid or tablets.

I'll continue to backpack in the Sierras and other western WITH my UV pen and Chlorine dioxide tabs as backup.

Having said that I'll second the 1st report's caution regarding personal hygene for toilet and dish washing purposes. In support of that caution I will say that I feel using hand sanitizer is virtually mandatory on any backpacking trip, summer or winter. Short of that good ol' soap & water is my second choice. And finally, in the spirit of the dictum, "The solution to pollution is dilution." you can just rinse your hands like mad if you have no other means to clean up.

Hand cleaning in our North American culture(s) seems like a no-brainer. Probably 90% of us do it properly. Kids & careless teenagers (are there any other kind?) are the largest part of that "unclean 10%". BUT, dishwashing can be a bad culprit as well. I had a Canadian buddy who, on a long canoe trip, would NOT dishwash with biodegradable suds, even far from the river. Plus his "washing" was so ineffectual that I had to constantly re-wash cookware for the safety of the group.

As anyone who has been on long wilderness trips knows, "little" problems like this can lead to big "expedition fever" blowups - even to the breakup of a group midway in the trip. Fortunately this did not happen as others in the group prevailied upon my buddy to let me do the dishes my way for their peace of mind.

Eric