The Wilderness Survival Skills website names warmth, water, sleep and food as the four basic needs for wilderness survival. Obviously not getting into a survival situation in the first place is ideal. But whether you’ve gotten lost or simply underestimated how long it would take you to get back to the trailhead before night fell, it’s time to see to your immediate survival needs and do what you can to get unlost.
Making Fire
Fire can meet a number of needs including warmth, light, cooking and purifying water. Perhaps most important of all, having a fire can do a lot to boost your mood and preserve a positive mental attitude. You can learn primitive survival skills, like the bow drill, for making fire with no modern tools at all. Or you could follow a much less skill-, time- and effort-intensive path by carrying waterproof matches or lighters and, most important of all, knowing how to nourish the tiny flame they provide into a fire.
Creating Shelter
A shelter protects you from rain, snow, sun, wind and other inclement conditions. It also creates an enclosed space to contain your radiant body heat, helping you stay warm. What kind of shelter you can build will depend on your skills–this is something you should practice before you have to do it for real–and what supplies you have on hand. A survival blanket, emergency poncho or tarp forms the shell of a simple shelter. Even if you don’t have any tools with you, you might still be able to build a debris pile or lean-to or at least crawl under the sheltering boughs of a tree.
Finding Food
Identifying, gathering and preparing wild edible plants is a skill in and of itself, as is hunting or snaring. The plants and animals you encounter, and how to find them, will vary from area to area, so the more localized knowledge you have the better off you will be. This is especially true when it comes to poisonous and non-edible plants, some of which look remarkably like edible plants.
Finding Water
Lack of water will kill you faster than lack of food. This makes knowing how to find, collect and purify water a critically important survival skill. According to the Wilderness Survival Skills website, the average person can survive for only three days without water.
Staying Positive
A positive mental attitude can make the difference between life and death. If you keep telling yourself “I can’t make it,” then you probably won’t. If, on the other hand, you’re positive enough to make use of every survival opportunity that comes your way, including gathering wild foods and improvising with what few tools you might have on hand, your odds of survival climb steeply.
Navigating
You can’t always count on others to find you. If you’re completely lost, there’s a chance that you might be about to get unlost if you stay calm, survey the terrain and land features around you and compare this to your knowledge of the area. Being able to navigate well also means that you can find you way back to the camp and survival shelter you’ve created if you make sorties for food, firewood or looking for help.
About this Author
Marie Mulrooney has written professionally since 2001. Her diverse background includes numerous outdoor pursuits, personal training and linguistics. She studied mathematics at the University of Alaska Anchorage and contributes regularly to various online publications. Print publication credits include national magazines, poetry awards and long-lived columns about local outdoor adventures.
