Using a Water Filter for the Grand Canyon run? Are there portable water filters that work for a Grand Canyon R2R2R run? I asked myself that question for over a year and recently been asked to comment on it, so here it goes. Please let this be an opportunity to share your thoughts on the subject as well! MY CHOICE: Personally, I have run without and I have run with, and I wont run without anymore for two reasons: 1. First, this is a self or un-supported run. The water piped to the various locations along the Corridor Trail is reliable but not guaranteed. The pipe is old and breaks frequently. There is a chance it will be broken during your next run. Im taking responsibility for not relying on the Parks Service anymore for my hydration needs. I have removed that chance from the equation and consequently have no more anxiety about whether water stations are open or not. The peace of mind over that is worth it by itself. 2. The water coming from the water stations along the trail is heavily chlorinated (the same stuff used to clean kitchen counters and designed to kill living organisms). While I can understand the reasoning for the chlorination, its a lesser of the two evils approach. That water is not healthy and in my case always made me very nauseous, just when I needed some pristine hydration! MY FILTER: I have done a fair amount of research on various filtration systems. My criteria were: * removes chlorine * removes most common creek bacteria * very lightweight * easy to use while running The two products I ended up choosing between were the Aquamira Frontier Pro amazon/Aquamira-Frontier-Ultralight-Water-Filter/dp/B000WG40ZS and the Sawyer Mini amazon/Sawyer-Products-SP128-Filtration-System/dp/B00FA2RLX2 They are very similar and function in the same way. You cant go wrong with either one. EXPERIENCE ON THE RUN I used the Aquamira on the last run I did a few weeks ago. It worked better than I had expected. I filled up the bladder the way I normally do. I hooked up the filter to the end of hose coming from the hydration bladder and drank the water by sucking through the other end of the filter. It was easy and the water tasted great. I admit that I was a bit nervous to drink the chlorinated water again but with the help of the filter the bad taste was gone, my stomach felt great and I felt more hydrated than before. The filter fit nicely into one of the front pockets of my running pack and stayed attached the entire time. The 2 oz weight was not noticeable. I highly recommend running with one of these small filters to anyone doing the Grand Canyon, hiking or running. Love to hear other peoples experiences with filtration strategies (including Jake Maulins hardcore straight from the creek method :)
Posted on: Tue, 15 Apr 2014 21:46:20 +0000
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