Hello all,
Last year, my friends and I did 82 miles of the flint river, (Report http://www.paddling.net/places/showReport.html?3580)
and this year we’re looking to break that with a 120 mile trip.
We’re all well equipped with long trips, and we’re really looking forward to this, but I’m trying to find out a good water solution for the trip. Last time we did the 82 miles we took all the water we needed for the trip, but I’m concerned that with this being a 5 day trip, we won’t be able to take that much water.
We have a pump, but it takes ages to fill up just our nalgene, and the last thing I want to do is pump water for an hour after kayaking 20 miles.
I’ve been looking at water purification systems, and I’m wondering if any of y’all can make a recommendation .
If you have any other ideas on how to solve our water issue, please let me know.
Gravity filters
like this can work: http://www.campmor.com/Product___84707
A friend brought one on the Spanish a couple of years ago & it worked. If the water is cruddy you may want to let it settle in a bucket first. Also, It probably won’t help much with chemical contamination.
That said, it shouldn’t take more than 5 minutes to fill a couple of 1 liter bottles with a decent pump.
is there no water
Along the way. I’m pretty leery of major river water.
Gravity filter for large
group of river runners. No pumping needed. I use the MSR gravity filter and have for three years.
I have a Miniworks that works well when you have to filter from bogs and little creeks. It is a pump filter but it takes three minutes to fill 1 liter.
I suspect that whatever pump filter you used there had been no maintenance on it. They are not that slow if maintained correctly
crappy pump
We replaced the filter and we clean it after every use, so I’m thinking it’s just not a good quality one.
Thanks for all the replies, I think I’m going to go with a gravity filter. It’d be nice letting gravity do the work whilst I cook up some mountain house!
enjoyed the trip report and photos,
not sure of any advice for a water filter though.
yuck
try running the Flint with Google Maps
for example:
http://goo.gl/JYrMmP
find the nearby civilized areas, yuk yuk yuk,
and search those areas for water stations…make list with GPS coordinates, distance from water.
Then you can do ETA
have to agree there
Why paddle a developed area if you can’t get tap or bottled water from somewhere?
Water drop
Or leave your own stash mid-way if the travel logistics allow.
Not sure I understand this
"Developed area" as it applies to this river hardly means that it would be easy to stop at a town or a corner tavern or something. If you are saying he should paddle someplace else where water is available along the way, that would be a whole different experience, which shows that different people choose their paddling spots for different reasons. It looks like a lovely river, and part of the charm, at least to someone like me, would be that other than a couple of highway bridges, there’s almost nothing along the river to remind you that it’s not completely wild (I looked at air photos to check this because I figured there was most likely a legitimate reason that the OP hadn’t already thought of picking up water along the way).
That’s the best idea yet
There are a few road bridges along the way which would provide access for a hike-in water drop (I say "hike-in" to ensure some bank fisherman doesn't find it 50 yards from where he parked his car). Just make sure you make careful notes about the location, perhaps even marking the path to the cache in some secret way, as it's really easy to "misplace" gear that's stashed in the woods (even if your chosen natural landmarks appear foolproof when making the stash, they quite likely won't be foolproof when you come back later).
By the way, I'd do this if I was concerned about chemical contaminants in the river, but I'd be inclined to bring a filter anyway, in case some mishap caused me to miss stopping for a water cache (less-than-perfect water is better than no water).
apparently you don’t know the river
There are areas along the Flint river sufficient to refill with domestic or bottled sources, I just looked at the bing aerial to make sure I wasn't crazy. You will be reminded of development every time you pass through one of these areas, whether you get out and refill or not.
I'd be dubious about filtering out of the flint river, because the headwaters exist near industrial areas, and the mouth empties into perhaps one of the most industrial rivers in MI.
But if I was faced with the idea of planning my stops, or making water drops beforehand and the logistics that go with that - I'd take the former in a heartbeat.
FWIW, when I'm paddling in developed areas, I take pleasure in the human interaction I get from those places, as well as the sights I see of manmade as well as natural features. There's no pretending in some places, regardless.
You are looking at the wrong river
There's enough info provided by the OP to tell you that this Flint River is in Georgia, not Michigan. Even if you missed that somehow, the OP's description of the river and the fact that it was clear that I said what I did only after checking the river via air photos might have made you think twice about what river this is.
Oh by the way, I agree with you about how man-made features and people encountered along the way can make a trip worthwhile too. But in this case, once I checked out which river this was and what kind of country it flowed through, I naturally figured that your classification of the place as "developed" must apply to anything short of true wilderness. That's why I didn't agree with the idea that a different route (with available drinking water) should be chosen instead.
From the air
Flint’s water looks plenty yucky. Goomaps works great, Tap the d=bridge, right click for coordinates, enter coordinated I search box then directions to the 2 towns appearing either side bridge.
Typical lowlands flood plain: 8 to 5 mile walks into town. The bridge is a mile to 2 miles long.
There are residences…can you say BOLLWEEVIL ?
Why no minimarts or gas stations ? Well, once upon the Flint flooded. Still does.
Robbery ?
How about paddling the Altafayhaha ?