Met a guy on the Appalachian Trail near Roan Mountain who taught me something about water filters

I was refilling at a spring and this older hiker just handed me his Sawyer Squeeze and said 'don't backflush unless you see slow flow, you're just wasting clean water.' He'd hiked 2,000 miles on one filter that way, no issues. Anyone else been told to treat gear differently by a random trail veteran?

2 comments

2 Comments

martin.felix1mo ago

Ran into a guy near the Smokies who told me the same thing about my MSR pump. Honestly I was backflushing after every other liter for years. Ngl that guy saved me like 50 bucks in wasted water and maybe a couple hours of my life. He just laughed and said "the filter clogs when it's dirty, not when it's clean" and honestly that stuck with me. Tbh I still backflush maybe once every 10 liters tops now and my filter is still going strong after three seasons.

sage_ramirez421mo ago

Learned that lesson the hard way myself on a long trip in the Sierras. Got impatient, backflushed too much, and ended up with a torn O-ring from all that extra pumping. Your guy was spot on. I just wait till I feel real resistance, then give it a quick squeeze. Three years on the same filter too, no issues.