I am crazy, but I’m not stupid

This hiker is very skeptical.

Giardia is NOT a problem in the Rockies, propaganda is. I used to listen to the scare stories and carry filters and then one day I had to drink out of the stream and didn't get sick and then I put it to the test - two years later not sick. Now I drink any water that has never been in a lake (there are dead things in lakes and it is not giardia I am worried about). I have in fact drank lake water and also not gotten sick. The water up high is clean - it just fell as rain or snow recently. Same with the berg.

Giardia has a 2 week incubation and is intestinal. It results in chronic diarrhea.

It is a northern European fluke and is in the water supplies from Moscow to Oslo. Many northern Europeans are immune to it, and I may be - my ancestry is Belarus / Holland.

Nothing in this description fits giardiasis.

Just for some context on how bad the mist we did the bottom half of the pass in was - this is a photo of the "abyss" that we almost turned around at

@Ghaz, it was a close call to turn around thank goodness we hung around long enough for the mist to lift.
On the water thing, I also got water from the stream just to the left of the picture the "abyss", but like I've said many times I don't hold my breath and say it was the water, there were many other things that could have given me giardia.
Can't wait for the next hike.

A look at the back of Popple Peak

Fitness wrote: A look at the back of Popple Peak

Popple looks so small from the top of Judge Pass - wish I got a photo from there, but I was in no state to worry about photos.

From the Mafadi ridge it looks like this:


Its a real monster of a peak.

The next hike should be awesome - I'm also looking forward to it

I know i'm a bit late,but i only found the link now. I'm the lightjie carrying the pack about 3/4 of my weight.

That is VERY cool my young man!