by Chris Babineau

Created on: February 19, 2009

Backpacking alone is serious business, one needs to understand intuitively the aspects of survival, or to learn to them as fast as possible. Alone in the world on the side of a mountain to on the side of a highway, life has a habit of throwing unpredictable circumstances in front of your path. The first of all these is the weather, which can change suddenly, and depending on the season could be from any extreme of cold winds and snow, to warm rains and high winds. There is no time to open up Google and search for what may be best to your situation, that has to be thought over before leaving, or found in your nearby area.

Some things you may wish to include, and which have a zero weight factor to your backpack are the following. A knife, snare wire, a small length of fishing line and a hook, compass, matches in a waterproof case & three to four lighters, a topographical map, thermal blanket (looks like foil wrap but is a life saver on cold nights), a cell phone (for emergency uses), a basic survival guide, and rope. The number one thing to remember when going off alone is to keep the weight of your freight in mind. A heavy load will use up a lot of your energy forcing you to need more food and water in the long run. Don't bring useless crap! The above list has many more items you can add, these are just the ones the author stipulates as a must have.

Terrain can change without warning if your choosing to take the off-beat track. You can encounter impassable rivers, crevices, mountains, fences (yes even in the middle of nowhere there are fences surrounding national parks which can extend way off into the middle of nowhere). That is why having a topographical map of the area you plan to go into is a very smart idea. Many today follow the GPS route of a safety net, but this is not a failsafe. A GPS can drop and break, it can get wet and stop working, its power supply can fail. True words of advice, keep your map away from your camp fires and all is well.

Animals depending on where you are can be sights of wonder, envy, fear, and possible meals. Bring your camera, bring a knife, find a can of bear spray. The spray will help you feel more confident, even laying in your tent at night listening to weird sounds off in the darkness. It was mentioned to bring snare wire with you, if your unsure of how to use this for means of survival this is a quick run-down. You will need about twenty inches of 18 gauge wire, at one end wrap the wire into a loop (securely!) and feed

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>