What would you do if a disaster forced you to leave your home on short notice? You’d probably try to make your way to a safer place – but it might take you some time to get there. In order to maximize your chances of making it through whatever crisis is going on, you need to learn how to survive in the wild, whether it’s for just a few days or for as long as necessary. If things are really bad (such as in complete societal collapse), you may need to camp out for quite some time until things calm down.
Even if you’re not really the outdoorsy type normally, these are things that you absolutely need to know in order to make it through a catastrophic event. Even if all you have is your go bag, with a little ingenuity and of course, a little bit of luck, you should be able to meet all of your basic needs until help arrives, you can construct a more permanent type of shelter or you reach a safer area.
Making Camp
The time to begin looking for a place to camp for the night is as early as possible, at least if you’ve never camped before – this gives you plenty of time to prepare. Even if you’ve done plenty of camping, you’ll want to begin scouting for a campsite well before sunset. If you’ve never been camping before, the following are things that you should look for when you’re trying to find a safe place to spend the night.
Seek Higher Ground
You don’t want to make your camp at the bottom of a hill or in a narrow valley, especially in bad weather. Rain rolls downhill, which could lead to a very uncomfortable evening in light to moderate rain – and heavy rain could lead to flash flooding and wash out your campsite (not to mention you). There are actually a few advantages to making camp on higher ground, one of which is avoiding being flooded out. If you’re on higher ground, you also have a much better chance of being seen by potential rescuers in helicopters and other aircraft. Also, you can get the lay of the land and get an idea of which way to proceed in the morning, which is perhaps the most important reason to camp on higher ground whenever possible.
Flat Ground
A reasonably flat area makes the best place to set up camp. Since you’re going to be sleeping on the ground, you’ll be far more comfortable on a flat (or close to flat as possible) surface than you will on a slope. If you can find a suitable place which happens to be close to some trees with low hanging branches, that’s even better; these limbs can make excellent natural supports for a simple tent.
Another thing that you’ll definitely want, if possible, is to have some kind of water source near your campsite. Unless you’re absolutely certain this water is safe to drink, however (as in you’ve drank water from this body of water before), remember to boil before drinking or decontaminate it with chlorine tablets. As a general rule, it’s safer drinking water from a stream or river than it is to drink from a pond or other stagnant water. In any case, having a source of water for drinking and bathing is inarguably a good thing.
Shelter
Finding a place to bed down for the night is great, but now you’re probably going to need some kind of shelter from the elements. In dry, relatively warm weather, this may not be essential, but otherwise, you’re going to need something to keep you dry and reasonably warm.
The simplest kind of shelter is a rudimentary tent or lean-to. You can construct one using low hanging limbs (if there are any available) or a length of fishing line tied between two trees which is used to support a tarp, contractor bags which have been cut open along the seams or blanket (a large space blanket also works well for this). You can use rocks to secure the edges so that your tent isn’t blown open by the wind during the night.
A slightly more challenging prospect is to lash together branches and small tree limbs and prop them up against a tree to create a primitive lean-to. You may want to cover your lean-to with a tarp or contractor bags to make it more waterproof as well. It’s not as comfortable as a proper tent, but it will protect you from the elements and provided you’re lucky enough to avoid any severe storms, it should last for a while as well.
Fire
One more thing that you’re probably going to want as well is a fire. Depending on the weather, you may need one for warmth; even if it’s not cold, it’s also good for cooking and can give you a little light as well if needed. Building a fire isn’t all that difficult, especially if you have your emergency preparedness kit with you.
Tinder tabs make it incredibly easy to start a fire, but if you’ve run out of these or if you’d prefer to conserve your supply for when you really need them, you can start a fire relatively easily without them as well. Matches or a lighter are probably the easiest way, although a magnifying glass can work on a sunny day, provided that it’s still early enough to have the bright light you need for this.
Whether you’re using a magnifying lens or matches, the key is to have a good supply of kindling. It’s pretty easy to gather all of the kindling you need if you’re in a wooded area, so this shouldn’t be all that hard. Dry leaves and dead twigs (especially from pine trees) are very good kindling. You’ll want to top your kindling with smaller pieces of wood and throw on larger pieces once you get the fire started. As long as it doesn’t start raining heavily, keeping a fire going once you’ve got it started couldn’t be easier – just keep adding wood as needed and if it looks like the fire is in danger of dying out, fan it a bit to give it more oxygen.
One word of caution is in order about fire: even if it’s cold, you don’t want to build your campfire right next to your shelter. A breeze can carry a burning ember or spark from the fire and ignite your shelter. A good rule is to build your fire upwind of your tent to minimize the risk of this happening. You should also keep your fire at a safe distance from your shelter; and if at all possible, dig a pit for your fire to prevent it from spreading.
You may be wondering what you should and shouldn’t use for firewood. Actually, in an emergency situation, anything will do, but if you can be picky, use evergreens and other softwoods only as kindling. The wood of these trees tend to create a lot of sparks when burned, as well as providing less heat as other types of wood; they also burn faster than hardwoods, meaning you’ll have to gather more of it to keep your fire going.
Hardwoods, especially oak, hickory and maple are all excellent for firewood, as are walnut, ash and apple. With any tree, dead limbs are better than recently fallen limbs or fresh cut wood, which will generate more smoke and sparks. With all that said, if it’s cold and you need a fire right away, use anything you can find. In a situation where you absolutely need heat, these other considerations are at best minor quibbles.