Water treatment pills in Maine

[Imasphere]

I will be hiking the northern section of the AT from Monson to Baxter State Park in late June for a period of 10 to 12 days. I usually use water treatment pills, either Aquatabs or Katadyn Micropur tablets depending on how murky the water is. I have never had any problems in the Adirondacks with this type of treatment but I recently heard that certain water sources might require a more advanced system such as a Sawyer filter because of beaver fever. Has anyone heard of this? Any recommendations?

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[The Kisco Kid]

"Beaver Fever" aka Giardia.

Katahdin micropur tablets are effective against Giardia according to the product page. I can't think of a commercial available water treatment method, filter, tablets, drops, etc that when used correctly isn't effective against Giardia. It's the #1 target.

[Slo-go'en]

The only down side to the tablets is the wait time. Maine water tends to be cold, so the wait time is long for it to be effective. A filter gives you instant gratification.

If you come across any brownish colored water, don't worry, it's fine. That's called "Maine Tea" and contains tannin from decaying pine trees. It does give the water a bit of a bitter taste though.

[Imasphere]

Thanks. It's really reassuring to know this.

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