Information for those that need to drink stream water.
This is very important information for those of you who plan on running the Hardrock Ultra. I have presented this in 2 parts. I believe you will find this informative and interesting to read. Thanks go to Kevin Sayers at this web site.
Joel wrote:
"I am trying to get all my equipment ready for Hardrock now; I've never had to rely on stream water before to drink, but since it may take us four or five hours to get from one aid station to the next there, supplemental water will be a necessity.....I've bought one of those Oasis drinking bottle/water filter gizmos, and some Aqua Pure iodine- based purification tablets, and I don't know if I can/should rely on the Oasis and hold the tablets as backup or use both in combo or what....if you have a tried and true method for getting palatable and drinkable water up in the mountains from what is there, i.e, ground water and snow, while you are running or fast-packing, let us know..."
I have not used an Oasis bottle, but I have successfully used Aqua Pure iodine tablets to treat water at the Barkley Marathons. The water I treated and subsequently drank was from a spring and had some dirt in it. I waited about half an hour to drink it after treating it. It tasted like iodine, but I didn't get sick, and went on to finish Barkley (55 miles) that year (1988), thus becoming the first-ever official finisher at Barkley.
The various sections of Barkley between water-drop locations routinely take me between about 2.5 and 5 hours. I normally carry three 29-ounce bottles, and that is usually enough for up to five hours for me (assuming it's not too hot). The one time I used the iodine tablets was because there was no treated water available at one of the water-drop locations. So I wonder if you would really need to treat water at Hardrock; you might be able to carry three bottles and get safely between stations even up to five hours apart.
What do most Hardrock runners do?
Bryan Spellczech
"Supplemental water will be a necessity.....I've bought one of those Oasis drinking bottle/water filter gizmos, if you have a tried and true method for getting palatable and drinkable water up in the mountains from what is there, i.e, ground water and snow, while you are running or fast-packing, let us
