Water, Forage, Firewood and Other Notes From Jail

I read a three Louis L'Amour books a week while locked up for a bullshit knife charge in the Lane County Jail. Anyways, I discovered Mr. L'Amour was an avid outdoors man into primitive survival skills practiced by mountain men and Native Americans. In Silver Canyon, the cowboy Matt Brennan survives for 16 days hiding in the Utah canyonlands with plenty of water, forage, and firewood while using common skills (at the time) in medicinal and food plants in the area, and heals his gunshot wounds using natural plants, and finds plenty to eat around, and uses cottonwood bark to boil water with hot rocks.

My notes from jail:

 Wounded: prickley pear cactus leaves burned on the fire to remove spines. Bound over wound to stop inflammation. Amolillo root scraped into boiled water and drink the foamy water.

 Food: Cattails, turkey, manzanita, catfish, trout, ferral sheep, sago lilly, pinole made from wild corn, wild onions, quail, sage hen, rabbit, elk, deer, squaw cabbage, pinon pine nuts, and breadroot.

"Man had enemies, that was in the nature of things, but when it comes right down to it his battle to live is with that world out there, the cold, the rain, the wind, the heat, the drought and the sun parched pools where water had been. Hunger, thirst, and cold - man's first enemies, and no doubt his last."

    -    Louis L'Amour

Stuck In The City, How to Cope

So, here I am in Eugene, OR in the Fall of 2012 and living in a homeless shelter trying to get into a clean and sober house for 12-18 months to spend on probation. Yeah, first rule of survival is a clean mind. There are lots of pitfalls in modern life in which to contend. I do my best to stay off booze, buy the inexpensive organic foods to eat, and stay healthy.

Fortunately, the Willamette Valley is full of great food and 2012 was a stellar year for food harvest. Same goes for the abundent hunting, fishing, wilderness foraging for plants in the woods 50 miles to the east. 

The problem of being in the valley where airial pollution settles and my sinuses could use some better air. Also, being in a homless shelter mission does not help with airborne viruses- "mission crude". I battle with herbal immune defense to treat and cure, but ultimately leaving the group (disease factory) is the best cure.

I did spend the hot month of August in the woods around McKenzie Bridge, OR and had a great time in the woods camping and practicing skills. So, for the next couple of years I'll blog about preparing for hiking the PCT further, hiking the south Three Sisters Wilderness, fishing the rivers, streams, reservoirs, and lakes. I can take day trips up the McKenzie River and stay tuned for more to come.