The Survival Game - Northern Woods

[Greg Bernhardt]

You mysteriously find yourself alone deep in the Canadian woods in summer. The terrain is mountainous with a stream nearby. You are wearing a t-shirt, jeans and sneakers. You reach for the crackling radio and make out a voice saying help will reach you in 40 days. You are able to pick 8 items that could individually fit cleanly in the jeans pocket of an average man. What are those items and describe your plan to survive.

 

[Evo]

You mysteriously find yourself alone deep in the Canadian woods in summer. The terrain is mountainous with a stream nearby. You reach for the crackling radio and make out a voice saying help will reach you in 40 days. You are able to pick 8 items that could individually fit cleanly in the jeans pocket of an average man. What are those items and describe your plan to survive.

Oh great, now I am going to have nightmares.

 

[Mark44]

You mysteriously find yourself alone deep in the Canadian woods in summer. The terrain is mountainous with a stream nearby. You are wearing a t-shirt, jeans and sneakers. You reach for the crackling radio and make out a voice saying help will reach you in 40 days. You are able to pick 8 items that could individually fit cleanly in the jeans pocket of an average man. What are those items and describe your plan to survive.

I suppose this is intended to be a thought exercise, but as this is something very much like what I do for fun on a regular basis, I would put in my two cents.

I frequently (but not mysteriously) find myself and my usual hiking companion Steve deep in the woods and mountains of Washington, within just a few miles of the Canadian border. I usually hike wearing a T-shirt, but never jeans and sneakers - shorts and boots, plus raingear.Even in summer up this way, there's a significant risk of hypothermia, particularly after a rainstorm. As for the 8 items, I go with what the Seattle Mountaineers call The Ten Essentials:
1. Map & compass
2. Sun protection (sun glasses & sun screen & brimmed hat)
3. Extra clothing (including raingear)
4. Headlamp
5. First-aid kit
6. Matches
7. Repair kit & knife
8. Extra food
9. Extra water
10. Emergency shelter

Obviously, this stuff wouldn't fit in the pockets of a pair of jeans, which is why we go with backpacks.

Our longest trip was 10 days, during which we managed to stretch out the food we were carrying. If we had to make it for another 30 days, we would have to supplement our diet with fish or small animals such as marmots (a friend of mine killed and ate a marmot one time many years ago -- a serious no-no in Olympic Nat'l Park), plus berries and wild onions. Catching fish or other animals is really easier said than done, even with fishing gear, which we don't usually carry. If we managed to survive the 40 days, I would expect to be 30 to 40 lb. lighter

 

[UsableThought]

You are able to pick 8 items that could individually fit cleanly in the jeans pocket of an average man.

Obviously, this stuff wouldn't fit in the pockets of a pair of jeans, which is why we go with backpacks.

Some clarification of the conditions might be useful here. If I were forced to guess, I would interpret "could individually fit cleanly in the jeans pocket" to mean that each of the 8 items would have to fit in that pocket - not that all 8 items together would have to fit. So @Mark44, of your 10 items, only "extra clothing," "extra food" and "extra water" would seem too big; possibly the headlamp also, depending on the model. To cut down on the size of the "emergency shelter," how about a silver "space blanket" that could serve as a very thin tarp or else poncho/extra warmth - do those still have credibility?

 

[Mark44]

Some clarification of the conditions might be useful here. If I were forced to guess, I would interpret "could individually fit cleanly in the jeans pocket" to mean that each of the 8 items would have to fit in that pocket - not that all 8 items together would have to fit. So @Mark44, of your 10 items, only "extra clothing," "extra food" and "extra water" would seem too big; possibly the headlamp also, depending on the model. To cut down on the size of the "emergency shelter," how about a silver "space blanket" that could serve as a very thin tarp or else poncho/extra warmth - do those still have credibility?

Yes. I usually bring along one of those space blankets. The headlamp is pretty small -- it would fit in a pocket.

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

I would interpret "could individually fit cleanly in the jeans pocket" to mean that each of the 8 items would have to fit in that pocket

Good question, yes, individually

 

[aheight]

matches, fishhooks, fishing line, knife, sharpening stone, antibacterial cream: fish a lot, make a cabin, stay warm, stand up to bears.

 

[DrGreg]

I would interpret "could individually fit cleanly in the jeans pocket" to mean that each of the 8 items would have to fit in that pocket

Good question, yes, individually

So you've also got 7 spare pairs of jeans with you as well?

 

[nuuskur]

1. A knife with a thick blade
2. Lots of ferrocerium
3. Lots of "small rope" (i don't know what it's called, exactly)
4. Fishnets (there is bound to be a river/stream somewhere close by, worst case scenario, a sea)
5. A metallic container (for water)
6. Medkit
7. As large a plastic sheet as possible
8. A good book that takes 40 days bare minimum to read.

Alternatively, if I know roughly, where I am. I'd take a compass, solid footwear, long trousers, food and water, raingear and possibly something else and take the 100 mile hike back to civilization.

 

[256bits]

Deet, or bug repellant, would be handy to have. Black flies and mosquitoes can drive someone insane.
Duct tape is a must in any situation, and here it can double up as a wound covering.
A laser pointer of sufficient strength could draw attention to your position to aircraft, if that is how they will extract you.
Toothpaste and brush work wonders for that early morning get up and go feeling.
A wineskin to collect water, to take with you on exploration.
A bag to fill up on any food, or cool things, one may possibly find in the area and transport to home base, although if there is grass in the area I will drop that item, and the wineskin, for paper and pencil, in case they find my bones, they will at least have my story.
Knife. A sharp one at that, not a butter knife.
Vitamin, salt pills - is that any benefit if I don't get any calories.??
A metal coffee cup for brewing things in.

The mountain stream probably does not have any fish, and animals are elusive, but there must at least be some kind of critters around. Looking for squirmy things under rocks might be the best choice for acquiring some subsistence. Knife can make pointy sticks, and cut the duct tape into a string. Making fire might be a problem, but the old fashion way will have to do.
First thing to do would be to build a shelter, collect rocks for a fireplace, make pointy sticks, look under rocks for food to boil up as a gritty tea.
Berries and all that might not be in season, if they are so much the better.

If I sit tight I may loose about a pound every 3-4 days, I think.
By exploring, about a pound every 2nd day.
Basing that on 3500 calories for every pound of body fat.
So what I do depends upon the plentifulness of edible and nutritious organic material in the immediate area after an initial exploration.
And then re-access and tweak if needed.

 

[Vanadium 50]

1. Iridium phone.
2. Credit card.

 

[nuuskur]

I might have taken this too seriously to have suggested the boyscout gear. I'll just take a box of paper towels so I can weep for those 40 days. As for the other 7 things, I'll take a plastic bag and 6 stacks, as large as possible, of 500 euro notes. I'll return a wealthy man :)

 

[UsableThought]

Iridium phone.

[Dials] Hello, operator?

[Voice with crackling in background] We told you . . . 40 days!

 

[DaveC426913]

As for the other 7 things, I'll take a plastic bag and 6 stacks, as large as possible, of 500 euro notes. I'll return a wealthy man :)

Heh. 7 survival items - plus a diamond as big as my eyeball. :D

 

[DaveC426913]

1. Map & compass
2. Sun protection (sun glasses & sun screen & brimmed hat)
3. Extra clothing (including raingear)
4. Headlamp
5. First-aid kit
6. Matches
7. Repair kit & knife
8. Extra food
9. Extra water
10. Emergency shelter

Methinks you are playing fast & loose with what constitutes

• a single item
• fitting in a pocket, and
• 8.

 

[DaveC426913]

A hunting knife.
A foil blanket.
A 100' coil of thin wire.
A Survival Guide.
A box of matches.
Flint.
A windup flashlight.
A flask or collapsible cup.

 

[deskswirl]

1) a belt attached sheathed knife with a hilt >6'' blade length
2) highly compressible, insulated, water repellant, calf length, hooded, pocketed coat to shield from the elements and mosquitoes and store things in
3) collapsible water jug
4) medium size metal cup for cooking and boiling water
5) flint/steel firestarting kit ... assuming the shoes you are wearing have shoe laces as a back up for fire starting
6) pair of thick wool socks to alternate with the ones you are wearing
7) waterproof bag full of salt to cure fish or kill bacteria in open wounds
8) survival handbook

 

[Mark44]

Methinks you are playing fast & loose with what constitutes

• a single item
• fitting in a pocket, and
• 8.

You didn't read the rest of what I posted:

As for the 8 items, I go with what the Seattle Mountaineers call The Ten Essentials.

and

Obviously, this stuff wouldn't fit in the pockets of a pair of jeans, which is why we go with backpacks.

Based on what I do on a regular basis, I wouldn't find myself in the situation that Greg described (i.e., in jeans and tennis shoes, with only 8 items), so the hypothesis is flawed.

 

[UsableThought]

Based on what I do on a regular basis, I wouldn't find myself in the situation that Greg described (i.e., in jeans and tennis shoes, with only 8 items), so the hypothesis is flawed.

Remember, the hypothesis involves "mysteriously" - in many ways, from how you get there without your knowledge to how you suddenly have a pick of narrowly defined items after you get there. So you don't have any choice in being dumped there, but do have a choice of how to survive.

Plus, apparently you are also in possession (mysteriously) of a crackling radio. So that makes 9 items. Maybe you can take the radio apart & fashion a fishhook from a resistor.

 

[DaveC426913]

Remember, the hypothesis involves "mysteriously"

Yes, I was going to point this out.

It's no fair altering the given scenario.

 

[Mark44]

Remember, the hypothesis involves "mysteriously" - in many ways, from how you get there without your knowledge to how you suddenly have a pick of items after you get there; apparently a portal materializes with pocket-sized items but de-materializes the moment you have grabbed the 8th item.

But aha! Apparently you also have a crackling radio with you, which makes 9 items. Maybe you can take the radio apart, fashion a fishhook from a resistor.

You can play the game, but I'm not. So far in my life, I have never come to and found myself mysteriously in the woods, either in Canada or elsewhere. Nor has a portal materialized and presented me with items of my choice. Ever.

 

[UsableThought]

Nor has a portal materialized and presented me with items of my choice. Ever.

I realized the portal was too far-fetched and deleted it.

 

[Mark44]

I realized the portal was too far-fetched and deleted it.

The whole thing is too far-fetched for me. There are many cases of people who have become lost in the woods, were woefully unprepared to be there, and died as a result.

 

[UsableThought]

Well, the only guy who knew what he was talking about & might actually make the 40 days has quit the game. I guess I'll quit too.

 

[DaveC426913]

The whole thing is too far-fetched for me.

You can't even pretend a situation where you're not in complete control?
Not even to participate in a thought experiment?

 

[Mark44]

True story
Years ago I, when I was in college, I frequented a tavern run by a guy I knew and his father. On one occasion he told me about a rafting trip that he and some other friends had done on a nearby river, with plans to camp overnight along the river. After putting into the river, they came to some rapids, which caused their raft to overturn, and some of their gear was swept down the river.

After they got their raft righted, they set off again. Not too long after that they were surprised to hear a roaring sound ahead. Turns out that the noise was coming from Nooksack Falls, which drops 88 feet.

They managed to bail out of their raft and make it to short, but they lost all the rest of their gear.
Obviously they had no map, nor had done even minimal research to find out that the river they planned to float down included a major impediment to navigation.

Luckily, none of the participants lost his life, but the lesson they learned came at the cost of all the gear they had lost, including the raft.
My point is that I don't head off (consciously, not mysteriously) into the woods and mountains without the appropriate clothing (which is NOT jeans and tennis shoes), nor without the essential items I need.

The game in this thread might be interesting if you don't have any experience being out in the woods and mountains, or camping miles away from a vehicle.

 

[UsableThought]

The game in this thread might be interesting if you don't have any experience being out in the woods and mountains, or camping miles away from a vehicle.

Coming back to just to say I agree with this. I had deleted a comment where I said that probably this isn't the best game of this type, because I didn't want to hurt Greg's feelings; but let me try again. The part I really liked about this game was the "mysteriously" business; it's the challenge part that wasn't so interesting.

It's not that I have bad memories of people getting lost & dying - although I know people who know people to whom bad things have happened, and my wife who was a technical climber had several friends who died, though not from getting lost. It's more because I did enough hiking & camping & canoeing in my day to know that which 8 items you go for is not as critical as other things. You get to pick a handful of items that are less than what you'd want; which would make it all the more critical to have good weather, be in good health, and have some experience with rough camping - which I will add I don't have, but which can be gotten via NOLS, maybe Outward Bound, etc. Having the usual sort of experience with hunting, fishing, trapping, and/or wild foods would help too.

In other words, which 8 items to choose is not really that interesting a question under those circumstances. The factors that would really affect your chances of survival would have much less to do with these items (since most folks would pick roughly the same ones if being serious) and much more to do with luck (weather, not turning an ankle, etc.) and experience; and you can't put experience in a jeans pocket. Even ordinary hiking experience would help some: there are city folks I've gone on day hikes with, very smart, who if I hadn't been there would have gotten lost on what to me was an obvious trail.

 

[Mark44]

You can't even pretend a situation where you're not in complete control?
Not even to participate in a thought experiment?

When I'm off on one of my trips, I am **not** in complete control. A lot of times I have only a vague idea of the country I'll be in (based on poring over maps before the trip), and even whether we will be able to get from point A to point B on our trip. (We often pick locations where there aren't any trails.)

Other things I don't control are rainstorms, accidents, and whether the place our food is stored at night will be secure from animals, among other things.

 

[zoobyshoe]

Swiss Army Knife
A couple extra pair of strong shoe strings
About a square yard of fine netting
Small container of vitamins/minerals
Small lens or magnifying glass and a full cigarette lighter for making fires. Use the magnifying glass first whenever possible and conserve lighter fluid.
Container of superglue for closing smaller wounds
Commando wire saw:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000WDPGW2/?tag=pfamazon01-20 To cut poles for shelter as well as firewood.

The premise is: you have to survive 40 days, then you'll be rescued. No point in trying to find your way out. Just make camp and survive. It's summer and there's a stream, so dying of thirst or cold are not issues. Your biggest problems are going to be starvation and dangerous animals, especially bears.

256bits is right that a stream is not likely to have fish of any size, but, having grown up in New England, I know there will be guppy sized fish in small streams, and, if you're lucky, crayfish and frogs. That's what the netting is for. (Ignore salamanders in the woods there, incidentally, they are poisonous to eat.)

There should also be squirrels and chipmunks. Squirrels hang out in trees and chipmunks hang out in rock piles. Indians used to kill these with a throwing stick. That's nothing more than a stout stick about 2 1/2 feet long. The stick tumbles end over end after you throw it, which lessens how precise your aim has to be. Both squirrels and chipmunks are territorial and will hold their ground and chatter at you. If your aim is not too bad, you can also just kill them with rocks.

If you're lucky, you'll encounter a porcupine. They don't move too quickly and can be killed with a stick. And, as far as I know, the meat of any snake you can catch in that region is edible. Any small animal has intestines and these should be cleaned and dried for their function as cordage. They'll be like rawhide: stiff when dry, but soft after soaking.

Near the stream there might be fiddle head ferns, which are edible. If there are squirrels, there may well be acorns as well. Be aware: acorns have to be ground up and leached a few times to get rid of the tannic acid before you can eat them.

The smell of meat, cooked or raw, is what will really attract bears. I would adopt the policy of two camps: a cooking camp and a sleeping camp, at least a hundred yards apart. Don't bring anything edible to the sleeping camp.

If it rains, you're going to be miserable. Worst case scenario is you initially end up there right while it's raining. What you need to do to avoid catching pneumonia (wearing only a t-shirt, as was stipulated) is to push together as big a pile of forest floor litter as you can; pine needles, leaves, whatever, and then burrow into it. Despite being wet, this will afford you the most insulation. When I say "big" pile, I mean you want three feet or more of litter on top of you and some underneath to insulate you from the ground. You might think that crawling into a pile of wet stuff is going to make matters worse, but you will actually be more in danger of being roasted to death in there: wet organic matter massed up in piles actually heats up on its own and over time can spontaneously combust. Ask any farmer about storing wet hay: it's a fire hazard. So, you may actually have to get out and pull some of the matter off the pile to cool it down.

Thereafter, you're going to want to make a zoobie brush shelter for the next time it rains. With your wire saw, cut enough long poles to make a tipi like structure, then cover the outside with fir boughs hung upside down to drain the water away. You should be able to make lashing material for that by splitting thin, green branches and soaking them in the stream to make them more flexible. Might have to experiment to find the best kind. You leave a smoke hole at the top and you can have a small fire inside. (Obviously, don't do that when it's not raining and the fir boughs are dry.) Traditional Indian tipis are somewhat tilted: the smoke hole is not over the center of the floor where the fire is but is offset so rainwater doesn't drip right on the fire. The water drips on a spot between the fire and the door hole. Rough out a little drainage channel.

At night (or anytime actually) you can cover your head, at least, with the guppy netting to keep mosquitos off.

Ration out your vitamins. Your diet is going to be limited. The vitamins are a stop gap against any sort of deficiency that could take your edge off.

According to google there are plenty of birch trees in Canada. Birch bark is a great material. You can peel it right off the living tree: score the shape you want with your knife, lift up an edge and carefully peel the sheet off. If you fold over a large rectangle and lace up two sides, sealing them with pine pitch, you would have a sort of envelope for bring water from the stream to camp. Punch holes in the edges of the bark with the awl of your swiss army knife, and lace up with the shoe strings or squirrel gut, if you've been able to get one. If you prop that up, say between two rocks, you can make a fire and heat up some stones which you can drop into the water to heat the water.

People started out this way: living directly off the forest. It's absolutely doable, but you have to chuck all thinking about what modern tools you don't have and dig in and see what can be done with what's actually around you. If a person has water, they can survive three weeks without food. Your job is to somehow hunt/scrounge the minimum survival calories needed to keep you alive the full 40 days.

 

[zoobyshoe]

You can play the game, but I'm not. So far in my life, I have never come to and found myself mysteriously in the woods, either in Canada or elsewhere. Nor has a portal materialized and presented me with items of my choice. Ever.

The main way a person could end up suddenly in the woods is a plane crash. Jeremy Wade, for example, host of River Monsters, and his whole crew, went down in a Central American jungle in a plane. They all survived the crash. Luckily, they were only about an hour away from civilization. Small planes crash in the wilderness more often than you probably realize. They are a pretty common form of transport in remote areas. Alaska, for example.