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Emergency Wilderness Survival

2018-01-10 23:32:56.716567+00 by Dan Lyke 4 comments

Larry asks about emergency wilderness survival:

This got me thinking. If I’m going to be heading out into the woods, placing myself in a situation where I might be required to spend the night should things take an unexpected turn what is the minimum list of things I need to have with me? I am far from being an expert so look at this as a conversation starter. Where could I be off? What have I forgotten.

I'll toss my response in the comments.

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comments in ascending chronological order (reverse):

#Comment Re: Emergency Wilderness Survival made: 2018-01-10 23:33:20.065699+00 by: Dan Lyke [edit history]

The thing in my emergency kit that has gotten the most use over the years is polypropylene fleece sweat pants and long sleeve shirt. I got it for my paddling dry bag sometime back in… I dunno, 1990-ish, I and a bunch of stoned poor river guides borrowed an outpost van to drive up to an outpost along the northern North Carolina-Tennessee border. Might have been to run the Nolichucky, but I forget. I believe the trip overlapped my birthday, and that I was the unwitting designated driver, I learned later that everyone else was tripping which is why everyone was giggling uncontrollably.

Anyway, the weather was kinda cold and rainy for late June, so when we got to the outpost of another outfitter I wandered into their store, thought about the weather and the state of preparedness of my fellow paddlers and handed the clerk my credit card for some additions to my dry bag. And then someone handed me a margarita that may have had some lime juice in it the next thing I knew it was the next morning, and we got to paddling… And, yes, mid way down that river I was able to pull my drybag out of my boat and be the hero. In a big way.

Over the years that polypro has made several people who were trekking with me much more comfortable than they would have otherwise been. I don’t know if it’s saved anyone’s life, but it’s certainly made a difference in comfort, and in one or two cases avoided an evac. I think, 27 or so years later, that it’s pretty worn out and I should re- stock the dry bag, but a hat and extra layer that can be put on over or under other clothes can be super light, and has been the one bit of survival gear that’s gotten the most use. Even as my survival knife has been used only for spreading peanut butter, and the ace bandages and splints and tape in my dry bag are just still there.

#Comment Re: Emergency Wilderness Survival made: 2018-01-11 12:19:06.759532+00 by: DaveP

As Dan says, warm clothes are top of the list.

I've used the Vet-Wraps from my survival bag (self-adhesive ace bandages for "large mammals" which were significantly cheaper than the human-rated ones) a lot over the years. Only once for binding a wound, but a bunch of times to hold things together, including a folding stool that broke.

The big 5 D-cell head-basher flashlight is frequently useful, so it stays near the top. I'll replace it with a brighter LED model when the D-cells die.

Next most useful is the disposable butane lighter. Gets dug out a couple times every year. It's in the bag with 100ft of paracord and a knife which also sometimes proves useful (and the lighter keeps the ends of the paracord from fraying). Mostly the paracord gets used supplementing tie-downs when I'm bringing something home from the store, the lighter, well, it lights things. Most frequently BBQ grills.

Finally, the first-aid kit. Mostly I end up using band-aids for skinned knuckles, but at this point everyone I hang with regularly knows I have a first aid kit, so small mishaps get sent my way. Anti- bacterial cream and bandaids are the two items I replace most often because they've been used up.

#Comment Re: Emergency Wilderness Survival made: 2018-01-13 17:33:37.428259+00 by: TheSHAD0W

Dave, did you know you can get an LED replacement bulb for that flashlight?

#Comment Re: Emergency Wilderness Survival made: 2018-01-14 12:45:21.045719+00 by: DaveP

Yeah, I know I can. Thanks. But it gets used infrequently enough that the kind of bulb doesn't matter much. The batteries typically go dead because of age, not use.

I'll maybe buy one eventually, but I currently have Amazon on time-out because they kept delivering Prime orders in three days, rather than the "guaranteed" two, and my local hardware store doesn't stock the LED replacement bulbs, preferring to sell me a whole new flashlight.

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