Improvised Gravity Feed Water Filter

   In large part, survival is about conserving energy. With Bushcraft, if you have found that kinship with the landscape that is often spoken of by Ray Mears, you have the resources and the energies you need available to you, right in your most immediate surroundings.
   Bushcraft holds many of the answers to the "Rule of Three For Survival" that are so often talked about in survival courses and self reliance training.
   To review those intervals of time that have to do with your survival, they are:
Three Minutes needed before you need breathable air.
Three Hours to regulate body heat and to mitigate hypothermia (cold body core temp) or hyperthermia (body core temp is to high) thru shelter or other external means.
Three Days to solve the drinkable water equation.
Three weeks before starvation and maybe ultimately...
Three months before psychological help is needed to address the slow madness that creeps in with isolation from other humans.
   These needs are also sometimes addressed with what is called the "Sacred Order of Survival" which is basically: shelter first, then water, then fire, and then lastly food.
   Everytime I head out on a bushcraft adventure, I go out with the idea of practicing bushcraft skills and addressing some part of the "Rule of Three" or the "Sacred Order." I also focus on using and improving my relationship with the top five of what some would call the"10 C's." Those top five are: Cut, Combustion, Container, Cordage and Cover. And with those in mind, nearly every adventure includes some knifecraft, firecraft, boiling or collecting water, playing with natural cordages and building or improvising shelters.
   I find that even if I am in a group of people, with friends like you who are interested in bushcraft, that if I work to have everyone focus at some point on these five things, on the Rule of Threes or the Sacred Order, that we come away from every adventure with having learned the most important of the basics that allow us to be at home in the wilderness. It is then that we can begin to thrive instead of survive.
   On a recent hike out to one of my favorite places by a lake, I decided to experiment with a water filter that I purchased for around $20 called the Aquamira Frontier Pro. Usually I connect a Platypus folding water bottle to it and with slight pressure, force the water thru the filter and into my water bottle or canteen or canteen cup. It is effective, but requires that I pay attention to it.
  On this day, I decided to filter my water unattended by building a simple tripod, connecting a sacrificial plastic bottle to it so that I could cut some "vent holes" and letting gravity do the rest.
   Here is a video of my simple project and my way of conserving my energy and letting it do the work for me.




  After practicing a few other skills I was ready to head home and felt that at least for this adventure, I had addressed my water needs with a simple bushcrafted solution. I will do this setup again. Having a water filter along for the summer will prove invaluable and I am going to try next my MSR Miniworks filter. I will let you all know how that works. Until next time, Happy Exploring.