Unlimited filtered water on the go with minimal weight. Thank you USMC.

I don’t know what happen in the last 35 years with the water in the backcountry.  I never filtered water.  Just filled the old canteen from a clear flowing stream and called it good.  In the mid-80s if I was backpacking more populous areas I would pack iodine tablets.   Tasted horrible, probably worked, but they weighed nothing and were easy to throw into the pack.

Then I guess the water filter manufacturers of the world all got in one room and said ‘Hey, we really need to find a wealthy middle-class market for our product.’  Next thing I know you are seeing ads on the back of every hiking magazine with a coyote pissing in the symbolic pristine mountain stream.  Nice.  Good old pee fear tactics. So when costs came down and mass production for the common hiker kicked in, I jumped on board and have never looked back.  Peace of mind put a pound and a half of deadweight in my pack for the rest of my life.

Normally I’m hiking with several people, so the weight of common gear gets dispersed.  I seldom hike alone, especially for overnighters.  But what if I did?  So I started looking at options.  The first was the LifeStraw.  

Very light, single user, you can back flush and probably prefilter with a bandana or your underwear or something.  But you’ve got to lay on your belly and suck out of a stream or a puddle.  And what if you need to fill your water bladder?

So I started to experiment with trying to put a LifeStraw into my water bladder line.  Kinda makes sense.  Filter the water as you drink it.  I couldn’t quite get it to work leak free.  But the concept was solid.  But to quote the great Forrest Gump, ‘I am not a smart man.’  Surely someone else had gone down this rabbit hole and I could piggyback off it. 

Looking for inline filters in the Google-plex world, I stumbled across these military surplus MSR units made under military contracts.  Pretty cool.  EXACTLY what I was looking for.  Ranked for a couple of hundred liters.   All the surplus I found was made between 2007-2008.  Some 2012. I guess those billion-dollar desert conflicts were good for something.  

But the diameters of the fitting on this inline filter were different.   I’ve got several hiking water bladders with quick-release drinking hoses.  This spec was off by just enough.  Larger female diameter, and a longer male neck, which makes for a more robust connection and totally military.  Not sure how long it took, but I was able to find the right fitting from an online retailer.    I was getting concerned when it was almost two weeks until I got the package.  Yep. They came out of Israel.   Now those guys know a LOT about hydration and military specifications.

So I got all the parts and pieces, but the project kind of stalled.  After all, necessity is the mother of invention.   And to be honest the necessity really wasn’t there.  But I found myself in the rabbit hole again looking for some cheap hiking gear for my son and his Boy Scout troop.  We were doing an annual ‘Kid Hike’ and I needed to pick up a cheap water bladder.  Jump on eBay and started clicking around.   Then out of nowhere, there it was.  The actual Marine hydration pack that the MSR filter was built for.  With the embossed skull and the words ‘Hydrate or Die’ and everything.  Perfect.

So now I have all of the pieces.  Does it work?  Yes, it does.  I got a chance to try it out at Glacier Park summer of 2021.  The more squarish the USMC bladder vs the long rectangular footprint of my CamelBak are different.  The latter fits better in the hydration sleeve sewed into my Osprey SpeedFrame.   But being able to scoop the bladder full in a stream and snap in a filter is priceless. 

My Katadyn hiker filter is advertised at 11 oz. That’s JUST the pump and a DRY filter. Add in hoses, fittings, bag, cleaning kit, and packing a wet filter for a couple of days and you are up to 1 lb. 7 oz. Which is great if you split the weight over 4-6 people.

With this bladder filter combo, the filter only comes out at 3.8 ounces. My regular 2 Liter CamelBak is 5.6 oz, and the USMC heavy-duty with insulated hose comes in at 7.8 oz. Soooo…. if I use this USMC bladder, it only adds about 2 oz to my pack. So with this filter system, I only add less than 6 oz net to my back, and I have unlimited filtered water. Actually, less than my share of a group-packed pump.

But I think more people have caught on to this inline filter concept.  I bought those MSR milsup filter ten years ago for about $12 each.  I now see them for anywhere from $35 to $65.  A little steep for a NIB fifteen-year-old filter, but that is the free market.  Probably because MRS is selling the non-military spec inline filter now in the private market for around$50=$60 bucks.  Go figure.

So I picked up a couple of spare bladders 8.99 each (shipped) and talked a vendor into selling me a special bulk rate of 8 filters for under $13 each with postage and tax.  I’m set until I die.  If you are looking into a lightweight, bulletproof, filtered hydration system, this might be for you.  Or, better yet, come hike with me and I’ll set you up.   I like to share old-school analog technology like sucking water thru a tube.  And big hugs.  Normally the latter is a dealbreaker for most.

Links break too easily. So for the bladder, Google some variant of Camelbak Hydration Bladder 3L,100 oz, Antidote Reservoir USMC FILBE BPA BPS FREE.

For the filter, some variants of USMC Issued MSR Water InLine Micro Filter Hydration Pack