Drinking snow water run off

[Semaje]

I was hiking today, and got thirsty. Our ground has been covered in snow for awhile and it was 40 out today, so there was alot of snow melt. I drank a little from a little moving stream by a little waterfall. It tasted fine. Was this risky? I live in pennsylvania an hour west of philly.

[your_comforting_company]

It is risky, considering that you don't know what is upstream of where you drank.

While some of the infeed streams from our Kolomoki hike were crystal clear feeding from Lake Yohola into Lake Kolomoki, This was hung in the dam...
http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg184/your_comforting_company/Kolomoki%20Hike%202-5-11/DSCN5709.jpg

If this image is too graphic, I apologize. I thought it might help drive the idea home.

[your_comforting_company]

I would highly recommend packing a water bladder, or at least a couple bottles of water. Always go out prepared.

[OhioGrizzLapp]

I would still treat it or boil it. My cabin in PA, I have a small lake with an in and out stream. you can dang near see the bottom at 40' deep. I was doing some fly fishing and walking up stream, at the edge of one of the pools was a dead beaver, body full bloated and opened from the pressure right in the stream path. that was a mere 15 yard walk from edge of lake to the point where the beaver was.

I am at the point now where I do not trust anything to be pure enough to eat or drink w/o washing it or treating it.

5 seconds of thirst quench can last you 3 months, just not worth it.

[Justin Case]

It is risky, considering that you don't know what is upstream of where you drank.

While some of the infeed streams from our Kolomoki hike were crystal clear feeding from Lake Yohola into Lake Kolomoki, This was hung in the dam...
http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg184/your_comforting_company/Kolomoki%20Hike%202-5-11/DSCN5709.jpg

If this image is too graphic, I apologize. I thought it might help drive the idea home.
What is it ?

[RangerXanatos]

What is it ?

Looks like a deer. The head is under the surface.

[Trabitha]

I was hiking today, and got thirsty. Our ground has been covered in snow for awhile and it was 40 out today, so there was alot of snow melt. I drank a little from a little moving stream by a little waterfall. It tasted fine. Was this risky? I live in pennsylvania an hour west of philly.

Yes. I'm in NEPA and would NEVER drink run off here. It's NOT safe. Don't make a habit of it.

[crashdive123]

Hey there Semaje - yeah - what they all said. How about filtering your way on over to the Introduction section and tell us a bit about yourself.

[your_comforting_company]

What is it ?

It's a large doe. My guess is she was near the edge of Lake Yohola getting a drink of water when a gator ambushed her. Judging by the extent of the damage on the hide, I ruled out hunters or vehicles.

I would have removed the carcass, but it was about 20 feet down and I didn't have a boat or anything else to reach. I did report it to the front office.
If you guys remember the creek pics thread I posted back in the summer, there were 3 dead and bloated alligators missing tails in that creek. Crystal clear water that would make you sick as a dog.

[Justin Case]

Ahhh,, I can see it now,,, What do you think killed the gators?

[your_comforting_company]

poachers
There aren't many gator permits given out in each county, so to find 3 thrown off a bridge into a freshwater stream tells me that it's somebody who doesn't give a damn about how they pollute or contaminate the water, nor the effect on gator populations, did it. Gators, I dont' think would crawl up in such a shallow stream, so I'm certain that they weren't living there. Most likely taken at the river a few miles away, taken home, tail cut off, and rest tossed off the bridge.

[finallyME]

I was hiking today, and got thirsty. Our ground has been covered in snow for awhile and it was 40 out today, so there was alot of snow melt. I drank a little from a little moving stream by a little waterfall. It tasted fine. Was this risky? I live in pennsylvania an hour west of philly.


You will know soon enough. It takes a couple days to set in, if the water was contaminated. Now, me, in my area, there are places that I would drink without treating. If I am at a high mountain spring, then I probably don't need to. But, I usually drop a Chlorine Dioxide tablet in for 30 minutes for good measure anyways.

[Trabitha]

What do you think of those tablets, finallyME? I like the compactness of them and all...but I worry about using anything chemical. Ya know? I got the Berkey water filter and it came with three sports bottles with filters in them. I LOVE them and they fit perfectly in the mesh sides of our packs. Fill and sip. ;)

[finallyME]

If weight is a concern, you won't get lighter than tablets. Chlorine Dioxide isn't as toxic as iodine. I can't taste the chlorine either.

[Rick]

You can always bring it to a boil, too.

Hey YCC, I am shocked, shocked I tell you! There was a dead deer and you didn't take the hide and brains and sinew and bones and.......

[EdD270]

I used to drink from those clear mountain streams in Colorado, figured they were high enough up that nothing would be in them. Then I got giardia. Now I boil or tablet-ize everything, no matter what. Just not worth the risk.

[your_comforting_company]

You can always bring it to a boil, too.

Hey YCC, I am shocked, shocked I tell you! There was a dead deer and you didn't take the hide and brains and sinew and bones and.......

I couldn't reach it without swimming.. and I wasn't swimming in THAT!

... you know, the kids picked at me about getting that hide..

[rwc1969]

...
http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg184/your_comforting_company/Kolomoki%20Hike%202-5-11/DSCN5709.jpg

...

I read that if there's green algae, and not red, growing in the stream the water's safe to drink. There appears to be green algae growing on that deer so it should be fine to drink. LOL!

[Rick]

Oh, yeah. Easy to remember, too. Green=Go. Red=Stop. LOL.

[crashdive123]

About half way through a patrol the bologna was green. I don't recommend it. That, or the rainbow ham.

[Beans]

About half way through a patrol the bologna was green. I don't recommend it. That, or the rainbow ham.
I would past on the Rainbow ham, but St Pat's day Bologna, It a good thing I am not irish.

[crashdive123]

It wasn't so much the color, but rather the hairs. They tickled on the way down.

[BENESSE]

This sounds like when my sister and I were trying to see who could outgross the other.

[Rick]

Yeah. I think I threw up a little..... Again.

[BENESSE]

A good way to stay trim, huh, Rick?

[Rick]

I wouldn't know. I could stand about a good solid month of anorexia. Then a piece of cake.

[BENESSE]

Or we can just keep you throwing up.

[your_comforting_company]

http://www.brainboggling.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/i_beat_anorexia.jpg

[tipacanoe]

"I dont' think would crawl up in such a shallow stream, so I'm certain that they weren't living there. Most likely taken at the river a few miles away, taken home, tail cut off, and rest tossed off the bridge. " YCC, you are wrong about them not living in shallow streams, when I was a kid in Florida a looong time ago, we had one in the drainage ditch beside our house that lived there for a couple of years, even in the summer. The county prisoners, clearing the ditches in the county killed it when they got to that ditch.