 It's an easy mistake to make. You're tired from the trail, you have dinner, sit around the fire and hang your food bag before heading off to bed. Your pack is covered, your gear protected and you sleep soundly as the temperatures dip below freezing. Then you wake up in the morning ready to make breakfast and fill your water container for the hike of the day and discovered that your water filter is frozen because it was left out from the night before.
I did this for the second time recently on a hike through the Wallawas in Oregon. My thermometer said it was 20 degrees when we got up after the first night (see the picture of frost on one of our tents). This time the water pump was not only frozen but when the water froze, it expanded and broke the connector to the hose.
 Not sure what to do, we tried holding the hose tightly against the water filter while we pump. See this picture.
Needless to say, this was not an effective or an efficient way to pump water.
Fortunately, and somewhat unbelievably, one of guys on our trip had a tiny tube of super glue with him. We were able to glue the tiny piece of plastic back to the pump and the hose fit like a charm. We dodged a bullet.
I should say that we had a backup - I brought some Aqua Mira which works pretty well but still has some taste and slows down the process when you are in camp because it takes about 20 minutes for the water to be ready to drink. And, of course, we could have boiled water.
The question is, will it happen again? Probably, but I bet it won't happen next year while the memory is still fresh! |