Shelter, Water, Fire & Food
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You can live 3 hours without shelter, in extreme conditions, 3 days without water and 4 days without food. My highest priority is securing a safe, dry location that is out of the wind, away from falling trees, rocks, land slides and flash floods.
Give Me Shelter
Your site should be near a water source and high ground to permit signalling, increase visibility and out of reach of rising water. Having benefited from passive solar in the past and understanding that stone stores the heat of the day and radiates that heat through the night, I am more inclide to find a south facing wall of rocks with no loose rock above.
Water, Water Everywhere
I would never drink water from a stream or lake without prefiltering and disinefecting first. There are plenty of devices and techniques for making stream water safe. One such device is the "Lifestraw" , it can prefilter water and reduce 99.999% bacteria. There are other techniques that can be used after filtering, solar water disinfection (SODIS) has been used in third world countries for some time. It involves placing a clear PET plastic water bottle in direct sunlight for 6- 8 hours. It is recommended that the water is shaken vigouresly to introduce dissolved oxygen in the water. Placing the bottle on a dark rock or flat black metal surface will greatly decerease the time needed in the Sun. The goal is to pasturize the water by heating it 120-150 degrees for a short period of time.
Fire Good
You don't have to be a survivalist to start a fire but it couldn't hurt. But I would rather have one of these.
Food
There are many sources of food found in nature, the challenge is to find it, trap it, catch it or shoot it. In the mean time may I suggest including this in your bug out bag.
