Hike..sometimes in the land of lakes it's a water everywhere but not a drop to drink situation.not all of it is %100 pure,a dead moose up stream or pond filled with duckweed can really put you off. there is a spring at the end of my street here in South Minneapolis,Cold Water spring, that i would and have taken drinking water from before some of the beaver ponds i've paddled thru in the far north.the other dehydration problem is that it can sneak up on you.many years ago i was getting headaches during the day on canoe trips.i would take a Alka-Selzer for relief thinking it was brought on by eye strain,the long view over the lakes V.S. a close up computer screen.later i found out that headaches were the first sign of dehydration.after that i made a point of drinking lots of water,knocking back a extra gulp need it or not,the headaches went and never returned.and i guess it was the water and salts in the Selzer more than the aspirin in it that helped.

I think you would have to work at it a little in most areas. You could probably squeeze enough to survive out of your socks.

Seriously though, Canoedogs is right. Without a means of purification, you would have to decide if your situation warrants the risk of consuming unknown water. I have consumed untreated water from the middle of a BWCA lake with no ill effects, and I have consumed water from cold springs with no problems.

In the porous limestone Karst topography that dominates 2/3 of Minnesota, it is not uncommon for a stream to emerge from the ground, flow for a mile, and then disappear underground again. It might run through pristine meadows and woods, or through a barnyard. I don't recommend drinking unknown unfiltered water except for last ditch survival.

I haven't ever had to squeeze my socks, but on one trip we were squeezing water out of moss. Just closed my eyes and pretended it was instant tea.

That was one of those occasions where I realized that there might be Bad Things in the water, but that my first priority was to get back to town, whereupon the effects of the Bad Things could be treated. Actually, I have been fortunate, because I have never been sick from drinking "wild" water. But nowadays I tend to treat it.