Beyond the Trailhead Podcast Ep. 26: Sawyer Products Community Manager Katie Houston

Note - This episode was originally published on Beyond the Trailhead YouTube and can be found at the link here.

What if the gear you carry on trail could actually save lives?

In this episode of Beyond the Trailhead, I sit down with Katie Houston (trail name “Oats”), Community Director at Sawyer, the company behind the iconic Sawyer Squeeze. We dive into how a simple water filter became one of the most impactful tools in the outdoor industry and how it’s being used around the world to bring clean water to communities in need. Katie shares her story from eating dry oats on the Appalachian Trail (yes… really) to helping lead a brand that donates over 90% of its profits to clean water initiatives globally.

We also get into:

• The real story behind the Sawyer Squeeze

• What actually happens inside your filter

• Why most people use their gear wrong

• How Sawyer responded during Hurricane Helene

• The impact of clean water around the world

• The reality of working in the outdoor industry

• And how one small piece of gear can change everything

Some of these stories are wild… and some hit pretty hard. If you’ve ever carried a Sawyer filter, this will completely change how you see it.