American Hunting: Starting with Solitary Life in the Wilderness

Chapter 329 Bamboo Forest Shelter Camp
"Bamboo forests can conserve water, and such a large bamboo forest must theoretically have streams. This is related to our subsequent issues of water replenishment, food acquisition, and fire prevention."

As Lin Yu'an spoke, he stood up and began to explain, while simultaneously applying his scientific method for finding water.

"Finding water in the mountains, especially streams, can't rely on luck; it requires reasoning." He moved slowly while facing the camera, fully demonstrating his thought process.

"To find water, you must always look for the lowest point of the terrain. I am currently on a gentle slope, so water will inevitably gather at the lowest point of the slope. Therefore, the search direction is downhill ahead."

He began to slowly walk down the hillside, his eyes fixed on the changes in the vegetation on the ground.

At my feet are several clumps of ferns that are noticeably more lush and have wider leaves than the rest of the plants. "See these Nephrolepis and Adiantum capillus-veneris? They are typical moisture-loving plants."

"When you find that their density suddenly increases and their growth becomes unusually vigorous in an area, this is a strong signal."

“The groundwater level is higher here, or it is very close to surface water sources.”

He continued downhill in the direction where these moisture-loving plants were densely distributed, and the terrain descended even more noticeably.

After walking about forty or fifty meters, the soil beneath his feet had become somewhat soft and damp. Suddenly, he squatted down, parted the thick bamboo leaves, and pointed to a mark on the ground.

“Conclusive evidence!” he said with certainty.

As the camera zooms in, you can see a shallow ditch that has been eroded by water, with some dried sand and small black pebbles still on it.

"These are traces of seasonal waterways. During the rainy season, surface runoff here converges into streams that flow downstream along this path."

"Even though it's the dry season now, there's a high chance that a small stream still flows beneath this waterway year-round, or we might be able to find groundwater here."

Lin Yu'an was full of confidence and continued down the dry waterway. Sure enough, after walking less than twenty meters, a very faint "splashing" sound came from the depths of the bamboo forest ahead.

After pushing aside the last clump of bamboo blocking the way, the view suddenly opened up before me.

A crystal-clear stream, only a little over a meter wide, meanders through the bamboo forest like a jade ribbon.

The stream is not deep, flowing gently over a smooth pebble-strewn riverbed. Sunlight filters through the bamboo leaves, casting shimmering reflections on the water.

"We actually found it." Lin Yu'an's face showed a matter-of-fact smile.

This is not a matter of luck, but an inevitable result derived from a complete set of observations and reasoning based on botany, geology, and physics.

The stream was clear and the current was gentle. He could even see some small black shadows that darted to and fro among the rocks at the bottom of the stream—those were fish!

This confirmed his earlier assessment that the valley's ecosystem extended all the way here.

Just then, his gaze was drawn to a peculiar patch of plants on the bank of the stream. It was an open area where sunlight could barely penetrate the bamboo canopy, and the soil was unusually moist due to its proximity to a water source.

There grew a plant that was more than half a person tall, with serrated leaves and covered with fine white bristles.

Lin Yu'an's eyes lit up instantly, with an excitement even stronger than that of discovering a water source.

"Fantastic! It's like finding a needle in a haystack!"

He excitedly said to the camera, "Nettles! Pure natural nylon rope!"

"The semi-shaded, fertile soil with ample moisture along the bamboo grove stream is the perfect growing environment for them. The fishing line I've been looking for finally has a solution!"

Carefully avoiding the stinging bristles, continue observing along the creek bank.

Soon, another discovery was made on a huge, moss-covered dead tree lying horizontally by the stream.

Clusters of dark, thick, and translucent fungi are stubbornly growing out of the cracks in the rotten wood.

He carefully picked a mushroom, its flesh moist and elastic to the touch. He brought it to his nose and smelled it; a faint, fresh mushroom fragrance wafted up, without any unpleasant odor.

When you tear it open, the inside has a uniform, slightly gelatinous structure, without complex gills or tubes.

“Perfect wild black fungus!” he confirmed, his face beaming with undisguised joy.

"Bamboo forests are humid, making them a breeding ground for various saprophytic fungi. And this type of wood ear fungus is one of the easiest to identify and the safest edible fungi."

"It is rich in protein and a variety of trace elements, making it the best nutritional supplement besides meat."

Streams, clay, nettles, wood ear fungus, and fish in the water... This stream is practically a mother river flowing with resources for survival.

He faced the camera and made the final decision: "We've confirmed the water source and found the top-quality materials for making fishing line."

"This place is worth spending an afternoon thoroughly resupplying. Plans changed, we're not leaving today!"

Lin Yu'an stopped exploring and immediately turned around, returning to the bamboo he had chosen.

Having located the water source and additional resources, Lin Yu'an felt more at ease than ever before.

Now he can focus on his core project—making containers.

First, a firebreak with a diameter of nearly three meters was cleared around the selected bamboo to completely expose the moist soil layer underneath, ensuring that everything was safe.

Then they lit a fire in the center of the firebreak, and kept adding dried bamboo sections and hardwood.

What he wanted was not the flickering flame, but the glowing red charcoal after the flame had died down.

“If you use fire directly, the flame will be unstable and the heat will spread around,” he explained to the camera. “In the wild, the most efficient and controllable heat source for precise cutting is always charcoal.”

After about ten minutes, enough high-quality charcoal had accumulated in the fire.

He used two long chopsticks made from damp branches to pick up a piece of charcoal that was burning red-hot and walked toward the bamboo that had already been carved with lines.

He pressed the scorching hot charcoal precisely into the circular groove.

"Zi la——!"

A piercing sound, like a branding iron being burned onto wet wood, suddenly rang out!

The moisture inside the bamboo is instantly vaporized by the high temperature, and plumes of white steam spray out from the gaps in the grooves, accompanied by a strong burnt smell.

The bamboo wall that comes into direct contact with charcoal turns black, carbonizes, and sags at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Lin Yu'an held the charcoal between his fingers, moving it slowly and steadily along the circular groove, as if using a moving branding iron.

Whenever the charcoal cools down, it is thrown back into the fire to recharge, and then another piece of burning charcoal is picked up and the work continues.

This method is highly efficient, but even so, it is a battle of patience and high temperatures.

Lin Yu'an kept replacing the cooled charcoal with fresh charcoal, repeating the process over and over again.

Nearly an hour passed in his focused concentration, and he had painstakingly branded a deep, charred layer, about an inch deep, into the circular groove.

He poked it again with the tip of his stone spear, and a large amount of coke fell off, revealing the bamboo fibers inside, which had become dry and yellow and whose structure was severely damaged. He judged that the time was ripe.

Lin Yu'an stood up and stretched his stiff knees. He walked to the bamboo, grasped it with both hands, and began to push it repeatedly in one direction, using the burning ring of fire as the axis.

"Squeak-squeak--"

The bamboo groaned under the strain, its internal fibers, damaged by the high temperature, began to snap one by one under his force.

With each push, the sound of breaking grew louder.

Finally, as he pushed forward with all his might one last time, "Crack!"

With a crisp sound of fibers being torn apart, the huge bamboo stalk snapped in two!

The upper part slowly tilted to one side, finally crashing heavily to the ground, stirring up a flurry of bamboo leaves.

"Alright, the hardest step is done." He took a breath, but his face remained unsettled. The real finishing touches were only just beginning.

He dragged the fallen bamboo pole, which was several meters long, to an open space, which became his open-air workshop.

We began planning how to make the most of this hard-won material.

After visually estimating the length of the bamboo poles, I selected the two straightest sections in the middle with the longest internode spacing. "The water storage tank needs to be as long as possible to maximize its capacity."

Lin Yu-an picked up the stone knife again and forcefully carved a new ring-shaped groove at the location where the bamboo section was to be cut.

Then he returned to the fire, picked up another piece of red-hot charcoal, and began a new round of branding.

Since this operation was done on the ground, he could work with multiple charcoal pieces at the same time, which made the branding process faster.

Soon the first cutting point was burned through, and he repeated the same operation at the next bamboo section.

More than an hour later, he successfully separated a perfect bamboo tube, about 80 centimeters long and containing two complete bamboo segments.

“The middle section of the bamboo must be removed.” He stood the bamboo tube upright on the ground and then found a long, sturdy straight wooden stick.

Insert the bamboo tube into one end, aim at the thin membrane in the middle of the bamboo joint, and push it down forcefully!
"puff!"

With a muffled thud, the diaphragm was cleanly and efficiently pierced. He pulled out the wooden stick, poured out the debris, and a long bamboo tube with a large capacity that could be easily carried on his back was born.

Next up is the key to tonight's cooking—the bamboo pot.

He selected the thickest part of the bamboo pole, the base of which has the thickest and most heat-resistant walls. What he needed was a container with a naturally sealed bottom made of bamboo nodes.

So, a cutting line was carved right above a thick bamboo segment.

This time he only branded one spot. Once the short, thick bamboo section was separated, it became a bamboo pot with a perfectly sealed bottom made of thick bamboo nodes.

At this time, the sun had already begun to tilt westward.

He sat on the ground, with two new creations, one long and one short, beside him. He picked up the sharp flint and began the final polishing.

The side edge of the flint blade, like a scraper, scraped the rough, charred edges of each bamboo tube.

Carbonized bamboo shavings and torn bamboo fibers fell off one by one under his patient scraping.

Then, using a rough piece of sandstone, the scraped edges were repeatedly polished. This process resembled the final polishing of a work of art.

Eventually, the edges of all the containers became smooth and rounded, and no burrs could be felt at all.

The entire process of cutting bamboo and making tubes took him more than three hours and a lot of physical effort.

But when he filled the first brand-new bamboo tube with the clear stream water and felt the cool water and the heavy weight of the bamboo tube, a genuine smile appeared on his face.

Having a real, heatable container instantly elevated Lin Yu'an's sense of security and control over the future to a new level.

Lin Yu'an carried the green bamboo bucket he had been using as a pot, scooping half a bucket of clear stream water from it. Then he returned to the campfire, which was still warm.

"Alright, guys, the moment of truth has arrived." He said to the camera with a mysterious smile on his face.

"Many people might think that if you put a bamboo tube on a fire, it will immediately turn into a piece of charcoal."

"Now I'm going to show you how ancient wisdom utilizes the most basic principles of physics."

Instead of throwing the bamboo pot directly into the fire, he used a few stones to build a simple stove next to the fire.

Then, the bamboo pot was carefully and steadily placed on top, allowing its bottom to be primarily heated by the hottest charcoal below.

"The core secret of boiling water with bamboo lies in the most amazing substance on this planet we live on—water." He began his explanation while observing the heat.

"Simply put, water is a heat-absorbing monster. The heat transferred from the flame to the bamboo wall will be absorbed by the water inside immediately and efficiently, so fast that the bamboo itself does not have time to react."

"Secondly, there's the principle of heat balance." He used a small wooden stick to gently stir the charcoal fire, making the heat more even.

"The ignition point of bamboo is about 250 to 300 degrees Celsius. But as long as there is water in this bamboo pot, the boiling point of the water is 100 degrees Celsius."

"This means that the temperature of the bamboo wall will be forcibly locked at around 100 degrees Celsius by the water inside, which is far below its own ignition point."

"So as long as the water doesn't boil dry, the part of the bamboo wall that's in contact with the water will never catch fire."

No sooner had he finished speaking than a wondrous sight occurred.

Under the heat of the charcoal fire, the outer wall of the bamboo pot slowly turned yellow and black, and wisps of white steam rose from it. This was the bamboo's own moisture being dried out, but it did not ignite.

Inside the bamboo pot, the clear stream water began to stir. First, strings of tiny bubbles rose from the bottom of the pot, slowly ascending like a pearl chain.

Then, the bubbles grew larger and denser, and a gurgling sound began to emanate from them.

A few minutes later, the water in the pot boiled completely! The bubbling water leaped and danced in the green bamboo pot, creating a wonderful contrast with the blackened exterior.

Lin Yu'an carefully used two wooden sticks to remove the boiling bamboo pot from the fire and placed it on a stone to the side.

I scooped some boiling water into a bowl made of banana leaves, blew on it to cool it down, and carefully took a sip.

"what--"

A warm current instantly flowed from my mouth into my stomach, instantly dispelling the chill of the mountains and forests from my body.

He let out a satisfied sigh, his face beaming with an indescribable joy at the rekindling of civilization.

"See that?" He showed the bamboo pot to the camera, the water inside still steaming. "This is the power of knowledge. From today onwards, we have said goodbye to the era when we could only drink dew."

"Having boiling water means we can kill most parasites and bacteria in the water, greatly reducing the risk of getting sick."

"It also means that we can cook, we can make soup, and we can get more nutrients from food."

He poured the remaining boiling water from the banana leaf bowl back into the bamboo pot. That afternoon, he not only made several containers, but also added the most solid insurance for his upcoming survival challenges.

With the container problem completely solved, his gaze turned to the stream bank overgrown with nettles.

“Alright,” he said, picking up an empty bamboo tube and standing up. “The pot for dinner has passed the test. Now, it’s time to hurry up and prepare the fishing line.”

Lin Yu'an strode towards the patch of nettles located on the bank of the stream.

The light of the setting sun began to soften, bathing the bamboo forest in a warm golden hue, and making the white bristles on the nettle leaves stand out clearly against the backlight.

First, use the side of the stone spear to slowly press down the half-person-high nettles in the same direction.

This causes most of the sharp stinging hairs to lie obediently close to the ground, greatly reducing the risk of being stung.

Then, picking up a piece of dry bark thick enough from the ground, like wearing a primitive cut-resistant glove, he grasped the roots of several of the thickest nettle stems.

Bracing the base with your heels, leaning back, and snapping them cleanly and neatly from the base with a few cracking sounds.

Dragging his spoils, he returned to a huge stone slab by the stream, its surface smoothed by the flowing water. This would be his next fiber processing plant.

He jokingly said to the camera, "Dealing with nettles is like peeling a very troublesome shrimp."

"The key is to remove all the useless shells, that is, the stinging hairs and green outer skin on its surface, leaving only the most precious shrimp meat inside—those tough fibers."

Lin Yu'an laid a nettle stalk flat on the stone slab, picked up the sharp flint, but used its relatively blunt back.

Tilt the stone and scrape the nettle stem repeatedly from top to bottom, using a motion similar to scraping fish scales.

"Shhhhh..."

The fine white bristles and thin green outer skin fell off as the flint flake scraped them off, revealing the lighter-colored stem bark underneath.

This process not only safely removed all the stinging weapons, but also paved the way for the next step of separating the fibers.

He then picked up a fist-sized pebble and used it as a primitive wooden mallet.

Place the cleaned nettle stalks on a stone slab and begin rhythmically tapping them from head to tail.

"Clap! Clap! Clap!"

The crisp tapping sound echoed along the stream. Under his tapping, the hard stem cracked inch by inch through its wooden core, while the tough outer skin remained intact.

Once the entire stem has been loosened by knocking, tear a small opening at the top with your fingers.

Then, like peeling a banana, easily and completely peel the entire piece of fibrous bast skin from the broken, sugarcane-like woody core.

The long, tough pieces of skin that had been peeled off were immediately immersed in the clear, cool stream water, and the water flow instantly carried away the residue.

After the lees were retrieved, they were laid flat on the underwater stone slab, and the pebble in his hand was raised again.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

This time, the tapping sound became dull and filled with splashing water. He wasn't causing trouble; he was performing a hemp washing process.

Each pounding action shatters and squeezes out the green, non-fibrous gelatinous tissue and cellular structures within the phloem.

Clumps of pale green sap spread like watercolor paint in the clear stream, only to be quickly carried away by the flowing water.

Lin Yu'an repeatedly pounded, picked up, rubbed in the water, and pounded again...

This process is very similar to washing clothes with a washing stick by a stream.

Gradually, the rough, tough hides in his hands became softer and softer, and their color changed from bluish-white to an almost pure, milky white, like moist flax.

Finally, when he stopped, all that remained in his hand were strands of pure, hair-like, tough inner skin fibers that floated gently in the water.

All the impurities have been washed away by the clear stream and the patient beating.

“Look at this,” he said, pulling the wet bundle of fibers from the water and showing it to the camera. He grabbed both ends of the fibers with both hands and yanked hard!
The fiber bundle snapped with a taut sound, squeezing out more water, but it showed no sign of breaking.

"This is natural Kevlar. Once it's half-dry, I can use it to make a strong enough fishing line."

(End of this chapter)