This was definitely a tough lesson that I learned down in Georgia. I got dehydrated to the point that it was drink or be done. Once I rehydrated I was able to get back in the game. I never had any ill effects fortunately. It's funny, when I was a kid I drank out of puddles many times and never gave it a second thought and never got sick. As an adult I am much more cautious but there are scenarios where dehydration is worse than the risk from the water. I went about 34 hours without water and I was really suffering and was unable to do tasks that I usually take for granted. It was definitely an eye opener on the real effects of dehydration. Good video Dan.
Black Hat Bushcraft I thought a lot about you guys during this video and how much a difference it made when you started to drink. Awesome lesson learned!
Wow 34 hours without water is brutal especially if you are out and burning calories. I got lost in Mexico and had to walk 30 miles to San Felipe. I was only out of water for 10-12 hours and I was so thirsty. I couldn’t swallow my spit and had cotton mouth. Was horrible
I went for a hilly 30k run without water and even then would've drank from a puddle lol. Cramping legs and super hot, but still 0 sweat. Dehydration is nothing to take lightly.
Some years back I was watching a documentary about a tribe of Amazonian "Indians" (I don't recall the tribe). Their approach was to dig a small hole right at the edge of a water source and drink from that. The soil acts as a natural barrier for pathogens and disease carrying insects.
@@markrhodes403 Actually the immune system is actually quite fascinating, but what most people would consider "losing" your immune system is when an Organ called the Thymus which is in charge of training T cells in your adaptive immune system starts to wear out, another reason could be that they had their tonsil's removed as a child, which are a means of differentating what is okay and what is not for the microbiome in your gut (And other locations such as the Mucuosa layer) telling your body what to kill and what not to kill. The immune system as a whole is such an incredible little piece of biology. Of course immuno compromising diseases as well as immuno suppressing drugs, and sometimes even autoimmune diseases can take valuable cell resources away from the actually urgent infections/pathogens/viruses etc.
I've drank without incident below a dam made by beavers but I think its only because of the mud bank they made. It was like a wall where water had to pass through a couple feet of mud that seemed to filter it. The difference in water clarity once it passed through the dam was what tipped me off that they had made one hell of a filter over the years. Wouldn't do it every day, but wanted to toss my hat in the ring on this topic and offer my own experience. Without the mud bank filtering it, I would have never done this. This was a unique dam I found in the mts near London, KY. 🇺🇸
I see many here speaking about drinking water from streams in the Northeast as kids and I would make a point on that. Back before the 1980's there really wasn't much beaver yet in those mountains from PA to New England. Today beaver have made a huge comeback, they are numerous and found pretty much all through northern Appalachia. You DO NOT want to drink water near beaver habitation, not even what you'd think would be far enough downstream to be safe. They are a major source for giardia parasites. So what was safe back as kids may no longer be true. I sure that's why Coalcracker made mention of beaver.
In a survival situation if I had no other choice I would decide to not think about it and drink anyway. It takes about a week for symptoms of giardiosis to develop and thats a week I can spend hydrated looking for help. I can just say what I drank from and get treated for parasites if I survive
I grew up on a small crick that runs from a spring into the lehigh, I drank from it all the time and harvested watercress. However this was above the houses, all the houses including ours the liquid sewerage ran into the crick. Still does lol
I wouldn't put beaver's in a bad light, from creating dams they raise the water table around the area. instead of the ground becoming saturated and dry after rainfall, the water stays and creates ponds and those become bigger ponds. Creating a whole new ecosystem.
To anyone new to bushcraft, I have to say this content is very, very good. I am no trained, certified bushcraft/survival instructor, but in my 53 years I've spent a lot of time in the woods, and have been confronted with this question of to drink or not many times. Dan, your thought process -- "put all these concepts in your toolbox" -- is very valuable to pass on. I think through "the water question" much like you do, but it took me decades to figure it out to the point it is intuitive. New bushcrafters take heed: this content, which teaches you to THINK about what you're doing, will turn into WISDOM about what you're doing, and will put you years ahead in skillset. Appreciate it Dan!
I've been saying this for years. If you're in a true survival situation and you have a plentiful, non-brackish source of water then you drink all you can. If you get sick then you have plenty to drink to replenish what you lost. Yes you will lose nutrition but you will be MUCH healthier than if you don't. It will give you the ability to look for food to get that nutrition that you need whereas if you don't drink the water you will deteriorate to the point where you won't be able to do anything to help you survive.
If you get sick, it prob wont be for a few days after drinking. If its a survival situation being sick 3 days down the road is the least of your concerns
This was the EXACT same advice my father gave me as a kid! He always reminded me of the rule of threes in this case; "One can survive; three weeks with out food, three days with out water, and three minutes with out air." When in dehydration, and in doubt, just drink it. It will take longer for the microbes to kill ya than the dehydration. (Although, Dad also said; that if the water was not good you would still die from dehydration after the dysentery got ya! :P All joking aside, it is about living every extra minute you can. Help can be coming from just around the next hill! Sometimes hours, and even minutes make all the difference! Love the channel, thank you! :)
Growing up in the rocky mountains we drank from mountain streams all the time. Usually the water comes straight out of the ground where it's been naturally filtered and tastes delicious.
NICE VIDEO: In my older age, I dehydrate easily. I never go anywhere without a method to purify water. I have filter straws in my truck, my "get home bag", my backpack, my house. I can't do dehydration more than 10 hours after feeling first signs of dehydration. Best way to survive a "survival situation" is to not get into a survival situation!
@@thegrandnil764 Young whippersnapperness doesn't prevent Giardia. You don't want to learn that the hard way. If you *can* filter you *should* filter. My only exceptions are springs & very high mountain streams w no obvious wildlife drinking from 'em. I've seen several whippersnappers shitting their asses out with Giardia. One for six months. One for four. One I'm not sure. Don't learn that the hard way.
This is very much the same as Scoutmaster Hamilton taught us. He told us to walk downstream 100 yards, inspecting the stream, before drinking. "A football field of burbling stream and you should be okay." We lucked-out and had a damn good Scoutmaster for Troop 455 in the Seventies.
I recommend getting a Sawyer Mini-Filter. If you can't boil the water, use the mini-filter. Not expensive and (in my opinion) a fantastic backup to boiling!
C McClellan like I said there are a lot of options out there. I really want people to think about what if they have nothing. Then what?? Sawyer makes good stuff for sure
Awesome video with good info. One of the jobs I've had the pleasure of doing in the Navy is testing water. I was responsible for multiple USMC training areas. It was my job to make sure there was potable water at each of the training areas before use. We left water bulls out at sites that were used frequently. I did bacteria testing on all the bulls once a month with the IDEXX Colilert product. Our maintenance schedule and water treatment methods ensured I never had a positive test in all the months I worked there. One day wile driving past a pond near one of the training areas I collected some water and ran my bacteria test. After incubation it was beyond the color chart I had and floruested positive for E. coli. Definitely steer clear of standing water except for emergencies.
Good point about "what if there is a dead deer upstream" lol. Also, the smell. Definitely want to be mindful if there is anything such as farmland upstream too, if you're deep in the wilderness this isn't likely but be smart about it, if there's active farmland upstream then runoff from that farmland is probably in the water (I'm talking chemicals, pesticides etc). One other thing about springs you have to watch out for is, check the surrounding area of the spring, particularly if the spring water is able to pool anywhere and check for deposits like iron oxide (saw a spring along Loyalsock Trail, also here in PA, that had a heavy amount of iron oxide in it), or anything else that might make the water foul or stink (besides sulfur, although that in itself is foul enough) - if the pool water isn't crystal clear and/or it smells odd, don't drink from it.
A pool of crystal clear water could arguably be more dangerous than a murky stream though. That water might be so contaminated that bacteria and algea can't survive at all. Take this with a grain of salt though, I'm far from an expert on this subject.
As a forester there’s been MANY days where I’ve just had to drink straight from a river because I was so thirsty. Though I don’t recommend this, it was real tasty at the time
Good info. I once did get sick from water but that was drinking everyday out of a huge raging river for a week or so. I was in the fetal position for about three days
Damn. I'm so envious of your area. I've been an outdoorsman nearly 40 yrs now but gained my life skills in the deserts if the southwest. Oftentimes the only source is standing water and using some source of filtering isn't even an option. Your cleanest sock or shirt...really comes down to prep here, no foolin.
Good video. Here in Colorado, I have gotten giardia and it is not fun. If it was a choice between dying of dehydration and giardia, I would drink the water, and get medical attention immediately. One thing we have around here is water from streams and springs that run through abandoned mines. The water can be an interesting shade of red or orange. I might hesitate to drink that... Thanks for bringing this up, I think it's definitely an area people need to think about beforehand.
I dropped my full nalgene type bottle right at the start of the day and the lid popped leaving me around 100ml, for most people this wouldn't be a major problem but I have a condition called hyperhydrosis which is literally excessive perspiration so I tend to drink 2 or 3x as much as others. With no other choice I had to scoop some from a small trickle that was feeding into Ullswater, sheep all over the place and no idea if I'd get sick from it. A mile or so down the track I came to a bridge over a substantial stream so glugged a litre and refilled with another litre for the rest of the day. Its a very useful skill to judge if water is a good source or not. Good video Dan, thanks.
Really good video and info. Growing up in middle / east TN when my brother and I were young in the summer time we ran around outside all day. Rode our bikes all around, Fished creeks, played in the woods. It was rural and we had well water at our house with an old pump house. Minus a little sulfur smell (we did not know any better then it’s what we had) we drank that our entire childhood, out of the garden hose, never any issues. We knew better than to drink from a pond or really the main creek we fished because too many people around us had cows, goats etc.. and many fenced off fields near the creeks so their cows, horses etc. could get water. Luckily with all the hills surrounding us there were always springs that ran off the hills to the creeks, we would follow those back into the woods, find the source which was typically a rock ledge into a small cave or just where water flowed out. The water was always cold and clear, we cupped our hands and drank from it. I do not remember ever having any issues. This was the late 80s early 90s when I was maybe 8-10 years old. We were fortunate to have many limestone caves or springs up in the hills that even in the middle of summer usually had water flowing. Now being older and smarter I might hesitate to drink it not filtered in some way, but growing up we always did. Good knowledge to have. If you’re ever in the woods, lost etc.. find a creek, follow it until you find a runoff from a hill etc.. follow that until you find the source and typically that will be your best / safest water to drink if you are in that situation
I have drank from spring fed streams since I was a kid and still do never been sick guess I've been lucky didn't even know about purification until about 5 year ago course we have a lot of mountain streams in our area
Mountain streams are also a great place to wet your bandana and cool down, no matter how clean the water is. Cooling down does help preserve some of your hydration. Fun fact: back in the 1800's and early 1900's, some towns would advise against drinking the local water because of pollution from industry. Beer was the recommended drink.
In the middle ages that was common practice in a lot of places in Europe, sanitation was poor if it existed at all so water sources near settlements were probably contaminated.
@@lolguytiger45 It isn't, it's common knowledge. Urban areas, up-until Victorian times were known for poor sanitation. And in general, people preferred low-alcoholic beer as it was safer to drink than the water in the city. Go 5 minutes outside a city or town, however, it would have been an entirely different story. Most countryside folk back in the day would have hydrated from water of the many wells, streams and natural springs that litter the landscape.
@@urmum3773 "Common knowledge" is often false. The residents of medieval cities drank water copiously, mostly from public groundwater wells, and sometimes from collected rainwater.
when i lived in washington state, i came across this crystal clear running stream/creek hiking in the woods/mountains, and crouched down, literally put my mouth to the water, and it was the most satisfying and refreshing drink of water i ever had. surprisingly nothing negative came from it, no disease, no parasites, nothing, and it’s been at least 4 years since! i filled up my water bottle and it was clear and clean as glass
3 years ago I was hiking along the Verdon in the French southern Alps, and I had seriously underestimated the water quantity I needed. It was a very hot and dry summer's day with little to no shade at all, and the hike had been long and I was feeling very dehydrated and as thirsty as a man can be. As I arrived at the end of the hike, I was told by a guide that the parking in which my car awaited was just a few hundred meters away, up a steep as hell slope. I said fuck it and just drank out of the Verdon river that was accessible at this point. Didn't get sick at all, everything went fine.
I live in the South Island of New Zealand a lot of native bush around us, I find your tips extremely handy keep up the wonderful work. Next time I am in the USA I will definitely try look you guys up 🤠👍
@@workingguy6666 well, it was basically like a case of extreme food poisoning. Diarrhea, stomach cramps, and dehydration. Couldn't eat or drink anything without it immediately and painfully exploding out of my ass.
I agree with you on drinking the untreated/unfiltered water in an emergency - especially if you know the area, know it's safe, and have drank it before without any ill effects. That said... it's best (IMHO), to check several yards upstream if possible, for dead animals, activity (animal crossings, scat, etc.) before drinking it untreated... just like you said. I ran into that situation on a cold, clear water stream on property I had hunted on for decades, that I had drank straight from for many years. I got lucky and recovered in a week or so, but could have been MUCH worse, had I not recognized the symptoms as soon as I did and went in to the local ER. I'm glad you mentioned that people need to be aware of that, but I hope they remember and take it VERY seriously. As always, great video Dan. 👍
When I was a kid my fam would go to the exact source of a natural spring by a cave in Missouri to collect gallon jugs of water. It was so delicious and we never got sick for years.
Tips for avoiding Giardia: Obviously the most effective way is to boil the water. Short of chemical contaminants, boiling will take care of almost anything. However if you're in a situation where you cannot boil the water, and you know / suspect that your water source contains giardia, then a trick I was taught is to place your bottle / cup in less turbulent water (no bubbles, but not stagnant if you can help it) and open it about a foot underwater. Giardia naturally floats near the top of rivers / streams, so by opening your bottle underwater you can hopefully avoid it. If you're using a cup just place it in the water upside down so the surface water doesn't fill it up. The reason you want to avoid turbulent water where giardia is concerned is that it can mix up the water and the floating giardia will be mixed throughout. The ideal water would be just before some rapids where the water is fast moving but not yet turbulent. Once again I will state: This is not 100% effective, and you should always boil if you have the option, but in a situation where you have nothing better it could save your life.
Having just put a wee dram in my morning coffee, heck it's the weekend I wondered where this video was going. Good information, ultimately drink water or die if have you gone without for a day or two. In the Welsh mountains I once drank out of a small stream, it was irresistible then further up found a dead sheep half in the water, amazingly no illness.
Sure you're Welsh and not benefitting from the luck of the Irish? Lol. Maybe the sheep wasn't long dead, so hadn't had time to contaminate the water or any contamination had been flushed away earlier?
@@billyandrew Not welsh but have quite a bit of Irish DNA anyway, the sheep had expanded quite a lot, not sure how long that takes but I think I was very lucky.
Good video. I picked up a parasite by sharing water with some one who said they got there water from a safe source. Later on the hiking he showed every one where he got his water. My instincts immediatsly told me ooops, i always carry more water than i need now.
Epic video! Love it, also by the by, hot or at least warm water is better for you than cold water. Your body can metabolize warm and hot water alot faster than cold water. Resulting in quicker hydration!
Having studied in parasitology, there is always a risk when drinking water from lakes, ponds, or puddles. You can get parasitic worms as their eggs are really resilient or even some of their larval infective stage going into your skin and system is really hard to notice.
crucial in this conversation is non-time-consuming, non-fire ways to purify water. I know he wasn't getting into specifics on methodology in this video, but i think it's at least worth mentioning having a backup method ready. I carry a lifestraw AND purifying tablets, even if my primary plan is to boil water. Sometimes you don't have the time, firewood, or frankly the effort in you to go through all those motions especially in hot weather, and these tools, while finite, can upgrade a thumbs down water source into a safe one, or take a safe one and make it a sure thing to take a load off your mind.
I like the info thank you. But from my experience if you go roughly five to 15 feet or so you could dig a Indian well. It will help filter the water from the main source not perfect but its safer. But hey we all got our own way.
Me and my friends got lost up some hills during a hike and lost our camp and ran out of water. Found this gorgeous hilltop with this really small river trickling down, we went up to the top and went face first. It was and still is the clearest and best water I’ve ever had. Hadn’t ever drank straight from a source before. But a mixture of needing water and finding made it even better
As a youngster, I drank from any stream I found (in my neck of the woods here in the PNW). But a few decades later, after 50 years of this f$&@!* national park and tourists, I don’t dare. Filters, purifiers, purification tabs, are the new norm, and boiling if nothing else.
This is a topic that is murky as you say. I grew up and was told, any dead standing water you dont drink it, if its moving then your fine. All my life i have drank from many sources with out ill effects. Altho i wont tell others to do the same, and i purify my water now as well, with filters or boiling. I say the same thing, better to drink and be found ill , if it even happens, than dead , which will happen if you dont drink. Thanks for the video.
if you're conditioned to it, you wont have as drastic effects. think about the type of water third world countries have to drink and dont get sick from.
@@CircumcisionIsChildAbuse It's a joke... but... the tap water is bad... not because is brown or muddy, it's clean... but full of fluoride and other chemicals... smells like chemicals, like water from a pool... so I have to buy mineral water without taste... I live in Brazil, we are third world for sure, but there are lots of middle class neighborhoods and cities... I think the situation in Bolivia and Venezuela is much worse...
@@CircumcisionIsChildAbuse The crazy thing is our mineral water that comes from the mountains is fucking good... there is a city here where you can drink sparkling water right from the fountain... lots of healing water here... but the system fucks up everything
FUN FACT AT THE END! I have my metal cup velcro attach to the side of my backpack and its almost a game for me to drink out of a natural source of water And never been sick. The idea is to learn how risky it is to be sick and wich kind of water is less risky ( like explain in this video) fun fact: ( i keep the start of the story for the end) i camped up stream for a night(tiny stream through the leaf etc.. and decide to follow it. And the stream become bigger and bigger and for me this water was super clean( moving and cristal clear) and finaly reach the river...... up stream 50 feet from the tent was rotting a moose probably dead during the winter 6-8 months ago. Thats why you want to purify your water. But i still dont give a shit.
Very good points. If it means saving your life, buy some time. Drink the water, with the hope that if you get sick, you can get medical aid in time. 2nd, agree 100% on choosing your source wisely, IF, IF multiple choices are available. Protected, free flowing spring is by far the best. River a few miles from me is heavily polluted. Large creek, nearby almost as bad. Small creek closer, still, has beaver upstream. Farm ponds, in this area, subject to run off from agriculture. So.... for raw water, a spring is the best option. Worth the effort to get to it, if reasonable circumstances permit. That said, if necessary, I'd drink that polluted river water, knowing my time would be much shorter, if I didn't.
I cannot find the specific articles but I know of two situations where those who were lost in the outback here in Aus, have passed up a water source, likely because it looked murky and was not flowing to die shortly after, only to have their bodies found hours or days after. Both had they bought a few days by drinking the contaminated water would have likely been feeling very crook, but alive and flown to a hospital to be treated. I think both were overseas travelers and maybe did not understand the concept that flowing clean water is not something you come across by accident here.
I am Australian, you would not catch me dead outdoors without my metal water container, cup and milbank bag. Even when I am only going a few hundred meters from camp to get wood it stays on me. Here you will dehydrate in less then 2 hours, less with exercise and all water sources that you can find readily are muddy creeks that only flow during a heavy down pour. I am fairly jelous of people in colder climates that can just "stumble" across a water source, here I spend hours or days pawing over topographical maps, marking locations, and fretting over potential water sources which in the end are usually creek beds I have to dig up, or murky unappetizing puddles that take a long time to filter through the milbank bag.
Hey... that is to bad not having a lot of water sources but at least you know what to do. I would wager half of Americans could not figure it out and would die.
@@raycerv70 You got that right! We recently had severe cold weather with power outages lasting a few days. When the authorities issued a boil notice some people lost it. They would say silly things like “how do we boil water without power (electric)?” 😂😂😂
Good point! Height could give a rough, although not definite guide, by which I mean did it come downhill, but that's not to say it wasn't sourced from an uphill farm. A walk to verify it's origins, rather than crossed fingers would settle it. How many would think of that, though?
Eostrogen. I'm not kidding. Read an article on it a while back. It was part of brain study research, looking at multitasking and temperature. Us guys have more testosterone, while women have more eostrogen. That why the difference.
In PA we have a lot of springs, so if it comes right out of the ground, it's better than a creek. You see a pond in a mountain, it's probably scorced by a spring and it's probably cool.
Filter threw sand and thick dense layer of soil with rocks underneath. Cloth underneath and then up top of available. 2 drops sodium hypochlorite per quart disinfects clear water. Stir it, wait 30 minutes. 7 inches of dense soil from 5 inches deep removes fallout. Better than nothing. 😉
I was drinking directly from a small spring on my friend's land when a fairly good size salamander (or something like it) came out of the hole where the water was emerging. I was startled since my face was in the water, but fortunately the water was good and I had no issues afterward.
If we weren't at the source on a mountain stream (which would be best, & we were usually pretty high up), we'd always filter using something like a hankerchief 2 or 3 layers. Taste so good! Be careful, streams could also go through meadows or wallowing pits.
I'm with you on the boiling water. If you are in a hot climate, Always Be Prepared. Gather up your water in the cool of the morning. Boil enough for the day, and let it cool. I'd even use the purification tabs, just for good measure.
My brother, myself, and a few freinds used to fish small creeks and beaver ponds in north central Colorado. We would see deciduos trees that indicated shallow draws. The area was most all pine trees, but the deciduos trees meant water. Not all those shallow draws had natural springs, but enough that they were worth checking when our water bottles ran dry. Never had an issue, but sure wouldn't drink from the main creek and never from to ponds.
Living in Washington state, drank out of clean creeks up in the woods my whole life. I didn’t boil it, put any chemicals in it, just drank it. One time like you were talking about I walked 90 feet up the and there was a dead deer in it. Still did not ever get sick. It is in our DNA to survive.
they drink hot tea etc. in the deserts in the middle east - it's suppose to raise the body heat so you then can take the outside heat better.... then perhaps a cold rag on the out side around your neck - wiping your face off.... just a thought
I've heard the same thing about desert dwellers. I drink hot coffee in the middle of the day during the summer in Texas. I don't feel any ill effects. If I was doing strenuous work, sweating up a storm and on the verge of overheating, I would not drink anything hot. Icy cold water can make you cramp up if you drink it while overheated. Cool to cold water is better if you are overheating, otherwise, what ever floats your boat. As kids, we ran all over central GA and drank water out of flowing steams in rural suburbia. Sometimes they even bordered cattle pastures, which is certainly not ideal. It's said "God looks after fools and drunks". Well, at least sometimes. I will never willing drink unfiltered or unboiled water outdoors unless my life depends on it. Just because you didn't get sick previously, doesn't mean you should assume that you will never get sick. If you, or anyone you know, has every had severe food poisoning, or Montezuma's Revenge in Mexico; you'll know that you can quickly get into a very life threatening situation from water borne disease. It is not uncommon to get so sick that it is not possible to walk more than a short distance. I'm really on the fence about Dan drinking water from the spring like he did. Some sick little mouse could have just pooped at the headwaters five minutes before he showed up. Birds, reptiles and amphibians, all of which may be attracted to Dan's spring, are major carriers of salmonella. That's my luck anyway. I'd worry less if I found a spring that was dripping out of a crack in the rocks on a vertical surface so that no water could pond around the source, but how often is that going to happen? People in Mexico don't get sick nearly as often on their water as tourists do, because they are used to and adapted to many of the "bugs" in the water. One may be accustomed to drinking local surface water without ill effects, yet a visitor from out of state, especially one that doesn't get out much and who has seldom been exposed to wild bugs; or someone who has a compromised immune system due to illness, medication or stress might get very sick from drinking the same water that you drink with no ill effects. We go into the woods to get away from civilization and many of its trappings. Driving a car is dangerous, but we wear a seat belt and do it anyway. So each to their own on what risks they'll take. Well okay....That was a Rabbit Trail for sure. LOL! I'm down for what Dan said, be careful and boil your water if at all possible. Otherwise use your best judgment and drink the water if otherwise you might die.
Drank from a Beaver pond doing the Vermont leg of the AT. We hiked for 11 miles and couldn't find any water so we had to drink what we could find. We filtered it and didn't get sick. It was a nasty and smelly pond but we were so dehydrated we didn't have a choice. I had two gallons of water at the trail-head but I quickly dumped it out to get rid of the 16 lbs. It was the wrong call.
This was an important video , well done , I always purify , 99% of the time , I use the saywer micro , but have used part a and b drops before , we want hiking one time and didn't have any water near camp , so we found a pond , then we went up the bank a bit and dug a seep , let mm it fill then let the sediment settle , that's how we got water that day , then filtered and chemical
It might be a weird comment but in extreme cases, rectal rehydration is a great way to absorb water without getting sick. Now, how you put the water inside is an other story, but you'll survive.
Geography certainly plays into t your decision-making model. I live in British Columbia Canada with a million mountain lakes and streams. I drink from them all the time. Most of our streams are fast-moving very cold. That being said sometimes a water source just seems sketchy. I will boil or filter those. Good advice either way.
"To drink or not to drink" I ask myself that every night.
Go for it! The bottle is your best friend;)
Yea. I got all Pelosi'd up Friday night myself
@@chrismcdonald6481 Chris my friend that us really funny! Greetings from Michigan!
@@captainburdock2220 back at ya my friend from. Vancouver island Canada. Cheers
@@chrismcdonald6481 cheers!!!
This was definitely a tough lesson that I learned down in Georgia. I got dehydrated to the point that it was drink or be done. Once I rehydrated I was able to get back in the game. I never had any ill effects fortunately. It's funny, when I was a kid I drank out of puddles many times and never gave it a second thought and never got sick. As an adult I am much more cautious but there are scenarios where dehydration is worse than the risk from the water. I went about 34 hours without water and I was really suffering and was unable to do tasks that I usually take for granted. It was definitely an eye opener on the real effects of dehydration. Good video Dan.
Black Hat Bushcraft I thought a lot about you guys during this video and how much a difference it made when you started to drink. Awesome lesson learned!
wow Thats way beyond what i could endure.. I drank TheMuddyWaters after only 12 hours... very similar experiance .. thanks for sharing it
Wow 34 hours without water is brutal especially if you are out and burning calories. I got lost in Mexico and had to walk 30 miles to San Felipe. I was only out of water for 10-12 hours and I was so thirsty. I couldn’t swallow my spit and had cotton mouth. Was horrible
I went for a hilly 30k run without water and even then would've drank from a puddle lol. Cramping legs and super hot, but still 0 sweat. Dehydration is nothing to take lightly.
What has happened over time in US waters have gotten worse. In regards to giardiasis and cryptosporidium. This is surface water.
Some years back I was watching a documentary about a tribe of Amazonian "Indians" (I don't recall the tribe). Their approach was to dig a small hole right at the edge of a water source and drink from that. The soil acts as a natural barrier for pathogens and disease carrying insects.
Makes a degree of sense, but they may, over their lives, have developed a level of immunity.
@Mateusz Abramczyk You don't "lose" your immune system unless you contract HIV, or other immune compromising diseases
@@markrhodes403 Actually the immune system is actually quite fascinating, but what most people would consider "losing" your immune system is when an Organ called the Thymus which is in charge of training T cells in your adaptive immune system starts to wear out, another reason could be that they had their tonsil's removed as a child, which are a means of differentating what is okay and what is not for the microbiome in your gut (And other locations such as the Mucuosa layer) telling your body what to kill and what not to kill. The immune system as a whole is such an incredible little piece of biology. Of course immuno compromising diseases as well as immuno suppressing drugs, and sometimes even autoimmune diseases can take valuable cell resources away from the actually urgent infections/pathogens/viruses etc.
@@markrhodes403 yea or shoot up the coof vax...
I've drank without incident below a dam made by beavers but I think its only because of the mud bank they made. It was like a wall where water had to pass through a couple feet of mud that seemed to filter it. The difference in water clarity once it passed through the dam was what tipped me off that they had made one hell of a filter over the years. Wouldn't do it every day, but wanted to toss my hat in the ring on this topic and offer my own experience. Without the mud bank filtering it, I would have never done this. This was a unique dam I found in the mts near London, KY. 🇺🇸
I see many here speaking about drinking water from streams in the Northeast as kids and I would make a point on that. Back before the 1980's there really wasn't much beaver yet in those mountains from PA to New England. Today beaver have made a huge comeback, they are numerous and found pretty much all through northern Appalachia. You DO NOT want to drink water near beaver habitation, not even what you'd think would be far enough downstream to be safe. They are a major source for giardia parasites. So what was safe back as kids may no longer be true. I sure that's why Coalcracker made mention of beaver.
Very few things are safe 30 years later..
Beaver fever …
In a survival situation if I had no other choice I would decide to not think about it and drink anyway. It takes about a week for symptoms of giardiosis to develop and thats a week I can spend hydrated looking for help. I can just say what I drank from and get treated for parasites if I survive
I grew up on a small crick that runs from a spring into the lehigh, I drank from it all the time and harvested watercress. However this was above the houses, all the houses including ours the liquid sewerage ran into the crick. Still does lol
I wouldn't put beaver's in a bad light, from creating dams they raise the water table around the area. instead of the ground becoming saturated and dry after rainfall, the water stays and creates ponds and those become bigger ponds. Creating a whole new ecosystem.
To anyone new to bushcraft, I have to say this content is very, very good. I am no trained, certified bushcraft/survival instructor, but in my 53 years I've spent a lot of time in the woods, and have been confronted with this question of to drink or not many times. Dan, your thought process -- "put all these concepts in your toolbox" -- is very valuable to pass on. I think through "the water question" much like you do, but it took me decades to figure it out to the point it is intuitive. New bushcrafters take heed: this content, which teaches you to THINK about what you're doing, will turn into WISDOM about what you're doing, and will put you years ahead in skillset. Appreciate it Dan!
Teaches you to think? Every thing here is like so, that has no effect on Me.
@@aleksitjvladica. you really opened a comment thread a year later just to be condescending? Cool. Lol
@@gdawg5920 Okay.
@@aleksitjvladica.
Wow!
Wow!
Wow!
Chat disabled for 3 second(s)
Very well said
I've been saying this for years. If you're in a true survival situation and you have a plentiful, non-brackish source of water then you drink all you can. If you get sick then you have plenty to drink to replenish what you lost. Yes you will lose nutrition but you will be MUCH healthier than if you don't. It will give you the ability to look for food to get that nutrition that you need whereas if you don't drink the water you will deteriorate to the point where you won't be able to do anything to help you survive.
Whenever I saw people drink water from a moving stream on a show called "Naked and afraid" they get hospitalised lol
@@arfur5696 weak stomached liberals
If you get sick, it prob wont be for a few days after drinking. If its a survival situation being sick 3 days down the road is the least of your concerns
I dont think this dude has ever heard of fatal water borne diseases.
“to drink or not to drink” bear grills internal monologue every time he pees
This was the EXACT same advice my father gave me as a kid! He always reminded me of the rule of threes in this case; "One can survive; three weeks with out food, three days with out water, and three minutes with out air."
When in dehydration, and in doubt, just drink it. It will take longer for the microbes to kill ya than the dehydration. (Although, Dad also said; that if the water was not good you would still die from dehydration after the dysentery got ya! :P
All joking aside, it is about living every extra minute you can. Help can be coming from just around the next hill! Sometimes hours, and even minutes make all the difference!
Love the channel, thank you! :)
Growing up in the rocky mountains we drank from mountain streams all the time. Usually the water comes straight out of the ground where it's been naturally filtered and tastes delicious.
NICE VIDEO: In my older age, I dehydrate easily. I never go anywhere without a method to purify water. I have filter straws in my truck, my "get home bag", my backpack, my house. I can't do dehydration more than 10 hours after feeling first signs of dehydration. Best way to survive a "survival situation" is to not get into a survival situation!
I also bought filterstraws, but haven’t testet them yet. How effective are they? Would you drink from a pond with that?
As a young whipper snaper, I drink and eat everything and im ok.
@@thegrandnil764 be safe young whipper snapper
@@thegrandnil764 Young whippersnapperness doesn't prevent Giardia. You don't want to learn that the hard way. If you *can* filter you *should* filter. My only exceptions are springs & very high mountain streams w no obvious wildlife drinking from 'em.
I've seen several whippersnappers shitting their asses out with Giardia. One for six months. One for four. One I'm not sure. Don't learn that the hard way.
@@theminister1154 why the fuck don't they use diotemaceous earth then? It kills giardia parasites and is non toxic to humans.
Good info.
The Wooded Beardsman thanks man! Hope all has been well
The WBman is always nearby...
This is very much the same as Scoutmaster Hamilton taught us. He told us to walk downstream 100 yards, inspecting the stream, before drinking. "A football field of burbling stream and you should be okay." We lucked-out and had a damn good Scoutmaster for Troop 455 in the Seventies.
@@coalcracker HAVAGOODAY 🐥🐈⬛🐒
The wooded beardsman toooooo🐥🐿🐈⬛
I recommend getting a Sawyer Mini-Filter. If you can't boil the water, use the mini-filter. Not expensive and (in my opinion) a fantastic backup to boiling!
C McClellan like I said there are a lot of options out there. I really want people to think about what if they have nothing. Then what?? Sawyer makes good stuff for sure
Weigh practically nothing as well, so yeah, a Sawyer mini is really a no brainer
Drinking standing water is a Bad Idea.
If you've gotta drink from the source, drink from briskly Running water!!
I have a Lifestraw.
Haven't used it yet.
The same quality as the Sawyer??
I ordered one today, but it doesn't seem to remove toxins? Only bacteria and microplastics right? So boiling is still important if you have the time
Awesome video with good info. One of the jobs I've had the pleasure of doing in the Navy is testing water. I was responsible for multiple USMC training areas. It was my job to make sure there was potable water at each of the training areas before use. We left water bulls out at sites that were used frequently. I did bacteria testing on all the bulls once a month with the IDEXX Colilert product. Our maintenance schedule and water treatment methods ensured I never had a positive test in all the months I worked there.
One day wile driving past a pond near one of the training areas I collected some water and ran my bacteria test. After incubation it was beyond the color chart I had and floruested positive for E. coli. Definitely steer clear of standing water except for emergencies.
Good point about "what if there is a dead deer upstream" lol. Also, the smell. Definitely want to be mindful if there is anything such as farmland upstream too, if you're deep in the wilderness this isn't likely but be smart about it, if there's active farmland upstream then runoff from that farmland is probably in the water (I'm talking chemicals, pesticides etc). One other thing about springs you have to watch out for is, check the surrounding area of the spring, particularly if the spring water is able to pool anywhere and check for deposits like iron oxide (saw a spring along Loyalsock Trail, also here in PA, that had a heavy amount of iron oxide in it), or anything else that might make the water foul or stink (besides sulfur, although that in itself is foul enough) - if the pool water isn't crystal clear and/or it smells odd, don't drink from it.
A pool of crystal clear water could arguably be more dangerous than a murky stream though. That water might be so contaminated that bacteria and algea can't survive at all. Take this with a grain of salt though, I'm far from an expert on this subject.
I grew up in central PA and drank from creeks all the time never got sick. Great video!
Doesn’t PA have the most creeks/dams in the whole country? Would be a nice place to grow up
As a forester there’s been MANY days where I’ve just had to drink straight from a river because I was so thirsty. Though I don’t recommend this, it was real tasty at the time
Good info. I once did get sick from water but that was drinking everyday out of a huge raging river for a week or so. I was in the fetal position for about three days
I bet that spring water tasted good.
Was probably a broken sewage pipe.
Pro tip from an eagle scout: almost any spring is good to drink or atleast better than whatever pond its feeding into
Damn. I'm so envious of your area. I've been an outdoorsman nearly 40 yrs now but gained my life skills in the deserts if the southwest. Oftentimes the only source is standing water and using some source of filtering isn't even an option. Your cleanest sock or shirt...really comes down to prep here, no foolin.
Good video. Here in Colorado, I have gotten giardia and it is not fun. If it was a choice between dying of dehydration and giardia, I would drink the water, and get medical attention immediately. One thing we have around here is water from streams and springs that run through abandoned mines. The water can be an interesting shade of red or orange. I might hesitate to drink that...
Thanks for bringing this up, I think it's definitely an area people need to think about beforehand.
I dropped my full nalgene type bottle right at the start of the day and the lid popped leaving me around 100ml, for most people this wouldn't be a major problem but I have a condition called hyperhydrosis which is literally excessive perspiration so I tend to drink 2 or 3x as much as others. With no other choice I had to scoop some from a small trickle that was feeding into Ullswater, sheep all over the place and no idea if I'd get sick from it. A mile or so down the track I came to a bridge over a substantial stream so glugged a litre and refilled with another litre for the rest of the day. Its a very useful skill to judge if water is a good source or not. Good video Dan, thanks.
Really good video and info. Growing up in middle / east TN when my brother and I were young in the summer time we ran around outside all day. Rode our bikes all around, Fished creeks, played in the woods. It was rural and we had well water at our house with an old pump house. Minus a little sulfur smell (we did not know any better then it’s what we had) we drank that our entire childhood, out of the garden hose, never any issues. We knew better than to drink from a pond or really the main creek we fished because too many people around us had cows, goats etc.. and many fenced off fields near the creeks so their cows, horses etc. could get water. Luckily with all the hills surrounding us there were always springs that ran off the hills to the creeks, we would follow those back into the woods, find the source which was typically a rock ledge into a small cave or just where water flowed out. The water was always cold and clear, we cupped our hands and drank from it. I do not remember ever having any issues. This was the late 80s early 90s when I was maybe 8-10 years old. We were fortunate to have many limestone caves or springs up in the hills that even in the middle of summer usually had water flowing. Now being older and smarter I might hesitate to drink it not filtered in some way, but growing up we always did. Good knowledge to have. If you’re ever in the woods, lost etc.. find a creek, follow it until you find a runoff from a hill etc.. follow that until you find the source and typically that will be your best / safest water to drink if you are in that situation
Just want to say thank you for these videos! They could actually save lives
I have drank from spring fed streams since I was a kid and still do never been sick guess I've been lucky didn't even know about purification until about 5 year ago course we have a lot of mountain streams in our area
That's what makes the difference. Cold weather highlands have waters you can drink right off the ground.
Mountain streams are also a great place to wet your bandana and cool down, no matter how clean the water is. Cooling down does help preserve some of your hydration.
Fun fact: back in the 1800's and early 1900's, some towns would advise against drinking the local water because of pollution from industry. Beer was the recommended drink.
In the middle ages that was common practice in a lot of places in Europe, sanitation was poor if it existed at all so water sources near settlements were probably contaminated.
@@irampotter That is a common misconception.
@@lolguytiger45 It isn't, it's common knowledge. Urban areas, up-until Victorian times were known for poor sanitation. And in general, people preferred low-alcoholic beer as it was safer to drink than the water in the city. Go 5 minutes outside a city or town, however, it would have been an entirely different story. Most countryside folk back in the day would have hydrated from water of the many wells, streams and natural springs that litter the landscape.
@@urmum3773 "Common knowledge" is often false. The residents of medieval cities drank water copiously, mostly from public groundwater wells, and sometimes from collected rainwater.
Less argue; more source.
I'm from just east of Pittsburgh. your videos are very helpful. being the same environment is a plus.
Gotta say Dan. Finally a real man. You rock dude
when i lived in washington state, i came across this crystal clear running stream/creek hiking in the woods/mountains, and crouched down, literally put my mouth to the water, and it was the most satisfying and refreshing drink of water i ever had. surprisingly nothing negative came from it, no disease, no parasites, nothing, and it’s been at least 4 years since! i filled up my water bottle and it was clear and clean as glass
I drank from a creek at the Alps in spring. The water was almost crystal blue and really deliciously cold :D
I drank from a cool puddle on a rock in the mountains of southern Nevada after it rained once.
3 years ago I was hiking along the Verdon in the French southern Alps, and I had seriously underestimated the water quantity I needed. It was a very hot and dry summer's day with little to no shade at all, and the hike had been long and I was feeling very dehydrated and as thirsty as a man can be. As I arrived at the end of the hike, I was told by a guide that the parking in which my car awaited was just a few hundred meters away, up a steep as hell slope. I said fuck it and just drank out of the Verdon river that was accessible at this point. Didn't get sick at all, everything went fine.
I live in the South Island of New Zealand a lot of native bush around us, I find your tips extremely handy keep up the wonderful work. Next time I am in the USA I will definitely try look you guys up 🤠👍
I love these types of videos; you know, the kind that can actually teach you useful information. Thank you for this.
I drank out of the Sacramento river once when I was about 15. Worst week of my life BY FAR.
so far
I've seen that river, and would avoid even touching it.
California is a desert did you honestly think you wouldn't get sick ?? lol
So... like... what actually happened in that following week, Ken?
@@workingguy6666 well, it was basically like a case of extreme food poisoning. Diarrhea, stomach cramps, and dehydration. Couldn't eat or drink anything without it immediately and painfully exploding out of my ass.
I agree with you on drinking the untreated/unfiltered water in an emergency - especially if you know the area, know it's safe, and have drank it before without any ill effects.
That said... it's best (IMHO), to check several yards upstream if possible, for dead animals, activity (animal crossings, scat, etc.) before drinking it untreated... just like you said.
I ran into that situation on a cold, clear water stream on property I had hunted on for decades, that I had drank straight from for many years. I got lucky and recovered in a week or so, but could have been MUCH worse, had I not recognized the symptoms as soon as I did and went in to the local ER.
I'm glad you mentioned that people need to be aware of that, but I hope they remember and take it VERY seriously.
As always, great video Dan. 👍
When I was a kid my fam would go to the exact source of a natural spring by a cave in Missouri to collect gallon jugs of water. It was so delicious and we never got sick for years.
Great points about color and smell !!! Thanks much and blessings 😇
Awesome video....everything that I need to know. I've been following your channel, I found you credible and valuable.
Thanks Vance!
I think you should revisit this topic and show improvised filters and ways to improve your chances on questionable sources. Great video.
Tips for avoiding Giardia:
Obviously the most effective way is to boil the water. Short of chemical contaminants, boiling will take care of almost anything.
However if you're in a situation where you cannot boil the water, and you know / suspect that your water source contains giardia, then a trick I was taught is to place your bottle / cup in less turbulent water (no bubbles, but not stagnant if you can help it) and open it about a foot underwater.
Giardia naturally floats near the top of rivers / streams, so by opening your bottle underwater you can hopefully avoid it.
If you're using a cup just place it in the water upside down so the surface water doesn't fill it up.
The reason you want to avoid turbulent water where giardia is concerned is that it can mix up the water and the floating giardia will be mixed throughout.
The ideal water would be just before some rapids where the water is fast moving but not yet turbulent.
Once again I will state: This is not 100% effective, and you should always boil if you have the option, but in a situation where you have nothing better it could save your life.
Thank you for good advice Dan.
Having just put a wee dram in my morning coffee, heck it's the weekend I wondered where this video was going.
Good information, ultimately drink water or die if have you gone without for a day or two.
In the Welsh mountains I once drank out of a small stream, it was irresistible then further up found a dead sheep half in the water, amazingly no illness.
Sure you're Welsh and not benefitting from the luck of the Irish?
Lol.
Maybe the sheep wasn't long dead, so hadn't had time to contaminate the water or any contamination had been flushed away earlier?
@@billyandrew Not welsh but have quite a bit of Irish DNA anyway, the sheep had expanded quite a lot, not sure how long that takes but I think I was very lucky.
You're definitely Scottish.
Good video. I picked up a parasite by sharing water with some one who said they got there water from a safe source. Later on the hiking he showed every one where he got his water. My instincts immediatsly told me ooops, i always carry more water than i need now.
Great vid. Makes sense to look at resources from every angle. 👍💪🍁🍁
My dad gave me this sort of lesson some odd sixty years ago. THANKS for the memories!!
Epic video! Love it, also by the by, hot or at least warm water is better for you than cold water. Your body can metabolize warm and hot water alot faster than cold water. Resulting in quicker hydration!
True. I think his point was sometimes you are drinking to both hydrate, and help regulate temperature when you are in extreme situations.
Having studied in parasitology, there is always a risk when drinking water from lakes, ponds, or puddles. You can get parasitic worms as their eggs are really resilient or even some of their larval infective stage going into your skin and system is really hard to notice.
Guessing they can't get through any of the popular filter options (life straw, berkey, etc.)
@@manictiger yeah fortunately the filter’s pores in life straw are much smaller than the average cestode eggs
I am out in the wilderness often and always messing around in the dirt. I take a dewormer often just in case.
@@FoereaperGaming
Hookworm is probably the most concerning.
Great tips Dan! Thanks for sharing. - Jeremy
A really great lesson. Thanks for the video.
Good presentation. I get the distinction between emergency and non emergency. However, I won't be going into the wild without a way to purify water.
crucial in this conversation is non-time-consuming, non-fire ways to purify water. I know he wasn't getting into specifics on methodology in this video, but i think it's at least worth mentioning having a backup method ready. I carry a lifestraw AND purifying tablets, even if my primary plan is to boil water. Sometimes you don't have the time, firewood, or frankly the effort in you to go through all those motions especially in hot weather, and these tools, while finite, can upgrade a thumbs down water source into a safe one, or take a safe one and make it a sure thing to take a load off your mind.
I like the info thank you. But from my experience if you go roughly five to 15 feet or so you could dig a Indian well. It will help filter the water from the main source not perfect but its safer. But hey we all got our own way.
Me and my friends got lost up some hills during a hike and lost our camp and ran out of water. Found this gorgeous hilltop with this really small river trickling down, we went up to the top and went face first. It was and still is the clearest and best water I’ve ever had. Hadn’t ever drank straight from a source before. But a mixture of needing water and finding made it even better
Awesome video, great information! Loving your channel!
As a youngster, I drank from any stream I found (in my neck of the woods here in the PNW). But a few decades later, after 50 years of this f$&@!* national park and tourists, I don’t dare. Filters, purifiers, purification tabs, are the new norm, and boiling if nothing else.
This is a topic that is murky as you say. I grew up and was told, any dead standing water you dont drink it, if its moving then your fine. All my life i have drank from many sources with out ill effects. Altho i wont tell others to do the same, and i purify my water now as well, with filters or boiling. I say the same thing, better to drink and be found ill , if it even happens, than dead , which will happen if you dont drink. Thanks for the video.
if you're conditioned to it, you wont have as drastic effects. think about the type of water third world countries have to drink and dont get sick from.
@@CircumcisionIsChildAbuse We drink coke in our third world countries
@@skamarfire how does one afford coke and not water? or is that a joke about consumerism?
@@CircumcisionIsChildAbuse It's a joke... but... the tap water is bad... not because is brown or muddy, it's clean... but full of fluoride and other chemicals... smells like chemicals, like water from a pool... so I have to buy mineral water without taste...
I live in Brazil, we are third world for sure, but there are lots of middle class neighborhoods and cities... I think the situation in Bolivia and Venezuela is much worse...
@@CircumcisionIsChildAbuse The crazy thing is our mineral water that comes from the mountains is fucking good... there is a city here where you can drink sparkling water right from the fountain... lots of healing water here... but the system fucks up everything
IN MY VIEW
You get a thumbs up for telling us to look for the where the water source is coming from.
"Drink the water". In my opinion, best quote ever. You will obviously always do this before you die. This fact is important to know.
FUN FACT AT THE END!
I have my metal cup velcro attach to the side of my backpack and its almost a game for me to drink out of a natural source of water And never been sick. The idea is to learn how risky it is to be sick and wich kind of water is less risky ( like explain in this video)
fun fact: ( i keep the start of the story for the end) i camped up stream for a night(tiny stream through the leaf etc.. and decide to follow it. And the stream become bigger and bigger and for me this water was super clean( moving and cristal clear) and finaly reach the river...... up stream 50 feet from the tent was rotting a moose probably dead during the winter 6-8 months ago.
Thats why you want to purify your water. But i still dont give a shit.
Very good points. If it means saving your life, buy some time. Drink the water, with the hope that if you get sick, you can get medical aid in time. 2nd, agree 100% on choosing your source wisely, IF, IF multiple choices are available. Protected, free flowing spring is by far the best. River a few miles from me is heavily polluted. Large creek, nearby almost as bad. Small creek closer, still, has beaver upstream. Farm ponds, in this area, subject to run off from agriculture. So.... for raw water, a spring is the best option. Worth the effort to get to it, if reasonable circumstances permit. That said, if necessary, I'd drink that polluted river water, knowing my time would be much shorter, if I didn't.
Oldtimer Lee exactly!! I love the way you're thinking and that's exactly what my video was aiming at. Thanks for watching
I cannot find the specific articles but I know of two situations where those who were lost in the outback here in Aus, have passed up a water source, likely because it looked murky and was not flowing to die shortly after, only to have their bodies found hours or days after. Both had they bought a few days by drinking the contaminated water would have likely been feeling very crook, but alive and flown to a hospital to be treated.
I think both were overseas travelers and maybe did not understand the concept that flowing clean water is not something you come across by accident here.
@@TwoPlusTwoEqualsFive32 bro wtf did you wrote
Thanks man always great info, also the best $20 bucks you'll ever spend. A Sawyer water filter
Looking for a direct water 💦 source! Got it! Thanks for making this video! I enjoyed this informative video! Well done 👍
I am Australian, you would not catch me dead outdoors without my metal water container, cup and milbank bag.
Even when I am only going a few hundred meters from camp to get wood it stays on me.
Here you will dehydrate in less then 2 hours, less with exercise and all water sources that you can find readily are muddy creeks that only flow during a heavy down pour.
I am fairly jelous of people in colder climates that can just "stumble" across a water source, here I spend hours or days pawing over topographical maps, marking locations, and fretting over potential water sources which in the end are usually creek beds I have to dig up, or murky unappetizing puddles that take a long time to filter through the milbank bag.
Hey... that is to bad not having a lot of water sources but at least you know what to do. I would wager half of Americans could not figure it out and would die.
@@raycerv70 You got that right!
We recently had severe cold weather with power outages lasting a few days. When the authorities issued a boil notice some people lost it. They would say silly things like “how do we boil water without power (electric)?”
😂😂😂
How to determine if it is a spring or farm field runoff, that is the question.
Good point!
Height could give a rough, although not definite guide, by which I mean did it come downhill, but that's not to say it wasn't sourced from an uphill farm.
A walk to verify it's origins, rather than crossed fingers would settle it.
How many would think of that, though?
I thought it was Varg Vikernes for a second
Not sure if you know this or not, but you ARE the man.
Three cheers to all the cold weather fans out there and the hot weather wives we have!!! 😂
Eostrogen.
I'm not kidding.
Read an article on it a while back.
It was part of brain study research, looking at multitasking and temperature.
Us guys have more testosterone, while women have more eostrogen.
That why the difference.
@@billyandrew yea that's pretty much common knowledge and common sense.
Well yeah boil it, I thought this was going to be about being drunk in the wilderness. haha, best wishes.
In PA we have a lot of springs, so if it comes right out of the ground, it's better than a creek. You see a pond in a mountain, it's probably scorced by a spring and it's probably cool.
Great advice, thanks for sharing.
Where I live I’m worried about the farmers “ fertilizer “ or all the factories which way is best
And the herbicides and pesticides and the slap on the wist EPA fined companies dumping daily because it is just cheaper.
Filter threw sand and thick dense layer of soil with rocks underneath. Cloth underneath and then up top of available. 2 drops sodium hypochlorite per quart disinfects clear water. Stir it, wait 30 minutes. 7 inches of dense soil from 5 inches deep removes fallout. Better than nothing. 😉
You can make your own activated carbon from wood and fire if you like.
I was drinking directly from a small spring on my friend's land when a fairly good size salamander (or something like it) came out of the hole where the water was emerging. I was startled since my face was in the water, but fortunately the water was good and I had no issues afterward.
He was just adding flavor.
One thing subnautica taught me is it’s always good to prepare your water rations the day before
If we weren't at the source on a mountain stream (which would be best, & we were usually pretty high up), we'd always filter using something like a hankerchief 2 or 3 layers. Taste so good! Be careful, streams could also go through meadows or wallowing pits.
I'm with you on the boiling water. If you are in a hot climate, Always Be Prepared. Gather up your water in the cool of the morning. Boil enough for the day, and let it cool.
I'd even use the purification tabs, just for good measure.
One should do it rhe old fashioned way.Dig a hole one step from the bank and let the ground filter it for you.
Good point.
@@JohnSmith-vb6jx surprised he didn't mention it to be honest. its essentially always an option unless the water is surrounded by bedrock.
animals defecated and piss on the ground...no thanks!
@@labellaescrima1996 Jep,and dont drink water because fish fuck in it!
@@theraven5935 water, that stuff rusts pipes.
Amen. Finally some true words.
My brother, myself, and a few freinds used to fish small creeks and beaver ponds in north central Colorado. We would see deciduos trees that indicated shallow draws. The area was most all pine trees, but the deciduos trees meant water. Not all those shallow draws had natural springs, but enough that they were worth checking when our water bottles ran dry. Never had an issue, but sure wouldn't drink from the main creek and never from to ponds.
Drink beer 😂
Living in Washington state, drank out of clean creeks up in the woods my whole life. I didn’t boil it, put any chemicals in it, just drank it. One time like you were talking about I walked 90 feet up the and there was a dead deer in it. Still did not ever get sick. It is in our DNA to survive.
Good information...like how you have common sense.
Dan the man, I have drank straight outa crik, not much but it got me thru the day, no sickness, thnx
"No way to boil water, and you are not drinking water, DRINK THE WATER!"
they drink hot tea etc. in the deserts in the middle east - it's suppose to raise the body heat so you then can take the outside heat better.... then perhaps a cold rag on the out side around your neck - wiping your face off.... just a thought
I've heard the same thing about desert dwellers. I drink hot coffee in the middle of the day during the summer in Texas. I don't feel any ill effects. If I was doing strenuous work, sweating up a storm and on the verge of overheating, I would not drink anything hot. Icy cold water can make you cramp up if you drink it while overheated. Cool to cold water is better if you are overheating, otherwise, what ever floats your boat.
As kids, we ran all over central GA and drank water out of flowing steams in rural suburbia. Sometimes they even bordered cattle pastures, which is certainly not ideal. It's said "God looks after fools and drunks". Well, at least sometimes. I will never willing drink unfiltered or unboiled water outdoors unless my life depends on it. Just because you didn't get sick previously, doesn't mean you should assume that you will never get sick. If you, or anyone you know, has every had severe food poisoning, or Montezuma's Revenge in Mexico; you'll know that you can quickly get into a very life threatening situation from water borne disease. It is not uncommon to get so sick that it is not possible to walk more than a short distance.
I'm really on the fence about Dan drinking water from the spring like he did. Some sick little mouse could have just pooped at the headwaters five minutes before he showed up. Birds, reptiles and amphibians, all of which may be attracted to Dan's spring, are major carriers of salmonella. That's my luck anyway. I'd worry less if I found a spring that was dripping out of a crack in the rocks on a vertical surface so that no water could pond around the source, but how often is that going to happen?
People in Mexico don't get sick nearly as often on their water as tourists do, because they are used to and adapted to many of the "bugs" in the water. One may be accustomed to drinking local surface water without ill effects, yet a visitor from out of state, especially one that doesn't get out much and who has seldom been exposed to wild bugs; or someone who has a compromised immune system due to illness, medication or stress might get very sick from drinking the same water that you drink with no ill effects.
We go into the woods to get away from civilization and many of its trappings. Driving a car is dangerous, but we wear a seat belt and do it anyway. So each to their own on what risks they'll take.
Well okay....That was a Rabbit Trail for sure. LOL! I'm down for what Dan said, be careful and boil your water if at all possible. Otherwise use your best judgment and drink the water if otherwise you might die.
Drank from a Beaver pond doing the Vermont leg of the AT. We hiked for 11 miles and couldn't find any water so we had to drink what we could find. We filtered it and didn't get sick. It was a nasty and smelly pond but we were so dehydrated we didn't have a choice. I had two gallons of water at the trail-head but I quickly dumped it out to get rid of the 16 lbs. It was the wrong call.
This was an important video , well done , I always purify , 99% of the time , I use the saywer micro , but have used part a and b drops before , we want hiking one time and didn't have any water near camp , so we found a pond , then we went up the bank a bit and dug a seep , let mm it fill then let the sediment settle , that's how we got water that day , then filtered and chemical
Native Americans survived for thousands of years without modern filtration methods.
Good video. Excellent job, Sir. 🇺🇸
Cool 😎 information to make me a better Woods Man! Thanks!
Most people milk the "that........IS.......the question" but you just got straight to the point with "that's the question" which was awesome. 😂
It might be a weird comment but in extreme cases, rectal rehydration is a great way to absorb water without getting sick. Now, how you put the water inside is an other story, but you'll survive.
GOOD VIDEO. ALWAYS MAKING ME THINK ABOUT THINGS WE TAKE FOR GRANTED... MAKES YOU THINK ABOUT..... WHAT IF...
I live in Virginia. The South western part! These mountains have alot of springs! Go up a hollow and you can usually find a spring!
Thanks for teaching us critical thinking related to water sources.
Thank you!
There was a great ep of Naked and Afraid where they were dropped off on an island. Dude dug a hole to get fresh water and it gave him the runs.
So...moving water over still water, and as close to the source as possible. And don't eat yellow snow.
Don't go where the Huskies go
Ohhhhh that's why it didn't taste like pineapple
Most informative video I’ve ever watched while sitting on the toilet.
When I typed that in, I had something completely different in mind. But learned a lot nonetheless.
the best part of our area is we have so many natural springs coming up thru, so we always have a 95% clean water source
Geography certainly plays into t your decision-making model. I live in British Columbia Canada with a million mountain lakes and streams. I drink from them all the time. Most of our streams are fast-moving very cold. That being said sometimes a water source just seems sketchy. I will boil or filter those. Good advice either way.
Lovely! Would love to see more like this, please!