Mmmmm Yabbies....
I thought Yabbies were crayfish / craw dads or what ever they are called where you live in the world.
When it comes to pack animals I am less concerned with catching something then I am with rodents as I "think" they are the highest percentage of carriers.
I stayed at Wallace Creek once in September where the PCT crosses it and the meadow was completely covered in horse droppings. I went right over and got unfiltered water from the stream and was fine.
The reality is the chances of catching something any where in the Sierra is fairly low but still there is a chance. Even drinking right out of the Merced in Yosemite Valley is probably better then allot of the heavy metals and toxic waste that comes out of our tap water on average.
