Mountain Man, I see by your website that you are an outdoor enthusiast. What would you say are the most important survival tools/equipment? Is cotton really that deadly? And the Big Question--what is the best survival knife?

Thank you for asking. The most important tools and skills depends on why you are surviving. There are two basic types of survival: 1) unintentional, and 2) intentional. To survive an unintentional situation in the wilderness, having a Satellite Phone is the most important tool. You can call for help, thus eliminating the need to survive. Of course, having the tools and skills to build a fire under any circumstances is also important. The best knife is the Swiss Army Trekker. If you are intentionally entering the wilderness to live like a mountain man, then things are very different.

Can't argue with this! However, Satellite Phones are very expensive. I wonder if it's possible to rent them, just for when you might need it (like a trip somewhere that doesn't have cell service).

As good as that may be, not many of us have or can afford a satellite phone on the off chance that we may find ourselves in a survival situation. Of course, most people have a cell phone, but they may be out of range of a tower.

Although better than nothing, the SA Trekker would not be my first choice, as I believe it has two strikes against it. 1) it is a folder, with a multitude of tools, which makes it weak, and 2) it has a serrated blade, which is difficult to maintain in the field. (Unless you go with the Trekker Black; you did not specify which model.) It does have a saw, which is useful, but sadly it is too short for any kind of serious work.

Here in Canada, that would be every trip.

A GPS location devise such as Spot might be something to look at. The transmitter and account can be operational starting around $250 - $300.00

However, Spot or Satellite Phone, if you are in a situation where you need to use them, rescue will not be immediate. Responders need time to ramp-up, and you can count on several hours before the cavalry crests the hill.

Nice.

The iSat Phone (new as of last year) doesn't cost much more than the Spot, and is less than a Smart Phone. The Swiss Army Black Trekker is my knife of choice because it has a locking blade, saw, and minimal tools. I also carry a Silky Boy folding limb saw. And, I have matches, lighter, metal match, and tinder for starting fires. Plus, I always have a signaling mirror.

I saw that iSat phone listed for about $500. Does that sound right?

Yes. And, the postpaid plans are reasonable.

Thanks for the link. If you were doing something dangerous, $500 is a reasonable amount of money to invest, so I like your safety idea. It's one I haven't heard before.

I agree. No need for hard-core survival skills if you can call for help and get rescued within a day or two. Most people can stay alive long enough to get rescued using basic survival skills - water, fire, and shelter.

Sorry, I'm old school. I like to learn new skills and be self-reliant in the wilderness, not just make a phone call and wait for AAA to come pick me up.

Whatever happened to the "American spirit" of adventure, self-reliance, taking on the challenge?

I thought we could start a discussion about survival skills, tools, tecniques, and stories. I didn't expect "Go buy a phone and leave it to the professionals." Remember, your talking to a Canadian. Up here, the show "Survivor" is just an average camping trip.

JAK, if the goal is to return home to your spouse and children ASAP, then having an iSat phone is the way to go. But if the goal is to hang out practicing old school survival skills in the wilderness, then having an iSat phone still makes sense. Why? What if you injure yourself and require help ASAP?

But all that aside, what kind of survival skills have you developed? Do you know which plants are edible? Do you know how to catch fish, birds, and animals? Can you start a fire without matches or a lighter? Have you ever started a fire using the fire plow method? Hand drill? Bow and drill? What kind of shelters have you built and stayed in for several nights?

Bump for JAK.

I guess I see technology as a rescue tool, not a survival tool. I had in mind something like intentional survival, where one goes into the woods to learn/practice self-reliance and "pre-high tec" skills.

I grew up camping, fishing, etc. I've never thought of "the bush" as a scary place to be. I have logged, guided, and traveled through some really empty country. Sometimes my return has been delayed, and I was once 3 days with nothing to eat before I got back. But I never thought of it as a "disaster", just an annoyance.

To answer your questions,

Do I know which plants to eat? Some, in my local. Also (more importantly, and useful, to me) the medicinal plants. I've had to use medicinal plants more than "food" plants. Animals are easy to catch and provide more sustinance.

Start a fire without matches or lighter? I presume you include the metalmatch and firesteels in this category as well. I have never started a fire with the plow method, nor the hand drill, but I have with the bow and drill. I do this for personal enjoyment, and I view firemaking with the bow drill to be the "ultimate" wilderness skill, since it takes a lot of knowledge to do. (which woods, where to find them, making cordage, etc.) But I do not rely on primitive methods for fires, since most of the time, when I really need a fire, these methods are unreliable. I carry lighters, which I personally have never known to fail, except around -40, when it is too cold to vaporize the butaine (sp?) Receintly I have use firesteels, which seem to have good promise.

Shelters? Snow caves (Very common); quinzies (sometimes, when there is not enough snow); Debris huts, if you include a huge pile of evergreen branches; the classic Boy Scout lean-to if I'm staying for awhile such as a "base-camp" idea; often a fallen log or rock overhang if just passing through; overturned canoe if it starts raining.

The best survival tool is your brain, and the knowledge inside.

Second, the clothes you are wearing must be appropriate to the weather and task.

Third, yes, the knife. I did most of my outdoor activities with a "Premier Lifetime" knife I got when I was about 14, and had to put a new handle on. It has a5 1/2" blade, flat ground, with a teak handle wraped with string. I changed to a CS Trailmaster a few years ago, because shelter building is a lot faster with a bigger knife. (I have receintly been experimenting with a tomahawk, the CS Rifleman's 'hawk, which I really like.) But I still carry the old Premier. I wrap 550 around all handles, for grip and for cordage in the bush. (Shelter building, etc.)

Firemaking equipment is on a par with edge tools. I carry lighters, since they will start thousands of fires. I also carry matches, but only because I like them. (Really, I am old school.) Here and there I have a few firesteels, but only to play with.

I'll post more later; I have to go now.

Here's a video of me starting a fire with a bow and drill.

Here's a photo sequence of me building a snow cave.

Here's a video of a guy using Sotol and the fire plow. If you're interested I can mail you some Sotol so you can experiment with the fire plow. However, I have used Cottonwood successfully. The difference, though, is that I am successful every other time with Sotol. But with Cottonwood I am only successful about every other 30 times.

Sorry, I don't do Facebook, so I couldn't see your videos. If they're on youtube I could see them. The guy making a fire with the plow method claims that the local indians used this method. It would have been better if he had walked into the woods, cut some native materials, and build his fire with locally available stuff. I would have been SERIOUSLY impressed if it was also raining at the time. Otherwise, a lighter is a lot easier to carry than 4 feet of sotol and 2 buckskins.

If I lived in the US Southwest I would be interested in making a fire using the plow method and sotol, but I don't. But I would like to find local woods that I can do the same thing with. I'm guessing that the same woods that work in a bow drill will also be a good bet for the plow method.

JAK, let me know how your fire plow experiments with local materials turn out. As mentioned above, Cottonwood works. Back in the day, native tribes traded for materials not found locally. Don't know how widely distributed sotol was or if it ever made it into Canada. However, related species, Agave, grows in Canada and works like sotol.

Also, what else are you interested in as it relates to old school outdoor skills?

PS - Funny you like lighters so much. Thought you were more old school than that?

Yeah, your right. Actually, I use Zippos, but the fluid evaporates over the long term, (the flint will always spark and the cotton makes a great firestarter); so I have most pockets and packs stuffed with bics. Ya gotta be practical, too.

I just think that technology is taking away our ability to think and learn, and to develope skills. I navigate better with map and compass (Silva TD15) than any GPS, because it gives me a feel for the land, and I never worry about batteries. On the other hand, the LED headlamp was the greatest invention since high-carbon steel.

Speaking of steel, modern steels far out-perform old steels. Better edge-holding characteristics and easier sharpening. But, a good drop-forged tomahawk is a superior tool, and they've been around for 200 years. (Give or take)

I've never had a problem with wearing cotton; most of my outdoor work was in jeans. But I love wool, which, in my opinon, outperforms all hi-tec fabrics. Good quality wool won't itch, and will out-last the purchaser.

How long have you stayed out practicing survival skills? I started practicing survival skills in Colorado at 15. But the longest I stayed out was a week at a time. I joined the US Air Force when I was 20 to teach pilots how to survive. I trained for a solid year staying out for a month at a time. Then for 7 years we stayed out for a week every other 3 weeks. About 3 times a year during those 7 years they would surprise me with a week long solo survival exercise. Out of the blue they would blind fold me and truck me to the wilderness with a list of objectives and a week to get it done. Most of these outings happened in Northeast Washington state near the Canadian border. All they would give us to survive was a pocket knife and a metal match. Normally objectives included catching a deer and making an article of clothing, also a weapon, shelter, friction fires using different materials, edible plants, water, etc. I've also had the privilege through the Air Force and through Wilderness Way of learning how to survive in the desert, the tropics, the arctic, the ocean, and as a prisoner of war. I've been teaching survival and rescue skills for 31 years full time except for 6 years when I served as a pastor (during which time I only taught one survival class per month).

If it sounds like I'm bragging I'm sorry. The reason I shared my experiences is that you can get a feel for my background. Hopefully it will help us discuss different survival skills. Do you mind sharing the extent of your outdoor experiences?

This sounds like once every 6 weeks.



That's impressive, making friction fires using water!

Saw your video on making fire fine. Cool. Had some problems bringing up all the snow cave photos, but am sure the problem was on my end.

Ah, you noticed my poor sentence structure. LOL. Good job. Actually, it one week every third week. And, I attempted to make a fire out of "water" by using a piece of ice I shaped like a magnifying glass. But it didn't work with tinder found in the woods. This guy got it to work with charred cotton cloth.

Good thinking. You didn't try rubbing the ice together?

Northeast WA would be a fine place for survival. I love the northwest, almost any part of it, but east of the Cascades especially. In that area there would be plenty to find in terms of edible plants, depending on exactly what biome and season one might find himself in. Some potential candidates: thimble berries (yum!), saskatoons, water cress, Lamb's quarters, stinging nettle (survival rations!), thistles (ugh!), rose hips (not bad, good source of Vit. C), dandelion leaves, puff-ball mushrooms (I don't know the scientific name), choke cherries, etc. Winter time would be tougher, but often the cherries/berries and rose hips can be found in "dehydrated" forms.

I like a Swiss "multi-tool" knife. You'd be surprised how much that little saw blade can do. Naturally, a longer saw is nice, but when you are in a pinch, even a little one can do the job, albeit with less efficiency. Generally, when one is out "surviving," there is more time on one's hands to begin with.

Ok...so, I'm not nearly so experienced as Mountain Man, but I have done snow camping, caving, backpacking, snow shoeing up to a cabin in several feet of powder, etc. I have guided a group of young people for a three-day, 18-mile backpack trip. I have gone solo miles into the wilderness for a week, taking enough food for a couple of meals or so.

As I do not eat meat, I would find it very difficult to kill animals. I'm afraid I would likely exhaust all other possibilities and be facing absolute starvation before I'd eat much more than grasshoppers and ants.

I agree with JAK in the most important survival tool being one's mind and knowledge/skills. Many people do not survive when unintentionally in a predicament that requires such skills, simply for lack of good judgment. I've read countless stories in the news of people who panicked or perished for lack of basic survival techniques. Have all the tools you want, survival will still be difficult without proper understanding. That is what training is for, and why Mountain Man has a good job instructing these skills.

God bless,

Green Cochoa.

GC, it's good to see you again. You've been greatly missed. Hope you can stay around awhile.

GC, I agree with you regarding Northeast WA. I spent 12 years in Spokane teaching survival and rescue. Loved it. Jesus has blessed me with being able to teach survival and rescue throughout the western hemisphere from Alaska to Florida, Newfoundland to Patagonia, Hawaii to Caribbean, and many places between. Last year I got to practice survival skills in the Philippines for about 3 weeks. Bamboo is amazing! Of all the places I've been privileged to teach survival and rescue my favorite is the Sierra Nevada mountains in CA.

I have been going to the bush since before I could drive a car; I would hitch-hike out on Friday and come back Sunday night. In those days, in this country, it wasn't hard to get a ride.

When I was older and drove, I would go out with buddies for the week-end, leave Friday after work and come back Monday morning, usually late.

I was a guide for a few seasons, in which case we would live in camp, sometimes for 2-3 months, depending on how busy it was. But that's not really survival stuff. Some clients wanted to do pack trips (with horses) from base into the hills, so then we'd be gone from the camp for a week or two.

When I was about 17 I got one of these white canvass wall tents, 8' x 12', the kind used at campmeetings and outfitters base camps, and lived in it for about 3 years, until early one morning I awoke to find some large animal in the tent and lacked the presence of mind to let it wander out the way it had wandered in. Long story short, the tent was no longer servicable due to the animals method of leaving.

So that fills the story in a bit.

Right on! So, if you don't mind, please describe in some detail your favorite friction fire building method.

My favorite friction fire method is a strike-anywhere match on the seat of my jeans.

The only friction method I work with is the bow drill, but receintly I have tried the plow as per our converstation. It might work OK.

If the woods are dry (both the forest and the particular wood I'm using for the equipment) I like wolf willow (preferably) or poplar/aspen for both parts. And alder, I like alder. Usually a piece of 550 makes the bowstring, 'cause I'd rather have my boot laces in my boots, and I can often find a dish-shaped rock with a divot in it for the hand socket. Otherwise any hardish wood, like birch. Reduce friction with a few leaves. Willow, or alder, will also produce a tightly forked branch, which works great for the fireboard. Otherwise I process one out of a branch. Cattail fluf, shreded inner bark of popular/aspen, or other dry material to catch the spark.

If the woods are wet, it's the Zippo.

I do not rely on friction methods AS A SURVIVAL tool to start fires. I think it's a great way to impress people, and don't get me wrong; a lot of outdoor knowledge goes into friction methods: which woods, where they grow, how to make cordage, what to use for tinders, how to process the wood, not to mention the skill developed to get a fire. I am impress by people who can consistently produce a fire in all conditions with these methods. But as I've said, when I really need a fire the woods are probably wet, its cold and raining and usually dark, and I'm in no mindframe to be fussing around with primative fire building methods. I get a shelter up and spark a fire, and all my practice with friction methods has taught me one thing: carry a lighter. But I do like to practice them for fun and learning.

I agree. I always pack stormproof matches, a pocket torch lighter, a metal match flint, and tinder to start fires. Like you, I prefer to use 550 cord to start friction fires. In addition to what you mentioned above, I also like to use a pitch stick for the hand socket. Around here, cottonwood is the very best wood for the spindle drill and fire board. But willow, alder, aspen, hawthorn, pitch-free pine, douglas fir, and cedar work well. In the caribbean, mango works well. In the desert, most yuccas and some agave work well for the hand drill method. Sotol and cottonwood work well for the fire plow method.

When using the bow drill and hand drill methods, how do you prepare the notch on your fire board?

When using the bow drill method, how many times do you wrap the 550 cord around the spindle drill?

When using the hand drill method, have you ever tried using thumb loops?

I must first say that friction fires are not something I am proficient at. I still like to practice the skill, but I get a flame about once in 20-25 attempts.

If using a tightly forked branch of willow or alder, it creates its own notch if you drill right at the crotch. Otherwise I will do it in the normal way of a notch at the edge of the board and a hollow space under to catch the coal. If I just make a little indent in the board the spindle will cut its own hole, and the notch and hollow provide a place for the coal to drop. I'll put a piece of bark like birch under to help move the coal to the tinder, or sometimes put the tinder nest right under the fireboard.

I wrap the cord once on the spindle, with the spindle on the outside of the cord.

I have never attempted the hand drill method. I have tried the ice lense, the pop can and chocolate, spark and steel wool, rifle and rag, magnifying glass, and a bunch of other ones too bizarre to remember. They were all fun at the time, and they all taught me the same lesson--CARRY A LIGHTER.

For the first half of a 3/4 inch thick fire board our students use a down sloping pie wedge (slightly smaller than 1/4 of the spindle hole) cut from the outside bottom edge of the fire board pointing to the middle of the spindle hole. Hot dust formed as the students bow runs down the sloping wedge with enough resistance to allow the friction generated heat to create an ember. For the last half of the spindle hole the students reshape the pie wedge flush through the fire board eliminating the slope. In this way the students are typically able to generate 4 embers per hole before they bore all the way through the board thus rendering that hole useless.

Our students wrap the 550 cord twice around the perfectly straight, 10 inch, thumb thick spindle drill. The bow itself is thumb thick, rigidly flexible, and as long as from finger tip to arm pit. They bore a hole through both ends of the bow just big enough to pass the 550 cord through. They tie a stopper knot on the thin end of the bow and an adjustable clove hitch on the other end. They adjust the tension of the 550 cord so that the spindle drill snaps tightly in place when wrapped twice and twisted in place.

While bowing they keep the spindle drill straight and steady. If allowed to wobble wildly about while bowing, it is impossible to generate enough heat to create an ember. Speed (approx three strokes per second) and hefty downward pressure is also required to generate an ember. Right handed people should hold the spindle socket with their left hand and bow with their right hand. They should also kneel on their left knee while using their right foot to hold the fire board in place. They need to reach across their right leg and hook their left thumb and wrist tightly against their right shin while holding the socket.

I have recently found that 3mm Perlon cord makes a superior string for the bow drill. It grips the wood easier, so you don't need to wrap the spindle so tight, and is easier to manage. It also seems to last forever.

I have replaced the 550 on my handles with Perlon, because the same amount of wraping gives me a longer length of cordage (smaller diameter) and it works as good as 550. The down side is I can't take the Perlon apart like you can the 550 to get the smaller threads inside.

Yes, I have also had success with 3mm cord. I just finished a 7 day survival class with Union College students in Colorado. We were able to start several bow-drill friction fires using Aspen during a snow storm that dumped 4 inches of snow in 2 hours. At one point, the snow was landing on the fire board while we were bowing the drill. Amazing!

Earlier I mentioned that I was using a tomahawk in place of a large knife. I have since found that a 'hawk is one of the best implements ever conceived for bush use.

This 'hawk is a Cold Steel Rifelman's 'Hawk, sold for about $50.00. At 36 oz. it is heavier than any knife*, and with the long, thin blade it has massive penetration in chopping. The curved cutting edge can be used in the same manner as an Eskimo ulu. The hammer end drives stakes for tarps, shelters, traps, and pegs in camp furniture, chairs, tables etc.

*For comparison, the Busse Battle Mistress is 20.44 oz, and the CS Trailmaster is 16.7 oz.

Thanx for the info. I enjoyed watching the video.

Have you ever made a Dakota Hole Fire ? I've built many of them and find it to be useful when firewood is limited or winds are high. I prefer it, when soil type permits, to dig a potbelly shaped hole with a small opening and as deep down as I can reach to excavate the dirt.

The Dakota Hole is a great way to practice Leave No Trace, or when you want to keep a really low profile. Its also great when the temp is low; when you're finished with the fire for the night, put a Dutch Oven into the hole with breakfast in it, cover the whole thing, and build your shelter over it. Warm bed and hot breakfast in the morning. This requires a shallower hole, and doesn't work when the ground is frozen.

Mountain Man,

Thanks for the intro to that Dakota Hole. I've never seen that one before. I have, however, sort of "invented" my own deal...(smile). You know...the accidental discovery type.

(Pardon me if I've shared this here before once, but I don't remember if I did.) I was out camping once and trying to use one of those crazy MSR stoves (the Whisperlite, I think). Anyhow, it didn't function well, and I later learned we had the wrong nozzle on the crazy thing. It's supposed to operate on most any kind of fuel, and we were using regular unleaded, but apparently it needed a fuel-specific nozzle/jet for that fuel type, and had instead the one for white gas. Long story short, I aborted the use of said fuel in said stove, and used the fuel instead for fire starter in a fire pit.

I had tried to start the fire earlier, without success, and so far as I could see, there wasn't much there. I poured from the fuel cannister over the wood in the fire pit, and was just about finished pouring when "Whoosh!!" the flames leapt up and caught the fuel in the can (I had probably a good half-liter still in that can, if not more). I knew that I needed to cap that can quickly, or I would have a worse situation on my hands...so I began attempting to screw the lid on fast. Hahah. Ever notice how things take longer when you're in a hurry?! I'm sure I got at least three or four cross-threaded starts to that thing without getting the cap on, and all the while, flames are in heated frenzy of action around my hands. All of a sudden, someone called out to me that my jeans had caught fire. As the sound seemed urgent, I went ahead and dropped that crazy fuel bottle on the sand--a bit too hurriedly though, and it tipped itself over and began spilling out. After having slapped out the fire on my pants--all of which took far shorter time than it takes to tell here--I snapped up that fuel bottle again and, this time, successfully threaded the cap on...which stopped the fire streaming from the mouth of the can. But by now, there was perhaps only 3/4 cup left of fuel in that can, and the rest had been drained into the sand.

Poor me! After all that trouble, the fire in the pit still refused to start! The wood was damp, as it had rained upon it recently, and I had not found anything sufficiently dry. But there was a constant leap of flame coming from that sandy spot where the spill had happened. The same one who had warned me of being on fire, now suggested that I scoop up the burning sand and dump it into the fire pit. That did the trick! It started the fire. And it kept burning a long time. (Both in the fire pit, and outside of it where it had spilled.) As I considered the whole thing, I realized that the sand was acting very similarly to a stove. Only when the vapors reached the surface where they could react with oxygen did they burn. There was no "explosion" under the sand, because oxygen was too limited there.

So, if you're really down and out with your fuel stove, I theorized, you could pour a bit of fuel into a tin can full of sand, and light that for your stove.

Of course, I would not recommend trying any of the above where the outside temperatures were much above 70. Where I was, it was cool, and probably around 4000 feet. Fortunately, even after a number of seconds in the flames, I was almost entirely unharmed. A few singed hairs on the backs of my hands were all the evidence I had of the fire. I had not ever "played with fire" to that degree before, but I had heard it said that it is possible to put a match out in gasoline on a cold day (not sure just how cold it would need to be, but no plans to experiment with that either).

Scooping up that burning sand with a sharp flat rock (I didn't have a shovel) was rather interesting as well. It was a nice learning experience, but it was a good thing I was not seriously harmed, because I was at least two hours of hard/fast hiking away from the nearest road (took more than five hours of hiking in, but going downhill in a hurry can always cut the time shorter), and there was no cell phone reception there.

Blessings,

Green Cochoa.

GC, thanx for the story. Too funny. I saw it all play out in my mind. Well told. It would have been an altogether different story if it had been white gas instead of unleaded. I'll have to try soaking sand with gas and use it as a burner. I had a similar thing happen one time with molten pine pitch. Collected a huge pile of pitch globs from the sides of pine trees and got it burning in a hole to use a glue to make "tooth pick structure". I was bored. I was in a Tee Pee made of nylon parachute material. I accidentally stepped in the hole of burning pitch causing the goo to squirt out. It landed on the nylon and within seconds the entire thing was up in flames like a roman candle. I escaped unharmed and none the worse for wear. I finished out the military solo survival ordeal with no further complications.

Pitch fire, eh? Interesting. I was just doing a bit of looking online for the facts relative to the volatility of gasoline, and to putting matches out in it, and found some nice info. One article, from 1932, was a real gem on some essential fire safety with gasoline, but some of the article leads me to believe that the specific composition of gasoline was different back then than it is now. (Can we use gasoline today for "home" dry-cleaning?) Here is a link to the article.

Blessings,

Green Cochoa.

Interesting article. Loved the wordsmithing.

MM, what are your thoughts on big knives such as TOPS "Anaconda", Fehrman's "Final Judgment", Cold Steel "Trailmaster", Trace Rinaldi’s "Armageddon" and the like? Do you use big blades?

Yes, I do use big fixed blade knives. I have an old K-Bar. I use it to split log rounds into more manageable sizes for whittling into drills/spindles for the bow and drill fire sets. What about you?

I have an old Ka-bar, too. Lots of history in that design.

I have a Cold Steel Trailmaster in Carbon V steel with black powder-coat. (It is not the San Mai steel, but rather CS's proprietary high-carbon.) It has the leather sheath. In my opinion it is an excellent knife for big tasks such as shelter building, splitting rounds, etc. It is easy to maintain in the field with a steel, and holds a good edge. The leather sheath is excellent quality, but I would (should) make a new one since it rides too high on the hip and interfers with movement and is difficult to draw.

Here is a link to a pic: Scroll down the page a little and you will see it. http://www.survivalistboards.com/showthread.php?t=106682&page=2

I also have a Kershaw "Outcast." (see here: http://www.spyderco.com/forums/showthread.php?t=19861) I reallly liked the blade shape, which is reminiscent of a Kukri, and it had great review, but the knife I had did not have a good edge and needed to be re-profiled. I was not happy with it, and the CSTM will out-perform it on every task. It came with a Kydex (read "plastic") sheath, which is hard and noisy in the bush, and makes a tell-tale rattle when drawn.

That being said I would take either knife as a survival tool.

We drove through WA on our way to graduation at Upper Columbia a couple of weeks ago. It is beautiful county; I could survive there. We camped at Wanapum State Park, and then stopped at Lake Easton. Great sites!

Mountain Man
Apologies for resurrecting such an old thread, but are you aquainted with a fellow named Mors Kochanski?

No. Who is he?

He taught wilderness living skills at the University of Alberta, and is widely considered the last word on anything Boreal.

I would like to meet him.

There are a lot of youtube videos on the internet where he teaches wilderness living.

Thank you.

I got a chance to watch and found it interesting of the one he did building a shelter. He said the knot was really important, but I could not see how it was made. Seems like something like a slip knot, with some sort of "locking" added to it. Does anyone know specifically what it is?

The knot he used is called the Canadian Jam Knot.

An uniquely Canadian knot.

Oh Canada. I just finished teaching several survival classes in New Brunswick and Alberta. I'll be flying out of Calgary within the hour. Hanging out at the Conference office now.

Blessings JAK,

I have never seen survivor, but I am not a Grizzly Adams kind of guy. I like the satellite phone idea.

You guys are too rugged for me.

I love visiting nature, but, I am lousy at living in it.

I'm doing a survival shoot for the History Channel starting next week. Will be in the wilderness alone for several months. It will air next Spring.

How can they film you if you are "alone"?

I wish I had such a vacation as that. But why do you pick such a time of year? Right now, things are ripe...but you'll have some winter to weather.

May God somehow use this to witness for Him.

God bless,

Green Cochoa.

I take it you won't have an Internet connection for those several months? LOL
You will be missed. The place won't be the same without you!

"Ripe" in the wilderness? Think he'll be in a tropical climate? Not much ripe in the wilderness. Blueberries in some places some times of the year. Gooseberries other places and times. I think "survival" means survival, not picking fruit off the trees and lounging in shorts in a hammock. It would be my guess the History channel wants some survival demonstration. Like finding food and shelter where the typical short wearing hammock type of person would not find it.

Where is MountainMan? He is HERE

History Channel Bio is HERE

I have been watching him on there over the last couple of weeks.

I wouldn't be surprised that he lasted the longest and won the $500,000.00

I hope he does win and puts those resources to the Lord's work.

I'm not a Mountain Man!