Backup Plan. Always have a Backup Plan.

And that's the topic of this week's The First 40 Miles podcast.  Redundancy, fall-back plans, etc.  A second way to clean up creek water, it's a good thing to have.  Have a listen for the rest, or just click on the link and read through them quickly.

Back to the topic of back-up water, it's also good to have more than one container.  I rely primarily on a 3 liter Camelbak bladder tucked into a sleeve in my pack.  While I've never actually had a hydration bag like that fail in the field, it could happen.  Think I'll pick up a couple of 1 liter collapsable bottles to serve as backups.  They'll also come in handy for on-trail refills – won't have to unpack the main bag to get at the hydration bladder.  Nice to have for extra water in camp too.  One top-off of all three containers in the evening, then there's plenty of water for cooking and a full Camelbak at the start of the next morning's miles.  Probably wouldn't hurt to pick up a Sawyer Mini filter as a back-up too.

For what it's worth, here's a post from last summer on water treatment complete with CDC links and some discussion.  TLDR version: Filter, then disinfect.

BTW, with last weekend's out-and-back trip on the Tuxachanie, my backpacking total for this winter comes to exactly 40 miles.  A milestone?  Yes, but a very small one.  The bugs and snakes are starting to stir, and it's time to get back on the mountain bike until next October.