Re: Pinkish red snow algae
Posted: Fri Jul 27, 2012 12:22 am
mrchad9 wrote:If you agitate it (slide on it, mash it up, etc...) it has a strong scent of watermelon.
I've read a lot of books about the Sierra, so I don't remember where I read this, but I know I read somewhere that if you eat the red algae snow, it's harmless and will taste like watermelon. I've never been even remotely tempted to try this...
tahoecedar wrote:And now this year, I ran out of water on a hike and had been reading about how there was no giardia in the Sierras and so thought the water was safe.
It sucks what you've been going through. ...and the symptoms do sound like giardia. I read that the symptoms of giardia will last long after the infection is gone (wonderful, isn't it?). I can testify to that fact... I never had it diagnosed by a physician, but I'm pretty sure that that was what ailed me after drinking untreated water from the Merced River in LYV many years ago. My friend, who was new to Sierra hiking, also got the disease. We were day hiking Clouds Rest. I probably told him something like, "Yeah, it's safe. I drink this stuff all the time." He never hiked with me again.