When considering whether to drink from a stream, it is important to take parasitic and viral infection into consideration. But for a hiker, camper or someone that is lost to make an educated decision, they must be knowledgeable in the types of diseases that can infect the water.
Cholera
Outbreaks of Cholera can occur in any part of the world where drinking water supplies become contaminated with human waste products. These “waste products” include, but are not limited to urine and feces.
The first signs of infection are painless watery diarrhea, nausea and vomiting. A majority of the people that become infected either have very mild diarrhea or are symptom-free. People that are either malnourished or those that have a compromised immune system are more likely to show signs of the infection sooner then those that are healthy. The later stages of cholera infection include severe diarrhea and vomiting. If left untreated, 50% of the people infected with cholera will die.
If you think the water you are drinking from might be infected with bacteria or viruses, it would be best to remove the bacteria and kill any viruses. Most viruses are so small they can slip right through a normal filter.
While hiking in a wilderness area, where no humans live upstream, there is only a very slight chance water from a stream will have a virus in it. Most of the time, but not all of the time, viruses are spread by human and animal waste.
Instead of posting a dozen videos on one page, this one video player was created, then several of my camping videos can be played through it. To scroll through the videos, click the arrow on the right and left hand side of the of the screen.
This article is a basic introduction to navigation with a compass and GPS. First, lets cover some basic terms.
Compass – A compass, is a tool for finding directions on the Earth. The basic compass uses magnetic north to give direction. The dial of a compass is usually divided into 360 degrees.
When you are depending on your compass to get you back home, you should be careful to not get your wristwatch too close to the compass. In some cases the watch can throw the compass off as much as 20 degrees.
