Filter your water!!
I used a hand-pump on the Churchill and still felt the effects of the mineral content. I'm sure it wasn't giardiasis, but I'm very glad more of the silt and run-off contents weren't a greater part of my wilderness diet. In hindsight, I should have allowed the water to settle b4 pumping/filtering it rather than pumping directly from the middle of the lake.
I had to back-flush the filter to clear the screen on my second day out even though I couldn't see any particulate matter in the lake water or my jug.

Posted by Skip Guyer on December 18, 1999 at 08:33