How to Survive and Thrive
for Several Years in a
Hostile Wilderness Environment
Introduction Only
Copyright © January 1, 2009 by Robert Wayne Atkins, P.E.
All rights reserved and all rights protected under International Copyright Law.
The information and pictures in this document may not be reproduced or
transmitted in any form without the prior written permission of the author.
Introduction
The following book is no longer available as an e-book.
The following e-book is now a part of a larger paperbook book that contains 74 pages.
Information about this book is at the following link: How to Survive and Thrive for Several Years in a Hostile Wilderness Environment.
There are two possible wilderness survival scenarios:
- You become unexpectedly stranded in a hostile wilderness environment and you need to survive until you are rescued or you gradually make your way back to civilization.
- You intentionally enter a hostile wilderness environment and you intend to live there for an extended period of time.
All the survival literature and the survival manuals that I have read focus exclusively on the first scenario above. This is also the primary focus of all military survival manuals. Therefore if the first scenario is the one you have in mind then you can easily find an overwhelming amount of information on that topic.
However, the second scenario is uniquely different. Instead of becoming unexpectedly stranded in a wilderness area, you intentionally enter the wilderness area with the intention of living there for several years. This strategy is not discussed in wilderness survival manuals because their primary focus is on how to survive until you can escape from the wilderness area and return to civilization.
The purpose of this article is to discuss the second scenario and to describe what you should take with you into the wilderness so you can successfully survive for an extended period of time. Some of these items are the same things you would take on a weekend camping trip but most of them are uniquely different. The reason they are different is because at the end of a weekend camping trip you intend to return to civilization instead of remaining in the wilderness for several years.
This article is not about "backpack survival" where a person survives in the wilderness using nothing more than the items he carries on his back. This article assumes you drive a fully loaded vehicle into the wilderness.
The reason I believe I am uniquely qualified to discuss this particular subject is because I spent approximately 6 months living in the backwoods of Maine with my wife and our three small school age children from June to November of 1975 while I was building a rustic log cabin using pine trees that grew on the 12 acres of land we had purchased. After returning to "civilization" in late November of 1975 I continued to study about pioneer life and wilderness survival.
During the past thirty-plus years I have personally tested a wide variety of recommended "textbook survival procedures" and I have discovered which ones are truly reliable and which ones are almost completely worthless from a practical perspective. Therefore I have accumulated a tremendous amount of practical hands-on knowledge on this topic. And it has all been tempered by my actual experience of living in the backwoods of Maine during the summer and fall of 1975.
Therefore the suggestions that follow were not simply copied from a survival manual. Although some of the following information can be found in some survival manuals, the vast majority of the following information is from my own personal files and it is based on my own personal life experiences.
One of the advantages of receiving wilderness survival instruction from an old man is that he no longer has the desire to prove that he can conquer the wilderness with a good hunting knife and the will to survive. An old man more fully appreciates the comforts of civilization and the advantages of modern technology. Therefore he will employ as much of that technology as is reasonably possible to make his life in the wilderness easier and more enjoyable.
The basic concept of long-term wilderness survival is a simple one. The real challenge is in its smooth efficient successful implementation. And that is where my experience will prove its true value in the long run.
The following suggestions will help you to strategically evaluate the things you probably already own and separate them into two categories:
(1) the things that would be truly useful in the wilderness, and
(2) the things that would not be useful.
For example, which of the following two items would be more useful for long-term wilderness survival?
- A microwave oven.
- A tent.
Both of the above items are approximately the same size and weight (when the tent is folded up for transportation). But each of the above items has a totally different function.
If you answered the microwave oven then you are correct. A tent would be far more useful for short-term wilderness survival but the microwave oven would be preferred for long-term wilderness survival. The reasons for this choice will be explained in detail below.
I will also discuss a variety of traditional camping equipment items and explain:
(1) which items are really practical for long-term wilderness survival, and
(2) which items are not and should therefore be avoided.
Finally I will also discuss many items that are not traditional camping equipment but which are truly wonderful things to have and which could therefore make a really big difference to your comfort and survival in the wilderness. One of these items is a hand-operated meat grinder that will allow you to convert the occasional tough wild game meat in hamburger consistency to make it easier to eat and digest. This is just one example. There are many more.
The reason this article could be critical to your long-term wilderness survival is because of three related factors: (1) weight, (2) size, and (3) function. Some items are small but they weigh a lot (ammunition). Other items are large but they do not weigh very much (sleeping bag). Regardless of how many trips you make back and forth to stock your wilderness retreat you will have maximum storage space constraints in addition to weight constraints. A careful strategic selection of each item based on its: (1) weight, (2) size, and (3) function could easily make the difference between whether you live or die. Your choice of items will also determine whether or not you will be able to thrive in the wilderness instead of just barely being able to survive.
End of Introduction
How to Order This Special Topic Article
How much is your time worth?
For example, how long would you agree to work for ten-dollars? ... One day? ... Two weeks? ... Three months?
The information and recommendations in my article could easily save you several weeks of work each year just by following the simple suggestions outlined in each section of my article. That would be time that you could more productively invest in activities to help you thrive and enjoy your life in the wilderness instead of just barely being able to survive on a day to day basis.
People make contingency plans for a variety of things. For example, some people make plans for a temporary camping adventure if they are forced to evacuate their homes for a brief period of time. These plans are frequently very detailed but they are based on what the family did on a few weekend camping adventures. Their plan usually involves a tent and some camping equipment, or a Recreational Vehicle Type Camper. These are fine for one or two weeks in the wilderness but they are not suitable for long-term wilderness survival. The reason I know is because I have tried them and I learned by experience why they won't work in the long-term.
Very, very few people have made detailed plans on how their family could survive for several years in a hostile wilderness environment. The reason these contingency plans are not made is because the head of the family could not possibly envision anything that would force his or her family to abandon the comfort and security of their current home.
Consider, for example, what would happen if a plague where to spread throughout a region. Anyone who decides to stay there will probably die. The plague could be spread by the air, or by mosquitos, ticks, lice, or fleas. Once the dying starts and the corpses are not picked up immediately then these tiny creatures begin to multiply exponentially. In this situation a family's only real chance for long-term survival would be to relocate to an area where there are no people and wait for the plague to run its course. However, since this is a very unpleasant topic to think about, most people simply discount it and refuse to seriously consider it.
Or our world could continue to gradually slide further and further down into a nightmare economic scenario. Once the "dark side" of our fellow man reveals itself in a large percentage of the people within a specific geographical area (or within an entire nation) then these individuals will become a part of a large unguided, undisciplined, uncontrollable mob consisting of thousands of armed desperate starving people and they will sweep through any area in their path and utterly destroy and ravage it. No community will be able to defend itself against them because there will be too many of them and they will have no fear and nothing to lose as some of their ranks are eliminated by whatever resistance they meet. If this nightmare begins to unfold then the only safe place to survive with your family may be deep inside a hostile wilderness area.
The reason it is a wilderness area is because anyone who does not truly understand it will not be able to survive there for an extended period of time. The information in my article will help you to prepare for the hardship conditions you will face in the wilderness so the wilderness does not gradually wear you down and destroy you and your family, one person at a time.
Most men make the invalid assumption that everyone can "tough it out" in the same manner as a man. This simply is not true.
When I spent approximately six-months living in the wilderness with my wife and three children I discovered this the hard way. If you are a man then you will be faced with open defiance, rebellion, and the threat of divorce unless you can improve the wilderness living conditions to meet the minimum needs of your wife and children. As a young man in my mid-twenties I did not know how to do this. This topic was not discussed anywhere in any of the wilderness survival literature I had read. Therefore, after two months of living in a tent, I rented a small apartment in a nearby town for my family to live in while I continued to work on the construction of our wilderness log cabin. Fortunately, renting a small apartment was a valid and affordable option at that time and it allowed me the time to do the work I needed to do without sacrificing my marriage.
However, over the past thirty-plus years I have spent a lot of time thinking about those issues that forced me to rent a small apartment for my family. And I have gradually acquired the knowledge on how I could have successfully met the minimum needs of my wife and young children so I would not have had to rent a small apartment for them to live in. You will not find this type of information anywhere on the internet or in any type of reference book. However, this information is included in my article and it is based on my own personal life experiences.
The above book is no longer available as an e-book.
The above e-book is now a part of a larger paperbook book that contains 74 pages.
Information about this book is at the following link: How to Survive and Thrive for Several Years in a Hostile Wilderness Environment.