Desert Survival 101

erri2000 · Post by **erri2000** » Sun Jan 13, 2008 6:03 am

Make sure you are drinking clean water.

The only ingredients that should be found in water are two H's and one O.

http://www.nrdc.org/water/drinking/nbw.asp

Any one know any other good tips?

unjonharley · Post by **unjonharley** » Sun Jan 13, 2008 8:30 am

I avoid soft plastics for serving food or drinks..

For water on the playa I use a hard plastic ( 5 day ) cooler.. Filter my own water, make my own ice.. The cooler last up to 8 days when covered with a blanket and tarps.. A 72 qt cooler is 18 gallons of water.. About 150 pounds..

Put the cooler on a plywood base with 3/4 inch H blocks/legs.. Place it near the van door so you will not have to move it..

Ugly Dougly · Post by **Ugly Dougly** » Sun Jan 13, 2008 10:10 am

If you find a dead camel on the playa, eat the contents of it's intestines, it'll keep you alive for days.

BitterDan · Post by **BitterDan** » Sun Jan 13, 2008 11:37 am

Ugly Dougly wrote:If you find a dead camel on the playa, eat the contents of it's intestines, it'll keep you alive for days.

ANd you can sleep inside the carcass when it gets cold at night.

erri2000 · Post by **erri2000** » Sun Jan 13, 2008 5:39 pm

BELIEVE IT OUR NOT!

SpaceCowboy · Post by **SpaceCowboy** » Sun Jan 13, 2008 9:57 pm

erri2000 and BitterDan

You 2 are really wierd, thanks!!

Captain Goddammit · Post by **Captain Goddammit** » Mon Jan 14, 2008 6:36 am

Best way to deal with the heat: don't!
Bring plenty of fuel for your generator and keep the AC on, put aluminum foil over your windows, and sleep all day.
Then, go out and party all night!
I've used this desert survival system since 2000, it's proven effective.
Tent/dome and swamp cooler is also great.

unjonharley · Post by **unjonharley** » Mon Jan 14, 2008 8:08 am

Captain Goddammit wrote:Best way to deal with the heat: don't!
Bring plenty of fuel for your generator and keep the AC on, put aluminum foil over your windows, and sleep all day.
Then, go out and party all night!
I've used this desert survival system since 2000, it's proven effective.
Tent/dome and swamp cooler is also great.

\/
Some one said "dead camel gut breath" and sure nuf the capt. of, shows up on the thread..

BitterDan · Post by **BitterDan** » Mon Jan 14, 2008 10:29 am

SpaceCowboy wrote:erri2000 and BitterDan

You 2 are really wierd, thanks!!

Are you kidding? I am the only normal person on the planet. Everyone else is crazy!

SpaceCowboy · Post by **SpaceCowboy** » Mon Jan 14, 2008 8:22 pm

Are you kidding? I am the only normal person on the planet. Everyone else is crazy!

[/quote]

If you are the only normal person than that means I must be crazyyyyyy.

I believe it was Helen Redding in one of her song that said "it is so nice to be insane you never have to explain". I try to live up to that in my everday life which is why I find the 2 of you so refreshing. Because it appears so do you!

WHO · Post by **WHO** » Tue Jan 15, 2008 5:12 pm

Water question.

Is the ice sold at the ice stations drinkable?
Obviously not if you dump it into a cooler full of misc foodstuffs, but if you let it melt in a clean place, is it potable?
How about with the water purification tablets?

Thanks!

ibdave · Post by **ibdave** » Tue Jan 15, 2008 5:21 pm

WHO wrote:Water question.

Is the ice sold at the ice stations drinkable?
Obviously not if you dump it into a cooler full of misc foodstuffs, but if you let it melt in a clean place, is it potable?
How about with the water purification tablets?

Thanks!

Yes the ice is drinkable( potable )

Yes you have to be very careful to not contaminate it with food and such.

The ice stations are inspected by the Nevada Health Dept during the event.

Edit.. I beat Dork to the punch.. he he heeee

Dork · Post by **Dork** » Tue Jan 15, 2008 5:21 pm

WHO wrote:Water question.

Is the ice sold at the ice stations drinkable?
Obviously not if you dump it into a cooler full of misc foodstuffs, but if you let it melt in a clean place, is it potable?
How about with the water purification tablets?

Thanks!

Yes, it is drinkable. Some people get their drinking water this way - they just dump ice into one of those Gatorade things with the spigot at the bottom. Water purification couldn't hurt other than leaving a bad taste, but again not necessary if the container is clean and sanitary. If it's not, I'm not sure I'd want to drink from it anyway.

Toolmaker · Post by **Toolmaker** » Tue Jan 15, 2008 6:03 pm

WHO wrote:Water question.

Is the ice sold at the ice stations drinkable?
Obviously not if you dump it into a cooler full of misc foodstuffs, but if you let it melt in a clean place, is it potable?
How about with the water purification tablets?

Thanks!

First thing I got my ice and filled my hyro pack.. no funny taste at all to me. I used a cube cooler on wheels and kept a block in the bottom to help keep the ice cubes going. I got a new block every other day and 2 bags a day kept my shit nice and cold. I always had a COLD hyro pack.. having the insulated drinking tube and blowing back into the back when done drinking helped alot too. I always had a nice COLD sip of whatever I had in it.. usually Water, Green Tea, or Electrolytes.

I used the "briefcase" water containers.. 2 1/2 gals each I think.. nice and manageable to move around with no worry of my entire water supply being contaminated. After one was empty it got converted into a "bucket" for moving water to the shower or grey water to the evap ponds. Others wound up being given to others when they commented on having a need for one.. nice way for me to offload "trash" via gifting.

One day I didn't have one to give away and the participant came back to borrow my blade to help make their own. Hopefully that recycling trend took off.. my contribution to the green theme.

unjonharley · Post by **unjonharley** » Tue Jan 15, 2008 6:11 pm

50 000 people using those throw away water cubes is a lot of plastic getting dumped..

I carry some water to help melt the ice faster..

I use reusable containers..

Besides if you buying so much ice, What the hell you need the extra water for..

Toolmaker · Post by **Toolmaker** » Tue Jan 15, 2008 6:23 pm

unjonharley wrote:Besides if you buying so much ice, What the hell you need the extra water for..

Squirt guns and water misters.. we gotta be comfy and have fun! I have heard of reusable water grenades that have no moop but haven't found em yet.

WHO · Post by **WHO** » Tue Jan 15, 2008 6:31 pm

Thanks guys!
Excellent ideas, strike one item off my list.
(Note to self - bring lots of ice dollars)

Tool,
I like the idea of recycling the suitcases for other water uses.
I guess if you kept the factory going, it would be ice, cold water for drinking/tea making/cooking, left over clean water to keep out in the sun for body washing/dishes, ending up in the evaporation liner/pool.

Toolmaker · Post by **Toolmaker** » Wed Jan 16, 2008 3:48 am

Plenty of uses.. my original plan had included cutting one in half for 2 basins. I wasn't able to drive out or ship alot of shit so I tried a somewhat minimalist approach with my personal camp space and needs. The briefcase halfs turned out to be alot lighter than my surplus rubber coated canvas ones that I would have had to get out there from here.

Do not depend on the ice to survive! They can run out early or have equipment issues.

Titanium sporks are great.. very lightweight.

Dehydrated foods are really light.. tasty these days too!

Meal Bars.. make sure its one that actually gives ya something not one of the BS ones. I am currently in love with the Lara Bars.. a nice variety and even some snack/candy type ones.

Teo del Fuego · Post by **Teo del Fuego** » Wed Jan 16, 2008 9:19 am

drink your cooler-melt every day. The grease from the sausage links you thought you sealed properly will keep you regular, and you just cant beat rehydrating with the wonderful taste of bacon in your fluids!

Scout13 · Post by **Scout13** » Thu Jan 17, 2008 9:00 am

Be sure to have different styles of bottles for drinking water and wiz (urine) in your tent at night. You might even want to label those bottles so you doesnâ€™t get confused and take a drink out of the wrong bottle. There is nothing worse than taking a big drink out of a bottle of wiz in the middle of the nightâ€¦.that is unless you are into that sort of thing.

BitterDan · Post by **BitterDan** » Thu Jan 17, 2008 11:06 am

Haha I used a gallon-size gatoraid bottle in my tent and I had to make sure and label it in big ass letter, "THIS IS PISS!". I don't think anyone tried to drink from it but it would have been funny to see that reaction.

capjbadger · Post by **capjbadger** » Thu Jan 17, 2008 11:51 am

BitterDan wrote:
Ugly Dougly wrote:If you find a dead camel on the playa, eat the contents of it's intestines, it'll keep you alive for days.
ANd you can sleep inside the carcass when it gets cold at night.

I though that was Tauntans?

Badger

honeyfire · Post by **honeyfire** » Sun Feb 17, 2008 12:26 am

Glow in the dark paint/stickers on stuff you need to find in the dark.
I'm a freak about putting a stripe of glowpaint along the length of any new flashlight i aquire, and a ring of glow around the mouth of your pissbottle seems like a useful addition (i don't use them myself).

MikeVDS · Post by **MikeVDS** » Sun Feb 17, 2008 8:39 am

The only ingredients that should be found in water are two H's and one O.

Actually that's wrong. Distilled water is horrible for your teeth. Fresh water has oxygen, carbon dioxide, silica, carbon and other substances dissolved in it. Without these water will have a greater tendency to pull minerals out of your teeth.

BitterDan · Post by **BitterDan** » Sun Feb 17, 2008 12:23 pm

Thanks Mike! My dad used to always tell me that you don't buy "Distilled Water" for drinking but he never explained why. Now it makes sense.

Caine · Post by **Caine** » Wed Apr 02, 2008 9:56 am

Virgin here but I've been desert camping.

I always, always put some electrolytes in my water. I take along Emergen-C packets and dump a bit into each container.

This means I don't have to care at all how much minerals I get in my food, and I can convert pure distilled into "good to drink" in moments. Also, Emergen-C is excellent for keeping you going through those long nights. And your hangover rate will be a LOT lower.

A teeny paper packet isn't very moopy. And easy to burn.

Ugly Dougly · Post by **Ugly Dougly** » Wed Apr 02, 2008 10:28 am

I made my own Gatordae this weekend. 1 TB sugar, 1 tsp salt, squeeze lemon and cold water and you're good to go.

BitterDan · Post by **BitterDan** » Wed Apr 02, 2008 11:57 am

They also make powdered gatorade if you are not inclined to make your own. I actually used liquid gatorade last year and diluted it with water (it's too syrupy otherwise).

Post by **mdmf007** » Wed Apr 02, 2008 2:44 pm

Good tips - most people do not realize how much they sweat on the Blackrock desert. It evaporates as fast as it comes out of your skin. so drink, electrolytes also get depleted and take longer to replenish than you can replace the water.

ragabashpup · Post by **ragabashpup** » Wed Apr 02, 2008 2:59 pm

Here is my tip. Wear sunscreen. Even if you have never burned before that doesn't make any difference. I went without in 06 and came back with a sunburn that was still peeling 3 weeks later.

Desert Survival 101

Desert Survival 101

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