I love watching wilderness survival shows. You know the ones where they make fire with sticks, hunt rabbits, and eat insects. Such as Man vs Wild, and Dual survival. These guys are awesome. I love watching it, because in my mind I'm learning how to do what they do. Of course watching a professional is not as easy as doing it in real time.
This afternoon I was watching a documentary film titled: After Armageddon. Basically they interview historians and scientists as they speculate what a post-apocalyptic world would be like right after a global disaster. Their opinions are visualized by a movie like dramatization of a family of 3 trying to get out of L.A. and survive in the wildness.
I've seen this one before. It's pretty scary how they make those days seem. I guess no one can really know what it will be like. Here they show marauders looting and killing for food and water. Armed militias guarding small towns and their resources. Death is rampant. As I watch my wife comes and sits, then I leave.
A while later she comes into the office and blames me for her sudden interest in survival training for making her watch that film. I told her that is why I watch those survival shows, because I know there will be a time when we will need to survive in the wild. Sounds crazy, but you never know what tomorrow brings.
I suddenly decide to try an experiment. The first key to survival is shelter and fire. When I watch the guys on TV they make fire starting seem so simple. I figure I can do it. So I grab a shoelace and head to my back yard. I start looking for materials. Luckily there is an abundance of fire wood and branches. I find some dry grass and mulch for kindling. My plan is to create a bow with the shoelace and a straight branch so I can drill another branch into a piece of wood to create friction and start a fire. I've seen it done a bunch of times.
I fabricate my bow. Somehow mine doesn't spin as easily as the ones on TV. I can't find a flat piece of wood to drill into. I do however fine a short piece of 2x4, which I know I would not find in the wild, but for a first attempt, I figure it wouldn't hurt to cheat a bit. Since I couldn't get the drill to work, I decide to switch to the plow method. Basically scratch a straight groove into the 2x4 and continue rubbing it with the end of my stick until I create enough friction to start an ember and light my kindling.
I start to rub. I can smell what seems like a light burn, but I stop. The tip of the stick and groove are hot to the touch, but no ember, flame, or even smoke appear. I try a good twenty times over the hour and a half until sundown. My arms are bumpy and itching from a barrage of mosquito bites. My forehead starts to bead up with sweat. The harder I work, the more sweat runs down, burning my eyes. My arm and body fat jiggle as I vigorously attempt to start this life saving fire. I keep visualizing a puff of smoke that leads to an ember to light my kindling, such as I've seen on TV so many times. They make this look so easy, even though they also warn that the average person will have a much harder time of starting a fire using these methods.
By the end of the ordeal, it is almost dark out. I guess making fire without matches is not supposed to be easy. I decided to give it up and try again another day. I don't feel defeated. I actually feel motivated to prepare myself. It was a wake up call for me. Can I really survive out there? Right now, probably not. With a bit of practice and ingenuity, I might be able to save my family. After fire and shelter, I will need to learn how to hunt and fish without a gun and a fishing rod.
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