LifeStraws and other filtration straws, gadgets that allow users to suck water directly from backcountry creeks, lakes and streams, are an outdoors game-changer. They also have their limits, some seasoned Wyoming outdoorsmen said.
These straws are essentially tubes that users can place into water and drink through. They have internal filters designed to catch contaminants before they reach the user’s mouth. The company claims the filter catches 99.999% of bad stuff that could be in water.
A four-pack of the basic personal model goes for roughly $57.
They’re widely regarded as effective, but have their limits.
For instance, using a filtration straw to drink directly downstream from a herd of cattle doing their business in the creek would probably be pushing your luck too far, Cade Cole, an avid backcountry elk hunter and guide from the Dubois area, told Cowboy State Daily.
“They’re not great for really dirty water,” he said.
Best For Emergency Use
Avid backpacker Vince Meyer of Cheyenne said he keeps a filtration straw handy, but prefers using a gravity bag water filter for most of his water supply on wilderness excursions.
Both the personal filtration straw and gravity bag are made by LifeStraw and use the same filtration system, he said.
The gravity bag can be filled in a creek or stream.
“It has a hose coming out one end, and you can hang it from a tree with a clean water bag at the other end of the hose and just let it do its thing,” he told Cowboy State Daily.
Advanced filtering systems have made getting safe water in the backcountry quicker and easier than ever before, Meyer said.
But as far as laying on his belly to suck water directly through the filtration straw, that’s something he can see doing only in a dire situation. It’s easier to use the straw to drink from a cup, or to fill water bottles from the gravity bag, Meyer said.
He appreciates that these straws and other filtration devices could save lives in areas struck by natural disasters or war, when crowds of people are left without fresh water.
And they have been used for that, according to information posted online by LifeStraw. The company says its products have helped provide drinking water to hundreds of thousands of people in disaster zones around the world.
Backcountry Water Breaks
Cole said he hasn’t used one yet, but he’s seen numerous other people use them, with good results.
“I’m a fan of them overall,” he said. “I see lots of people using them. I would say the majority of my clients use them.”
Guy Eastman of Cody has hunted all over North America. He said he first saw a LifeStraw in use about a year ago, and he plans to get one.
One of his hunting partners had a LifeStraw and drank cool water directly from a stream with it, said Eastman, who represents the third generation of the famous outdoor multimedia Eastman family.
Seeing his hunting partner getting cool, refreshing drinks left him envious, Eastman said.
“My water in my bottle was warm,” he said.
You Really Don’t Want Giardia
No matter how clear and pure water in the backcountry might be, there’s nowhere in Wyoming where it’s safe to drink without some sort of treatment, Eastman said.
Water treatment could entail a range of options from the old-school method of boiling the water to newer devices such as LifeStraws.
Regardless of the method, it’s vital to treat water because of giardia, a nasty parasitic disease in water throughout Wyoming and the West.
Cole said he’s had giardia twice and wouldn’t wish it on anybody.
“It’s a lot of stomachache and diarrhea and vomiting,” and it left him laid up for about a week each time, Cole said.
Eastman said he’s been lucky enough to dodge giardia, but he has family members who’ve had it. Some of the effects have lingered, and symptoms have occasionally returned even years later.
“It’s serious. It’s not something you want to tangle with,” he said.
Gadgets called LifeStraws allow people to drink safely from mountain streams. They work, Wyoming outdoorsmen told Cowboy State Daily, but they aren’t strong enough to filter raw sewage. (Courtesy LifeStraw) 
Gadgets called LifeStraws allow people to drink safely from mountain streams. They work, Wyoming outdoorsmen told Cowboy State Daily, but they aren’t strong enough to filter raw sewage. (Courtesy LifeStraw)
Colorado Horror Story
Once when Eastman was at an outdoors show, a fan of the family’s hunting media approached him with a giardia horror story.
“He came up to me at a show, in response to an article I did about the importance of water filtration,” Eastman said.
The man told Eastman that he’d foolishly drank directly from a high-mountain stream in southern Colorado.
“He got so sick that he passed out in his tent and couldn’t get out of his tent,” Eastman said.
After a couple of days, the man’s wife got worried, and a search and rescue party was sent out to find him.
Even after his rescue, the man’s ordeal was far from over, Eastman said. Apparently, he’d contracted a rare and especially nasty strain of giardia that nearly killed him.
“He had to have open-heart surgery at 34 years old. He opened his shirt and showed me the huge scar on his chest,” Eastman said. “That story out of Colorado scared the living bejesus out of me.”
Wyoming Water Tastes Great
Filter straws are lightweight and handy for getting quick drinks on the go, Eastman and Cole said.
But for filling large containers, they’re too small and inefficient. Larger, hand-pump filtration systems are best for that.
Water filtration is better than the old methods of boiling water or dropping iodine tablets into it, they said.
“Iodine tablets are the worst. If you’re in a jam, they work well and they’re easy to carry in a pack, but they ruin the taste of the water,” Eastman said.
“Iodine tastes horrible, but at least with it you know for certain that the water is clean,” Cole added.
Eastman said he prefers filtering because it preserves the taste of water, and Wyoming’s backcountry water is some of the best-tasting there is.
“We are on the rooftop of the continent, that’s why our water tastes so good,” he said.
And having cool, tasty water is important, Eastman added.
“Otherwise, you might dehydrate when you’re out hunting, because you’re hesitant to drink water that tastes horrible or is too warm,” he said.
Contact Mark Heinz at mark@cowboystatedaily.com
