Spruce Knob/Seneca Creek trip - Monongahela National Forest, WVA July 16/17, 2021

[cmoulder]

That is a really nice area to hike, though I can appreciate how all the creek crossings might be a bit daunting for newbies.

I hiked it a few years ago, going in on the Seneca Creek trail, camping at Judy Springs, up to Spruce knob and back down to Judy Springs, then back out to Seneca Creek trail head. It was in early October and had been quite dry but Nature selected my trip time frame to rehydrate the region and it went from very dry to very wet!

I drank the water at Judy Springs with no filtering and was fine. Otherwise I used AquaMira, and nowadays I use AquaTabs, although I am experimenting with a BeFree filter, which I like so far after using it on 3 short trips. Chlorine dioxide etc have worked well for me but it sure is nice being able to "tank up" at a water source and to not have to wait for chemicals to work.

[JSH]

600_472945676.jpg

This picture is Red Creek in Dolly Sods. The red color appeared to be algae. And my Sawyer slowed significantly after about a gallon of filtering. I would have been in trouble if this had been a multi-day hike with this particular water source. Filter would have plugged. I remember wondering why some of our group hiked a 1/4 mile to a spring. Knew why after I filtered some of the Red Creek water. But good learning curve. Appreciate the thoughts in this post. I've learned to use more than just fresh water to flush my filters, plus good advice about carrying a spare filter and having a coffee filter for pre-filtering.

[cmoulder]

600_472945676.jpg

This picture is Red Creek in Dolly Sods. The red color appeared to be algae. And my Sawyer slowed significantly after about a gallon of filtering. I would have been in trouble if this had been a multi-day hike with this particular water source. Filter would have plugged. I remember wondering why some of our group hiked a 1/4 mile to a spring. Knew why after I filtered some of the Red Creek water. But good learning curve. Appreciate the thoughts in this post. I've learned to use more than just fresh water to flush my filters, plus good advice about carrying a spare filter and having a coffee filter for pre-filtering.

LOL yeah we crossed the Red River on our Dolly trip and said 'yuk,' but the whole region was very wet in the aftermath of TS (formerly Hurricane) Michael so there were plenty—too many, in fact—of other water sources.

This was a trail!

dolly_sods_wet_trail01.jpg

[JSH]

LOL yeah we crossed the Red River on our Dolly trip and said 'yuk,' but the whole region was very wet in the aftermath of TS (formerly Hurricane) Michael so there were plenty—too many, in fact—of other water sources.

This was a trail!

dolly_sods_wet_trail01.jpg

Looks pretty sloppy. Whew. Dolly Sods can offer a lot of experiences.