Suddenly I like the atmosphere in here a whole lot better, so I'll come back and muse a bit.

Yes, I sometimes worry about people. Had a scary encounter with guys carrying guns one time late at night in Harriman Park. But Bill, my encounters with scary people in the woods in the Ozarks involved guys doing funny things with barrels, fire and old Ford radiators. But that was in the 1940s in a dry county.

Like Bill I have gone to the little coffee packets, and pretty much always have a couple of spares in my shirt pocket. Talk about packing my fears!

On the original subject, one factor is folklore for sure. Thru hiking I've heard rather often, "yeah, I've got giardia. Must been that water yesterday." There's enough e.coli around that it may well have been the water, but it ain't giardia, unless they drank bad water eight or ten days ago.

But there's another likely culprit close at hand, so to speak I also recommend to those whose skin will take it to carry enough hand sanitizer that they can use it liberally several times a day. Besides, it's double duty, starts fires as well (especially when combined with magnesium tent stakes). wow.

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