2017 CTR: Planning & Who's In?

[joeydurango]

+1 on the MSR... I use the old Sweetwater and have been since 2010.  Works like a charm, but larger than the Sawyer.

[Paadria]

I'm on a Trex 9.8SL and my bike fully loaded is right at 30-32lbs.

How much is your base bike weigh?  I just freshened up my spreadsheet and I'll be at 38.5# for a fully loaded bike less food and water.  I'm over 6 lbs heavier assuming you aren't including food and water in the weight.  My totals are on a 23# bike and with this level of gear I'll be prepared for rain, snow, bike failures and a good night of sleep if needed or the shit really hits the fan and I need to wait out some crazy weather.

[Enjoying the View]

+1 on the Sawyer.  I had the mini but just got the squeeze.  It's a lot faster and only an ounce more weight.  Worthy upgrade IMO.

Is the platypus you use the one where the threads don't exactly match the sawyer?  I used one of those as well with good results for a couple years.  It would leak a little sometimes, but at a critical point on the AZT300 it suddenly failed and water poured out of the threads.  Fortunately I had a spare water bottle with threads that did match, otherwise I would have had to pull out of the race.  I'd strongly suggest getting something with threads that match perfectly. You can buy 64oz sawyer pouches 2 for $9 at REI.  Where threads don't match, it may work...but only until it doesn't!

You are right the Platypus bags do not fit perfectly. And I actually use Evernew bags. I had forgotten that. They have matching threads with Sawyer. It does seems as though Sawyer has improved their bag quality over the years.  But so far my Evernew bags have been flawless.

[Bob Loblaw]

I used a Sawyer inline in my CamelBak hose in 2015 and hated it. It was super fast to fill, but required too much suction to get water out and caused me to drink less water than I should have. In 2016 I used AquaMira with no problems at all.

Side note: It's amazing how far you can get on the CTR SoBo without needing to treat water if you know where to look. I think I made it past Camp Hale before I really NEEDED to use my tablets.

[THE LONG RANGER]

I'm not doing the CTR this year, but I'm still hoping to do a few sections - maybe the N terminus to Frisco, or something like that. I AM going to be out in Colorado in a similar environment, and I did just put together a rundown of my sleep system (link) to give you some inspiration.

When I did the CTR, I used a water resistant bivy, a sleeping bag liner, and a thermarest blow up pad. I was going for survival, really! I had a bad CTR, with may mechanicals, but didn't feel a drop of rain.

I've used the Sawyer mini, but may move up to the Squeeze - maybe I'm just impatient, but it seems to take forever to filter. Hopefully, the Squeeze is faster.

I would suggest taking the time to just filter all the water you need, then get on with it, rather than have the problem of keeping track of which flasks have, "dirty" water, and which don't. Personally, I only rarely filter my water - don't use that as a suggestion - again, I'm just lazy. Any source of water can be contaminated by animals, both human, and otherwise, as well as bacteria/virii. I would take advantage of any potable water you find in town and stock up, if not just for the time savings while on trail - don't leave town without water!

I'm not sure that I would *start* filtering after Camp Hale - the trail from BV to Leadville is so heavily trafficked by man and horse, that every creek crossing will have horse shit either in it, or around it. People camp literally right on the trail, right next to water sources - no one seems to pay mind to LNT/trail ethics. Trail's getting nothing but more popular.

Lights; I had like, a 1200 lumen light, which I thought worked fine, and a headtorch. I wouldn't run it at 1200 lumen ever, except those spicy tech. downhills, where it was nice to see just where I was going. More light the better, fer sure. I would get up as early as you can to start your day, and feel out what the afternoon will bring in terms of massive thunderstorms. Don't be up high above treeline during one of those. Get down!

[Bob Loblaw]

I'm not sure that I would *start* filtering after Camp Hale - the trail from BV to Leadville is so heavily trafficked by man and horse, that every creek crossing will have horse shit either in it, or around it. People camp literally right on the trail, right next to water sources - no one seems to pay mind to LNT/trail ethics. Trail's getting nothing but more popular.

Ah I realize what I wrote was kinda confusing. I just meant that I managed to get water from already-treated sources before Camp Hale. (Pumps, spigots, restaurants....). It wasn't that I elected to not treat the water until there

[THE LONG RANGER]

Ah! Nice. I thought you may have a map of secret springs!

[Paadria]

I used a Sawyer inline in my CamelBak hose in 2015 and hated it. It was super fast to fill, but required too much suction to get water out and caused me to drink less water than I should have. In 2016 I used AquaMira with no problems at all.

To clarify, I will only be using the filter with the "dirty" bag to fill my "clean" bag.  So once the filtered water is in place, there won't be extra suction.  Thanks for the heads up and what to watch for as I figure this stuff out.

[THE LONG RANGER]

So I decided to pick up a Sawyer Squeeze today. It is a bit larger than the mini. The package I got came with two of their bags, which is nice, but those bags do leak after a while.

It comes with two parts to turn it into an inline filter, which is also nice, and sucking on it with the included straw seemed to work well - I didn't feel like it was too hard to do. I'm sure as the filter gets used, it'll flow worse until backcleaned. Getting the straw off the sucker, that was a little difficult - be careful.

Lots of tiny little parts in the kit, though - they'll all get lost. I want to compare it to my mini, but hmm, it seems to be missing in action (speaking of losing things!) 

[Bob]

Anyone use the MSR Trailshot? It's a bit bulkier than the Sawyer and quite a bit heavier. I've used it over here just wondered if anyone has experience of it Stateside.

Here in the UK so long as you are upstream of human habitation/enclosed fields with livestock and there isn't a carcass lying in the water course then you are unlikely to pick up any nasties. There's a few well known locations that are popular wild camping spots where drinking untreated water isn't advised but apart from those we are fairly lucky.

[THE LONG RANGER]

Yeah, you can try to judge a good water source from a bad, but the reality is this: it's a gamble. Things that could be upstream you may not consider: human waste from hikers (many of the most popular trails in CO feed off the CO Trail), mountain goats + bighorn sheep that can climb literally anywhere, Marmots + Pika that make their home on high tundra. 

With more and more people coming into the backcountry, the pressure for natural resources like water - or even a campsite, is going to be great. The CO Trail is an example of where there's a larger concentration of people utilizing these resources.

I do have my own rules for filtering: if there's ANY road or human activity nearby with any sort of permanent structure: filter. If there's ANY sign of free range cattle: filter (or find a better place!)

I haven't looked at the CT databook in like a million years, but there could also be streams that are a no-no because of past mining - there was a huge problem near Silverton with the Gold King Mine an an accident that flushed a ton of heavy-metal laden water downstream. It may be prudent to check to make sure specific places aren't affected - like I wouldn't drink straight out of the Animas! Usually creeks like that you wanna stay away with have creekbeds of interesting colors: oranges and reds - or even blues. It looks obvious when there's a lot of minerals (and heavy metals) in the water. I also wouldn't drink right out of Twin Lakes, personally, and I'd def. filter water coming out of the creek besides the road to BV (or just wait til BV)

I'm not kidding about the CO Trail near BV -> Leadville being pretty much covered in horse shit I was completely surprised, myself.

[Ben Salthouse]

I just picked up a MSR trailshot and took it on a three day shakedown ride last weekend. I had a mixed take on it. It's a pretty compact and light unit and it made weird algae water taste good but ultimately I decided I'm not going to take it on the CTR. The reason being it's pretty slow. It starts off fast but you have to use allot of forearm strength to pump it. My arms got really tired filling up a 2.5 liter bladder even switching off from left to right. It's pretty much like using one of those spring hand strength exercise devices.

I'm thinking tabs for the race. I've used iodine tabs on long backpacking trips in the past. They make the water taste chemically but they work in 30 minutes and you can't get much lighter. I'm also intrigued by the Sawer inline with the quick disconnect kit as I plan on keeping a 2 liter bladder in my frame bag and have found it to be kind of a pain to remove the bladder every time I have to fill it up.

[Bob]

Thanks Ben, I found that getting the advertised flow-rate with the Trailshot was nigh on impossible, still think it's faster than the Sawyer mini. Don't know about the larger Sawyer. I used to rock climb so not too bad on the forearm front Might need to read the manual, err, again.

I've had Giardiasis, not fun! Picked it up in Pakistan many years ago.

Lone Ranger: sounds like an industrial wasteland in places 

[Paadria]

What should a rookie know or think about for safety in the wild animal category?  What is the proper plan for the food you have with you when you stop to sleep?  Can a person just leave it on his bike or do we need to hang it (no trees in many places).  What do the veterans suggest?
Thanks so much for your insight.  It is super helpful.  Most of my endurance biking happens in Minnesota winters so the bear are hibernating. 
- Pat

[Dana Ernst]

I'm also interested in Paadria's question about bears and other critters.

[joeydurango]

Personally I consider that dependent on your sleep strategy.  If I'm "racing" and sleeping very little, I'm certainly not hanging my food, and probably not in a given spot long enough to really worry about bears or smaller scavengers.  But if I'm on tour, or sleeping more, I'll bring a bear bag and very small-diameter rope, and hang my food at night.

[Dana Ernst]

For those of you that use the Sawyer Squeeze inline with a bladder, how hard to you have to suck to get water out?  Also, to fill your bladder, do you just dunk it in the water?

[Yagi]

For those of you that use the Sawyer Squeeze inline with a bladder, how hard to you have to suck to get water out?  Also, to fill your bladder, do you just dunk it in the water?

I don't usually drink directly from the filter, but on the rare occasion I do I've never had a problem.  With the squeezing action and the clean water Colorado has (for the most part), you probably won't have a problem.

For filling the bladder, I usually look for a little waterfall, or an area with good flow to put pressure into the mouth of the bladder/bag.  If the water is more stagnant, you may have to drag the bladder through the water to create the difference in pressure to get the bladder to fill better.  To combat this, I carry a small water bottle from a gas station.  I can crush it down to pretty much nothing and put the cap back on to keep it small.  When I'm ready to filter water, I'll take the cap off, blow it up and use it to collect dirty water to pour into the bladder for filtering.  It won't have a problem with filling like the bladder might.  A smaller bottle helps if the water source is shallower, too.

[evdog]

Schillingsworth brought this to my attention, a lightning caused fire near started near the CT and Salt Creek trail a few days ago and USFS has closed 13mi of the CT above Durango.  It is currently a small fire but they are going to let it burn within a set perimeter.  Hopefully this closure will not continue for long.

https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/sanjuan/news-events/?cid=FSEPRD547731

Closure map from Trails2000:

[Couloirman]

Hows the fire looking? Much smoke in the air in the durango area?