[quote=J

As for all kits beeing trash and all that you need is your brain? No! A person needs both equipment and their brain. You can have all of the knowledge and skills to survive the most remote places on earth but if you don't have the tools to make a fire or get clean water, you are SOL.

Jeanette Isabelle [/quote]

Who said all you need is your brain? Obviously, gear, properly selected and utilized, turns a potential disaster into just a day or two outdoors. But the noggin is by far the most important factor.

Let's say you don't have "the tools to make a fire or get clean water". Are you truly SOL? Are there no other alternatives.

I have always been able to produce fire when needed, but if I couldn't, there are alternatives.

I have been in situations where the only liquid was potentially impure. Given the circumstances, i drank long and heartily from a stagnant cattle pond, knowing that I was beginning to show signs of severe dehydration. I needed the liquid immediately, so that I could return to civilization and cure whatever bugs I might get from the water, which would take a few days to work on my system. As it turned out, I suffered no ill effects whatever.

I usually carry adequate water, which is the best course, and I routinely have three ways to start a fire, and at least a couple of ways to purify water.

I recall one victim,with a large bulky backpack,slowly going hypothermic in a freezing mist when we reached him.

"Say, how about building a fire?," we inquired. "You can't - It's too wet," was his reply.

We started a fire with no great difficulty since there were dry twigs and leaves within the abundant conifers, along with pitch. Lots of gear and no knowledge. But he was equipped, as we learned later on the walk out, when he became annoyed at a light shining in the distance, producing a rifle and attempting to shoot it out. Total lack of judgement...