I still drink out of some of our creeks and springs in our NF areas when backpacking and hiking in the Ozarks. You have to know the terrain and what's on and ar

I still drink out of some of our creeks and springs in our NF areas when backpacking and hiking in the Ozarks. You have to know the terrain and what's on and around it to do that though. I've never gotten sick from that here. I did the same back in the `70-80s in the Sequoia NF. I was taught by old timers there when I was a kid to take your water where it was running clear over rock and sand, not from still pools, and take a good look upstream and around you for carcasses or other contaminants. I've still never seen a carcass near where I decided to take a drink, but I always look.