Drinking water

There are many ways of having drinking water on the trail, from bringing it with you, to digging your own well. Most people will do something in-between.

After a rain or in the morning look for leaves with water in them. It may taste funky, even after boiling it, but it is better than nothing.

If you have a garbage bag, you can make a ‘still’ to bring water out of the ground, and plants. It was created in the 70’s and has been a standard in many survival classes ever since.
The basic still has a hole that you dig, from two to three feet deep, with the garbage bag covering it. Put a weight, like a stone, on the middle of the surface of the bag so that any condensation on the inside will flow down and into a container you place there. A long piece of tubing would be very useful for sipping the water so that you do not have to disturb the bag to get to your water.

The reason the still works is that it is cooler in the ground a few feet down than at the surface. There is usually more moisture in the ground that we think, even in the dessert. The garbage bag captures the moisture that would usually be able to escape into the air, and with a container and a piece of tubing, you can siphon up the water that collects for survival drinking. Add a few pieces of succulents or other things you would not want to eat but have water in them and you can make the still work a little more.

If you are in a wilderness situation that you know there are water sources in, go downhill. Streams, rivers, lakes all are at the bottom of the hills and valleys, so go there to look for them. If you still have problems, find what looks like it might have been a stream bed or marshy area at one point and dig. You may find water below the surface, or you may find that after digging the hole, water will seep into it. Ditches hold water, too.

Ocean and sea water are different from fresh water. You need to still it to get the salt out of it or else the water you drink will actually make you thirstier.

If you can, strain the large particles from any water you come across, a T-shirt may have to be sacrificed for this, but it is nicer to drink rather than chew the water. Boil any water you get from sources such as ponds, creeks and even snow. It will kill anything that is in the water. Never eat snow. You do not want to become a camp-cicle, do you?

Unless you are, or are with, someone who knows the local Flora(read plants), do not just cut into things and drink the liquid. The clearer the liquid, the more likely it is to be potable, but without the experience, you may poison yourself instead of quench that thirst.

What about Snow as Water?

How do you Find Food?