|
HOME • CALENDAR
PHONE or EMAIL US
CONFIDENTIALITY:
Wolf Camp does not share
its database — period.
• Wolf College SITE MAP
• Wolf Camp SITE MAP
• Wolf Journey SITE MAP
|
Faculty Essay
Article on this page: The Critical Order of Emergency Survival by Chris Chisholm. This article is also reprinted at Seattle Backpackers magazine, September 2010 issue. Also check out our other articles available in the Ethnobotany series, Survival series, Wildlife series, and Earth Skills Education series.
The Critical Order of Emergency Survival
Ready to Practice Your Skills? Take a Survival Trek!
Survival Trek Variety A: Leave the Sleeping Bag & Tent Behind - One of the varieties of survival trek that I recommend is to perfect your most basic survival skill (besides breathing, of course). Bring all the gear you want, as long as you are without shelter or any form of insulation. Novices should start early on a summer morning, bring a fire kit which includes tinder and kindling, as well as the garbage bags with string as a back-up shelter. Experts should go during the winter or begin just an hour or two before nightfall, and bring only food, water, bowl, knife, two normal layers of clothing, and fire starter. But always bring the first aid gear, let people know where you are, what you are doing,, and better yet, have someone watch you.
Survival Trek Variety B: Leave the Water & Fire Starter - Another variety of survival trek that I recommend is to work on primitive firemaking. Bring all the gear you want, as long as you are without any fire starter. Novices should start early in the morning, and have a back-up fire kit made in case the one you gather and make today doesn't work out so well. Experts should go when it is rainy, extremely cold, or just after dusk. Still bring the first aid gear, let people know where you are, what you are doing,, and if possible, have someone watch you.
Survival Trek Variety C: Leave the Water & Bowl - Still another variety of survival trek that I recommend is to work on purifying water. Bring all the gear you want, as long as you are without any means of carrying water. Novices should start early in the morning, and be near a safe drinking water source in case the bowl you make today doesn't work out so well. Experts should start after dusk with only a primitive fire kit that is pre-made, or maybe be nowhere near water, so that you need to make a solar still or sop-up dew. Still bring the first aid gear, let people know where you are, what you are doing,, and if possible, have someone watch you.
Survival Trek Variety D: Leave the Blade - Yet another variety of survival trek that I recommend is to figure out how to do everything without a knife, hatchet or any modern blade. Bring all the gear you want otherwise. Novices should start early in the morning, and bring their pre-made primitive fire kit, but without tinder or firewood. Experts should bring no fire kit or fire starter or rope of any kind (don't use your shoe laces, either). As always, bring the first aid gear, let people know where you are, what you are doing,, and if possible, have someone watch you.
Survival Trek Variety E: Bring only the Basics - The final variety I'll mention for now is what I call the Basics. For this trek, bring the four most important tools for survival that I mention earlier in this essay: just a blade, fire starter, metal bowl, and a garbage bag with string. Novices should start the trek in the morning and bring along food (no water), while experts should start at dusk and leave the food behind. As always, bring the first aid gear and let people know where you are, what you are doing, and have someone checking on you.
How you do things beyond those suggestions is up to you: how long you stay, where you go, etc. But remember, people are depending on you back home, so stay safe. Also, be absolutely sure that you have permission to do the things you are planning to from whomever owns the property you use. And stay legal: know the fire, hunting, trapping, and plant harvesting rules of your county or state.
Remember that just like with any rite of passage, the three stages of the process are critical to success: preparation, ordeal and integration. The more you prepare for a survival trek and are clear with your intention, the more successful you will be. The better you prepare your plan of action during the trek, the better the result, however different it may be than what you planned. And the better the plan you have to integrate back into your daily life, the more successful you will feel in the end.
Finally, a teacher, guide or mentor who helps a student with a survival trek should not only help them plan and prepare, but also help the student evaluate the ordeal afterward. Encourage them to journal the experience, of course, and evaluate the attitude, safety, site selection, shelter quality, water source, fire-making-and-extinguishing, craftwork materials and quality, food and cooking quality, medicine quality, and oh, did I forget to mention safety?
The Critical Order of Emergency Survival
Some important resources to acquire if you would like to practice your survival skills more easily include Larry Dean Olsen’s Wilderness Survival Skills, Woodmaster Videos by Dr. Ron Hood (www.survival.com), and for all the resources available in the field, go to HOPS Press (www.hollowtop.com) which is run by Thomas J. Elpel.
|
