Chapter 1
The
ADVENTURER
An inconvenience is only an adventure wrongly considered; an adventure is an inconvenience rightly considered.
—G. K. Chesterton
SOMETHING IN the masculine heart calls men to explore the unknown. Such adventure requires seizing possibilities, and you don’t know what all of them will be before setting out. There’s risk in the endeavor. There’s a chance you’ll fail. It’s a chance to test your mettle—an opportunity to “shew yourself a man,” as the Bible puts it. Through adventure, a man has a chance to take risks, improvise, and show deftness of skill in an unfamiliar environment. He has an opportunity to turn if into did.
Even today, in a world that has been mapped precisely, adventure is still available for the man who really wants it, and is of the mind to find it wherever he goes. Jack London considered all of life to be an “adventure path,” and this chapter will provide the skills you’ll need for your journey.
FELL A TREE
Whether you’re cutting down a tree for firewood, a better view of the lake, or as a guarantee to never rake leaves again, there are few things more fun—or more dangerous—than watching it fall while yelling “Timber!” at the top of your lungs. The same angle-cutting technique applies for both chainsaws and felling axes.
1: DETERMINE where the tree should fall. Look for areas that are downhill and clear of any structures or other trees.
2: PLAN two escape routes opposite where the tree will fall. They should be about 45 degrees apart. Clear any branches or obstacles from these paths.
3: MAKE your initial, or notch, cut at the base of the fall side of the tree. Cut at a 60–70 degree angle to about one-third through the tree’s diameter.
4: TO finish the notch cut, cut a line parallel to where the first cut ended, and remove the wedge.
Leaving a small section of the trunk intact creates a hinge to help control the fall.
5: MAKE your final, or felling, cut on the opposite side of the tree, a few inches above the previous parallel cut. Stop when 10–20% of the trunk remains.
6: AS the tree falls, quickly but carefully back away along your escape route.
SPLIT FIREWOOD
Henry Ford famously said, “Chop your own wood and it will warm your twice.” For most men, “chopping” wood means grabbing an ax and hacking away with no real thought. You’re not most men, though. You know that splitting wood in the most effective and efficient way means using the right tools and the correct form. Familiarize yourself with both and you’ll resemble Paul Bunyan in no time.
1: GATHER the right tools. Use a splitting maul instead of an ax, or consider a sledgehammer and a wedge for green wood or larger pieces.
2: PLACE the log on a sturdy surface like a chopping block, or on the ground.
3: AIM for preexisting hairline cracks in the wood, where it splits easiest. Stand so that the maul head meets the log when your arms are extended.
Ax heads get stuck while mauls split and separate the wood.
4: GRIP the maul handle like a baseball bat and then slide your hands far apart, holding the maul across your body.
5: BRING the maul head behind your body, leading with your top hand. Keep the momentum going as you slide your hands together and bring the maul over your head, extending your arms to maximize the force of your swing.
6: FOR larger pieces, first create a cut with your maul. Insert a wedge into the cut, and then drive it through with a sledgehammer.
START A FIRE WITHOUT MATCHES
Food, water, fire, and shelter are critical to your survival in an emergency situation. Fire provides warmth and protection, offers up a signal, cooks food and sterilizes water, and offers comfort. Carrying a bit of dry tinder, matches, a lighter, or a flint and steel setup will ensure you’re never without a roaring fire, but you can still spawn a spark if you lack those easy resources.
HAND DRILL 
1: CUT a notch into the side of a flat piece of wood approximately the width of your finger to make a friction board. Carve the end of a perfectly straight stick to fit the notch and make a spindle. The notch and spindle should seat perfectly together.
2: PLACE a tinder bundle beneath the notch.
3: PLACE the spindle in the notch and pinch the top of the spindle with your open palms.
4: MOVING your palms back and forth, rotate the spindle in the notch. Maintain constant downward pressure.
5: WORK the spindle as fast as possible until smoke begins to form in the notch and an ember falls into the tinder bundle. It may take several minutes for this to happen.
There was the fire, snapping and crackling and promising life with every dancing flame.
—Jack London, “To Build a Fire”
BOW DRILL
1: START with the hand drill setup: a friction board, spindle, and tinder bundle.
2: FIND a curved, bow-shaped stick the length of your arm.
3: TIE a string to one end of the bow, wrap the string around your spindle, pull it tight, and attach it to the other end of the bow.
4: FIND a concave rock or piece of hardwood with a depression in the center to act as a bearing block.
5: PUT your weight on the bearing block while holding the friction plate in place with your foot.
6: DRAW the bow back and forth as fast as possible, using a sawing motion, while maintaining control to force the spindle to rotate until an ember is formed.
BATTERY 
CROSS the positive and negative ends of a battery with steel wool to ignite it.
LENS REFRACTION
TILT a lens in direct sunlight to focus a small, concentrated beam on the center of a tinder bundle, holding it in place until it ignites.
BUILD A ROARING CAMPFIRE
Few things are more primitively satisfying than taking wood to flame in the great outdoors. To make a rip-roaring, s’mores-toasting, butt-warming fire that will be the envy of the campsite, start with dry tinder and keep it going with plenty of well-seasoned wood.
1: SELECT a site away from trees, shrubs, and other greenery. Clear the area of grass, leaves, and other flammable material.
2: FORM a rock circle with a 2- to 3-foot diameter around where you want to build a fire.
3: USE dry, flammable tinder like crumpled paper, leaves, or bark as the base.
4: PLACE thin wood shavings on top of the tinder.
5: CROSS pencil-thick twigs over the tinder and wood shavings pile, leaving room in between for air circulation.
6: IGNITE using a match or lighter. Once it starts, blow on the fire to increase oxygen and heat so the wood catches quickly.
7: ADD larger pieces of kindling and then full logs as needed to keep the flames going.
SURVIVE FALLING THROUGH ICE
While no ice is guaranteed to be safe to walk on, the rule of thumb is that you shouldn’t venture out onto clear ice that is less than 2 inches thick; a safer bet is 4 inches. “Snow ice,” or white ice, will need to be at least 8 inches thick to support you. When walking on ice, carry rescue ice picks with you. They’re cheap and can make a life-or-death difference. You can also make your own with a couple nails and dowels.
1: DO not breathe in the water. Your body’s shock response will cause you to gasp and hyperventilate. Resist this force. The shock will wear off in one to three minutes—and you have fifteen to forty-five minutes before you lose consciousness. Try to stay calm.
2: ORIENT yourself and get back to where you fell through. This ice held you before, so it should be sturdy enough to help you crawl out.
3: DON’T pull yourself straight up. Get horizontal, and kick your feet while using your elbows for traction to get up out of the water and onto the ice. Pull and kick until you’re out.
4: LIE flat on ice and roll away—don’t stand up. This reduces the risk of further cracking the ice. Find warm, dry shelter immediately.
5: IF you can’t get out, stop thrashing to conserve heat and energy. Put your arms on the ice and don’t move them—they may freeze to the ice, keeping you from slipping into the water if you lose consciousness and giving rescuers more time to reach you. Get as much of your body onto the ice as you can—water draws heat from the body twenty-five times faster than air.
Your beard can also freeze on the ice and save you.
6: IF your friend falls through, call 911 and coach them through this process. Don’t go out to them on the hazardous ice—two victims are worse than one. If they can’t get out on their own, extend a looped rope they can put around their arms, or a tree branch or ladder to hold on to.
SURVIVE A BEAR ATTACK
Bear attacks are rare, but you should always be prepared while camping or hiking in the wild. How you handle an attack depends on the type of bear you encounter.
GRIZZLY BEAR
How to Identify a Grizzly (Brown) Bear
• 6.5 feet long
• 400–800 pounds
• Found in Europe, Asia, Canada, and U.S. Pacific Northwest
Always Carry Bear Spray
STAY PREPARED
1: ALWAYS carry bear spray.
2: IF you suspect bears in the area, make noise. Sing, talk to yourself, etc.
3: NEVER leave food on the trail. Always pick up all trash, even organic.
ENCOUNTERING A GRIZZLY
WALK AWAY slowly; don’t run. Be prepared to spray bear at a distance of around 25 feet. Be as non-threatening as possible: make yourself smaller and avoid eye contact.
IF CHARGED
DON’T RUN. Lie on the ground and play dead; protect your head and stomach. Wait ten to twenty minutes after the bear leaves to get up.
BLACK BEAR
How to Identify a Black Bear
• 5 feet long
• 100–300 pounds
• Black bears aren’t always black; they are often brown or cinnamon colored. Common throughout North America and East Asia.
I Repeat, Always Carry Bear Spray
STAY PREPARED
1: ALWAYS carry bear spray.
2: IF you suspect bears in the area, make noise. Sing, talk to yourself, etc.
3: NEVER leave food on the trail. Always pick up all trash, even organic.
4: ADD bells to your pack.
ENCOUNTERING A BLACK BEAR
DON’T RUN; stand your ground and make yourself look as big as possible. Shout, wave your arms, and create a commotion. Never try to climb a tree.
IF CHARGED
FIGHT BACK. Aim for the nose or other sensitive areas. Use rocks/sticks if available. Let the bear be the first to run.
MAKE A TORCH LIKE INDIANA JONES
Whether you’re navigating the woods in a survival situation or hunting for treasure deep in the tunnels of an ancient temple, all it takes to make a torch are a few common supplies.
1: FIND a green branch or stick. You’ll need a one at least 2 feet long and a few inches thick. The greener the better—you don’t want your handle to burn along with the flame.
2: IF using man-made fuels, cut a strip of cotton cloth about 1 foot wide, and 2–3 feet long. The longer you need your torch to burn, the bigger to cut the cloth. For fuel, you can use natural (tree pitch/resin, bark) or man-made (kerosene, gas, lighter fluid) materials. If using natural fuels, forgo the cloth and cover the end of the stick with the bark or pitch, and skip to Step 6.
3: WRAP the cloth around the end of the stick so it creates a bulge in the cloth.
4: TUCK in the end.
5: SOAK the cloth in fuel for a few minutes before lighting. Dry cloth will char and burn away.
6: LIGHT your torch! If using natural fuels, it may take 30–60 seconds to get lit. Be especially cautious in dry, wooded areas. Your new torch should last 20–50 minutes.
JUMP FROM A SPEEDING CAR
It’s a classic Hollywood scenario: the bad guys cut the brake lines, the good guys get in the car, and chaos ensues. But while you’re unlikely to be the target of such a villainous act, brakes do sometimes fail. If you find yourself in a runaway car with no way to slow down, your best bet might be to bail.
1: OPEN the door as wide as possible to lower your chances of getting caught on the car when you jump.
2: LOOK ahead for a landing spot that’s soft (like patches of grass and dirt) and free of obstacles like rocks or road signs.
3: JUMP at an angle perpendicular to the car’s movement so you minimize the chance of rolling back toward the road when you land.
4: TUCK yourself into a ball, lowering your head and bringing your arms and legs in tight to your body.
5: ROLL when you land to spread the impact out as much as possible.
Try to land on your shoulder to reduce injuries to more vital parts of your body.
6: GET away from the roadside to avoid getting run over by passing vehicles. Evaluate any injuries you might have and get checked out by paramedics ASAP.
ESCAPE A SINKING CAR
More than 10,000 water immersion auto accidents happen each year. Nearly 12% of American bridges have been deemed “structurally deficient” by the Federal Highway Administration. It’s scary to think that one might collapse while you’re driving over it—and it’s highly unlikely. But a bridge collapse is hardly the only way to end up in a submerged vehicle. Many drivers simply skid out around a curve, go over a guardrail, and end up in a body of water.
1: STAY calm. On average, you’ll have 30–120 seconds of float time before the car sinks. That’s plenty of time to escape.
2: DON’T open the door. It’s possible to escape this way, but difficult to do even in just a foot of water. The car will also sink almost immediately after, making it impossible for passengers to escape.
3: REMEMBER four simple steps: “Seat belts. Children. Windows. Out.” First, unbuckle your seat belt. If the buckle is stuck, cut it off.
4: MAKE sure children and passengers can get out of their seat belts. Guide and instruct them to exit through their own window if possible, or pull them to the front of the car.
5: ESCAPE through window. Try rolling it down first. If that doesn’t work, use an auto rescue tool or the prongs of your headrest to safely shatter the window. It’s nearly impossible to break using your arms or legs.
Swim out through the window to safety.
JUMP FROM A BRIDGE INTO WATER
Few things are more dangerous than diving into an unknown body of water from a high place. Professional cliff divers do underwater surveys before attempting a dive from any height, and for good cause—from a height of 20 feet, your body will be traveling at 25 miles per hour when it hits the water. Do not attempt this for fun. But if you’re forced to leap from a bridge in extreme circumstances, you give yourself the chance to survive injury or death.
1: IDEALLY, make sure the water is deep enough. Aim for the darkest part of the water for a visual cue. From a height of 20 feet, the water should be at least 8 feet deep. Add 2 feet of water depth for every additional 10 feet of jump height. Although some professional cliff divers can enter the water safely from more than 100 feet, all jumps risk serious injury or death.
2: PICK a landing spot free of underwater obstacles like tree roots and rocks.
3: TAKE a large step off the bridge. Avoid jumping, which can alter your trajectory.
4: ARCH your back slightly as you fall to avoid rotating forward, and raise your arms directly above your head to form your body into a pencil shape.
Pencil dives minimize surface area and reduce impact on your body.
5: SPREAD your arms and legs out once you enter the water to slow your body down.
6: SWIM to the surface and find a place to climb out.
SWIM AT a 90-degree angle to the current to avoid getting swept downstream.
FIND WATER IN THE WILD
Survival experts refer to the Rule of Threes: the average person can go three minutes without air, three hours without shelter (in a harsh environment), three days without water, and three weeks without food. If you’re breathing and have shelter, your next step should be to find a water source. With a little ingenuity, water may not be far away—but remember, any water you find in the wild should be boiled or treated to kill pathogens.
1: LOOK for readily available water by following the direction of animal tracks and flocks of birds, and by listening for the sound of rushing water.
2: COLLECT water by hanging a tarp to catch rain, channeled into a container.
3: HARVEST water from plants by securing a plastic bag around the foliage, letting the plant’s transpiration collect at the bottom of the bag.
4: SQUEEZE water out of succulents like cactus and moss.
5: MAKE an underground still by digging a hole with a container at the center. Cover with plastic, make the edges air tight, and weigh down the center with a rock. Wait for the ground moisture to gather and run down the plastic into the container.
Run a tube from the container to the outside of the well so you can take drinks without removing the plastic.
6: DIG a well to locate groundwater near low spots in the terrain, on beaches, or next to dry river or creek beds.
LAND A PLANE
Pilots spend thousands of hours learning to operate the wall of controls in modern cockpits. While autopilot systems make the majority of airtime downright mundane, landing a plane still requires a manual touch. If the pilot of your next flight is incapacitated, it may be up to you to take over.
1: IDENTIFY the main controls and instruments. Pull back on the throttle to reduce speed, push forward to increase. Pull back on the yoke to increase altitude, push it forward to descend.
2: ESTABLISH a stable flight position. If the autopilot is on, leave it on. If the plane is in a turn, ascending, or descending, use the yoke and throttle to level the plane and reach a stable speed (~500 knots).
3: CALL ATC (Air Traffic Control) using the intercom to the left of the yoke. Say “Mayday,” identify your flight number, and describe the situation.
4: FOLLOW ATC’s guidance to adjust your speed, direction, and altitude to get lined up with the nearest runway. Deploy the landing gear as you’re making your final approach.
5: PULL up on the yoke and pull back on the throttle just before you land to decrease speed and raise the nose of the plane.
6: DEPRESS the pedals at your feet to engage the wheel brakes and stop the plane.
SURVIVE A PLANE CRASH
We think of plane crashes as catastrophic, unsurvivable events. Thankfully, that isn’t the case—the National Transportation Safety Board found that the survival rate of crashes is 95.7%. Take note of another tidbit the FAA and NTSB uncovered: 40% of airplane crash fatalities might have been prevented had passengers taken proper action.
The odds of being in a plane crash are slim, but they’re not zero. Here’s how to increase your chance of walking away.
NINETY SECONDS TO GET OUT
IF YOU’VE survived the crash landing, you have a good chance of getting out of the airplane alive. But you only have a minute and a half to do so. The thing that kills most passengers in a plane crash isn’t the actual impact, it’s the fire that typically engulfs the plane afterward. It takes, on average, just ninety seconds for a fire to burn through the plane’s fuselage and consume everything in it. If that sounds scary, it should. Get out of the plane!
THE FIVE ROW RULE
STATISTICS ARE inconclusive about whether the front or the rear of the plane is safer in a crash. Every plane crash is different, so focus on finding a seat near an exit. Crash survivors typically only have to move an average of five rows to escape. The best seat to have is in the exit row. If you can’t snag that seat, go for the aisle. You’ll increase your chance of survival by 6% over a window seat.
MAKE AN ACTION PLAN
OUR BRAINS react slowly to disaster. Instead of springing to action when something unexpected happens, our brain shrugs and assumes that what is going on can’t be so bad, because truly bad events are so out of the ordinary.
TO OVERCOME this “normalcy bias,” make an action plan as soon as you sit down. Read the safety card. Spot the nearest exit and count the rows to it. Size up the passengers around you and look for obstacles to your exit. If traveling with kids and another adult, discuss who will be responsible for whom in the event of an accident. Mentally rehearse springing to action as soon as the plane comes to a stop.
THE PLUS 3/MINUS 8 RULE
CLOSE TO 80% of all plane crashes occur during the first three minutes after takeoff or the final eight minutes before landing.
You don’t need to be paranoid
—just pay attention.
PUT ON YOUR OXYGEN MASK AS SOON AS IT DROPS
SECURE YOUR mask first before helping others secure theirs. You’re useless to others if you’re not getting oxygen to your brain.
BRACE YOURSELF
IT MAY seem silly to think that curling up in a ball will help you survive a plane crash, but brace positions work. They reduce the velocity of your head when it slams into the seat in front of you, and minimizes limb flailing.
MAKE SURE your seat belt is securely fastened—low and tight. Those bad boys are designed to withstand 3,000 pounds of force, or about three times as much as you can handle before passing out.
USE YOUR CELL PHONE AS A SURVIVAL TOOL
A cell phone is the single most useful survival tool you have… as long as you have service and plenty of battery power. Once it dies, your device might seem as useful as a rock, until you look inside. Crack it open to find tools that might save your life.
Battery
1: USE a spare wire or piece of steel wool to connect the terminals of the battery together. This short circuit technique can create enough heat or sparks to start a fire.
Mirror
2: NEARLY every phone has a mirror behind the screen. Use it to signal search-and-rescue teams or to reflect sunlight onto a tinder pile to create a spot hot enough to catch flame.
Speaker
3: SPEAKERS typically have magnets you can use with a needle to create a compass. Wipe the needle several times against the magnet in the same direction, and then place the needle on a leaf floating in a calm pool of water. The needle will point due north.
Circuit Board
4: SHARPEN hard circuit boards on rocks to create knives, arrowheads, and fishing lures.
PADDLE A CANOE
Paddling a canoe may seem as straightforward as peeling an orange, but subtle motions differentiate an efficient stroke from a poor one. Splashing and zig-zagging around lakes and rivers is the stuff of mere boys. You should canoe like a man: calmly, confidently, quickly moving toward your next adventure.
1: GRIP the paddle with your right hand a foot above the blade and your left hand on the grip at the top.
2: REACH forward, slightly twisting your torso to put the paddle into the water at the centerline, or middle, of the canoe’s body.
For paddling on the port (left) side of the canoe, use the opposite grip.
3: PUT the paddle into the water vertically, keeping the blade’s face perpendicular to the canoe. The paddle should be deep enough that its contour matches that of the canoe’s hull.
4: DRAW the paddle toward you through the water, keeping the blade perpendicular to the canoe as you use your shoulders and torso to pull, rather than just your arms.
5: HALFWAY through your stroke, gently rotate the blade to be parallel to the boat by turning your grip hand so its back points away from you.
6: PULL the paddle out of the water with minimal splashing and stretch forward to start the process over, keeping the blade close to the water to minimize excess movement.
BUILD A LOG RAFT
Huck Finn meandered down the Mississippi in a raft, and the explorer Thor Heyerdahl crossed the Pacific in one he called Kon-Tiki. Try to use lighter-weight woods like balsa, pine, or oak, and make your knots as tight as possible to avoid shifting once you’re underway.
1: GATHER six to eight 10-foot logs at least 10 inches in diameter, and four thinner 10-foot logs at least 6 inches in diameter.
2: DRAG the logs into shallow water and arrange the thicker ones next to each other to make a platform.
Assemble the raft in the water to make it easier to move.
3: SANDWICH the larger logs with two thin logs and use rope or thick vines to tie them in place.
4: CONTINUE to secure each larger log in place. The thin logs will pinch the platform, and hold it in place.
5: REPEAT on the other side, using the last two thin logs to secure the other side of the raft.
6: USE a long branch as an oar.
SURVIVE A TORNADO
Tornadoes can occur without warning any time of day, even if there isn’t a thunderstorm in the area. Most occur in the afternoon and are preceded by telltale conditions:
• A pea-soup green sky and/or a low, dark cloud.
• Strong, persistent rotation in the cloud base.
• Whirling dust on the ground under a cloud base—tornadoes sometimes have no funnel!
• Hail or heavy rain followed by dead calm or a fast, intense wind shift.
• A loud, continuous roar or rumble that doesn’t fade in a few seconds like thunder.
• Small, bright flashes at ground level near a thunderstorm. These indicate power lines being snapped by wind.
TAKE COVER
ONCE THERE’S an official tornado warning—or if you see the above signs—seek shelter immediately. A tornado’s biggest danger is flying debris. It can turn two-by-fours, bricks, and branches into deadly missiles.
HERE’S HOW TO SURVIVE
1: IN a house. If you don’t have a dedicated storm shelter, take cover in the basement, or failing that, an interior bathroom, hallway, or closet without windows on the lowest floor. The more walls between you and the wind, the better. Don’t position yourself under a large, heavy object that’s on the floor(s) above you—like a piano or refrigerator. It could come crashing down. Cover yourself with a mattress or blankets, or crawl under a sturdy table or workbench. Do not open the windows of the house.
2: IN a mobile home. Get out! You’re fifteen times more likely to die there than in any other location.
3: AT a store or office. Take shelter in an interior room or bathroom on the ground floor—one that’s free of or far from windows. Crouch facedown and cover your head with your hands and arms. Interior stairwells are also good spots. Avoid elevators.
4: “LONG-SPAN” buildings (shopping malls, big box stores, theaters, and gyms) can be particularly dangerous places to be during a tornado, as the roof is often only supported by the exterior walls. Look for a windowless bathroom or storage room on the lowest level. Hunker down under something that might provide stronger support, like a door frame, or under something sturdy, like theater seats.
5: On the road. Your car is one of the most dangerous places you can be when a tornado strikes. Get inside a building, or head for a ditch. Do not take shelter under an overpass or bridge.
6: OUTSIDE. If there are no shelters around, lie flat in a low area of ground like a ditch and cover your head with your arms. Pick a spot away from trees and other potential projectiles.
PERFORM THE FIREMAN’S CARRY
Carrying another person is hard, especially when they’re unresponsive. Heavy heads, limp limbs, and asymmetrical weight distribution will have even the strongest of heroes struggling to move someone. If you need to pick someone up and carry them away from danger, use the same methods as the pros.
1: TAKE a knee and pull the person toward you, gripping under their arms.
2: PULL the person into a standing position so that they are facing toward you. Lift with your legs instead of your back.
3: GRAB their wrist and swing their arm over your head and around your neck.
4: BEND your knees, put your free arm between their legs, and let their upper body slump onto your shoulders and back.
5: TRANSFER their wrist to the arm threaded between their legs and start carrying them to safety.
MAKE URBAN SURVIVAL CANDLES
Whether it’s a well-thought-out bug-out bag or a basic kit for when the power goes out, a collection of gear including food, water, lights, and first-aid materials is always a good thing to have on hand. But if you find yourself in a situation without a source of light, you may have alternative options with these homemade candles. All you need is a fuel source and a wick.
Be Prepared!
—Boy Scout Motto
ALMOST ANY natural fiber will act as a wick and almost any oil or fat will act as a fuel. Submerge the wick in your fuel source, leaving a small portion of it exposed so it can be lit. Coat the exposed tip with fuel before lighting to promote the movement of fuel up the wick.