Water Filter

I went on a hike during the summer to Yellowstone National Park. We had 12 Scouts with us on a 16 mile hike to Union Falls and Scout Pool. The scenery is really everything you hear and see about Yellowstone. The trail was easy to hike, even for me! We came prepared with our lunches, snacks and plenty of water. We arrived, relaxed, and played in the warm water created by a nearby hot spring that emptied into the river. It was awesome. On the way back, the Scouts had begun to run out of water and after everyone had shared what little they had left, we had none. There were many little streams in the back country, we had been warned of the dangers of drinking unclean water. We finally arrived upon one stream and our guide pulled out a little water filter. That blessed water filter! It took us a long time to fill up, drink and refill multiple times our water bottles, but when we were no longer thirsty we headed back to camp. It was many hours before we returned. The thirst I experienced and the feeling of not knowing how to prepare myself or my troop was a real eye opening experience. That was several years ago. Now, I try to convince everyone I know, one of the most important things to have in your emergency preparedness kit is a water filter. You can have water, food and even money, but look at the experiences of those in New Orleans and other places where money meant nothing and they were surrounded by water. If they had only had a water filter, they could have cooked, cleaned, drank and shared, thereby empowering themselves and others.

Go buy a good water filter.