The potential for getting lost always exists, but implementing some essential survival tips can transform it from a catastrophe into a mere inconvenience. Let’s delve into some useful strategies and advice in this “Essential Survival Guide for Backpackers.”
Why should backpackers need survival tips? With meticulous planning, backpacking should always be something other than a wilderness survival situation. However, there’s always the chance of losing your way or suffering an injury far from any accessible road. Nevertheless, acquiring new survival knowledge occasionally makes your journeys safer and more intriguing. With this perspective, I’d like to share with you a few survival tips and skills based on my personal experiences.
Key Survival Techniques to Keep in Mind
You can construct shelters from snowblocks without any tools in the right conditions. I have built trench shelters using 2 x 3-foot snow blocks by simply stamping rectangles into the heavily crusted snow and lifting the resulting blocks. By stacking them along the sides of a trench in the snow, and then across the top for a roof, I was able to construct a shelter in just twenty minutes.
Syrup, sourced from maple and birch trees in late winter and early spring, is laborious to produce in a wilderness survival situation. However, by consuming maple or birch sap, you can gain a few hundred calories daily. It’s as simple as breaking off the ends of twigs and catching the sap as it drips out. From a single cut branch, I’ve managed to collect a quart per day over a few days.
A survival tip that doubles as a culinary treat involves crayfish, which turn red like lobsters when boiled, and offer a small piece of meat from each tail. Instead of baiting, lifting rocks to locate them proves more efficient. They move in reverse, so approaching them from behind is the best way to catch them.
Porcupines can be subdued with a stick due to their slow movements, giving you ample time. Skinning them from the underside, which is free of quills, makes for a tasty meal when roasted over a fire. The old mountain man tradition advises against killing them unless in an emergency, since their presence guarantees easy food in survival situations.
In desert situations, yucca leaves can be peeled into strips, braided together, and used as quick ropes or lashings. I once created a rope this way in half an hour that four people couldn’t break.
I’ve managed to cook using birch bark containers through two methods. One involves dropping heated rocks into the liquid to bring it to a boil. The other is to place the pot directly over the flame, ensuring it doesn’t rise above the liquid level. This prevents the birch bark pot from burning as the liquid inside quickly conducts the heat away.
Simply filling your lightweight jacket with dried grass can convert it into a winter coat. It’s even more comfortable (and less itchy) if you have another jacket, like a raincoat, allowing you to place the grass or leaves in between. Usually, it’s more efficient to modify what you already have rather than attempting to create survival clothing from scratch.
A wealth of small tricks can make your wilderness adventures both safer and more interesting. Even if you’re not interested in practicing survival techniques, it’s worth reading a few survival tips occasionally. You never know when a remembered tip might end up saving your life.