Into the Wild
No one expects to land in a survival situation. And that's why being prepared is the secret to making it out alive.
Preparedness isn’t just about stuffing the right tools in your trunk and pulling them back out when it’s go time, though. It means practicing survival skills at home, too. “One of my mentors used to say that you never want to try something the first time when you need it to save your life,” Scott says. Think you know how to build a shelter out of tree branches and leaves? Drive to a nearby forest and try it; if it doesn’t work, at least you can warm up in the car as you analyze what you did wrong. But more than that, when you know what you’re doing, that peace of mind will calm you down in a survival situation. “It’s a way to grasp back onto something that’s real,” he says. “You’ll have something to put your energy into.”
With Scott’s coaching—and thanks to a premade kit consisting of cottonwood root and nylon cord—I started a small friction fire on my first try and in less than five minutes that afternoon last December. The experience tapped into a primitive part of me that I rarely have to call upon in my cushy city life, and it convinced me—briefly—that I was ready to go it alone in the wild. But in reality it was just a fluky demonstration of outdoor acumen that, despite the warmth of the mini fire I built, left me cold: I’m no Grizzly Adams, and I knew I couldn’t do it again if my life depended on it. So I took a lot more comfort from the suggestions for a “survival fanny pack list” that Scott emailed me two days later, complete with an update on the missing Christmas-tree hunters: “By the way, just saw that that Oregon couple made it back home safely… I bet they have a story to tell.”
LEARN TO SURVIVE
The Wilderness Awareness School is offering a three-day snow-tracking and winter-wilderness survival skills course in the Methow Valley starting February 5. (Instruction on building a snow cave may be included, weather permitting.) The cost is $375. Visit wildernessawareness.org or call 425-788-1301 to register.
WHAT TO PACK
Don’t want to take a survival skills course? Totally understandable. But you’re fooling yourself if you think a survival situation can’t happen to you; add bad driving conditions to even the most innocuous trip to Grandma’s, and you could find yourself stuck in a snowbank with no way to get to civilization before morning. Keep these items in your trunk to increase your chances of getting out of the woods alive.
• Quality matches, packed in a plastic baggie or waterproof container. If they aren’t “strike anywhere” matches, strip the striker off the box and pack it—but not in the same baggie—as well.
• Nonfolding knife for cutting twigs; keep it sharp
• Emergency poncho
• Compass; make sure you know how to use it
• Pencil and pad of paper for leaving messages to search teams or taking notes on your environment
• First-aid kit, including antibiotic ointment, bandages, painkillers, and one or two gauze pads for larger wounds
• Flashlight
• Whistle
• Two or three original flavor PowerBars; a good source of energy, but they taste horrible, so you won’t be tempted to eat them all at once
• One or two warm blankets
• Two-liter bottle of water
Published: February 2010
