Has anyone here ever been in a survival situation?

Good lord, see people, this is why you always carry apples, coke cans and spuds, just in case.

guess

I drank dew off the grass, kept moving to keep circulation flowing, contemplated eating random mushrooms, bathed in a waterfall, followed wild animals to water, tapped a spring, camped in snow, walked further than anyone should, climbed mountains, climbed back down mountains, learned how to start a fire with a magnifying glass, kept a fire going for months with embers, camped under a tarp, camped under nothing but a long skirt to keep the bugs off my head, learned to tie knots, went to the ends of the earth, spent time in remote locations, traded items for ones I needed, tumbled down a hill to escape, learned to shoot a gun and an arrow, ran from a hoard of killer bees, found out how to make a warm bath in the middle of a small stream with nothing but a tarp, etc.

I spent a lot of time outdoors too. Probably not driven the same way, maybe not so different in the end. I love the wild.

I want to hear the warm bath in a small stream story. Mostly because the water I usually have to use is Rocky Mtn water... not warm ;)

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This isn't really a survival situation, but it is funny...

One day I got up, pulled on some sweats and went for a run. It was a perfect day, the sky perfectly clear as the sun came up... gorgeous. I knew it was colder than usual, but knew that once the sun started hitting me I'd be okay.

Stretched briefly, started to run in that "not quite on" way to help get into stride. Finally met the regular pace and the sun was beginning to cut through the trees in wide bands, but the usual warmth was somehow missing.

Got three miles out and realized that the front of my thighs were really freaking cold and my nose and ears really hurt. I thought, it must be a lot colder than I thought. Decided to turn back and up the pace a little.

By the time I got within a mile of the shelter I had one hand protecting my balls and the annihilation of future generations, and the other trying to warm my ears and nose and face.

I was pouring on a record breaking pace for that last mile and never stopped at the door. Once inside I paced around for half an hour warming my gonads while breathing deeply to the sensation of a majestically excruciating pain from the same.

Got a little frostbite on my ears and nose, but not more than that.

Turns out I went for a run in my sweats at about 50 below that morning. I'd never been in really cold country, so that was a new one for me :)

Last Edited by Anymous Cowboy on 10/24/2018 01:07 PM

Rode out a F2 tornado and strobe light type lightning in a typical camping tent.
Thought we were going to get squashed by trees going down, fried by a million volts or slung into the lake wrapped up in the tent by the 'nader.

I have another survival story that I would love to tell, but cannot.

However, I will say this: the wilderness is not so wild as you think. It is welcoming and if you have just a little knowledge, it is sustaining.

Sustaining.

Remember theses steps: Breath, Warmth, Water, Food, Friends.

Breathe You think you are in the worst situation? Maybe you are, probably not. The answer is to breathe, focus, and be grateful for that breath you just inhaled.

Warmth Next you need to stay warm. Just find a bunch of leaves and make them into a pile. If you can cover yourself with a foot or so of leaves, you will be warm. Wet leaves, frozen leaves three feet under snow. You can live like this indefinitely with a pile of leaves for a shelter. Not ideal, but it works. The guy that got caught in the boat as a kid... and the adults put the kids in wetsuits... that was the best first step they could take. Stay warm!

Water Stay hydrated if at all possible. That cow pond full of cow crap? Yup. Start a little fire, boil that water, filter it through your shirtsleeve and drink it. Running water of any kind? You can almost always drink from the most turbulent parts without getting sick. Parasites and bacteria like the slower moving parts. They are "sticky" for lack of a better term and the fast moving parts are always quite clean.

Food You can eat almost anything that grows. There are things that will be toxic, but most (like 80%) things are not. If you can just continuously eat grass seeds all day, or tree blossoms, or chew on anything with a sap in it, you will be surprised at the energy you can extract. Of course there are animals too. Just be aware that there are many more disease vectors in animals than in plants. Birds are generally the easiest creature to catch if you use wire snares. Fish are easy to catch as well.

Friends Survival together is usually easier that survival alone. Not always though. Remember, friends are what friends do. If a person is generous, kind and thoughtful that is a friend. If not, well, that's not a friend... even if it is a family member or a business associate, etc.




My cupped hands dripping with fresh water, grubby salty sweat, and a little soot, raised to yours!

Cheers :)

Last Edited by Anymous Cowboy on 10/24/2018 01:35 PM

hahah... sounds amazing actually. You should have opened the door a bit to watch ;)

Went to bed around 11 PM and we were awakened by closing in thunder around 3AM.
By 330 I would have swore we were in hell and hundreds of demons were tearing at the tent from the outside.
We were too busy hanging on to the tent spikes through the tent to open the door.

Nothing where I really thought I might die. I did have to camp overnight several times in crappy conditions, like once on the Colorado Trail at about 10k altitude with my horse almost literally standing on top of me because the trail was so narrow.

He was a good boy and didn't step on me all night.

Ha.

The tarp thing is easy - if you can find a spot in a stream with sun. You just make a "tub" with the tarp, let the stream fill it up, cut it off from the flow of water, and wait for the tarp magic to warm the still water in it.

I believe a black tarp works best. Maybe one of the silver ones would too?

Last Edited by TlvmmCpoft on 10/24/2018 02:17 PM

That is awesome, actually. I will have to try it.

Once I went to a conference at a university... lol, a physics conference... but just... well, you know, I like the outdoors.

So, there was a stream that flowed through the city and I drove to the outskirts and parked my car near a place that looked fairly public (probably it was private property, but, no fence, no house, no signs... meh, public enough). I slept in the car and every morning cooked a little breakfast, washed in the stream, and went to the conference.

I got into some deep conversation with a fellow participant and after the last session he asked where I was staying and what I was doing next. I guess he wanted to get a beer or something. I told him I was car camping by the stream and didn't have any extra cash at the moment. He just looked at me long and hard, like, "What. The. Actual. F." type of expression, and said he had to go.

Yeah, sometimes its best to keep certain things private I suppose. Cognitive dissonance and all that.

Anyway, some survival stories are just life stories from the "real" side of life:

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[link to moxie.org (secure)] <-- not me, perhaps my alter-ego

yes I have

12th and race at midnight

had to put down 2 dindoos to survive.

I knew someone who got (minor) frostbite on patrol in Florida of all places due to a coldsnap and insufficient gear.

Luxury can be found anywhere

Every time we visit my mother-in-law. Fight or flight.

That’s a good one...

And for real... my baby and I have survived her evilness!

This survival story is brutal, just horrific

Five people stranded at sea on a life-raft and some of them get eaten alive in the shark-infested waters.

The female survivor who made it is really mentally strong.

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This survival story is one of many that really bothers me.

The boyscout leaders SHOULD have known better, they are the adults and the so-called experts and they lead these poor 15-year old boyscouts on this god-forsaken hike into the Grand Canyon without enough water and without checking the weather!!

This one made me cry, very sad and is a good reminder not to put blind trust in people who are supposed "experts", especially people who are taking care of your kids.

People can avoid a lot of these survival situations today just by carrying a personal locator beacon device and/or a satellite phone.

Yep, frostbite and hypothermia can be real dangers even in warm, tropical areas if you are stranded in the water for any length of time.

and add some hot rocks from the fire

Someone's going to explode some rocks with that advice.

im not a story teller but i have been in real hard core many.

bed rocks, not river rocks

I survived is another cool show to watch.

Bump

Grew up in Jersey in the 70s need I say more?

Yes. I had a step-dad take my mother and I to Washington State, He was a con-man and said he had a job waiting for him there. So...we made our way up the pacific coast to Washington. Turns out, he was full of sh!t. Imagine that. We had no food, except for saltine crackers, for two weeks. He somehow was able to buy beer. My mother and I starved, literally. I told my mom if she didn't get me out of this place I was going to kill myself. I was 14. I meant it, I was so tired of it all. Her dad, my grandpa, ended up getting us a greyhound ticket home. Once we arrived, we tried so hard to eat, but it was too late...our bodies were in starvation mode. As time went on, we were able to eat. Survival mode? Yes! It was one of the hardest things I went through.

It may not be the survival mode you're thinking of, but it was for me.