Old Salt wrote on May 2^nd, 2022 at 12:18pm:

My experience is identical to Jimbo’s? Yikes! ;D ;) I suspect that we are not alone in our practice. I never considered that this was putting our trips at risk. I see it as a function of understanding the nature of the bug and where it is safe or unsafe to collect water. Heck, there’s risk in most everything we do on canoe trips. ;) If you’re risk adverse, the wilderness will keep you on high alert.

I agree with this to an extent (especially about the wilderness keeping you on alert).  However, if I was on a permit that included several other folks AND, IF at least one of the others was afraid that by ME getting sick I would be jeopardizing the trip for everyone on the permit (by my travel limitations or by me getting sick enough that I had to be carried out of the park, etc.), I'm sure I would take a filter.  In fact, I almost always DO bring a filter along.  When I am on my own, though, I only really ever use a filter when I think there's a real chance of a problem (swamps, small shallow lakes, lots of creek/stream travel, or water otherwise compromised).

The way I see it, somehow primitive man (up until the last century) got by on water not nearly as clean as what you typically find in Quetico and further north. By exercising a degree of caution, I've been fortunate enough to get by, too.  Yes, I understand there has been some pollution even up there and yes, the microscopic bugs in my gut (my personal biome) may be a bit different than those of primitive man (making me more vulnerable).  Nevertheless, I'm in my fourth decade of not experiencing water contamination issues I am aware of.  I acknowledge that some of my paddling partners will take exception to that statement, point to certain behavioral aberrations of mine, and strenuously argue otherwise, however.  C'est la vie....

I will certainly never scoff at anyone who exercises their prerogative for more cautious water processing practices than mine.  Also, I'll always abide by permit party preferences re: risk management (of any sort) rather than make others worry or put anyone else's vacation at risk.  That's called "teamwork."

Of course, from time to time, this may explain why I sometimes grab a park permit for a "party of 1", and elect to join up with other parties only later during my trip.  My personal time; my personal choice, and I'm not really sharing my risk with others.

Drink up!

Later,

Jimbo   8-)