Find water sources for outdoor activities

Outdoor sports are a good way of traveling in our lives. Traveling with friends, self-guided tours, and adventure activities are all activities often organized by forums. Now let's talk about what is the common sense of outdoor sports?

Outdoor sports knowledge: Finding water sources

Finding water

Listening: With your sensitive hearing organs, pay more attention to the sound of flowing streams or waterfalls, the sounds of frogs and water birds at the foot of the mountain, mountain streams, basins, valley bottoms, etc.

Smell: Use your nose to smell the dampness, or the smell of earth and aquatic plants brought by the wind. Then follow the direction of the smell.

Observation: With rich experience and knowledge. You can also find water sources by observing animals, plants, weather, climate and geographical environment.

1. Find water sources according to weather changes. Where there is a rainbow in the sky, there must be rain. Under the black cumulonimbus clouds with thunder and lightning, there must be rain or hail. There must be water sources in the valleys where there is always thick fog. Collecting dew can also alleviate some urgent needs.

2. Find water sources according to the growth of plants. Where cattail, tamarisk, horseweed, golden needle (also known as yellow flower), and wood mustard grow, the water level is relatively high and the water quality is good. Where gray vegetables, cattail, and sand leeks grow, there is also groundwater, but the water quality is poor. It tastes bitter or astringent, or contains rust. In early spring, other branches have not yet sprouted, but one branch has already sprouted, indicating that there is groundwater there. In autumn, other leaves in the same place have already turned yellow. There is only one place where the leaves are not yellow, and that is where there is groundwater. In addition, there are plants such as cottonwood, sycamore, willow, and salt cedar, which only grow where there is water, and groundwater can definitely be dug out from under them.

3. Learn to judge the topography and geology. “People go to high places, and water flows to low places.” This proverb tells us that we can find water in low-lying areas, valleys and gentle slopes. Sandstone and shale are widely distributed in my country, especially in Gou Valley. Springs often gush out in basins or at the contact surface between sandstone and shale. In addition, deep in the caves and in the cracks of various sedimentary rocks, volcanic rocks and metamorphic rocks, you can find springs containing minerals that are drinkable directly.