Two Gallons Exactly

Time for this week's puzzler.

This one is very old. A classic.

Here it is.

You've been invited to go on a camping trip in the woods with 25 or 30 of your closest buddies. You've rented a cabin in the woods for this.

So you all get into your cars and drive to this cabin in the woods.

The next morning, everyone gets up, and it's decided that the host is going to make homemade pancakes for everyone. But he needs to add two gallons of water to the recipe to make it work. Exactly two gallons of water.

So you are sent to the well to fetch two gallons of water with no measuring device. It must be exactly two gallons.

You get to the well and you discover there are two jugs there. One says 13 gallons and the other says 7 gallons.

So, they need 2 gallons of water. And you have no measuring device. All you have is a 13 gallon jug and a 7 gallon jug.

And you can only make one trip from the well.

How do you do it?

Good luck.

Answer the Puzzler »

Remember last week's puzzler?

Island on Fire

Here it is. This is long so pay attention.

Imagine you are kidnapped and unceremoniously dumped on a deserted island in the Pacific Ocean.

You don't see anyone. Not even the cast of Gilligan's Island.

This island is basically 10 miles long and about 100 yards wide, and it's completely covered with grass and palm trees.

Your captors have been nice enough to give you a few things to assist you in surviving.

They given you supply of water. A life size poster of Ginger from Gilligan's Island to keep you company. They've given you a flashlight, a box of matches and a blankie.

The first day, you walk around the island and you notice that you've got no chance of escape, because the island is a sheer drop off all around 500 feet onto sharp rocks, into shark nfested waters.

So there is no escape from this island.

You go to sleep that first night under your blankie, and you're awakened the next morning by the sound of thunder and the bright flash of lightning.

And you realize that lightning has struck the far end of the island. You're approximately in the middle so the strike happens five miles away from you. Lightning has struck and has set the grass and palm trees on fire.

And as luck would have it, there's a breeze blowing from the fire towards you, so it's pushing the flame in your direction.

You realize that everything on the island is going to go up in flames unless you think of something really quickly.

And the puzzler question is, what do you do to save yourself?