Table of Contents
Introduction
About This Book
Conventions Used in This Book
Foolish Assumptions
What You’re Not to Read
How This Book Is Organized
Part I: Stayin’ Alive: Basic Wilderness Survival Principles
Part II: Eyeing Advanced Survival Techniques
Part III: Surviving in Extreme Land Environments
Part IV: Surviving on the Seas, Oceans, and Great Lakes
Part V: The Part of Tens
Icons Used in This Book
Where to Go From Here
Part I: Stayin’ Alive: Basic Wilderness Survival Principles
Chapter 1: Surviving the Wilderness
Being Prepared and Proactive
Keeping the Right Attitude
Identifying Survival Basics
Regulating your body temperature
Signaling for rescue
Avoiding dehydration
Staying nourished
Navigating in the Wild
Relying on tools to navigate
Looking to the heavens
Surviving Injury
Avoiding Some of the Causes of Survival Situations
Making errors in judgment
Losing it: Behaviors that help you get lost
Chapter 2: Preparing Yourself for aSurvival Situation
Being Ready for Mother Nature
Relying on weather forecasts
Watching for weather signs
Carrying Survival Equipment
Five items you need
Building the basic survival kit
Building the complete kit
Gathering equipment for going out on the water
Chapter 3: The Psychology of Survival: Gaining the Upper Hand
Getting into the Right Mindset
Mastering disbelief
Working with stress and fear
Planning and taking action
Understanding discipline
Valuing life and home
Using humor and a positive attitude
Being Aware of Your Emotions
Fear
Panic
Irrationality
Anger and blame
Misery and fatigue
Improving Morale
Chapter 4: Survival Style: Keeping Warm or Cool
Regulating Body Temperature
The cold continuum: What happens as your body cools
The heat continuum: What happens as your body heats
Relying on Layering for Warmth
Avoiding a cold sweat
Choosing your layers
Improvising Cold-Weather Clothing
Extreme sewing: Using needle and thread to save your life
Using plastic, cardboard, and other materials for warmth
Putting together animal skins
Having the right headwear, handwear, and footwear
Using Other Ways to Keep Warm
Staying active
Staying warm when you’re staying still
Cool Threads: Clothing for Staying Cool
Wearing a hat and eye protection
Considering other clothing concepts to keep cool
A Cool Proposition: Working at Night, Resting During the Day
Chapter 5: Making Fire in the Wilderness
Making a Fire
Looking at fire-building materials
Understanding fire-making basics
Considering your basic fire structure options
Striking matches correctly
Making fire in wet conditions
Trying Other Ways to Start Fire
Starting a fire with common, everyday items
Igniting a fire, primitive style
Extinguishing a Fire
Chapter 6: Home, Sweet Hut: Survival Shelters
Grasping the Importance of Shelter
Before Making Camp: What to Do
Understanding priorities
Selecting a good campsite
Using Natural Shelters
Trees
Caves and rock overhangs
Check for current residents
Putting a Roof over Your Head: Building Simple Shelters
Making a tarp shelter
Building a downed-tree or other A-frame shelter
Constructing an insulated shelter
Keeping Your Shelter Clean
Chapter 7: Liquid Capital: Finding Drinking Water
Knowing Your Water Needs
Stretching your water supply
Rationing water
What Not to Drink
Finding Bodies of Water
Locating water in drainages
Knowing other signs of water
Catching Rain
Collecting Condensation
Gathering dew
Making a transpiration bag
Setting up a solar still
Extracting Water from Plants
Filtering and Purifying Water
Boiling water
Going with chemical treatments
Distilling salt water and urine
Using commercial water filters
Improvising filters
Digging a seepage basin
Chapter 8: Gathering and Hunting to Stay Alive in the Wilderness
Managing Food in the Wild
Including Plants in Your Wilderness Diet
Perusing the salad bar: Where to find a variety of plants
Looking at a plant’s edible parts
Naming edible plants
Is it safe? Deciding whether to eat an unknown plant food
Hunting and Trapping Food
Looking for tracks and critter highways
Snaring small animals
Using a throwing stick
Making and using a spear
Making and using a bow and arrow
Making and using a bola
Going in for the kill with a club
Butchering your next meal
Getting Your Hands on Freshwater Fish
Locating fish
Fishing with a hook and line
Making and using fishing spears
Fishing with a net
Creating a fish bottle trap
Preparing fish to eat
The Wilderness Café: Preparing Food Outdoors
Cooking food you can eat now
Drying and smoking food
Part II: Eyeing Advanced Survival Techniques
Chapter 9: Finding Your Way with Tools: Basic Wilderness Navigation
Grasping Navigation Basics
Setting a route with waypoints
Using deliberate offset
Map Reading Made Easy
Deciphering your map’s colors
Measuring map distances
Using contour lines to identify the shape of the land
Understanding your coordinates
Navigating with a Map
Orienting your map
Keeping track of distance traveled: Dead reckoning
Understanding How Your Compass Works
Breaking down the parts of an orienteering compass
Being aware of potential errors
Navigating with a Map and Compass
Understanding common compass usage
Establishing a field bearing
Using your compass to orient the map
Setting your course from a map bearing
Navigating with a GPS Receiver
What to expect from GPS
Setting your receiver
Using GPS in the wild
Chapter 10: Looking Up to the Skies: Celestial Navigation
Finding Direction with the Sun
Finding north and south around midday
Drawing a compass with the stick and shadow method
Finding direction with your wristwatch and the sun
Finding Direction with the Stars
Looking for the North Star
Finding due south with the Southern Cross
Chapter 11: Trekking over Land
Understanding Trail Travel
Knowing where you are
Knowing where you’ve been
Getting Back on Course When You’re Disoriented
Reviewing your calculations
Using your senses to help you find your way
Taking action when you’re disoriented
What to Do When You’re Lost
Staying put so people can find you
Deciding to travel
Blazing Your Own Trail
Understanding meandering
Traveling in a straight line
Marking your trail
Crossing Obstacles in the Wild
Crossing rivers and streams
Going over loose rock and sand
Chapter 12: Signaling for Rescue
Grasping the Basics to Signaling
Picking a good location
Making your signal stand out
Being persistent
Mastering the Language of Signaling
Using three of anything to show something’s up
SOS and Mayday: Calling for urgent help
Sea stuff: Saying Pan-Pan when you’re not in immediate danger
Using ground-to-air emergency code (patterns)
Using your body to signal
Mastering Signaling Tools
Noisemakers and horns
Mirrors and other reflectors
Fire
Smoke
Shadows
Dye markers and other color
Aerial flares
Flashlights and electronic lights
Upside-down flags and other things out of place
Signaling with Electronics
Radioing for help
Using cell and sat phones
Using radio beacons: EPIRBs, ELTs, and PLBs
Getting a Lift: What to Do When the Helicopter Comes
Preparing a landing zone
Practicing helicopter safety
Chapter 13: Administering First Aid
Understanding First Aid Basics
Responding to serious trauma
Assessing the ABCs
Using the recovery position
Giving CPR
Controlling Bleeding
Treating capillary and venous bleeding
Handling arterial bleeding
Treating Shock
Handling Breaks, Sprains, and Wounds
Treating fractures
Treating sprains
Cleaning and covering wounds
Closing open wounds
Bandaging a sucking chest wound
Treating infections in wounds
Treating Burns
Handling minor burns
Dealing with more-severe burns
Addressing Hypothermia and Dehydration
Treating hypothermia
Dealing with dehydration
Treating Bites, Stings, and Poisonings
Mammal bites
Snakebites
Spider bites and insect stings
Poisoning
Chapter 14: Survive or Thrive? Advanced Methods and Tools
Keeping It Together: Ropes and Knots
Getting the lowdown on rope
Knowing the types of cordage
Tying some essential knots
Lashings for loads
That’s a wrap: Making a tripod
Making a square lashing
Crafting Your Own Tools
Making stone tools
Carving bone and antler tools
Making Natural Remedies
Using salicin, nature’s aspirin
Preparing medicines for wounds, burns, and bowels
Part III: Surviving in Extreme Land Environments
Chapter 15: Special Considerations for Forests and Jungles
Identifying Hazardous Wildlife in Dry Forests
Preventing bear attacks
Avoiding mountain lions
Avoiding woodland snakes
Evading spiders and ticks
Laws of the Jungle: Surviving in the Tropics
Preventing jungle diseases
Obtaining safe water
The jungle cover-up: Dressing for the tropics
Avoiding mud flats, sand traps, and dangerous terrain
Using a machete
Making camp and shelters
Identifying Dangerous Animals in the Tropics
Insects and other buggy creatures
Jungle snakes
Gators, crocs, and caimans
Leeches
Piranhas
Chapter 16: The Big Chill: Enduring in Snowy Places
Staying Warm
Cold Comfort: Making Your Shelter in a Snowy Environment
Grasping snow shelter basics
Making a snow-cave
Making Fire in Cold, Snowy Environments
Finding fuel in snowy places
Protecting a fire from the snow
Don’t Eat the Yellow Snow: Safe-to-Drink Snow and Ice
Choosing and treating frozen water sources
Melting snow and ice
Steering Clear of Cold-Environment Terrain Hazards
Avoiding avalanche terrain
Staying off thin ice
Avoiding cornices
Glacial cracks: Avoiding crevasses
Dealing with snow slopes
Making Wearable Tools for Cold-Weather Survival
Creating footwear
Insulating your clothing
Protecting your face and eyes
Making mittens out of socks
Chapter 17: Staying Alive under the Sun
Knowing the Dangers the Sun and Heat Pose
Going skin deep with sunburn
Overheating your body with heat exhaustion and stroke
Wearing Sun Shields
Cool clothes for hot times: Dressing for desert survival
Slathering on the sunblock
Finding Shelter in the Desert
Building a sunshade
Looking for shady places
Warming shelters overnight
Finding Water in the Desert
Discovering standing water
Locating water underground
Squeezing water from mud or sand
Unearthing water from cracks in rock
Making a desert solar still
Collecting water from a cactus
Finding Food in the Dry Places
Fruits of the desert: Eating cacti and other plants
Eating insects
Choosing poultry and eggs
Catching desert mammals
Dining on lizards and snakes
Avoiding Dangerous Desert Animals
Gila monsters and slithering snakes
Stinging scorpions, centipedes, and spiders
Wind and Water: Watching Out for Desert Weather
Staying high and dry during flash floods
Taking shelter from sandstorms
Finding Your Way in the Desert
Traveling at night
Traveling in daylight
Crossing Desert Terrain
Part IV: Surviving on the Seas, Oceans, and Great Lakes
Chapter 18: Staying Afloat and Warm
Recognizing When Your Vessel Is in Trouble
Overloading
Poor trim or listing
Bad weather and heavy seas
Collisions
Fire
Hatch failure and ship damage
Knowing What to Do If Your Boat Starts to Sink
Radioing for help
Putting on a life jacket
Preparing to abandon ship
Abandoning ship: The how-to
Coping with sharks
Staying Warm as You Float with a Life Jacket
What to do in the water
Staying warm in groups
Floating without a Life Jacket
Inflating your clothes
Understanding long-term floating
Chapter 19: The Great Drift: Aboard Life Rafts and Disabled Vessels
Getting from Ship to Life Raft
Locating the life raft
Knowing when to abandon ship
Launching a life raft
Entering a life raft
Adjusting to Life Afloat
The first ten minutes in a raft
Inside the raft: Giving order to the chaos
The flip-out: Righting a raft
Controlling Drifting Vessels
Taking action with depowered boats
Traveling with current and sail
Restarting outboard motors
Chapter 20: Food and Drink at Sea
On the Water Front: Improving Your Chances for Survival
Understanding your body’s dehydration limits
The first line of defense: Conserving your body’s water
Rationing your water
Avoiding salt water
Making Fresh Water on the Sea
Collecting and drinking rainwater
Collecting condensation
Using water makers
Setting up a still at sea
Removing salt with desalination kits
Considering Living Sources of Water
Drinking the juice of fish
Drinking turtle blood
Fishing at Sea
Tackling hooks and lines
Using a spear
Using nets
Advanced fishing for the hungry
Catching small sharks by hand
Bringing in Your Catch
Preparing and Eating Fish
Setting up the sushi bar
Knowing which fish aren’t on the menu
Identifying Other Delicious Things to Eat in the Sea
Turtles
Birds
Barnacles
Seaweed
Chapter 21: Emergency Travel and Navigation at Sea
Swimming Back to Land
Measuring distance to shore
Figuring out where the current is taking you
Moving in the water: Float or swim
Swimming out of a rip current
Improvised Open-Sea Navigation for Life Rafts
Getting your bearings
Estimating current at sea
Understanding signs of land
Coming Ashore: A Dangerous Ordeal
Basic landing principles
Procedures for landing
Chapter 22: First Aid on the Water
Responding to Water Casualties
Getting someone out of the water
Understanding hypothermia
Treating cold shock response
Handling near drowning
Treating Common Sea Ailments
Seasickness
Sunburn and heat maladies
Water-glare blindness
Skin chafe and saltwater sores
Treating Bites and Stings
Jellyfish
Sea snakes
Stinging fish and stingrays
Cone shells and terebra shells
Part V: The Part of Tens
Chapter 23: Ten Ways to Practice Wilderness Survival Skills
Make a Fire with Two Matches
Make a Fire with a Magnifying Glass
Make a Fire with a Bow Drill
Make a Flotation Device from Your Pants
Find North with the Sky’s Help
Make a Tripod
Make a Bow and Arrow
Make a Transpiration Bag
Use a CD to Practice Signaling
Practice CPR
Chapter 24: Ten Quick Escapes
Escaping a Sinking Car
Escaping a Small Plane in Water
Righting a Small Boat or Canoe
Escaping a Forest Fire
Escaping a Bee Swarm
Surviving a Bear Encounter
Encountering a Mountain Lion
Surviving an Avalanche
Surviving a Whiteout
Getting Out of Quicksand
by John Haslett and Cameron M. Smith, PhD
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In the 1990s, with the help of an isolated community of Ecuadorian mariners, John built four 30,000-pound wooden rafts and then voyaged on the Pacific Ocean aboard those primitive vessels for hundreds of days. He and Cameron are now preparing their most extensive expeditions to date.
John lives in Los Angeles with his wife, film director Annie Biggs.
A Life Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, a Fellow of the Explorers Club, and a member of the Society for Human Performance in Extreme Environments, Cameron is currently writing a narrative of his Iceland expeditions and preparing for balloon exploration of the stratosphere as well as another Pacific expedition with John Haslett. You can track his expedition at www.cameronmsmith.com.
And to the boys and men of Troop 100, BSA, wherever you are . . .
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