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> According to the laws of physics, water always flows downhill. So if you’re looking for water, it only makes sense to flow the same way. No matter where you a

> According to the laws of physics, water always flows downhill. So if you’re looking for water, it only makes sense to flow the same way. No matter where you are, there’s always something downhill of you, unless you’re standing at sea level. New Orleans, Death Valley, and a lot of other places would like to have a word with you.

TimTheTinker 8y ago
Well, the lowest part of Death Valley (Badwater) has water sometimes, albeit very salty and gross.
- wcarron 8y ago
  Even other parts of death valley have reasonable water sources. Surprise Canyon is one of them.
- pvaldes 8y ago
  Bringing a small pocket-sized solar water distiller with you could make a difference in that case.
jlarocco 8y ago
I don't know why people are bothering to point this out. All things considered, those places are very rare. Surely you're not saying people should disregard advice that's accurate 99.99% of the time because of a handful of counterexamples? New Orleans and Death Valley are particularly silly examples because New Orleans is not wild in the sense of the article, and a person will almost certainly know when they're in Death Valley and be aware of its unique situation.
- AnimalMuppet 8y ago
  Well, I live in one of those counterexamples - the Great Basin in the US west.
  - jlarocco 8y ago
    So does your water flow up hill? Or is the article's advice still sound?
    - AnimalMuppet 8y ago
      Neither. From many places, downhill gets me to the Great Salt Lake.
- jcranmer 8y ago
  In a temperate woodlands environment (such as the eastern US), you will be able to get water by setting out a container and waiting for it to rain, which will likely happen before you die of dehydration. If that takes too long, then just wander around aimlessly for a bit and you'll find a stream that's at least intermittent if not permanent. You don't need a guide to find water because you can't get away from it. The only reason to have a guide on how to find water is if a) you need a guide on how to find potable water (which this dismisses by saying "eh, you'll be filtering everything so any water is good enough" [1]), or b) you are in an arid or other similar environment where water is hard to find. In the later situation, endorheic basins are going to be substantially more common, and the problems with endorheic lakes as water sources are definitely worth mentioning. [1] As others have noted, this isn't true. Water sources, particularly in endorheic basins, can be unacceptably concentrated in poisons such as agricultural runoff or arsenic, or too salty to drink.
  - jlarocco 8y ago
    I live in Colorado, and have little experience with the eastern US, but in large parts of the west you'll do much better searching for a stream than waiting for it to rain. And it's good practice to filter all water from natural sources because parasites like giardia can be deadly.
  - e12e 8y ago
    > In a temperate woodlands environment (such as the eastern US), you will be able to get water by setting out a container and waiting for it to rain, which will likely happen before you die of dehydration. What? I used to live in Bergen - and even there we'd see a full week without precipitation parts of the year. If you're out of water, I can't imagine there are many places in the world where "waiting rain" is the surest way to ensure hydration within the next 72 hours? Especially if you go hiking in periods of "good" weather. http://www.bergen.climatemps.com/precipitation.php http://www.bergen.climatemps.com/precipitation.php
- tathougies 8y ago
  Here is a map of the world marking the endorheic basins: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endorheic_basin#/media/File:Ocean_drainage.png https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endorheic_basin#/media/File:Oc... Everything in gray is an area where simply following the current gradient of the land downwards will not lead you to the ocean. As you can see, this is a sizable chunk of the world.
  - jlarocco 8y ago
    The OP was making a snarky comment about New Orleans and Death Valley being below sea level. Believe it or not, even in an Endorheic basin, and even below sea level, water still flows down hill.
- stevehawk 8y ago
  Honestly, I pointed it out because it's an article on survival, which is a serious topic, and in the first paragraph it's got misinformation. That's not a great start. I place things like that just below "I'm a programmer but I'm going to treat this tech talk like I'm a stand up comedian, which means it'll be neither funny or informative."

TimTheTinker 8y ago

Well, the lowest part of Death Valley (Badwater) has water sometimes, albeit very salty and gross.

wcarron 8y ago
Even other parts of death valley have reasonable water sources. Surprise Canyon is one of them.
pvaldes 8y ago
Bringing a small pocket-sized solar water distiller with you could make a difference in that case.

jlarocco 8y ago

I don't know why people are bothering to point this out. All things considered, those places are very rare. Surely you're not saying people should disregard advice that's accurate 99.99% of the time because of a handful of counterexamples? New Orleans and Death Valley are particularly silly examples because New Orleans is not wild in the sense of the article, and a person will almost certainly know when they're in Death Valley and be aware of its unique situation.

AnimalMuppet 8y ago
Well, I live in one of those counterexamples - the Great Basin in the US west.
- jlarocco 8y ago
  So does your water flow up hill? Or is the article's advice still sound?
  - AnimalMuppet 8y ago
    Neither. From many places, downhill gets me to the Great Salt Lake.
jcranmer 8y ago
In a temperate woodlands environment (such as the eastern US), you will be able to get water by setting out a container and waiting for it to rain, which will likely happen before you die of dehydration. If that takes too long, then just wander around aimlessly for a bit and you'll find a stream that's at least intermittent if not permanent. You don't need a guide to find water because you can't get away from it. The only reason to have a guide on how to find water is if a) you need a guide on how to find potable water (which this dismisses by saying "eh, you'll be filtering everything so any water is good enough" [1]), or b) you are in an arid or other similar environment where water is hard to find. In the later situation, endorheic basins are going to be substantially more common, and the problems with endorheic lakes as water sources are definitely worth mentioning. [1] As others have noted, this isn't true. Water sources, particularly in endorheic basins, can be unacceptably concentrated in poisons such as agricultural runoff or arsenic, or too salty to drink.
- jlarocco 8y ago
  I live in Colorado, and have little experience with the eastern US, but in large parts of the west you'll do much better searching for a stream than waiting for it to rain. And it's good practice to filter all water from natural sources because parasites like giardia can be deadly.
- e12e 8y ago
  > In a temperate woodlands environment (such as the eastern US), you will be able to get water by setting out a container and waiting for it to rain, which will likely happen before you die of dehydration. What? I used to live in Bergen - and even there we'd see a full week without precipitation parts of the year. If you're out of water, I can't imagine there are many places in the world where "waiting rain" is the surest way to ensure hydration within the next 72 hours? Especially if you go hiking in periods of "good" weather. http://www.bergen.climatemps.com/precipitation.php http://www.bergen.climatemps.com/precipitation.php
tathougies 8y ago
Here is a map of the world marking the endorheic basins: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endorheic_basin#/media/File:Ocean_drainage.png https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endorheic_basin#/media/File:Oc... Everything in gray is an area where simply following the current gradient of the land downwards will not lead you to the ocean. As you can see, this is a sizable chunk of the world.
- jlarocco 8y ago
  The OP was making a snarky comment about New Orleans and Death Valley being below sea level. Believe it or not, even in an Endorheic basin, and even below sea level, water still flows down hill.
stevehawk 8y ago
Honestly, I pointed it out because it's an article on survival, which is a serious topic, and in the first paragraph it's got misinformation. That's not a great start. I place things like that just below "I'm a programmer but I'm going to treat this tech talk like I'm a stand up comedian, which means it'll be neither funny or informative."