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Building shelters and finding clean water

Shelters

This is your first priority. Exposure to excessive heat or cold can kill you on the first day. A basic debris pile can be quickly made in almost any environment. Gather dry grass, pine needles, moss, leaves, and/or brush. Form a big pile 10' X 6' X 4' high. Burrow inside. Good down to -20 degrees.

Debris shelter - With a little more effort a debris shelter can be made. Find a long dead limb and place one end in the low crotch of a tree (about 3' off the ground), having first made a deep bed of grass and moss under it. Lean shorter sticks and branches in on the pole, leaving a spot uncovered for entry. Cover the entire structure with debris, the more the warmer.

Debris walls - Drive tall sticks into the ground in two parallel lines about 18" apart. Fill with long dry grass and other airy materials. Walls can fill in a cave entrance or form a hut if you drive corner posts. A framework of sticks piled deep with debris makes a water-tight roof.

Snow burrow - For short term protection against a winter storm dig into the snow. Curl into a ball to conserve heat and create and air space with your arms. Maintain a breathing hole.

Snow caves - These provide excellent protection in winter conditions. Form by packing snow or by shaping blocks to lay. Make sure the walls and roof are solid and at least 3' thick. Your own body heat can raise the air temperature in a small snow cave to 50 degrees while a blizzard rages outside.

Digging into the sand - In desert conditions without cover, digging a deep trench into the sand will help. Use the excavated material as a wall for shade. As you dig down the sand will cool off, possibly even becoming moist. Lay in the trench during the day and travel at night.

Clean Water

This can't be stressed enough. Don't drink questionable water! If you pick up a bacterial infection it will cause vomiting and diarrhea. This will dehydrate you quickly. Your strength will diminish as dehydration sets in. Your chances for survival diminish with it. If there isn't any plant or animal life around a water source it's probably chemically polluted. It may even have a chemical odor or film on it. DON'T even think about using it, not even for washing. Boiling or chemically treating chemically polluted water probably won't make it safe.

Rain - Catch rain with a large leaf. Try to fill up containers for later. Look in natural catches for more (depressions in rocks or logs). Not totally pure but drinkable.

Dew - Drag a cloth through the morning dew in the grass and wring it into your mouth. During summer dry seasons this might be your only available water. Drink your fill.

Snow - Don't eat snow. It will drop your body temperature too much. If you can melt it with hot stones from a campfire or on a flat rock facing the sun, it will safe enough to drink.

Plants - Consuming edible plants provides some water. Even chewing on grass or barrel cactus pulp will yield a swallow or two, but not much more. Limbs and roots from grapevine, maple, birch, or even cottonwood, cut into 3' lengths, will leak a considerable amount drinkable watery sap. Prop several up in a troth and let that pour into a container.

Solar stills - Yields are tiny (1 cup ea.) and require a sheet of plastic to make. Not practical.

Pond, lake and stream water - These water sources can be strained through a filter of sand, grass and campfire charcoal, or even through a folded cloth. Chances are, you will not have water treatment tablets or a pan to boil water in. If you can make a fire, however, you can boil water. Find or split a dead log chunk into a bowl or cup shape. Place hot coals from your campfire in the center and let them burn into the wood. Scrape out the charcoal and repeat until it is hollowed out. Fill the container with water and drop in small stones from your campfire to bring it to a boil. (at least 5 min) Shake when cool to remove the flat taste. Pine sap can be melted with hot stones in the new container to seal it for long term use.