by Les Stroud
And as you’ll soon see, different forces are at work in different areas. Ignore them at your peril. If I’m going tripping in the boreal forest of northern Ontario in the middle of May, the first thing I know I need is bug netting, which is specific to that region and time of year. Do I need to pack bug netting if I’m skiing across the Arctic tundra in the middle of November? Nope. It’s important that you take these factors into consideration before every trip.
Arid Regions, Deserts, and Canyons
Acquiring water is paramount when traveling in these areas, so your survival kit should address this critical fact. Make sure you carry a clear garbage bag in your kit in case you need to construct a solar still or vegetation still. A long, thin drinking tube is useful too. You might also consider carrying a small trowel or collapsible shovel to make digging for water easier.
Boreal and Other Temperate Forests
Blackflies and mosquitoes were reputed to have driven many of the early Canadian explorers insane. So I highly recommend bug netting for any region where you expect to be dealing with insects. Why netting as opposed to bug spray? Several reasons. Bug spray is bulky and heavy, whereas netting is light and can be folded to take up very little space. Also, while you will eventually run out of bug spray, your netting will last indefinitely, provided it doesn’t tear (and even then, you can repair it).
You may also consider taking along a bug shirt and bug pants, a variety of which are now on the market.
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STROUD’S TIP
LES’S TOP FIVE SURVIVAL KIT ITEMS
Be sure you have the equipment you need to do the following:
start a fire
boil water (requires some sort of container)
create a shelter
hunt or fish
split wood
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The Arctic and Polar Regions
Most of the drinking water you’ll find in the world’s polar regions comes from snow and ice, which is notoriously devoid of vital mineral content. This deficiency won’t hurt you over short periods of time, but over the course of a few weeks it can begin to seriously affect you. You can offset this problem by carrying mineral tablets, which can be either chewed, or dissolved in drinking water.
In summer, bug netting is a vital addition to your survival kit. And in the spring, sunglasses will protect your eyes from snowblindness, which can result when the sun reflects off the snow all day and all night.
On the Sea or Open Water
As in arid regions, the most important aspect of survival on open water is procuring drinking water. For this reason, it is essential that you carry a desalination or distillation device. Clearly these are too bulky to carry in a standard survival kit, but you will need one or the other nonetheless.
Jungles
One of the most critical—yet frequently overlooked—items you need in the jungle is foot fungus medication. The constant rain and humidity of the jungle environment is murder on the feet, and foot fungus is inevitable. Let it become too severe and it can impede your ability to walk, which could threaten your life. And always carry more than one pair of socks.
Shelter is crucial in the jungle, so take an extra garbage bag or two. Insects can be a huge problem in certain areas and at certain times of year, so take bug netting too.
Coastal Regions
You’ll greatly increase your chances of eating well in coastal regions if you add a small, folded fishnet to your survival kit. This will also come in handy if you expect to be near a river or lake.
Your Vehicle Survival Kit
RANKING HIGH IN THE MOST-IGNORED-BUT-MOST-NEEDED CATEGORY of survival equipment is a vehicle survival kit. Every driver should have one, but it is even more important if you live in (or travel through) areas of remote wilderness, or places prone to extreme weather, such as snowstorms and thunderstorms, where the risk of finding yourself in a survival situation is greater. Regardless of how well stocked your vehicle survival kit may be, make sure you bring additional food and drink with you on any extended journey.
As a rule, if you get into trouble, you should stay with your vehicle until help arrives, especially now that you’ll have a well-equipped vehicle survival kit. And if you’ve got gas, then you have a source of fuel for fire-starting. Your primary concern, however, should be to get your vehicle back on the road and let it carry you to safety.
If you decide to leave your vehicle, do so only when the weather permits and if you feel confident in your ability to travel by land. And don’t leave your car or truck without cutting, ripping, and tearing anything and everything out of it that you think may help you in your quest to survive. One day you will be able to buy a new vehicle; buying a new life is not an option.
I once had the privilege of re-creating for television the survival scenario faced by James and Jennifer Stolpa, the couple who became lost with their car (and baby) in a mountain blizzard. In my re-enactment, I made sure I used everything the vehicle offered before I bade it farewell, a strategy the Stolpas failed to employ, even though they had no winter gear with them and only casual shoes. For instance, I cut the foam from inside the seats of the truck, covered it with the vehicle’s seat covers, and secured it to my feet with seat-belt material. The result was a set of warm makeshift boots that allowed me to travel on top of the snow, rather than through it, as if I were wearing snowshoes. It may seem like overkill, but it saved my feet from frostbite. The Stolpas were not so lucky.
Your vehicle survival kit should have an appropriate case. If budget is a consideration, any backpack or duffel bag will suffice. Ideally, you should get something that is both sturdy and waterproof. Always keep the kit stowed in your vehicle. See the complete Vehicle Survival Kit Checklist.
Your vehicle survival kit should include all of the items in the complete survival kit plus the following:
Cell phone: The problem with a cell phone is that if you’re stuck in a remote area, chances are you won’t have cell coverage. You can, however, carry speaker wire. Secure the wire to the highest point you can reach (or climb to) and attach it to your phone’s antenna. You might not get enough coverage to make a call, but because text messaging operates on a weaker signal, the wire may bring help.
Clothing (warm) and blankets: Pack an extra set of weather-appropriate clothes, including socks, gloves, and hats for every passenger, as well as blankets, sleeping bags, sleeping pads, and a solar or “space” blanket.
Cook set: Cook sets (also known as “mess kits”) are compact sets of pots and/or pans. They allow you to boil up a hot brew, or cook food.
Cook stove and fuel: This is a luxurious extra, to be sure, but one that will greatly increase your chances of survival if you’re stuck for any length of time.
Drinking water: Make sure there is enough room in the bottle to allow for expansion should it freeze.
Flares: These are great for signaling but can also be used, if necessary, to start a fire. You will likely have just a few of these, so use them only when needed.
Flashlight (small, LED) with extra batteries: Also available are flashlights you can crank by hand, which never need batteries. Some of these even come with sirens and cell-phone chargers. Make sure the one you buy is compatible with your phone.
They’re not pretty, but boots such as these—which I made from the foam of a truck’s seats and some seat-belt webbing—might just save your feet from frostbite.
Food, including MREs: MREs—or Meals Ready to Eat—are available at most camping stores and Army & Navy supply shops. This stuff lasts forever and often comes with its own fuel source for heating. Energy bars are also a good option; look for ones that pack the most calories. Many people ignore the importance of salt in their diets. Carry some with your extra food or take along powdered energy drinks high in sodium to replenish electrolytes.
Road maps (local): Make sure you carry maps of regions in which you travel frequently, and before traveling to a new area, add a map of the region to your kit.
Tarp: Throw in an orange one, for visibility, sized roughly 8 feet by 9 feet (2.5 m x 2.7 m).
Toilet paper: It’s an often overlooked item, but toilet paper can sure come in handy—not just for the obvious purpose. It can be stuffed into your clothes to increase their insulating power, and it can be used as tinder for fires.
Tools: Useful tools include a screwdriver, pliers, a wrench, a hatchet or axe, and jumper cables.
Chapter Three
PSYCHOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF SURVIVAL
You’re stranded, stuck, likely alone, in a place that a few moments ago was a wonderland of adventure but now has become a living nightmare. Your next move is crucial to your survival.
But surviving in the wilderness is about more than knowledge and skill. It requires clear-headed, rational thinking, mental toughness, and a positive attitude. It requires a never-yielding will to live.
This will to live, which stems from a positive attitude, is what will keep you going and get you out alive. It’s what gets you up in the morning. It’s what makes you put one foot in front of the other when you’re completely exhausted. Fuel and maintain your will to live and you stand a very good chance of making it home. Lose it and your survival hinges on nothing more than dumb luck.
Although it may seem like some people have a genetic disposition for it, the will to live is a conscious decision. I will make it out of this. I will live. I will survive. You may be without the comforts of home, but you can work to make yourself more comfortable. You may be scared of being alone in the dark, but you can make a fire to keep the fear away. You may be hungry, but you can identify at least one or two things in the area to eat.
The importance of the will to survive is illustrated in the many tales of people with little training who have managed to see themselves through harrowing ordeals. The story of Aron Ralston is one of my favorites. Aron was an experienced outdoorsman and mountaineer, but he had had almost no survival training when, during a canyoneering trip in Utah’s Blue John Canyon in 2003, his hand and forearm got trapped under a massive boulder.
With very little water and food to sustain him, and his hand and forearm crushed, Aron spent five days trying to lift, pry, and chip away at the boulder that held him captive. Nothing worked. To his credit, he realized that the only way he would ever live to see his family and friends again was to snap the two bones in his forearm and cut his arm off, which is exactly what he did.
In that crisis, Aron had nobody to count on but himself, and his book, Between a Rock and a Hard Place, vividly describes the emotional roller coaster he experienced. In the end, it was his intense will to live that saved him. I wonder how many other people would have made it through such an ordeal.
For each story like Aron’s, however, there are many sad tales of individuals who, though they were knowledgeable about the ways of the wilderness, panicked and died. It wasn’t their skill that abandoned them; it was their ability to think straight under the most stressful of circumstances. If you can maintain your composure and your will to live, you will make it through virtually any survival situation.
You can bolster your will to live in many ways, first and foremost by thinking about the people you love and for whom you want to survive. Some turn to spirituality or religion in times of great stress; you may derive comfort, confidence, and strength from prayer and meditation. Studies of survivors show that having a goal may empower them. The goal to see their loved ones again. The goal of revenge. The goal of telling of the event. Having a goal and keeping it in sight is a driving force in survival.
Make no mistake about it: when you find yourself in a survival situation you will confront stresses that can break the resolve of even the toughest individual. If you fail to anticipate these stresses, they can turn you into a mass of indecision waiting for the end to come, or worse, a panic-stricken lunatic wasting precious energy on tasks that don’t increase your chances of surviving. In survival, as in life, your attitude will affect your outcome. If you play the victim, you will be one. If you imagine yourself the hero, you will be one.
A very able-bodied woman once told me that she knew she could never handle being alone in the wilderness, and, in fact, would likely kill herself should she end up in such a situation. Clearly, she was defeated from the start. She would be much better off thinking something like this: If this trip falls apart, I know I can make it out of here. Heck, I’ll be a hero and even write a book about it! Now that’s confidence.
Stress and Stressors
MOST OF US HAVE UTTERED THE WORDS “I AM SO STRESSED!” at one point or another. Stress is a given in the modern-day world, but there are few stressors felt as acutely as those you’ll face when alone in a survival situation.
Despite the pressure it heaps upon our shoulders, stress can sometimes be a beneficial force. Stressors can stimulate us to perform at our peak level, giving us the chance not only to take advantage of our strengths but to work on our weaknesses. But stress can be as destructive as it is constructive. Too much of it can lead to distress, an unhealthy condition that may turn to panic.
Like the emotions I discuss later in this chapter, the key to succeeding in a survival situation is confronting and managing the stressors you may face. These are many and varied, and include injury and illness, hunger, thirst, the environment, cold or heat, lack of knowledge, fatigue, or negative group dynamics, boredom and depression, loneliness and isolation, a general lack of control, and of course, death.
Each of these needs to be acknowledged, confronted, and dealt with. Remember that when you’re fighting for your life, you don’t want any disadvantages at all. If there are any facing you, you can’t sweep them aside. In a survival situation, there’s no ignoring and no procrastinating.
Now What? Assessing and Prioritizing
YOU MAY BE STRESSED, SCARED, PANICKY, UPSET, LONELY, and perhaps even humiliated. Don’t worry; this will pass. Let it pass right now. Relax and know that you have what it takes to get through this. Don’t focus on what is beyond your control.
Before doing anything else (assuming you’ve removed yourself from any immediate danger), you need to stop. Sit down, take a deep breath, and calm yourself. Do not move until you have allowed yourself enough time to assess your circumstances and formulate a plan. There may be no return from a silly mistake. Do not give in to feelings of panic-producing fear, guilt, and frustration. What’s done is done and cannot be undone. Recognize that you are now in a survival situation and must keep your wits about you if you are to make it back to safety.
Indeed, your brain is one of the most important tools you can rely upon. Use it!
Relieve Fear Through Knowledge
BEGIN BY ASSESSING YOUR BODY FOR ANY INJURIES and deal with those as soon as possible. Once you have taken care of yourself, assess your environment and the specifics of your emergency.
Who knows where you were going?
Is anyone expecting you? If so, when?
Is it possible to walk out of your current location on your own, or will you need to be rescued to get out?
Are you certain of the way out?
What do you have to keep you alive?
To answer the last question, figure out what you have at hand that will help you survive. This could be equipment that you carried with you—such as a tent, a knife, and food—or aspects of your environment, such as a cave or a lake. If it’s physically possible, lay out all your immediate resources on a tarp or blanket or even the ground to get a good mental picture of what you have available. Seeing it spread out may spark ideas as to how items could work together or what you can make out of your supplies. In making these asses
sments, you’re providing yourself with one of the most important tools in your survival kit: knowledge.
Armed with your increasing base of knowledge, you can begin to make a plan to deal intelligently and systematically with your needs. The time you take to assess and prioritize will go a long way toward reducing your stress and any possible negative emotions, as you break your situation down into individual hurdles or challenges and see how your worst-case scenario improves:
Keeping a positive frame of mind is essential to survival, especially if you find yourself suddenly alone. Stay focused on how you can improve your situation and you’ll find the strength to go on.
Worst-case scenario: I’m going to freeze to death out here.
No, wait: there’s an old trapper’s cabin over on that hill with a stove inside it and dead trees around. So now the worst-case scenario is that I’m left out here to die alone, but at least I’ll be warm.
No, wait: my family knows that I had to be out of here within two days, and they know where I am. So now my worst-case scenario is that I’m going to be stuck for a few days alone in a cabin. But there’s wood, and I can melt snow and drink water, so I’ll be all right.
