Venturing out into the wilderness, whether for a day hike or a weeks-long remote expedition, comes with inherent uncertainties and risks. Despite the most careful planning, unexpected challenges can arise when you are far from any help or support systems. Supply shortages, injuries, extreme weather, dangers from wildlife, and simple accidents or errors in judgment can all become serious or even life-threatening situations when miles from civilization. This makes having the proper survivalist gear an absolute necessity for any wilderness trip.
Survivalist gear from Prepared Bee encompasses specialized equipment and supplies that allow you to take care of your most fundamental needs if things go wrong. This may include first aid, shelter, fire, signaling, navigation, food, and water provisions tailored to emergency scenarios. With the right gear and training, even novice adventurers can be fully prepared to respond calmly and effectively when faced with crises. The key is anticipating likely risks specific to the region and type of excursion in order to have solutions readily available to overcome them. This detailed guide explores ten of the most common wilderness situations where survivalist gear and skills may mean the difference between life or death, severe hardship or reasonable safety. By understanding likely reasons to rely on specialized gear, you can customize the ideal provisions for your own adventures and travel with confidence into the wilderness.
Getting Lost
Getting lost or disoriented is one of the most common and dangerous scenarios in the wilderness. Having gear like a map, compass, GPS device, or personal locator beacon can help you find your way again and avoid panic. Signaling items like mirrors, whistles, and flares also make it easier for search parties to locate you if needed.
Injuries/Illnesses
Injuries ranging from simple cuts and scrapes to broken bones and sprains can easily happen during outdoor activities, putting you at risk if medical help is far away. Illnesses like allergic reactions, altitude sickness, heat exhaustion, or gastrointestinal issues can also arise unexpectedly. Having the ability to assess and treat a wide range of medical issues is crucial when you are your own first responder.
A well-stocked and organized first aid kit is essential for diagnosing and caring for injuries and ailments. Key supplies include bandages, gauze, disinfectants, trauma shears, splints, slings, medications, ointments, thermometers, protective gloves, and more. Detailed wilderness medical guidebooks help you provide proper emergency care. Tools like satellite messengers and personal locator beacons allow you to call for emergency evacuation in severe cases. The ability to signal helicopters during daytime is also key. With training in outdoor first aid response and well-planned supplies, even serious medical situations become more manageable in the wild.
Extreme Weather
The wilderness is prone to sudden changes in weather that can quickly become dangerous if you are unprepared. Storms like flash floods, lightning strikes, blizzards, whiteout fog, and high winds can arise unexpectedly. Rapid drops in temperature or drenching rainfall also commonly occur. Hypothermia is a major risk if you get wet and cold. Having emergency shelters and insulation like tents, bivvy sacks, space blankets, and dry warm clothing can protect you from the elements. Waterproof and windproof outer layers keep you dry.
Fire-starting capability is crucial for warmth and boiling water. Signaling devices like mirrors, whistles, and flares make it easier for rescuers to find you in low visibility. Planning your route to avoid exposed ridges and peaks during storm season also helps mitigate danger. Staying aware of weather forecasts and being ready to take emergency shelter at the first signs of a storm is key. Having the gear to safely wait out extreme weather prevents much higher risks and consequences.
Dangerous Animals
Encounters with potentially dangerous animals such as bears, mountain lions, wolves, and venomous snakes are a reality in many wilderness regions. Surprising wildlife on the trail or in camp can lead to defensive attacks and serious injury or illness from bites and stings. However, the right gear and knowledge allows you to prevent and diffuse tense animal encounters.
Bear spray, air horns, and flares help scare aggressive animals away without harm. Bear canisters protect food supplies from attraction. Tents and animal-proof food storage prevent nighttime conflicts. Snake bite kits, aspirin, and compression bandages treat bites. Noisemakers and bright clothing warn wildlife of your presence. Knowing animal behaviors helps you avoid surprising them and back away without triggering aggression. With proper gear and skills, dangerous animal meetings usually end without incident.
Poor Planning
Even with good plans, unforeseen events can leave you without critical gear or resources. Survival items like emergency blankets, water filters, high-energy food bars, and flashlights help overcome shortages until you can return safely.
Getting Stranded
Vehicle breakdowns, boat engine failures, or small plane crashes can leave travelers stranded miles from help in remote areas. Losing your mobility and transport unexpectedly turns even minor issues into threatening crises. However, packing gear to create improvised shelter, generate signals, and help rescuers find you faster allows you to survive until assisted.
Emergency beacons with GPS locators notify authorities of your precise coordinates for rapid deployment of rescuers. Two-way radios provide contact if others are in range. Flags, mirrors, and high-visibility clothing attract searchers. Reflective space blankets, tent materials, and cordage build temporary shelters. Rations, water, and purification tools overcome supply shortages. Fire provides warmth and distress signals. With preparation, an immobile crisis can be endured until you are located and extracted. Practicing resilience skills for stranding events mitigates panic and sustains you.
Going Off Trail
Venturing off marked wilderness trails is surprisingly easy to do, especially in low visibility. Once disoriented, it is challenging to reorient and find your way back. Having tools to navigate and signal your position allows you to get found rather than dangerously lost. Compasses, altimeters, GPS devices, maps, trail flagging, and signaling mirrors/whistles facilitate rediscovering your route. Physical landmarks and survival skills like orienteering assist navigation. With preparation, an off-trail mishap can be rectified before becoming life-threatening.
Fire/Shelter Needs
Having the proper gear and knowledge to build fires and shelters without standard tools and materials is crucial. Essential fire-starting items include weatherproof matches, lighters, flint strikers, tinder, kindling, hatchets, saws, and Firestarter bricks. Knowledge of fire laying techniques and different fire types allows you to sustain flames in wet conditions. For shelter, packable tents, tarps, bivvy sacks, space blankets, paracord, and light shovels are key for setting up camp. Natural shelter-building skills also help utilize materials in your surroundings. With practice at fire and shelter creation before an emergency, you can meet these vital needs for safety when your life depends on it.
Fire and shelter represent two of the most fundamental human needs for surviving in the wilderness. Fire provides warmth to prevent hypothermia, light for visibility, the ability to signal rescuers, and a means to purify water and cook food. Constructing emergency shelters is equally critical for protection from the elements like rain, wind, and cold.
Foraging for Food/Water
Finding adequate food and clean drinking water can quickly become an emergency in the backcountry. Even with meticulous planning, unexpected events may leave you with limited provisions. Lack of calories and hydration leads to debilitating physical and mental impacts. Knowledge and supplies for procuring food and water in the wild become essential.
Foraging tools like snares, fishing lines/lures, bow/arrows, and plant guidebooks aid hunting, fishing, and identification of edible vegetation. Items for collecting, transporting, and purifying water such as bottles, filters, and chemical treatments allow you to safely drink from natural sources. Understanding the preparation of wild edibles like cooking, grinding, soaking, and leaching helps you derive nutrition. Signaling devices benefit foraging by helping rescuers locate and re-supply you faster. With the right foraging skills and equipment, the abundance of the wilderness can sustain you during supply shortages.
Emergencies at Night
Many critical situations become exponentially more complex and dangerous when they occur at night or in low-light conditions. Not being able to see terrain, hazards, or navigation markers makes it much easier to become lost or disoriented after dark. Lack of visibility also impairs your ability to construct shelters, make fires, forage for food, and tend to injuries or illnesses. Furthermore, signaling and chances of being rescued are vastly reduced at night when search parties cannot see lights or other indicators. This is why having gear to illuminate and signal after sunset is so vital.
Headlamps, flashlights, glow sticks, reflective trail markers, flares, signal mirrors, and high-lumen lanterns all provide light when you need it most. Waterproof and impact-resistant models stand up to rugged use. Having redundant light sources and spare batteries or charging banks prevents getting stuck without illumination. Learning basic outdoor survival skills at night before an emergency occurs is also recommended. With proper night gear and training, you can assess situations, take action, and call for help even in dense darkness.
The right survivalist gear tailored to likely risks allows you to be proactive and empowered when facing unpredictable situations in nature. With proper training, even novice outdoor enthusiasts can use specialized gear to respond calmly and effectively. Being prepared transforms daunting scenarios into manageable experiences. The wilderness remains unpredictable, but sensible survivalist gear reduces risks and gives you confidence.