When we first started hiking we used to carry up to 3 liters of water with us, which made our packs super heavy because we didn't know much about filtering water. Once we started getting into backpacking we knew we needed to learn how to filter water in an effort to minimize our load.
If you're looking for a simple and lightweight filter that can be carried on day hikes and backpacking trips look no further than a Sawyer Products Squeeze or Mini filter. Both filters are inexpensive and easy to use.
Sawyer offers the most technologically advanced and durable, yet incredibly simple to use water filtration solutions on the market. Their filters remove bacteria, protozoa, E. Coli, giardia, vibrio cholerea, salmonella typhi, leptospirosis from water, so it's an essential item to carry for multi-day trips where filtering water is necessary. It's not hard to filter with Sawyer filters and it takes the guessing game / stress out of other more complex systems.
In this blog post we're showing you how to properly use your Sawyer filter.
Step 1: Grab the Sawyer water pouch and blow it up to maximize it's use, next fill the bag with the questionable water source.
Karla fills up the 32 oz. bag with the questionable lake water.
Step 2: Close the water pouch with its cap to seal in the questionable water.
Step 3: Grab your filter, you can choose from the Squeeze or the Mini filter. In this scenario we were carrying our squeeze filter. Make sure you keep the drinking end clean and away from questionable water in order to avoid contamination.
Step 4: Remove the cap from the water pouch and attach the filter. (The filter has an arrow on which way it flows!)
Step 5: Filter the water by rolling the pouch and pointing the water flow downward.
You can drink directly from the filter and pouch, or filter the water into your water bottle, reservoir bladder (i.e. Camelbak).
A few notes, if the filter is not flowing as fast as you desire, it may need to be backwashed. Check out a video on how to do that here.
In the video below Phillip shows us how to use the filter too. Check it out and let us know if you have any other questions.
You can get the Sawyer Filter at REI, to check out the specific filters we discussed in this post check out these links:
Sawyer Squeeze Water Filter System
We sincerely hope this helps you in your outdoor journey and you enjoy this filter as much as we do! Let us know if you have any questions in the comments below.
Please note: Sawyer Products is a sponsor of the 52 Hike Challenge, we only endorse products we use ourselves and will benefit our community. This post has affiliate links which help us to fund the global 52 Hike Challenge movement, we appreciate your support.