Reddit, please help me out!
I use the Platypus QuickDraw with a dirty/clean bottle system: unfiltered water stays in my dirty bottle, I filter into separate clean bottles that have never touched unfiltered water. Always collecting from clear, fast-flowing streams. Filter stored per instructions.
Both times the symptoms hit late afternoon: stomach cramps, vomiting, and diarrhea. After a few hours it would calm down, I could sleep through the night and felt more or less fine the next day.
Trip 1: West Highland Way, Scotland (last year)
Trip 2: Lesse et Lomme, Ardennes (last week)
I don’t think it’s a general hygiene issue. I’ve done a few other wildcamping trips (3.5-week on the SWCP, a week on the GR131/132) with only tap or bottled water and had zero problems. I use hand sanitizer after every bathroom stop and before every meal, and wash my hands a few times a day. In daily life I’m rarely sick and never had any stomach issues.
So… is this just spectacularly bad luck, or am I missing something obvious? What would you check?