If you find yourself in the woods or the wilderness, far away from civilization, chances are good that it was a planned excursion and you brought all the equipment you need to be safe and comfortable, including a basic survival kit.
But what if you didn’t plan this trip into the backcountry, and you didn’t bring a survival kit? Maybe you thought you were going for a short, easy hike and somehow wandered off the trail, or you thought you knew a shortcut and now find yourself surrounded by pristine, unmarked wilderness. How are you going to survive until you’re rescued (or you can rescue yourself)?
First: Don’t panic. Follow what’s known as the STOP protocol: Stop, Think, Observe, and Plan. Don’t go rushing off in a promising direction, and don’t rev yourself up by worrying about wasting time. Think about your surroundings, the path you followed, and what you might have in your pockets that can help you survive the rest of the coming ordeal—because it’s probably a surprisingly useful collection of stuff.
Your pocket survival kit
If you didn’t expect to be lost in the woods today and have brought no special equipment, you might still have the basics necessary:
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Smartphone = signal mirror. One of the most important things to do when you’re lost is to make yourself noticeable. If people are searching for you, you want to make it easy on them. If you didn’t think to bring a signal mirror, your smartphone will do—shut it off (we’re assuming you don’t have a signal to call for help) and it becomes a pretty decent reflective surface to shine at potential rescuers.
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Bottle cap = whistle. Sound is also very useful when trying to get noticed for rescue, but few people carry around piercing whistles every day. But if you have a bottle of water, you can use it as a fairly effective safety whistle, as seen here. Alternating that with good old-fashioned shouting will get you noticed if anyone’s nearby.
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Hand sanitizer = firestarter. If night starts to fall and you’re no closer to being rescued, you might be in for a cold, miserable evening. But if you have hand sanitizer with you, you can transform it into a slightly warmer miserable evening, because hand sanitizer is really, really flammable. Once you have some kindling and a fire built, you can use hand sanitizer to get your fire going easily.
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Condoms = firestarting lens. Of course, you can build the greatest fire ever designed and absolutely soak it in hand sanitizer, but if you can’t create a spark it’s useless. If you didn’t think to bring your flint and steel and have no idea what the bow and spindle method of starting a fire is, but you do have a condom you’ve been carrying in your wallet since 2013, you might be in luck. Fill that condom with water and you have an effective sun lens that can use solar heat to start a fire.
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Keys = saw. Did you wander into the woods with your house or car keys in your pocket? Good, because those keys can be used as tiny little saws. You won’t be building a log cabin with them, but they can be used to strip branches off of trees and notch them to construct a quick shelter, or cut your shoelaces or other cordage to size as needed.
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Nothing = compass. If you’re not sure anyone is coming for you, you should at least have some vague idea where you are. If your phone has power and a connection, you can use the maps app or a compass app to figure this out, but if it’s dead or isn’t reliable, you can always figure out the directions using just a stick, some rocks, and the sun. As shown in this video, just plant the stick in the ground and mark the tip of its shadow with a rock. Wait 15-30 minutes, then mark the tip of its new shadow. The line between those rocks is East-West. If you stand with your toes touching the rock, you’re facing north, more or less. If you know the direction of your camp, car, or civilization in general, you can at least know you’re walking in the right direction—though you should check yourself regularly to make sure you’re still on course.
Surviving in the wilderness begins with not panicking, conserving your resources, and using the tools you have on hand. Luckily, you probably have more of those tools than you think.
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