There’s a dead varment in the cow tank, what do i do?
Remove said varment and filter (ceramic), aqua mira, and or bleach it and drink up, or move on with the hopes the next water isn’t in the same condition??
I’ve heard filters clog easily when used in the tanks.
What did you do or see others do that worked or didn’t work?
Thanks
Leather Tongue
If you use a filter for tank water, the “cow” smell will stay with the filter for several days. Better to use AquaMira or iodine, then “gatorade” or similar to mask the chemical taste.
bowlegs
In some cases you can find the inlet pipe and try to get water from that pipe. (i.e. We found a dead bat in a tub but the inlet was above the water level, so we got water from that.) In one case we just kept hiking in hopes that the next spring would be better (there were several dead birds floating in the water),
Ginny
Depends what you mean by “tank.”
Earthen stock pounds are often pretty foul from cattle use and silt; a larger tank of this sort would probably “absorb” any additional foulness caused by the presence of a smallish dead varmint. What does that mean in practical terms? Probably not much. You’re taking your chances with or without the varmint, so probably best to assess how desperately you need water, how far to the next likely better source, and then collect from the foul source at hand, but hold off on filtering or drinking until absolutely necessary.
Troughs and cisterns are sometimes called tanks, too. If you aren’t sure of what to expect in a specific case, see if you can find more info about what’s behind the name, either from a guidebook or satellite/aerial photos before the hike. Often you’ll find these at windmills or solar arrays, by corrals, and the appearance on sat images is distinctly different from that of a stock pond. Troughs and cisterns are usually small, don’t hold much water, and would definitely be degraded in quality by the presence of dead birds, rodents, etc. Especially if the critter is obviously rotting, I wouldn’t mess with it, short of boiling it for a good while in an emergency situation. And yes, often these sources will have inlet flow, either via a pipe from a windmill or from a float valve regulator, and you can try to collect directly from that.
blisterfree
Tank = round thing low to the ground, layer of algea, open to the sky.
Trough = long narrow thing, low to the ground, not very big,with layer of algea, open to the sky
Cistern = big metal thing, maybe climb up on, possible missing lid, can’t see inside, wonder what’s in there.
I guess in general I meant all of the above, b.t.w. those are my definitions.
How are the filters working out there, if I carry one, I was thinking a ceramic filter would be the best.
Sounds like a filter and aqua mira for back up is the way to go, and is the water really all that bad or are people taking photos of the worst water holes just for a little drama and fun?
Thanks
Leather Tongue
Good questions seeing as I’ll be out there with you. Snowpak seems to be low to nonexistent in NM this year so H2O will be a challenge. Cache??? whenever possible.
Marti /Swannee
If you want to avoid mincing words, use either “stock pond” or “trough” to refer to sources that cows can drink from, and “tank” for taller, metal containers (incl. closed cisterns) that store water for later use. A pond is as the name implies, an earthen impoundment where cows can directly wade into the water and do their business, and often with plenty of silt to clog a filter. A trough is a metal container of whatever size and shape, low enough to the ground for stock to drink from but not wade in (or poop in, although rarely that does happen), and you’ll often find algae and dead insects in these but not the filter-clogging silt of a stock pond.
Even with algae and insects, troughs and tanks (by the above definitions) are almost always more desirable source of water than stock ponds. Aqua Mira alone is all you need to treat this water. A filter just makes it look nicer.
And the dead varmint thing is not that common an occurrence, at least not to the extent that it ruins your day.
blisterfree
We use 2 liter bottles to carry water on the CDT. One was a green 7-up bottle that we used for smelly, manure water. Filtered or treated disgusting water still smells and tastes the same as before treating.The green bottle signified water that we used as a last resort, and then in town we disposed of the smelly bottle and bought a fresh new soda bottle. When we had to drink foul water we tried to disguise the taste drink powder or candy in our mouths.
GottaWalk
O.K. I know it’s tough to break it down here, everytone has a different experience, maybe I should’ve put up a multiple choice question.
Water sources
Stock pond - has anyone really drank from one as the norm.? DON’T DRINK! unless you’re gonna die, and in that case only, then procede to hike to the nearest hospital for treatment. :x
Tanks and/or Cisterns - seems they’d be fine providing no dead varmints, maybe just some saliva and algae, treat with whatever means you have, boil, filter, chemical. 8)
I’m waaay tooo worried about the water, just go hike and suck it up, You’ll be fine, really. :cheers
Does all that sound good? :nerd
Leather Tongue
In New Mexico, what you call a “stock pond” is actually called a “tank”–really. You’ll learn this, as I did, when you hike up to a “tank” shown on your map, expecting to find an above-ground metal object, and all you see is a dirt pond. It’s weird, but it’s what they call them. Arizona does that too. I have drunk out of these with no ill effects, though I will dose it with AquaMira. It’s really yummy when it’s warm water, too.
In my experience on the CDT, a filter may become dead weight unless it’s cleanable, and you have enough clean water to clean it with. Also in my experience, I’ve yet to find a dead animal in any water source. Maybe I’m just lucky. I’m much more likely to find it dry.
On the CDT, you should try to carry enough water to get you past a planned water source as an emergency measure, in case that source is dry or compromised with dead critters. I’ve been surprised before by “sure” sources not being there, and an extra liter has been good to have.
Garlic
C’mon now,really, is it common to drink from a water source where cattle roam freely about in the stagnant water doing their business in it as well? :x
I am hoping to find windmills with water pumping out from a spigot or pipe most of the time, or at the very least a water source that isn’t a cow bathtub, am I silly to expect such a water source a majority of the time?
Let me ask this question, I at all cost don’t want to drink from a cow bathtub, is it possible to do without me having to drive a watertruck down the trail?
I don’t want to look like Clint Eastwood in “The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly”, when Tuco made him cross the desert with no water! :eek:
Thanks
L. Tongue
No, it’s not common, but it’s wise to be prepared for it as an emergency measure. There are lots of windmills and excellent well water, probably over 90% of the time in my experience (as long as the wind’s blowing).
Some of the dirt tanks are not all that bad, either. They can be large, with no grazing nearby recently. Consider also the purifying effects of UV radiation–lots of sunlight out there. It’s a natural Steripen.
Garlic
That right there is the best info yet, and just the response I wanted to hear, If I ever meet you in person, I will buy you a beer.
Thanks Garlic
L. Tongue
Partly it depends on the year. Drought years can be problematic. On our first hike, we had a lot of water sources that were not available or useable on our second hike. Some wells were broken or removed second time around. Thanks to the drought in NM most of the cattle had been moved off the land so the tanks were turned off. (No cows, no water.) In Wyoming some of the streams and cow ponds were dry that had had water before. At the same time, there were some new wells that had been installed in the four years between hikes and some of the sources had been cleaned up or fenced to keep cows out. We never had a serious water shortage, but then, we always carried a lot of water. We always had at least one source each day. On our second hike, during the drought, three times passing vehicles gave us water. We would have survived without, but they would have been very long days as the next source was about 5 miles beyond where we got the water.
We used a Katadin Hiker Filter. On our first thruhike, we went through 5 filter elements. One only lasted four days (in the Wyoming desert where we were filtering a lot of stock pond water). On our second hike we only went through two filter elements.
Ginny
Garlic makes a good point. Sometimes “tanks” - per the map - are stock ponds and nothing more, regardless of your preferred definitions. Other times you might find a windmill & trough in addition to a pond. Again, consulting a guidebook, water chart, forum, or satellite images will often help to clear up any confusion.
Increasingly windmills are being disabled and replaced with solar pumping arrays. The good news here is that the sun is more reliable than the wind, so you’re more likely to find water running at the trough / pond inlet, and also more water in these catchments. The bad news is that the sun doesn’t shine at night, and an “offline” solar array is an electronics problem to solve, rather than a simple mechanical one as with a windmill brake wire.
Buy me a beer too. I’ve now spent way too much time chiming in on this thread.
blisterfree
O.K. O.K. BEERS ALL AROUND!
Like I said before, something like this is tough to nail down, given that everyones experience is different, and conditions change from year to year.
I was just looking for practical, general, common sense answers, from experienced CDT hikers and Garlic hit the nail on the head.
Yes the terminology is important, but looking at all the maps, guide books, journals, and forums, all of the water sources are referred to by different names.
Well, the info all of you have provided in this thread has helped me and hopefully others to better understand what to expect out there.
Thank you all, and yes, if I ever run into you fine folks I will make it a point to personally thank you and wet your whistle with whatever refreshment you like, that’s a promise. :cheers
L. T.
Just in case you didn’t know this. Tying a bit of coffee filter paper around the intake element, may greatly extend the filter life. I’m just speaking from experience, here…very cheap, light, and easily changed. :tongue
Lady Di