My water filter gave out halfway through the Lost Coast Trail last week

I was three days into a five day solo trip on the Lost Coast Trail in California when my Sawyer Squeeze just stopped flowing. Like barely a drip no matter how much I backflushed it. I had only packed two liters of capacity thinking I'd just filter as I went. Ended up having to boil creek water for the rest of the trip which added an hour to every morning and evening. Anyone else had a filter fail on them mid route and have to switch to backup plans?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_ruby1mo ago

Did you try smacking it against a rock? That's my go to fix for everything.

michael6691mo ago

Man I heard something about this from a guy who hiked the PCT. He said the same thing, just smacking the filter on a rock after it clogged. Worked for him on some real nasty water. But he also said you gotta be careful not to crack the housing or you're done. The rock trick seems more like a last ditch thing than a regular fix. I figure if the water's super silty you're better off letting it settle overnight first. That way the big stuff sinks before it ever hits the filter.

joel_jones1mo ago

Smacking it against a rock might unclog a quick bit of debris, but the real issue with Sawyer filters is usually the fibers getting physically packed with sediment. Backflushing only does so much when the water is that silty, especially on the Lost Coast where the creeks run pretty brown after any rain. Boiling is a solid backup, though that extra hour per stop sounds brutal on a long day. What did you do for the actual water storage once you ran out of clean capacity?