What if you were completely alone in the wilderness, without food or a large arsenal of gear and equipment – would you be able to survive it?
Most people are not capable of that, and to be honest, I don’t think you can either!
Basically, most outdoor enthusiasts tend to overpack for their trips. Many drag themselves half to death and actually only use a third of all the gear they bring. That’s how I started myself, and many of my trips still play out that way. Even food, I sometimes bring too much of it, but hey... it’s cozy.
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And now, it’s probably true that most of us will never be in a situation where we are up to our necks in l.o.r.t and everything is falling apart around us.
But if you do find yourself alone in the wilderness, what do you need most?
First and foremost, it’s not the amount of gear that determines whether you make it. It’s more about having the right gear! What is sufficient, solid, and well thought out.
1# A good knife
We can’t get around the knife, as it has absolutely the most uses and is an absolute MUST-HAVE if you are alone in the wilderness. You can carve tools with it, use it as a spear tip and weapon, split firewood, process and break down game, make traps, etc. It’s hard to do without, but it’s possible. So be careful when you buy the knife of your life!
2# A firesteel – because without fire it’s hard to stay warm and survive in the wilderness
If you have a lighter, that’s fine, but they break easily. Matches get wet, and if you can make fire with a bow drill, you’re just awesome. The most reliable way to make fire is with a firesteel. They work even when wet and are really hard to wear out. Well, it happens over time but only after a loooong time. Here you’ll find various fire-starting gear
3# Cookware for disinfecting water and preparing food
With good cookware, you can boil and disinfect water and thus remove bacteria that can make you sick. If you find berries or are lucky enough to come near meat, you can also advantageously prepare it with the cookware. If I were to go alone into the wilderness, I would choose the three items on the list. However, there is a fourth and very important thing that weighs absolutely nothing. It weighs less than air itself!
The fourth and most important thing to bring into the wilderness is your knowledge
The more you know, the less you have to carry. This is a truth that goes far beyond common sense. In practice, it means that with knowledge you can improvise far more than with the gear mentioned above. Personally, I often bring a book on trips. It never runs out of power and therefore always works. If you really want to learn bushcraft and survival and make it a skill, you have to train it.
