PCT Advice/Experience?

Anyone have advice for water filtration systems for me? im thinking of using the steripen.

I don't have PCT experience but I do use a Steripen. I really like it. Your concern there is going to be batteries. The problem I have noticed is that if you leave the batteries in the Steripen for any length of time they seem to lose charge. If you take them out after each use then it should be fine. If you are careful that way and change your batteries every time you re-supply then it should be fine I would think.

I do have the solar charger also and I have tried it. It seems to work but needs good sun for quite a few hours. You won't get that everywhere on the trail so I wouldn't rely on it.

The PCT is a very long trail and the quality and quantity of water can vary considerably from one section to another.

The water sources in SoCal are notoriously scanty and can easily become polluted by cattle or other animal use. Thru hikers are often confronted with stagnant pools or troughs with scums of algae, insects, or worse. I don't think a Steripen would be adequate for such situations.

On the other hand, the Sierras often have abundant clear fresh running water that has melted from snowfields within sight of where you draw your water. For such water sources you can usually drink with no filtration or purification and be perfectly safe.

Oregon and Washington, where I hike, are not as bad for water as the worst places in California, but because of the volcanic nature of the Cascades the water sources are very often lakes, not streams. Lake water is pretty good, but I use a Katadyn Hiker filter unless I am lucky enough to draw water from a pure, burbling spring that emerges within a few feet of me.

The Steripen ought to work OK for most lake water in the OR and WA Cascades, I should guess, but there is that problem of relying on a gadget with batteries that can go dead on you, or just go haywire on you. I tend to avoid such "solutions" and rely more on simpler ways of doing things.

Whatever you choose, I wish you luck and happy hiking. The PCT is a great trail to hike!

I'm having a tough time with this too. I'm ruling out the Steripen because of the funky batteries.

For mild filtration, I'll use a bandana or coffee filters.

For main filtration, I'm planning on using a mixture of chemicals, boiling and filtration.

Chemicals weigh almost nothing, so of course I'll have some.

In the Sierra's, boiling may be the only way to go. I may have a stove, but I want to conserve fuel, so I'm thinking about getting a Ti grill and using wood for melting snow.

As far as filtration, there's the MSR Gravity filter. I think it weighs 13 oz. The issue with that is the filter must be protected from freezing. The upside is it can be used as a water bucket to grab all the water you need at one time. The filter is cleaned by backflushing, so this should be able to provide most of the water for the PCT without needing a new filter.

Basically, my plan is:

If it's above freezing, I'll filter. If it's below freezing, I'll boil. If I'm in a pinch, I'll use chemicals.

I am in the same category as heber. I use a steripen and really like it but have no PCT experience. I do not like relying on batteries for water but with chemical treatment as backup it is a good safe system. If the water has some floaties in it you can just use a bandanna or coffee filter to remove them.

I was in Washington a couple years ago and met a guy at Mt. Hood who was on a thru hike of the PCT. He showed me this wacky little gadget called a steripen. He said he had used it the entire trip and loved it. That is how I was introduced to UV purification.

Boomer - It has been done and I am sure you can make it work if its what you want to use. Happy trails!

Boomer
If you're going a long ways you probably should not rely on finding clear drinkable water, boiling takes too much energy and requires time to boil and time to cool, and the steripen battery situation might not be good and it could fail, but if you weigh the batteries and add a second steripen it might be fine. I don't know if you can still buy one, but I've been using a PUR hiker in the Sierras for over a decade without a problem or need to change the filter. It is also the fastest water filter and when mosquitos are sucking your blood it allows you to spend less time squatting by the lake.
Jim

Mosquitoes by the lake are why I like that MSR Gravity filter. All I have to do is take a big bucket of lake water and I can take my water further away to filter.

I hiked the PCT in 2006 which was a heavy snow year-----personally I used chemicals the entire way (Aqua Mira) when I felt that I needed to purify which was less often as the days went by---while there are bad sources of water in SOCAL this is overblown a bit---most of these cattle troughs people speak of are filled from a nice spring and you can usually get water from there---not always but in most cases. In the Sierras it makes no sense to boil or to melt snow---you will not be camping in the snow unless something goes haywire one day. Even in 2006 it was never necessary to camp in the snow---certtainly the passes we snow bound but the southern facing slopes were snow free below the passes. I also would say that many folks were very diligent (including me) about purifyi8ng water in the beginning and many were not so later on.

so im hearing chemicals are the way to go? ive honestly never used them before. Mainly because I have always heard there is a foul taste associated with them did anyone feel like this is a problem for them when they used chemicals for water purification?

People differ in how the taste affects them--some are sensitive to it and others seem not to be. Chlorine dioxide is the best alternative and not too bad tasting; I simply can't tolerate iodine (which is less effective anyway). The source water quality affects the tast too. I'll suggest experimenting with ClO2 before committing to chemical treatment for a multi-month trip.

Are you thru or section hiking? You have to option of matching your water treatment to the trail section you're in, e.g., chemicals in the desert, UV in the Sierra, chemicals in the southern Cascades, etc. You can store the options in your drift box and select which one, based on where you're headed and the water sources.

I like UV and choose it if I know the water isn't going to be particularly cold or cloudy. I'll filter if it's going to be cold and I take tablets when I'm traveling very light (and always keep a few as backup to filter or UV).

Cheers,