Survive!

by Les Stroud

Celestial objects are good navigation tools, particularly the North Star. Although you may think that the stars are constantly moving across the night sky, in the Northern Hemisphere, the North Star always holds its position. To find the North Star, first find the Big Dipper. Draw an imaginary line connecting the two stars that form the right-most part of the ladle. Continue the line a distance about five times greater than the depth of the ladle, which will lead you to the last star in the handle of the Little Dipper. This is the North Star. Make a marking or lay a stick on the ground pointing north (to the star). Once daylight comes, you can use this to establish your direction.

  You can find the North Star by locating the end stars of the Big Dipper. Follow the line they make diagonally north and you’ll find the bright light of the North Star.

  In the southern hemisphere, you can use the Southern Cross (and its two pointer stars) to determine south. Start with the star that marks the top of the cross and draw an imaginary line through its long axis. Now draw a line that starts midway between the two pointer stars and comes out at a right angle to it. This line should cross your first imaginary line through the long axis of the cross. The intersection of these two lines is close to the South Pole.

  You can also use the moon to navigate or at least gain a rough idea of where north and south lie. If the moon is a crescent, draw an imaginary line through the ends of the crescent down to the horizon. If you’re in the northern hemisphere, the point where it touches is south; if you’re in the southern hemisphere, it’s north.

  If the moon rises before the sun sets, the illuminated side will be west. If it rises after mid night, its illuminated side will be east.

  Following beside a stream or river may seem like a logical plan, since it can lead you to civilization…or into endless wilderness. You can walk along gravel riverbanks with ease or find that the forest on the edge of the river is too thick to penetrate. Only solid knowledge of an area, gained during your planning and preparation stage, will help you decide what to do.

  Nor are train tracks or power lines necessarily the path home. You could find a town just around the bend…or walk through miles of nothingness along a line no longer in use. Power lines also have a nasty habit of leading to a swamp or lake across which the wires have been strung.

  While making one of my survival films, I once came upon a set of train tracks. Although I later received a lot of mail chastising me for not following the tracks to safety, at the time, I had been certain there was a highway only a few miles east of the tracks. Since I didn’t have a clue where the tracks would take me, I went with the sure thing, crossed the tracks, hit the highway, and found my way home.

  Global Positioning System (GPS)

  GPS IS A SATELLITE-BASED NAVIGATION SYSTEM that can provide accurate locational data anywhere, at any time. A GPS unit displays your current location in latitude and longitude coordinates; if you enter the map coordinates of your destination, it will also tell you the direction you should travel. Most GPS units also have an electronic compass. Purchase one with a coil antenna that gets good signals under tree canopy and a memory card with topographical maps, so that you can track your movements and easily use the “go-to” feature to find any place on the map.

  Remember, though, that GPS units run on batteries, which may die at the worst possible moment. Never rely on a GPS. You should also know how to use a map and compass.

  Trailblazing

  THOUGH OFTEN OVERLOOKED, an important aspect of survival travel and navigation is marking the surrounding natural features (also known as trailblazing) while you move. Other travelers may see these indicators that you’ve left behind, increasing your chances of being rescued. These markings are also useful if you decide that the path you’re taking is wrong and you want to go back.

  The best way to blaze a trail is to use a sharp object, such as a belt knife, axe, or machete, to cut a small piece of bark off a tree. You can also use the orange surveyor’s tape from your survival kit.

  The best choice for trailblazing targets are young green trees whose bark has not yet hardened. The bark of older trees is much harder and will quickly dull your knife.

  When trailblazing, make sure you mark both sides of the tree (the direction you came from and the direction you’re going). This way you’ll see the marks if you have to turn around. Many adventurers have gotten hopelessly lost because they forgot to do this.

  If you don’t have an object on hand that will slice pieces of bark, you can also blaze your trail by bending or breaking branches. Make sure you bend the branches at eye level and point them in the direction you’re traveling.

  Blazes are most effective when placed at eye level so that you can see them from a distance without actually looking for them. Make as many as your physical strength and circumstances allow.

  Traveling in a Straight Line

  MOST PEOPLE WALK IN CIRCLES WHEN LOST, generally clockwise. We often move to the right because that is the side that people usually keep to when walking down a hallway and climbing stairs. A right-handed person’s right leg is usually less flexible than the left, causing the left leg to take longer strides.

  As a result, traveling straight in a survival situation is not as easy as you may think. Here’s a good strategy: Consciously move in alternating directions around obstacles in your path. Go around them sometimes to the right, and sometimes to the left.

  Region-Specific Travel and Navigation

  Arid Regions, Deserts, and Canyons

  In these regions, the decision whether to move depends primarily on your current supply of water and the likelihood of your finding it somewhere else. If you don’t think you have enough water to complete the journey and are not likely to find some on the way, you shouldn’t go at all, unless you have no choice.

  Anyone who has ever hopped their way across a scalding beach with an ice cream cone in hand will understand that walking on desert sand—no matter how good your footgear—is just as difficult. It’s best to stick to brushy and grassy places where the ground is a bit firmer. Snakes and spiders also seek grassy places, so you increase your risk of being bitten, but this is still the best way to go. If there are no shrubby or grassy areas, travel on the hard valley floor between dunes, not on top of them.

  If you are unlucky enough to get caught in a desert sandstorm, stop moving immediately or try to get to the leeside of a natural shelter. Mark your direction of travel, sit or lie down in that direction, cover your head (especially your mouth and nose) with a cloth, and wait until the storm abates.

  When traveling through canyon country, you have to be extremely cautious around slot canyons (narrow canyons with high walls), which have seen the deaths of many unsuspecting travelers. The danger here is flash flooding, which happens with little warning. Flash floods can rip through slot canyons on perfectly calm, blue-sky days, generally because a major storm has occurred elsewhere and all the surface runoff is collecting in the canyon. The wall of water can be as high as 60 feet (18 m). A strong breeze or a sound like thunder are signs that a flash flood is approaching.

  Boreal and Other Temperate Forests

  The denseness of the trees often complicates travel in boreal and other temperate forests by preventing the traveler from gaining a good long-distance view of the surroundings. Your skill with a compass will come into play here, as you’ll need to take frequent bearings to make your way out. You can also climb a tree to get a better view.

  The rivers, streams, swamps, and lakes common in boreal and temperate forests open up the terrain and provide an excellent means of travel and navigation, provided you have a boat and the skill to travel on water.

  The greatest danger in traveling in the boreal forest is overestimating how fast you’re moving. It is common to travel barely a mile and feel like you have traveled several.

  * * *

  STROUD’S TIP

  When moving through the forest (and the jungle) in a group, chances are the person in front of you will hold the branches, to
prevent them from whipping back into your face. This may be a considerate gesture, but don’t rely on it. There will invariably come a moment when the person in front gets distracted and fails to hold the branch. If you’re not paying attention, you’re going to get it in the eye, which can be serious. Always hold a hand up for protection or stay well enough back.

  * * *

  The Arctic and Polar Regions

  Those who have not had the opportunity to travel in the world’s polar regions are missing some of the greatest scenery on earth. The problem, especially when ice fog sets in, is that you can feel like you’re traveling inside a giant ping-pong ball.

  The ping-pong ball effect can be extremely disorientating and make it nearly impossible to tell the sky from the ground; everything is white. In the Arctic, I once nearly walked off the edge of a 30-foot (9-m) snow cliff. It was only at the last minute that I realized what I was about to do and stopped. I had to get down on my hands and knees before I could actually detect the difference in the landscape a few feet in front of me!

  Generally, the wide-open vistas make traveling in the Arctic enjoyable and the natural land features (if there’s no fog!) easy to distinguish. But bear in mind that whenever you’re in a region with heavy snow cover, you run the risk of snowblindness on bright, sunny days. Snowblindness is a sunburn on your retina, and it’s a debilitating injury that can last for several days.

  Do not, under any circumstances, travel if a heavy snowstorm or blizzard is approaching. You should also avoid traveling when the wind, which can create bitterly cold temperatures, is strong.

  Protect your eyes from the sun’s UV rays with either sunglasses or ski goggles. If you don’t have protective lenses, fashion what you can out of birch bark, paper, or any other fabric. Just leave a couple of horizontal slits to see through.

  Because you can see through a solar blanket, you can use a piece of one to protect your eyes if you don’t have sunglasses.

  On the Sea or Open Water

  When traveling on open water, it helps to be aware of the subtle signs that land may be near: stationary cumulus clouds in a clear sky (or in a cloudy sky where the other clouds are moving); a greenish tint in the sky in the tropics; lighter-colored reflection on clouds in the Arctic; and increased bird life (and sounds). Lighter-colored water also indicates shallow water, as does an increased amount of floating debris.

  Jungles

  The jungle is probably one of the toughest ecosystems in the world to travel through (hence the popular phrase “It’s a jungle out there”). You often don’t know exactly where you are or where you’re going, nor do you always have the luxury of a trail or river to follow. Where possible, stick to traveling near water, as you are more likely to come upon a village.

  As part of your planning and prep, bring a good machete. Slashing and cutting the growth in your way opens up a path and also keeps the many creepy crawlies from biting you or hitching a ride on you.

  You also need to be vigilant about looking up as well as down while you walk. Snakes are found as often in trees as on the ground.

  Walking across logs is very different in the jungle than in the temperate forest. In the forest, I would advise you to step over logs or around them to avoid slipping and twisting an ankle. In the jungle, the opposite is true: you’re better off stepping on a log rather than over it. Many poisonous snakes like to hide just under the crux (small space or hole underneath) of the log. Snakebites occur when travelers step over a log and place their feet down on the other side, exposing their ankles to snakes.

  Mountains

  Streams will eventually lead you off a mountain, but this does not mean that you won’t at some point find yourself at the top of a 100-foot (30-m) waterfall—that’s the downside. As long as the water course is lined with trees, however, you will likely find handholds and footholds to help you make your way down.

  Avalanches are the main travel hazard you’ll face in the mountains, although rockslides can also occur after heavy rainfalls. Avoid ridges and mountaintops during lightning storms, and because of the risk of flash flooding, stay away from low-lying areas after major storms.

  Chapter Ten

  DANGERS AND HAZARDS

  The wilderness may be a dangerous place at times, but we tend to play up the hazard in our minds. One of the most beneficial characteristics you can have in a survival situation is confidence. If you believe you can make it through the bad times and you’re not intimidated by the forces of nature, you will increase your chances of survival.

  To see yourself to safety, you must play both offense and defense. On the offensive end are proactive measures such as signaling, finding water, making fire, building a shelter, and finding food. The defensive end includes protecting yourself from the many hazards inherent to the wild. In other words, it doesn’t matter how much water is available to drink if you get bitten by a poisonous cape cobra while lapping it up.

  The thing to remember about the dangers of the wild (from animals to creepy crawlies to weather) is that they are not, by their nature, malevolent forces trying to do you in. To the contrary, they are just there, doing what they do. Your actions will determine whether these elements affect you negatively.

  For example: you are rushing through the boreal forest and not paying attention to where you’re going, only to run headlong into a hornets’ nest or trip and snap your ankle in a hole. Now you’re in some serious trouble, which you could have avoided had you simply slowed down and paid closer attention. The potential for danger was always there, but your actions determined how it affected you.

  Or let’s say you’ve been blessed with glorious weather for a few days and have chosen not to make a shelter. Invariably, the bad weather comes, and now you’re in a desperate situation trying to keep your fire going and stay warm in the pouring rain. The weather was coming anyway. Only your choice not to make a shelter exposed you to the danger.

  Remember that of all the hazards you’ll face in a survival situation, it’s not the big-impact things (such as predators and poisonous snakes) that are most likely to get in your way. Rather, it’s the little things that you tend to ignore but which exist in abundance that will slow you down; small problems which can snowball if ignored for too long.

  Weather

  OF ALL THE POTENTIAL DANGERS YOU WILL FACE in a survival situation, none is more formidable than the weather. People can tell all the stories they want about dangerous animals, poisonous creatures, or getting ill from eating the wrong plant, but for me, weather is the most frightening variable of all. It’s the greatest foe you’ll face. I have yet to be bitten by a snake, to be stung badly by wasps, or to succumb to starvation in my travels. But I always have to put up with or hide from bad weather.

  It could be too hot or too cold, too wet or too dry. It could be too windy or too calm. But no matter what the weather is, it’s going to affect you in some way, whether it’s offering you an advantage by being pleasant and giving you time to accomplish the survival tasks you need to do, or coming down on you hard as something you have to endure until you get respite.

  In the Kalahari Desert, my greatest concern was the blistering heat, which I had to escape somehow. Luckily, I found a small tree (the only one for a few square miles), which I huddled under for hours. There was a 20-degree difference between areas in the shade and those in the sun, and that little tree helped me survive.

  Ignore the weather and you radically decrease your chances of seeing home again; acknowledge and respect it and you’ve taken the first step toward survival. These are the weather events (in no particular order) that you should be prepared to deal with, depending on your region and the time of year:

  blizzards and wind chill

  extreme heat

  floods

  hurricanes

  sandstorms

  thunderstorms/lightning storms

  See “Weather,” Chapter 11, for a more detailed description of how to handle these events.

  Predators and
Dangerous Animals

  NOTHING GETS AS MUCH PLAY IN THE MEDIA as people getting mauled or killed by animals. And while it may be true that people occasionally are killed by animals, in the overwhelming majority of these instances, the death was due not to the actions of a true predator but to what I call an “accidental predator.”

  An accidental predator (such as a black bear) is primarily concerned with getting its food, usually small or hoofed animals, fish, or plants. Encounters with accidental predators occur when human beings invade their territories.

  True predators (such as great white sharks or tigers), on the other hand, are opportunistic and look at people as opportunities. Sometimes we serve them this opportunity on a silver platter by venturing into their territories unprotected.

  Animals of every sort have an uncanny ability to sense your state of mind, whether you feel confident or fearful. Exude fear and they’ll be all over you. Act confident and strong and they’ll think twice about attacking. Sharks, for example, don’t like the idea of their prey fighting back, so the toughest way for a shark to come at you is from the front.

  Make sure you’re familiar with the creatures you may meet before you head out on your journey.

  Accidental Predators

  The majority of the animals we fear when we head into the wilderness—including black bears, poisonous snakes, or elephants—are not predators looking for human prey at all. Creatures such as these are occasionally associated with killing humans, but these deaths are usually the result of circumstance rather than premeditation. Here’s a list of what I consider the most common accidental predators: