Photo By: Alderleaf Wilderness College

I can remember going through old Tracker’s wilderness survival school back in the eighties and having him lecture me and the others quite soundly on the need to be able to boil water in the bush. Now at the time I fancied myself to be a survivalist of dynamic proportions and a hard hitting, white knuckled purveyor of the finest degree of manhood one could ever expect to encounter, either here or there for that matter. And I thought that it was much more likely that I would sip the filthy pooling from the bottom of a coyote track than to ever have to boil water for any reason… needless to say I hadn’t spent much time in the bush up to that point. I have to say that I have matured in my old age, and considerable excursions into the wilderness has definitely changed my opinion of myself in many ways. One of the things I have changed my mind about is the need to boil water. The truth of the matter is that there are several reasons to know how to boil water in the wilderness, here are three:

1. To purify it for drinking. I know this is pretty parochial, but the basics are sometimes best reviewed before advanced knowledge is explored. Water should be boiled well for about twenty minutes to ensure that all of the bacteria ave been properly killed and it is safe for drinking then.
2. To make stews, soups, etc. It never occurred to me until I lived it how much easier it is to gather food items in small quantities and then consume them in the form of stew than it is to say, spit them and eat them from the bone. So much nutritional value is wasted when we don’t boil them up into a soup that it is disgraceful.
3. To make hot drinks. I love to make myself a hot dup of chicory coffee or pine needle tea when I am out in the bush on a military surplus tent adventure or a family camping trip. In the next installment we will discuss ways to boil water without the use of a tin cup or bowl.