My water filter clogged on day 3 of a 10 day trip on the JMT

I was near Muir Trail Ranch and my Sawyer Squeeze just stopped flowing. I didn't bring a backup so I had to boil everything for the rest of the hike. Has anyone else had luck unclogging these on the trail with just a bandana and some elbow grease?

2 comments

2 Comments

james_butler6d ago

Man same thing happened to me on the JMT a couple years back, filter died right after MTR and I had to boil everything for days. That bandana trick never worked for me either, I think once the silt gets deep inside it's pretty much game over until you can backflush it with clean water at home. Did you ever try the hot soak thing or was it too much hassle on trail?

ellis.rose6d ago

Backflushing with the syringe is supposed to work but I've had it totally fail on me too. That bandana trick only works if you let the filter soak in hot water for a while, just scrubbing the outside won't do much if the inside is jammed up with glacial silt. Some people swear by tapping the filter against a rock to break up the clog but that can crack the housing if you're not careful. Boiling everything for a week probably saved you from a bad case of giardia though, so at least there's that silver lining.