Forget About Thirst - Sawyer Water Filter, A Game Changer

I spend a lot of time on the rivers along the North Shore of Lake Superior and it’s not uncommon for me to spend up to 14 hours a day hiking up and down these rivers chasing fish. I can go that long without food if I forgot my lunch, but I can't go that long without water. It's an absolute necessity. Combine all that hiking with wearing waders and the sun overhead and you need to hydrate. It's that simple.

For years I carried two or three Nalgene bottles with me. A total of 2 or 3 litres. Most times, this wasn't enough and I found myself finishing my water halfway through the day. I put up with the thirst for years, sometimes drinking questionable water with my fingers crossed, hoping I wasn't going to pay for the choice down the road. Luckily, I've never gotten sick from drinking questionable water, but that in no way means I want to keep taking those chances. I knew I had to change up my hydration game, but I wasn't quite sure how to do it.

Then, one day I was watching a YouTube video of a backcountry canoer who had this little device that fit in the palm of his hand. This device was able to provide him with clean drinking water all ten days of his trip! I knew I needed one, so I hopped on the internet and placed my order for my first Sawyer Mini water filtration system, hoping this would solve my water problems while out fishing and hiking.

Three days later my Sawyer Mini arrived. I took it out of the box and went fishing. I brought no water with me, this was either going to work, or I was going to be thirsty, no in between. Hours later, I was hiking up the river, well hydrated with a smile on my face because I wasn't killing my back with all that water I used to carry. It worked!

Check out the full review on NWO Outdoors' website here.