Imagine one day that you are hiking through the woods and the temp is a mild 50 and you are half way to the summit. You look to the west and see a huge dark cloud blowing in! The first thing you think “Damn I should have checked the weather!”
You keep hiking and blow it off and pretend life is grand! You are smiling just enjoying the view when suddenly you see a flake and then another flake! Before long it is starting to turn the ground white and the temp just dropped 20 degrees within an hour. You are in the middle of a 5 mile hike and stuck in the middle of a snow storm and you didn’t bring warm clothes!
It is late fall in the Appalachian mountains near pigeon Forge, TN and you are alone in the mountains about to make the biggest fight of your life! You start thinking and remember that you didn’t bring a lighter or matches with you! Your thinking “What if I would have carried more food?”It is starting to get dark and everything around you has started to turn white.
You start to panic and realize that you need heat and shelter now! Please don’t get wet, please! You know that feet are wet from the snow and to find wood is going to be harder and harder as the snow pours down. By now wind has started to pick up and the snow is so thick that it is hard to see! You are starting to think back to that college survival class and remember, rah got to find a cave and start a fire. So as you hike to find a cave you are becoming more wet as the snow melts and soaks into your clothes.
You find a cave and start to gather wood; you get lucky and find a whole pile leftover from a beaver earlier in the year! Now you have built a pile of wood and have even managed to find some dry leaves before they got too damp by the heavy snow! Now what, how are we going to start that fire pal? Hum the snow has hidden all the rock so finding some good rock will be super hard! Hum lets go for the bow shaped stick with shoestring technique.
So we have taken a shoestring and have found a stick that is bent and have made a bow with it! Now take a straight stick a couple of feet long and twist it on your shoestring! Now you should be able to move the stick as it is attached to the stick. Now find a larger flat piece of wood and try to find a little pocket where you can place the end of your stick.
Once in place start pulling the bow back and fourth and try to hold downward pressure to the stick! After a few minutes you should start to smell the burning wood! Take some dry leaves and crumble them up and add the crumbles to your hole. Keep on bowing the stick and soon you should have fire! Add more leaves and keep building the fire up! Blow on the fire and it will build faster!
As soon as you the fire gets large you need to dry out your clothes! The wet clothes can drop your body temp very fast and hypothermia can set in! If your clothes are super wet, take them off and place very close to the fire. Don’t burn them; you will need them to stay alive! Alright we got passed step 1!
Simple life saving tips will come to you in the moment of need. Here is a good tip for keeping warm more efficiently using the heat energy of the fire. It will be a great deal of work but well worth it if you need the heat. Find some rocks and build a wall around the fire. The heat will be absorbed into the rocks and will last longer. Plus you can take the rocks and build a bed with them and stay very warm!
If you are having trouble keeping the wood burning, find a big leaf and keep fresh air to it. In survival class we learned how to make a really cool fire pit!
We dug a hole about a foot and half by foot and half wide. We then dug another hole about a foot from the large and made it just big enough to get air through. Then I dug a hole to connect them. This caused better air circulation to the fire pit. It acts much like a chimney of a house. It will be tough to get the fire started but well worth it once you get it going. I believe this to be the most efficient method using air flow!
So you wake up the next morning and it looks like your in the middle of Russia and everything has 2 foot of snow! You sit for awhile and realize you have no idea where you are and you know walking in snow can be a dangerous feat in the woods. You have no food and you have built a nice little fire and you have found a rock overhang to make camp!
The weather is still cloudy and you see a flake here and there and wonder what should I do? You could find a creak and follow down stream and hope to find people! That sounds too risky and you could end up deeper in the woods and stuck in a larger storm with no cave to hide in! What about build a huge fire near the creek and hope someone sees the smoke? This could be a good solution if the clouds aren’t too thick!
Fires have saves much life and the heat can keep you warm until it is time for supper! When you’re lost in the woods and need food, it is time to kick in primitive hunting style! The easiest and quickest hunting solution would be a long dagger!
You will need a sharp rock that has some good weight to it! Walk around and find a nice tree that is about an inch to inch and a half and is very straight. Take the rock and use the weight and cut the tree with the sharp tip. Go all around the tree and try to make the sharpest tip you can. Once you get the tree down, cut the other end so that the spear is about the same height as you are and cut the end.
Ok now you have made an awesome hunting spear and you are ready to begin the hunt. I would suggest going to the creek and try spearing fish. They are relatively easy to catch and they cook quickly and have the nutrients to keep your mind sharp. It is not easy and will take you awhile to master the technique. By now you should sitting and eating your fresh caught river trout and the sun is starting to set. Another night in the cave, will help come soon. To be continued….
