Fear of the unknown will give you a hard time in a survival situation. Thoughts of death will mess with your mind. Strange sounds and anxiety will keep you awake at night. Sleep will be a luxury you enjoy the next morning when the sun reappears. Fear of the unknown was probably also the hardest part of this year’s 72 hour challenge if you ask the participants. The thought of venturing into the wild for three days with minimum gear is enough to cause anxiety to most people.
On September 14th this autumn we were on our way to Sweden by car for the Undepend 72 Hour Challenge. This year’s participants were skilled outdoorsmen. Yet stripping them of most of their gear made a huge difference to their self confidence. We talked about how the trip would play out and I sensed a slight uncertainty among the participants. That was right until we parked the car. We went to meet Jon from Immeln Canoe Center. He had agreed to lend us some canoes for this year’s challenge. It changed the perspective of the challenge quite a lot.
Departure As we launched our canoes and started paddling into the Swedish wilderness at Lake Immeln, uncertainty was already replaced with excitement. The weather was almost too nice to call it a challenge. Swedish nature is really beautiful especially when you experience it from the lakeside. We knew that from now on we would need to conserve our energy but we were also keen on leaving behind all signs of civilization. We paddled for a couple of hours looking for a spot to camp for the night. Immeln is filled with small idyllic islands but we needed more than idyll. We stopped on several occasions to check out the islands only to realize that there wasn’t enough resources available for us to be able to establish a camp. When you don’t bring everything with you, you rely on nature to provide things for you. This was a new perspective on the traditional challenges where we usually head off into unknown territory by foot.
Our plan was to find a place for the night and move on the next day. The challenge started on September 14th at 1600 so we had to stay focused on our priorities. It wasn’t long until sunset and we needed to find a campsite, build a shelter and preferably make fire before it became dark. As time progressed we were forced to make a quick decision. We found an island where we decided to stay for the night. It didn’t have a lot of resources but we were able to prepare a fire and a makeshift shelter. It wasn’t really suitable for a rainy night but the weather seemed nice so we took a chance and slept on the ground. Normally participants are obliged to take care of themselves but this was another deviation from the norm. There simply wasn’t enough resources for all of us on the small island, so we had to build a shared shelter and campfire. Even if there had been enough ressources it would have felt weird lighting three camp fires within such a small area that the island offered.
I found some reed that I carefully picked. Just enough to make a small bedding for the night. However careful I was when picking it I still cut my hands. I even used birch bark as protection, but reed has super sharp edges and without tools it’s hard to avoid cuts.
Each participant is allowed to bring: 1 t-shirt, 1 woolen shirt, 1 pair of underpants, 1 pair of long pants, 1 pair of socks, 1 pair of shoes, 1 belt + 4 items of their own choice.
I only brought one extra item this year namely a fire steel. I’ve done these challenges many times now and I could complete it with nothing at all. Making fire on the go with natural materials only however takes me about 24 to 48 hours however since most materials need both locating, preparing and possibly seasoning. You can’t make fire with fresh green materials. I prioritized the luxury of being abe to make fire immediately. On the other hand I opted out of having a pot and cutting tool which would be my second priority, It meant I relied on being able to build a shelter and a natural bedding with my bare hands and drink unpurified water from the lake. I’m certain that most people could easily get by for 72 hours with just a firesteel if only they knew how to. It’s not hard. That’s what I aim to teach people on these trips. Because once you realise it’s possible you become much more confident in nature. You begin to see it as your tool rather than something you need protection against. Everything you need can be found in nature.
Rasmus, one of this year’s participants, told a great story about a fishing trip he went on after hearing my talk at The Danish Outdoor Festival. He had lost his last fishing float after a long and troublesome day by the lake. He was about to give up and go home when he remembered something I said: “You can find an alternative to all your gear in nature”. Instead of giving up and head home he decided to turn his unfortune into a challenge. Soon after he had mounted a small wooden stick to his fishing line as a makeshift float and he ended up catching two fish.
That night I walked down to the shore in the quiet of the night to take a sip from the lake. It was an amazing feeling of connecting with nature. I just stood there with no gear, no jacket and no light. I was completely at the mercy of the elements and then nature just provided me with life. Water never tasted better.
The next morning we cleared our camp and headed out to find a suitable place to spend the rest of the challenge. We went ashore on different islands along the way to forage and scout for a suitable place to camp. We spent quite a lot of energy on paddling. Although the canoes would seem like an extra advantage, they also ment we had to spend more energy getting around. Mostly because we traveled greater distances. A couple of hours later we found a place to camp along the shore of Immeln. The islands on Immeln were unable to provide all of us with enough materials for building a natural shelter. You can tell they have a lot of visitors during summer.
After deciding on a place I immediately began building my shelter and a couple of hours later I felt pretty much on top of things. I had a waterproof shelter and firewood ready. I went out to collect som reed to use as bedding. I took one of the canoes and went around the headland where I had seen som reed growing in the water. This was a much more relaxed day than the one before. Everyone was busy building their shelters. This is usually a very rewarding part of the challenge for everyone. I will give directions to people if they ask for it, otherwise they are on their own.
When building a shelter you should consider its location: Choose a spot somewhere in between the top and the bottom. If you build it on the top of a hill or a mountain it will be windy. It means you will cool down faster, your firewood will burn faster and you will burn more calories carrying materials to and from your camp. If you build it in a valley or lower lying area it will be cold. Cold air and moist settles at the bottom. If it rains you’re also at risk of being flooded.
Don’t build it too close to water either. It doesn’t matter if it’s a river or a lake. Tide can come quickly and a river, even a dry river bed, can become flooded without a warning. Look for flat, elevated and well drained ground and make sure it’s not at the foot of a ravine or on a slope. Make sure it’s close to ressources such as drinking water, building materials, fire wood etc. It will save you energy.
A foraging trip With our shelters in place we decided to go foraging. This challenge took place mid september, a little later in the year than normal so most berries were gone by now. There was nothing we could eat in the vicinity of our camp so we had to head out on a foraging trip. We had passed the first 24 hours of the challenge now and our energy levels were dropping after a long day of paddling and building shelters. We launched our canoes and went across the lake to a sunny side with lush greens. We went from island to island but we only found very little food. The few berries we found were often unripe so I began to eat birch leaves, plantain and whatever else I could find. It wasn’t much. You don’t really need food short term but it helps you get that extra bit of energy for other tasks. At this point however we were spending way more energy paddling than the energy we gained from foraging. We found a couple of rough-stemmed boletes (Leccinum scabrum) but mushrooms don’t give you energy. On the contrary actually. Mushrooms are thermogenic, which means they affect your metabolism negatively. After that we went back to our camps and began to prepare for the night.
I always try to stay ahead of things in the wild. I prepare everything before need it so I don’t end up in a situation where I’m unable to make fire, build a shelter, find water etc. Of course you do a lot of improvising when it comes to wilderness survival but staying ahead of things minimizes risks. One of the participants struggled to make fire so I suggested some materials he could use with his firesteel. The deal is you can give advice to others but you can’t help them physically and you can’t lend your tools to others. His firesteel wasn’t the best quality so it worked against him too.
I made a mistake After collecting some new tinder materials and sweating for some minutes he was able get a fire going. Meanwhile I walked back to my own camp. I had collected some tinder in advance so I was ready to light my fire too. It was about time because now it was getting dark. To my surprise I also struggled with my tinder. This was a problem since I couldn’t see much in the dark forest. I had waited too long before starting my fire and now I was stuck in the darkness. I guess my tinder had become moist from the evening dew. I went down by the shore of the lake to see if I could locate some new tinder knowing it would probably also be moist by now. There was a bit more light here and I found some withered grass that might work. I only picked the top of the leaves. They stay dry for longer because of their exposure to the wind. They are also further away from the moist coming from the ground. In a situation like this little details matter. I thought to myself how embarrasing it would be if I was the only one unable to make fire. :)
It took me about 15 minutes of striking my firesteel. I was really frustrated before I got a flame. I had my kindling lined up, so it didn’t take med long to build up a strong hot campfire from there. This is another tip for building a fire. Make it bigger than you need in the begining. Collect about three times the amount of kindling you think you need for starting it. You are looking to build a bed of strong embers that will keep you fire going strong even if you add some wet firewood by mistake. If you do, don’t hesitate to remove it from you fire again by the way. You’re better off replacing it with a dry piece and let the wet piece dry up next to your fire before you burn it. Bark holds on to the moist inside the wood so remove it before you add it to your fire to get more heat out of it.
After a challenging evening I could finally relax. There’s nothing more rewarding than lying in a natural shelter next to a crackling fire in the middle of the woods at night. I fell asleep soon after. When you rely on your fire to keep you warm throughout the night you better not sleep too tight. I have this inner alarm clock that wakes me up every now and then when it is time to add another log to my longfire. I guess you learn from your mistakes because not listening to it will punish you with a long and cold night. Or you need to wake up and build your fire from scratch.
The next morning was wonderful. I woke up early and added some more firewood to my campfire before heading down to the lake to get a drink. I sat by my campfire and enjoyed the dancing reflections of the Sun as they hit the lake and shined back through the leaves of the trees. The others went down to take a morning swim so I decided to do the same. It was a feeling of pure wellness. The refreshing cold water increases your blood circulation and boosts your energy level. But the real reward comes afterwards when you dry up by your campfire. I had built a reflector out of rocks. As the name says it reflects excessive heat back towards you giving you an extra boost of heat radiation. It was like sitting in an open sauna in the middle of the forest.
I was full of energy and ready to seize the day, but one of the participants felt a little off however. He had a headache and was low on energy. It’s easy to feel that way when your environment changes drastically and you stop eating at the same time. In a survival situation it can seriously decrease your morale, but Jacob was super constructive about it and worked with himself. It was easy to tell he’s a professional coach, workout specialist and a former sergeant at the Danish Royal Guards. An hour later we headed out to explore the surrounding area. At this point we hadn’t eaten for 41 hours.
We headed further North up the lake. At one point we came to a small cove and decied to go ashore. It led us to a big nothing. Just a barren piece of land full of felled spruce trees. But just as we were about set out again we saw something that hyped us all up. Right there in the water was a bunch of crayfish. We didn’t have anything to catch them with so we tried using our bare hands. They’re not exactly defenceless so you want to grab them from behind which can be extremely difficult when you are aiming through the distortion of the water surface. I have no experience with getting pinched by a crayfish so I tried grabbing them with caution, but they kept hiding between the rocks. Then suddenly Jacob saw a big one and in a flash he caught it with his bare hands and threw it into the canoe. We were all hyped up about it. We tried catching some more without any luck. Looking back we should probably have kept trying for another hour or so. It would have been time and energy well spent. But just catching one boosted our morale.
We were super excited as we continued our trip. Our next destination was a fairly big island further up north. It was more lush than what we had experienced before. This time we were lucky to find both Swedish blueberry and lingon. We also found some bay boletes. Just what we needed after a long trip with only little food.
We laid down and enjoyed the sunlight for a while before preparing a small fire by the lake. It was a blissful moment. We cooked the crayfish over open fire and split the meat. It’s incredible how big an impact such a small portion of meat has on your morale. It was a bite sent from heaven. We had a piece of bolete to go along with it. It was an amazing meal. For dessert we had blueberries and lingonberries. Two majestic buzzards took care of the entertainment as they elegantly hovered above us in circles. We had long forgotten about survival.
The rest of the evening we spent relaxing in our camps. A thing about survival that few people consider is the waiting time. Often you will have nothing to do except to wait. Of course you have things you need to do but you will also have a lot of spare time once you’ve established yourself. The danger of it is you risk becoming apathetic. Overthinking is also a known risk in wilderness survival. It may lead to analysis paralysis. A condition that can keep you from taking action on vital tasks. It’s important that you stay active and ahead of things but ofcourse your should allow yourself to relax and be in balance with yourself. Survival is a 99% mental challenge.
We had travelled far on this trip so the next morning we decided to clear our camps early and begin our journey back. We wanted to be able to take it easy and enjoy our last day of paddling.
I always practice the art of LNT (Leave No Trace) when I spend time in nature. Not just because it’s the right thing to do. Covering up your tracks is also quite fun. From a survival point of view covering up your tracks can be a very useful skill to learn if you are on the run or are being hunted by someone. Evasion and counter tracking techniques are very hard to do properly however, especially if you’re facing professional trackers or a hunter force. But if you know what they look for, you can at least be aware of it and possibly make life a little harder for them. Just in case you need to.
Even if you don’t care about counter tracking, leaving nature in the same state as when you came is the decent thing to do. After all we love nature, not other people’s decaying shelters right. Think about it, how often do you bump into someone else’s shelter and think “hey, this is cool, I’ll fix it and sleep here tonight”? I’m sure you never did unless you had to. Nobody admires your shelter quite like yourself. So clean up please. It’s quite fun too.
The last hours before the challenge was over were a little boring to be honest. To kill some time one went swimming and two of us took a nap. I was going to drive back to Denmark after we finished the challenge so I was happy to get a good rest. That was it. We returned to civilization exactly 72 hours or three days after we took off. Great weather made the challenge a great experience and a walk in the park from a survival point of view. The canoes added a new dimension to the concept. We had become nomads.
I tested my resilience to heat in an extreme hike up a dry river canyon near Côte d’Azur.
You have three basic needs to fulfill in a survival situation: Shelter, water, food. In that order. But when we talk about shelter, we often worry about hypothermia and less about hyperthermia (overheating). Two years ago I was in Cannes on business during one of the most extreme heatwaves lately. France had a heat wave sweeping the country at the time so people were advised not to seek outside. I thought it would be a great opportunity for me to learn more about my own performance under extreme conditions. It turned out I did learn something.
My day started early in the morning with a cup of coffee and a croissant at Boulevard Jean Hibert in Cannes. I was a complete misfit as I sat there in my hiking clothes among the chique people of Cannes. Other than that I kept my manners and soon after I was on a bus out of town. I had somewhere to be at six o’clock that evening, other than that I had the day off. Cannes and the rest of Côtes d’Azur is located at the foot of the westernmost part of the Alps. It’s a scenic place. I got off the bus in a small town a bit outside of Cannes and immediately started moving up into the mountains. The vegetation was typical for this climate. Lush but super dry.
My goal for the day was to reach a point in the Tanneron area as if it was a pickup point I had to reach. I was very focused on staying safe despite venturing out into an unknown area by myself. I always aim to locate shelter, water, food as well.
It didn’t take long before I did my first discovery, an Opuntia cactus. This cactus looks hostile but it’s your best friend in a survival situation. The fruit of Opuntia or “prickly pear” makes for a great survival food. It’s moist, sweet tasting and it contains lots of vitamins, fibers and antioxidants. You need to beware of the hairlike spikes on the fruit however. They can cause a long lasting pain and skin irritation. The easiest way to get rid of them is to burn them off over open fire before you peal off the skin. If you don’t have a fire going you can carefully scrape them off using a rock or the like. That’s what I did here. I found a couple of flat rocks to grab the fruits with. And after scraping off the spikes I simply opened up the fruit and ate the flesh inside of it. The peel is quite tough and inedible.
Opuntia cacti carry a lot of fruits and they come in a variety of colors from yellow, orange, red and purple. The darker the color the sweeter they are generally speaking. They’re not quite ripe when green but they still taste sweet. Don’t eat too many a day however. As with many things they can upset your stomach when eaten in bigger quantities. You can also eat the pads. They don’t come off as easily as the fruit but they are much richer in vitamin A and they contain 85% water. No wonder this plant is so well protected by thorns.
I don’t enjoy hiking on trails much and I soon found a suitable alternative which would also keep me out of direct sunlight for a while. A semi dry river canyon with a bit of clear water still running at the bottom of it. So despite temperatures near 40 °C (104 °F) I had already managed to locate both shelter, food and drinking water.
As I began my hike up the canyon I had to climb some big boulders and steep slopes. You quickly forget just how hard it is to hike through a rough terrain if you don’t practice it regularly. If the elements go against you or if you’re not carrying the right gear it will become even harder. In mountainous terrain it’s not so much how far you travel but how many height-meters you climb that will wear you out. And vegetation of course. It didn’t take long before I came to a place filled with thorny bushes. It was impossible for me to squeeze my way through them in just a t-shirt, so I had to use a big stick to push away the branches with as I made my way through.
My t-shirt kept getting caught up in thorns and I thought to myself how obvious it is that people who make it out of a survival situation alive always look battered and bruised. You literally have to manhandle nature when you’re out here in the rough. I made it through with my t-shirt in more or less one piece however. But that was just the beginning.
After some time I came to a small pond in the middle of the ravine. The water was muddy and full of vegetation so you couldn’t see what was in it. I’m always a bit wary when I step into unfamiliar water with my bare feet, but I had to take off my boots to keep them dry for the rest of the climb. If you have ever tried hiking with wet boots you know it’s not desirable. It will give you blisters in a heartbeat. Over the last 15 years I’ve studied survival cases from all over the world. One of the things that strike you is how many people end up losing or breaking their gear, clothes and even shoes. Then hiking through the rough is suddenly a whole other deal.
It was great cooling my feet in the pond but I was happy to be able to put my boots back on after the muddy experience. It didn’t take long until I encountered my next challenge however. This one turned out to be a bit more demanding. I found out that the canyon was completely blocked by debris and an even thicker brush further up. I didn’t bring a machete and I was wearing only shorts and a t-shirt, so there was only one thing to do. This was the end of my canyon hike. I had to climb up the side of it and continue my hike on the edge along the canyon. It was a steep and quite dangerous climb with loose ground and a 30-40 meter vertical drop towards the bottom in some places. Not my most comfortable moment. Luckily there was a lot of trees I could hold on to but I had to stay very focused. I checked every step I made and tested every tree I held on to before putting my trust in it. According to the metadata on my photos it was a total climb of 62 heightmeters.
A quick warning: Going into a canyon can be extremely dangerous even if the weather is fair. A flood can come quickly from rain further up the mountain or from the day before. The danger is not just the water itself, it’s the strength of it and the debris that it carries with it. I had checked out the weather forecast ahead of my trip and this place had experienced extreme heat for weeks. I continuously scouted for emergency exits out of the canyon as I moved my way up the mountain. The advantage of hiking a canyon however is that you’re more likely to find drinking water. It’s also cooler at the bottom of it and you are less exposed to the sun, but now it was over.
As I made it out of the canyon I immediately felt the heat of the sun. Although it was more windy up here it was also extremely warm. But that’s what I bargained for when I decided to venture out on this hike. My t-shirt was soaked in sweat from the physical activity the climb had offered me. It really helped me cool down but I also knew that it could become dangerous after sunset. “Cotton kills”, they say but right now it was “cotton cools”. Water cools you down 25 times faster than air, which is great when you need it. But cotton also stays wet, so if the weather changes or the night falls with cooler temperatures, you are at risk of hypothermia – even in hot climates. I had brought some warm clothes and plenty of water however – just in case. As I progressed towards the top of the mountain trees became scarce and the sun became hotter. I made sure to sit down in whatever shade I could find and drink lots of water. The mountain was taking a toll on me. It was super steep and in many places you had to go around dense vegetation or small canyons. I kept drinking but I still hadn’t peed.
After 2 hours I could finally see the spot I had pointed out on Google Maps at home. The problem is that once you see your end goal you tend to mentally give up fighting beforehand. So the last few hundred meters were a struggle to me. The view from where I finished my hike wasn’t particularly great but I didn’t come for that either. So what did I learn about myself?
Never during the hike did I feel out of control or in danger except for the climb up the side of the canyon but as I turned around and began to head down the mountain I had to pee for the first time and I had to pee like crazy. That’s when I realized how exhausted I really was. It looked like I was peeing coffee. A sign that you may be suffering from a heatstroke. I sat down in the shade and waited for a while as I drank some more water a little at a time. The feelings that went through my mind were a mix of relief and worry. I was fine but I realized that I might have failed to recognize the signs of a heatstroke. I learned that feeling fine doesn’t necessarily mean you are fine. You need to actively pay attention to your own well being. I was happy to head back down the mountain with success.
The descent was really beautiful with a complete view over Côte d’Azur between Cannes and St-Tropez. I found a couple of really beautiful pieces of rock with shiny quartz-like parts in them. I brought a couple for my kids and one for a friend who is into stones.
Last weekend I went fishing with my friend on the coast of Denmark. It was an incredibly beautiful day. Normally temperatures at this time of year would be around freezing point. But this was more like a spring or summer day. We were going seatrout hunting. This very spot was where I caught my first sea trout a couple of years ago. It is recognized as one of the many great seatrout spots in Denmark.
We had the choice between trying our luck in the fjord or in the sea. We were on a peninsula located between Kattegat on one side and Ise fjord and Roskilde Fjord on the other side. Normally it would make sense to go for the fjords at this time of year. Seatrout prefers water above 2.5° C so they seek towards more shallow and warmer water during winter. This winter however has been extremely warm so we thought we would give it a shot on the coast of Kattegat.
We arrived late in the afternoon a couple of hours before sundown. My friend had brought bombarda floats and I went for a couple of traditional spoons. I tried my luck with both the Mørasilda 15g and an Abu Garcia Toby 20g spoon. Sunshine was never my favorite weather for fishing though. And even though we waded our way up and down the coast until the sun was all gone we didn’t catch anything.
On a beautiful day like this where the sun reflects in the calm water to the sound of the gentle waves splashing on the rocks you are completely recharged with energy.
I didn’t want to leave empty handed however so before we took off I went to harvest some seaweed. This is a great place to do it because of the strong current and and a big shift in the water. So it is naturally fresh here. In Denmark there are no poisonous seaweeds so experimenting with it is safe. I picked up some Toothed wrack (Fucus serratus), one of the most common species of seaweed here along with Bladder wrack (Fucus vesiculosus).
If never tried foraging seaweed I recommend you try it. I normally use it as an ingredient with pasta either blanched or fried. This time I wanted to do something else with it so I made chips out of it.
It’s very easy to make and it tastes great. Seaweed contains a high amount of iodine which can be healthy for you. Many people suffer from iodine deficiency so in that sense it can be very beneficial. Just make sure you don’t eat too much of it too often. The high amount of iodine can cause iodine poisoning. And beware not to eat it at all if you have Metabolic disorder. That said it also contains both vitamins A, B, C, E and K as well a big variety of minerals, amino acids and omega-3s.
If you want to try making seaweed chips here’s an easy recipe for you:
The only ingredients you need are:
Seaweed
Virgin olive oil
Seasalt
Start by cutting the top shoots into bit sized pieces. Pour a few spoons of virgin olive oil in a bowl, toss the seaweed around in it and add some seasalt to it. Take out the seaweed and let the oil drip off before you spread it out on a baking tray. Put it in a preheated oven at 100 degrees C for about an hour and voilà.
36 hours after coming home from Alaska I was on a plane heading for the Maldives. This time I was together with my family. I had missed them on my trip to Alaska but now we had two weeks together ahead of us. This was our summer vacation.
It wasn’t a wilderness vacation in the sense that we lived outside but we stayed in a beachfront bungalow 15 meters away form the water’s edge. A perfect vacation for all of us. We were surrounded by nature in a luxury resort with the most beautiful view and still within close range of a swimming pool and other facilities for my kids.
Staying on a tropical island still made me wonder what my priorities and challenges would be in a survival situation. The first thing I do when I go to a new place is to read nature. What fire making materials are available, what sources of food and water are available, what resources are available for shelter making and so on. It’s not something I think about it has just become a habit to me.
I found plenty of firemaking materials including some palm leaf sheath. Apart from firemaking this fibrous mesh can be used for numerous things. The fibres are very strong and can be used for making both rope, baskets and nets just like palm leaves can. The mesh itself can also be used directly as a brush, washcloth, padding, and much more.
Nature here is so lush that finding food wouldn’t be your biggest challenge. The ocean would probably be your biggest resource of food in a survival situation. When we were dropped off on the island the first thing we saw was a Blacktip reef shark swimming under the bridge where we landed.
One early morning my wife and I took a stroll along the beach. We were paddling in the shallows when we suddenly heard a big splash and snapping jaws behind us. As we looked back we saw a 1.2 meter long shark right behind us. Apparently it was hunting something all the way up on the shore. As it went back into the sea it passed right by us along with a few other sharks.
On the beach we saw both hermit crabs, ghost crabs, Oriental garden lizards, beetles, Grey heron and more and above us smaller birds and the Indian Flying fox (Pteropus vampyrus). We had been swimming in the ocean for a couple of days before buying a diving mask. After this it became clear to us just how lush the ocean was. Twospot Demoiselle, Picasso Triggerfish, Grouper and the poisonous Yellow Boxfish were just some of the fish I saw. One time I was snorkeling in the shallows when I coincidentally looked up and saw a girl looking at me while pointing. I turned around to see what she was pointing at and I saw a huge shadow right behind me. A big stingray was passing me one meter away.
Had we not come during the monsoon water would probably have been an issue here. At this point we had plenty of rain water so this was also not a priority. When people think of the monsoon they often think of endless rain for months but in the Maldives the “Halhangu” as the Monsoon is called here is more versatile and heavy rain can come within a few minutes. During the day time we had perfect weather throughout our two week long stay and most of the rain came during the nights.
So if both food and water was plentiful, what would my biggest challenge be if I ended up on a tropical island like this one in a survival situation? The answer is heat. When I first arrived here I had nausea and felt both dizzy and tired. I wasn’t sure whether it was jetlag from traveling east through 15 timezones or 221 longitudes the last couple of days or whether it was the heat. Either way the heat was humid and intense and it made me lazy and indolent. Not an ideal state of being in a survival situation where you want to stay on top of things.
The heat aside my light skin is not well protected against the scorching sun. So this would definitely be a challenge for me too. Without sunscreen I would need to stay out of the sun most of the time.
Luckily sharks and stingrays are more active after dusk so I could hunt for them without being exposed to the sun otherwise I would need to stay covered up.
My kids and I often go on trips together and sometimes I leave them to solve tasks on their own . Whether the task is building their own shelter, lighting fire or foraging for food they always go at it with passion. This time they were the ones to give me a challenge though. They had been playing around outside for an hour or more when they came in with some coconuts they had collected on the beach. They had been trying to open them for some time when one of the locals came by and showed them how to do it. Now they wanted me to do it too. It was both great fun and a challenge I couldn’t say no to.
Coconuts have edible fruit flesh as you probably know and they are great for many things in a survival situation. Green coconuts contain a lot of water too. Well it’s not actually water rather than a kind of fruit juice rich in natural sugars, vitamin C, and minerals such as potassium. Coconut water is also rich in fibers. Be careful not to drink too much of it though since their high amounts of potassium can cause unconsciousness, uncontrolled diabetes, red blood cell destruction among other things. It also contains natural laxatives which can be helpful if you get constipation but it could also leave you dehydrated. So you shouldn’t drink too much of it. Probably not more than two cups a day.
Climbing a palm tree to get the green coconuts is not an easy task though. And it is certainly not risk free either. I talked to one of the locals who’s job it was to climb the palm trees and cut down coconuts and withered leaves with his machete. His technique was to tie a rope around his back and lean into it as he moved upwards. The rope he used was made from hide and which made it very strong. Others use a rope around their feet which they press towards the trunk of the tree to avoid slipping. These are ancient techniques that require great strength and practice and you don’t want to risk injuring yourself in a survival situation unless absolutely necessary.
Another way to get water is from palm leaves. And you don’t have to climb the trees to get it. What you want to do is to locate some young shoots that grow straight from the ground near the base of a tree. Find a flowering stalk, bend it downwards and cut off the tip. The leaves contain a sugary fluid that you can drink. The next day slice off another thin piece of the leaf and it will give you up to a liter of fluid a day. Be aware that this fluid also contains a laxative so take care that you don’t drink too much of that either.
There are many other ways to get water in the tropics. If you have a plastic bag condensation is another one. There are two immediate ways to do it. One is by tying a plastic bag around the branch of a tree with green leaves and let the sun evaporate the water inside the branch and leave it to condensate on the plastic bag.
The other is by making a solar still. This can be made in different ways but the principle is the same. You dig a hole in the ground and cover it with the plastic bag. In the middle of the hole under the plastic bag you put a container to collect the water. Then you place a small stone on top of the plastic bag right above the container to weigh down the plastic bag a bit. The idea is to make water from the ground below evaporate and condensate on the plastic bag above. Because of the weight of the stone the water will then dribble down into the middle and into the container. You can use this method to render salt water or dirty water drinkable and you can put wet leaves into the hole to extract the water from them. Mind you that this is a method that requires some patience.
The Maldives is a tropical paradise and I would recommend everyone to visit this place. From a survival/SHTF point of view, which is my take on this blog, there are a few things to consider however: First of all remember you will most likely be staying on a remote island with no immediate medical help available so take your precautions. There are some very poisonous fish here so don’t step on the corals. Well don’t step on them anyway since you will destroy them. Also don’t swim in the ocean at night since sharks are more active at night and this is their feeding time. Tsunamis and severe storms happen but I wouldn’t worry too much about that though. It is however a Muslim country where radical Islam is very strong. 200 Maldivians have been known to fight for IS in Iraq and Syria out of a total population of only 345.000. I didn’t know about this until after we visited the country but in Male, the capital of the Maldives Islam was clearly present. At the moment there are no risks for tourists visiting the islands however since tourism is a big business for the country. And the Islamists are able to launder their money through it. Just don’t bring alcohol through customs. You can buy it at the resorts anyway since the government is turning it’s blind eye to it.
Whether or not you want to indirectly support radical Islam the Maldives is definitely worth a visit from a holiday perspective. And boycotting the country would probably only help the radical forces within the country gain more power. So my recommendation is to go and experience this tropical paradise. The irony of it all being of course that by flying here you will encourage global warning and it is believed that the islands will disappear within the next 10-100 years due to sea levels rising.
On July 20th 2018 I joined a small group of people on a 10 day journey into the Alaskan wilderness. A journey so far into the backcountry you can only get there by floatplane
Personally I wanted to experience the real American wilderness that I used to watch on TV as a kid. We’re talking “Dick Proenneke” and “North to Alaska“ here. To me Alaska still stands as the ultimate wilderness. I also wanted to experience sleeping outside in bear country. Whether under a tarp, in a natural shelter or out in the open nothing brings you closer to nature than sleeping outside.
I had come along on this trip because I wanted to experience a wilder and even more untouched nature than I had ever experienced before. I always strive to leave civilization behind on my trips the best I can. To me every trip I go on is a step further towards understanding the ancient hunter gatherer inside myself. Before departure I had quite a few talks with our tour leader Claus Ballisager. I told him I wanted to live outside in the wild and be as close to nature as possible. My idea was to sleep under a tarp using a tarp pole and some paracord to support it. This was already a compromise for me since I’m used to building natural shelters when I’m outside. On this trip I needed to be agile and be able to set up my camp and pack it up in the same pace as the rest of the group though. Claus warned me against it several times. He was worried that I would be miserable on the mountain if we were to see high windspeeds or if it was to rain when camping on the river banks in wet sand.
When Claus speaks you listen. He is a very experienced and respected outdoorsman, tracker and big game hunter. He lived in Alaska for many years and he knows the place like no other.
Now people who know me will probably tell you I can be stubborn at times. And of course I didn’t follow Claus’ advice about bringing a tent. The closer we came to departure the more certain I became in fact that my goal for this trip would be to live out there in a tarp only. I can understand why some people may see this as foolish but I have way more experience with sleeping outside in a shelter than I have with sleeping in a tent. Most often it’s the thought that scares you more than reality. Hell yes I was going to sleep outside in the Alaskan wilderness with the bears!
Preparation I was looking for a tarp to fit my needs. I wanted it to be big enough for me to use it both as a roof and a windshield at the same time and for me to be able to lie down inside it. But I also wanted it to be light weight. I really don’t like packing too heavy. Half the joy for me on a hike is to check out edible plants on the way, collecting fire making materials, learning new animal tracks and the like. I read the land as I walk. So carrying a heavy pack is a sure show stopper since you can’t lean forward or kneel down with it. I considered buying a DD Hammock tarp for about $50. I really like it but it weighs 790g. Instead I went to my local DIY store and bought a $4 tarp measuring 2.5 x 3.6 m weighing only 585g. The only problem was that it was missing two eyelets in order to work they way I had planned it. I bought two extra eyelets and made the holes myself. I was pretty much up to par with the rest of my gear.
After spending a couple of days in Anchorage we were getting ready to leave for the wilderness. I had spent a few days with Claus stashing up on food, ammo and other necessities. On the day of our departure into the wild, we all met up at Rust’s Flying Service in Lake Hood, the world’s busiest airport for float planes. We were only 6 people in the group due to some unfortunate events leading to four people missing out on the trip.
Take-off As we sat in the red float plane watching all the rivers, lakes, trees and mountains pass us by underneath we realized that awaiting us down there was an adventure like no other. Down there was the home of elk, caribou, moose, black bear, grizzly bear, beaver, the bald eagle and many more. And we were going down there to live among them for ten days.
The sun was shining on a blue sky as the small plane turned around to prepare for landing on Stephan Lake and as the pontons hit the water we were greeted by a moose standing on the shore. The plane took off and everything went quiet.
From this point on we were on our own. Claus gave us a briefing on the shore of the lake and then we started moving inland. The first couple of kilometers you think a lot about bears. You know they are out there and you’re walking in dense vegetation with a small visibility range. It’s a funny thing with bears. On one hand you are anxious to meet one but on the other hand you don’t want to surprise one up close. As we made our way through the landscape uphill from the lake we saw a lot of bear tracks. Everything from scratch marks, droppings and fur. Oh yes they were there.
It was an unusually warm day and we were all enjoying the hike through the spruce forest. On the way we saw a spruce grouse and I found some spruce shoots to use for tea.
Our goal for the day was to reach a small hut called “The Halfway Hut”. It was a small hunting hut with room for 2 – 3 people. I had no intention of travelling more than 6.500 km to experience one of the most pristine wildernesses in the world from the inside of a hut. So Claus and I slept outside leaving the hut to the 4 others. They were two couples and they managed to fit in there together although they complained the next morning that it had been a fairly warm experience.
This was my first night in bear territory so I was excited to lie down in my sleeping bag. I had put up my shelter with the back towards the wind and the front overlooking the landscape. Except I couldn’t see anything because of the bushes in front of me. It was summer in Alaska so it didn’t really get dark. The sun was only out of sight for a few hours during midnight. I lay down with both an air horn and a bear spray within reach and fell asleep immediately. It had been a long day with a lot of new impressions.
First morning in the wild Waking up the next morning was amazing though. It was such a quiet and peaceful morning and the sun light hit me through the branches of the bush in front of me. This is the reward you get for sleeping outside. I breathed in and felt the fresh Alaskan air fill my lungs. I felt at one with nature.
This day would turn out to become one of the toughest days of our hike. The plan was to reach the second hut on our trip and the last sign of civilization. The Grizzly Hut. It was another very warm day which made hiking a beautiful experience. On the way I found some spruce resin for fire making. I always collect tinder for fire making before I need it. You never know if everything suddenly becomes wet from a rainfall or if the terrain changes so no materials are available. I also found some Crowberries that I didn’t eat though. I wasn’t able to identify them with a 100% certainty and I didn’t want to risk ending my journey like Christopher Mccandless (Alexander Supertramp) did.
The terrain was extremely varied. We crossed marshes, beaver dams, streams, hill sides and mountains. It was great fun. We had lunch in a small ravine on top of a mountain. It was an ideal place to take a break. We were partially out of the sun and it was windy and close to a stream where we could fill our water rations. Just what we needed on this hot day.
Spruce resin is highly flammable and works great as tinder.
As we moved on after lunch the distance to the Grizzly Hut seemed endless however. The sun was really taking its toll on us. And Claus was beginning to suggest that we split the trip in half. He was also feeling the heat. It was a quite interesting talk we had. As a leader it’s a very sympathetic feature to be able to open up and admit your vulnerability. It sends a message to everyone else that being tired is ok. But this was a tough crowd. Even though everyone was exhausted and we did consider splitting the journey in two we had all set our mind on reaching the Grizzly Hut. So we agreed to move on a bit and see how we would feel when we made it to the opposite side of the mountain.
As we continued around the mountain we also worked our way out of the sun. This really increased our moral. Everyone had expected Alaska to be rainy and maybe a bit windy and cold. And here we were in the middle of a hot summer day. Another moral booster was the sight of the Grizzly Hut across the valley. We had a short break and decided to keep going. Then suddenly we heard an airplane. We were high up on the side of the mountain when we saw the small white Cessna like plane circle the Grizzly Hut below us. At one point it almost looked like it was going to crash the mountain wall on the other side of the valley. And then on it’s third round it flew over the hut in low altitude and one of the girls believed that she saw the pilot make an air drop. We weren’t sure about it but the tenant who looks after the land had told us before we took off that he would have his pilot air drop some muffins for us. At the time we thought he was just joking of course. Who would fly a plane all the way out here just to drop off a couple of muffins? Well it made us curious enough to proceed all the way to the hut. It was easier said than done however.
We had been walking on the side of the mountain for the last couple of hours and now we had to do it in dense woodland. This continued for about half an hour or so I believe before we reached a place to cross the valley. It was completely flooded by beaver dams and unlike the other dams we crossed this was a wide plateau with reed growing above our heads. We jumped from tussock to tussock and waded through muddy water before we finally stood at foot of the big hill leading up to the Grizzly Hut.
Everyone started the ascend to the hut except two of us. We went to fetch water from a small nearby creek. Even if we were relaxed when walking through the high grass you could still hear us shout “hey bear!” regularly in between chit chatting. It’s funny how quickly your mindset changes when you know you’re in bear country. You never let down your guards completely.
After camping we sat down on a bench facing Grizzly Creek. The wind was blowing heavily as we sat there looking back at the landscape we had spend the whole day crossing. Then suddenly we remembered the plane making an airdrop. We jumped up and started searching the area. Within a few minutes one of the girls came back with a white package with a long yellow ribbon tied to it. We opened it and inside was four muffins and two oranges! Pure luxury.
We sat in the hut talking for a while as we made dinner. Afterwards we had coffee and muffins. It didn’t take long before the sun slowly started to disappear behind one of the tall mountains towards west. Since we were on a small plateau above the valley the wind was blowing quite heavily. So I went to secure my tarp before hitting the sack. I put a couple of rocks in the corners and tightened up the paracord holding the tarp pole in place. And then one of the grommets that I had put in the tarp myself broke. I was supposed to use this tarp through out the whole trip so this was not an ideal situation. I guess that’s the price you pay when you buy cheap gear. I had brought an extra tarp but it was not nearly as big as this one. It was really windy, the sun was disappearing and I was getting tired so I had to figure out something quickly. I found a small rock, wrapped the corner of the tarp around it and tied the paracord around it. I then secured it to the tarp pole and hoped it would stand the tearing of the wind. I had a plan B for windy mountain tops all along but I preferred sleeping in a tarp with a view rather than under it with rocks all the way around the edges.
Rain, pain and plains The next day was set to be the longest hike of our journey. We started out by crossing a small rapid creek. Apparently I didn’t tie my gaiters tight enough so a few steps in the water was enough to get my socks completely soaked. I emptied my boots, pulled out the inner soles and wrung my socks before we continued. The weather had changed a bit and we had clouds coming in. Most of the morning we spent walking uphill. A long straight stretch. By lunch my feet were starting to blister because of the wet socks I wore. My feet didn’t feel very wet but one of the other guys recommended that I changed my socks anyway. It also gave me a chance to dry the other pair of socks so after allowing my feet a bit of fresh air during lunch I changed socks. It felt great. Also because I put my inner soles back into my boots. It’s incredible how much difference an inner sole makes in a pair of Meindl boots.
The rest of the afternoon we hiked through a big rocky plateau. We could see rain clouds coming in and before we knew it we had to change to our rain gear. Staying dry is essential when you’re in the wild. Water leads heat away from your body 25 times faster than air. If you are in an emergency situation with no prospect of seeking shelter or lighting a fire to dry your clothes, you are better off taking them off. “Cotton Kills” – you may have heard the expression before. The reason for this is that cotton looses it’s ability to insulate when wet and it takes a long time for it to dry. Wool on the other hand retains up to 80% of it’s insulation ability when wet.
This part of the hike was really beautiful and it was made even more beautiful by the sun occasionally penetrating the rain clouds in the horizon. The terrain was rocky and wet with deep pools of water everywhere. Despite being a bit monotonous I really liked it. The biggest downside was the mosquitoes. They were an intense plague. Every time we stopped for even a second they would be all over us. Even ascending into higher and more windy ground didn’t help.
We crossed a wide shallow river before the last hardships of the day: The final ascent to our camp site higher up in the mountains. The first one with no signs of civilization what so ever.
Out of the blue – literally – we heard a huge bang. It was extremely loud but at the same time it felt far away. At first we thought it was thunder but later we learned that it was probably a big piece of the mountain that had fallen off. And that’s exactly how you would imagine that sound. It wasn’t a long growling rumbling like thunder. It was more like a huge cannon being fired. A single loud boom reverberating throughout the mountains.
We came from the opposite side of the mountain when we first saw the camp site and we had to walk back down the mountain a bit before we hit camp. The view from up here was truly amazing but the mosquitoes were still plentiful. Surprisingly as it may seem the only place with no mosquitoes at all was under my tarp. I can’t explain why they didn’t find their way inside my shelter but for some reason they just didn’t.
The weather had changed and the sun was out again. Everyone was happy and still in a good mood. I had brought my fishing pole but still hadn’t had a chance to try my luck with it. During dinner Claus told us about a mountain lake further up the mountain that he knew of. He suggested we should give it a try and see if it held any fish. Since we were all in good spirit we decided to all do a hike to the lake from our camp.
It was a short hike of maybe an hour from our camp. We crossed a small creek on the way but apart from that it was a straight walk to the top. And we didn’t even carry our backpacks. The lake was really beautiful. It had a green colour reflection in the water from the rocky bottom and the blue sky was mirroring in the surface. I quickly rigged my fishing rod and did my first cast. I was full of anticipation and hope that this lake would offer some action. And of course dinner. I went to the opposite side of the lake to get away from the others who seized the opportunity to take a swim. As I moved around the lake it became clear however that there was no fish in it. It was a big lake of melting water from the peak next to it. There were no plants growing in it or other signs of life really. It was just a beautiful lake.
As we descended from the peak to go back to our camp I stumbled across an Arctic dock growing on some rocks right where the lake flowed into a stream. It’s an edible plant similar to Common sorrel. We followed the stream down the mountain and encountered a flock og chipmunks. They had occupied a big rock to use as their fortress. Maybe that’s why they allowed us to get so close to them before they hid. We got to a range of 5 to 10 meters away from them. A bit further down we passed a spot with a small snow deposition. This was the first and only time I stepped on snow during our trip. Back in camp I went straight to bed.
Bears and bushcraft The next morning I woke up to sunshine. I had the most amazing view from my shelter. The terrain ahead of us was one long forest of shrub consisting of mainly dwarf birch (Betula nana) a shrub about 1-2 meters tall. We began our hike by descending from our camp ground halfway up the mountain and crossing the small creek where we had picked up water from the day before. We filled our bottles and moved on. For about an hour we bushwhacked through these bushes and whatever grew in between. We had a visibility range of maximum 2 meters. Not ideal in bear country. On top of that it started raining so we were walking for a couple of hours shouting “hey bear” and just watching our step. Here and there there we stepped over steep pits between the rocks and the grass. It was a hike that demanded our attention. A few of the pits were so deep you couldn’t see where they ended. Most of the day went by like this. Rain on and off and nothing but bushes. The hike was set to be a lot shorter than the day before. This fact combined with the rain meant we didn’t sit down for a long lunch break. Before we could reach the next camping spot we had to cross a canyon. The ground was really slippery and the descent was fairly steep so we had to hold on to the trees on our way down to avoid sliding. Now we only had one final ascent left before reaching our destination. It was a lot longer than I had expected however. And even though I was quite energetic the discouragement of a number of false peaks was taken it’s toll on me. When we finally reached the top it had stopped raining and the view from up here was probably the most beautiful one of the whole trip.
Claus and I had walked ahead in order to find an ideal camp site before picking up the other guys a hundred meters down the mountain. We found a rocky spot on the side of the mountain surrounded by straight ground here and there. From up here we had the most amazing view over the Talkeetna River and the valley we were going into the next day. Two of the guys went all the way back down in the canyon where we came from to get water. Meanwhile I started setting up my tarp. As I was about to finish the whole thing I could suddenly hear Claus shout from a distance. I didn’t sense any panic in his voice and when I came closer I could see him standing with his back towards me looking in his binoculars towards the opposite side of the river. “There’s a bear he said. A grizzly with two cubs.” I could sense both a hint of relief and excitement in Claus’ voice. He had guaranteed us all that we would see bears on this trip and until now he had hadn’t delivered. It was amazing to see this huge animal walk freely. And to see the two cubs was just an added bonus.
I felt bad for the others who had gone to get water for the group. So I decided to run down the mountain and get them. Hoping they were already on their way back I shouted to them on the way. It was a long way down, so fetching water was quite the task here. When I was almost half way down the mountain I finally heard someone answer. Luckily they made it back in time to see the bears. Back in camp everyone was ready for dinner. Because of my bushcraft experience Claus had asked me to be in charge of fire making. I started preparing materials to get a fire going. Before this we had all been collecting firewood. In the process Claus’ folding saw accidentally broke. So as we sat by the fire after dinner I decided to weave a temporary handle for it made from small twigs. It is the kind of pastime that makes life around a camp fire special. If you visit the B-Wild Store in Copenhagen today you can still see the saw I made in the exhibition next to the knives. Although the twigs have loosened and withered the saw has become a fun souvenir from our trip.
Destination: The Talkeetna River It was a great nights sleep and this morning was kind of special. It was the last peak of our hike and ahead of us was the Talkeetna river. We could see the river banks where our next camp would be. The spot where we had arranged to meet up with the rafting team the next day. The view was simply indescribable and with a bald eagle flying by it was an out of this world experience. As a finishing touch I made myself a cup of tea from some spruce shoots that I had collected earlier on along the way. Before packing up I collected some birch bark from some nearby trees to use for tinder later on. You never know what the weather will be like later.
As I packed up I realized that I had slept on top of a blueberry bush. This is the American version mind you. They are bigger than the Nordic blueberries (bilberries) but not as rich in vitamins and they don’t hold the same amount of anthocyanin. Anthocyanin has been found to prevent cancer, diabetes and inflammation, and even slow the signs of aging. They still tasted great of course and I picked a few of them as a bonus breakfast before we started our hike.
My feet were still aching from the long wet hike but going downhill helped ease the strain on my heels since the pressure was now on my toes. As we moved down through the big forest leading down to the lake we were also going straight into dense bear habitat. Claus was getting more tense now. He was way more alert than at any other point of our trip. He repeated the procedures to us in case of a close encounter. As we continued we suddenly found ourselves in the middle of a black forest. The result of a forest fire that had happened a couple of years back. It felt like we were part of a scene in the movie The Road. Afterwards both my pants and my arms had black stripes all over them from fending off coal branches.
Bear tracks became more frequent as we got closer to the lake. Tufts of hair, tracks and then – as we finally made our way through the clearing and onto the sand banks of the Talkeetna River – a loud, long and agressive roar from the opposite side of the river. We all stopped. Then there was nothing. We couldn’t see anything but dense forest. Claus told us he hadn’t heard a roar like this in 20 years. After a short while we filled our water bottles from the river and started walking along the bank of the river.
It was a nice feeling to suddenly be walking on sand. This was also the beginning of the end of our hiking trip. We were almost at the pick up spot where we had arranged to meet up with the river rafting crew the next day. Before we could get there however we had to get off the river again and walk inland for a while. We also had one last obstacle left. We had to cross a small but fast moving river. We used a throw bag to secure a rope across it and two of us stepped out into it to make sure the others didn’t end up in the main river in case they slipped.
That was it. Two minutes later we finally walked onto the river bank where our hiking trip ended. It was a wide and open spot with a lot of wind. The sand here was extremely fine grained so it found its way in everywhere. After putting up my tarp with the back towards the wind I secured it with rocks all the way around the sides of it. I didn’t want to risk it flying away during the night. It was a great and sturdy solution which also helped tighten it.
After getting my stuff in order and making my bed I took off my hiking boots for the last time. It wasn’t a pretty sight but it felt extremely great. My feet were both wet, wrinkled and blistered. All because of my mistake on day 3 were I didn’t change socks in time. It’s just a reminder of how important it is to take proper care of your feet out here. I had walked just a few hours with wet feet but it was enough to give me blisters for the rest of the trip. And since I didn’t have any blister plasters it was hard to get rid of them again. Regular plaster just doesn’t do the job because it moves around. I was happy to walk around bare foot here in the sand though. Even if it hurt whenever I stepped on the rocks.
We collected some firewood and then I went out to find some kindling to get a camp fire going. When making fire, many people focus on starting it. But the biggest part of successful fire making is preparation. Knowing what materials to collect, where to find them, keeping your tinder dry and building the fire correctly. I usually collect tinder before I need it. Here in Alaska I collected spruce resin and birch bark along the way. This made it easy for me to start a fire without scavenging the whole place everytime we camped in a new place. All I needed to find was some kindling and some firewood.
After I had the fire going I went out to collect two big piles of fresh branches with green leaves to use as a signal fire for the air crew who was coming to look for us the next the morning. They were going to point out our location for the River Rafting crew before dropping them off further up the river.
If you need to make a signal fire, you want to build a basis fire and keep it going until you need it. You also need to have plenty of extra firewood ready to intensify the fire when needed. And of course you need fresh green branches to produce the smoke. If your life depends on it you may also want to consider the colour of the smoke. Think about the background. If you’re in a spruce forest which looks dark from above, you want to create white smoke. If you’re on a beach, in the snow or somewhere else with a light backdrop, you may want to burn some plastic, oil or rubber to create a black smoke. The rest of the night we just spent hanging out by the camp fire, drinking coffee, eating snacks, telling stories and talking.
Waiting for the rafting crew I was awakened by the sound of an engine. I was a bit confused for a second and then I realized that it was the sound of the plane we were supposed to signal. I jumped out of my shelter. I needed to get the signal fire going. I looked around and realized that everyone else was wide awake. I could see the dense white smoke rise from our camp fire and Claus standing next to it.
The pilot had seen us and after doing a fly by to help the rafting crew plan their landfall the small plane disappeared in the horizon. All we had to do now was wait for the rafting crew to unload, prepare the rafts and come meet us later in the day. We hung up some brightly coloured clothes on a tripod of branches some hundred meters up the river, so they could se our camp in time.
Claus had brought a pack raft along so we took the opportunity to test it. Although my approach to wilderness living is a bit old school and I’m not normally impressed by new fancy inventions, I must say that this is a cool little gadget. If you don’t know what a pack raft is it’s basically a small inflatable raft that fits in your backpack. So if you’re going hiking in a remote area with long distances this is an easy way to travel on the wilderness highways. And with a weight of only 1.5 kgs I think it’s pretty cool.
I also did a bit of fishing to pass the time but this far up the river the water is so muddy that the fish can’t see your bait. You need to find the small tributaries where the water is clearer and also a bit more calm if you want to find the salmon. The sun was out now and it was really hot so I needed to get myself in the shade for a while. I had packed up my stuff so I went to lie down on the sand under a tarp we had put up temporarily. This was amazing. The quietness out here combined with the shade and the breeze was pure therapy for the mind. I ended up taking a small nap. This was the first day in almost a week where we didn’t have pack up and move on.
About 3:30 in the afternoon we spotted three rafts in the horizon. It was a great sight and everyone was full of anticipation. When they finally arrived we were all handed a drysuit and a pair of rubber boots. It was great for me to step into a different pair of boots. Just what my feet needed. Another great thing was that the rafting crew had brought us lunch. Not freeze dried lunch. REAL food! They lined up a big table with DIY sandwiches. There was ham, cheese, sausages, different kinds of spread, lettuche, peperoncini, water melon and even Pringles. I didn’t realize how much I missed it until the minute I put my teeth in it. Wow!
After the lunch break we saddled up. Claus and I were in the first raft, the other four guys were in the next one and in the last one there was a couple who had missed the first part of the trip because of an accident. The husband had dislocated his shoulder in Denver trying to catch a connecting flight. Rushing through security he had skipped tying his shoe laces and on the way up the escalator he stumbled in it. It was a sad situation for them but Claus had arranged with the rafting crew that they could fly out with them and meet us for the last part of the trip down the river. It was great to just sit and watch the landscape pass us by as we floated down the river. Even though this was the slower part of the river we still moved quite fast. You could feel that it was a powerful river. We drifted like this for a couple of hours before we started looking for a place to camp. After a few reconnaissances we decided for at spot on the right side of the river. It was practically a small island where the river broke into a small channel going around the back of it.
Here we had our first instructions on how to act and react on the river. We were told how to paddle the rapids, how to respond to different commands as well as how to react in the case of an emergency. This was no joke. We were going down class 5 rapids the next day.
When I signed up for the trip I didn’t pay much attention to the river rafting part. I was here to spend time in the wild. The idea of action packed rapids didn’t really appeal to me. I think I was a bit nervous about it actually. Not something that I aspired to at all. I guess that’s part of why I ended up enjoying this part of the trip so much. I came with no expectations whatsoever. But this extended way of camping was really cosy. The rafting crew prepared breakfast, lunch and dinner for us every night. They even made dessert for us and they had brought beer too. Pure luxury.
I enjoyed the slow tempo after we camped. It gave me time to wander around in the area and just take in the Alaskan wilderness. I was still in charge of fire making so I spent this time foraging for tinder and kindling as well.
White water rafting ahead No backpack, no bear spray. The next morning I just packed up my shelter and put on my dry suit. I had mounted a GoPro on my helmet for this day. It was my son’s GoPro and he had been so kind as to lend it to me for this trip. I had also brought 2 iPhones to take pictures with. One was my other son’s. I kept them in dry cases and left one of them in a dry bag which was secured to the raft and the other one I kept in my pocket.
We took off down the river. It was a cloudy day but it wasn’t raining. It didn’t take long before we started seeing some action. It was maybe class 2 or 3 rapids at this stage. A great way to get familiar with the principles of paddling and aligning ourselves with our instructor’s expectations. Our instructor was a girl named Crissy. I felt very safe with her as our guide and I later found out she was the more experience of them all. Let me just point out a few things about these river guides. They will not be impressed by your outdoor skills or your experience. They eat, sleep, cook and work outside throughout the rafting season which goes from around April to October. They don’t bring a tent either. They just sleep on the ground under a tarp or under the raft. They are weather-beaten, tough breeds with a good mood and colourful clothes.
Floating down the river like this gives you an extraordinary opportunity to see some wildlife up close. As we silently floated down the river at bicycling speed, we saw bald eagles right above our heads several times. A beaver made a splash right next to our raft as it dived down only to pop up in front of the next raft. We also surprised a caribou which ended up running alongside of us on the river banks for about a mile or so before it decided to cross the river in front of us. This was indeed Alaska. And then a couple of minutes later about 200 meters ahead of us a mother black bear was in a hurry. She was desperately trying to get her cub to cross the river before we caught up with them. It was amazing to watch her body language. As soon as they had made it to the other side of the river she started running and then she stopped to see if the cub followed her then she continued running constantly looking back at her cub as if to tell it to hurry up. The small cub was really making an effort trying to keep up with it’s mother when they disappeared into the brush. A moment later we could see that it was a small island they had run on to and as we continued down stream we spotted them again crossing the the river on the back side of the island.
I was the one taking most of the pics on this trip and after all these amazing experiences I kept my phone ready at hand for what else we might encounter. It wasn’t long after when Claus suddenly jumps up and points at another black bear. Only this one was no more than 5 – 10 meters away from us. It was standing on the bank of the river in a clearing of a spruce forest and it was just as surprised to see us as we were to see it. It stood on two legs with it’s front paws leaned against a tree. When she saw us she immediately jumped down on all four legs and the same second it did two small furry cubs rushed up the tree for safety. I had my phone out already so I slid the camera open only to realize that my storage was full! Before I could even begin to think about getting my back-up phone out of the dry bag we had passed the bears long ago. This was my chance to get a close up photo of a black bear and I missed it. The experience is still stored in my memory of course and as you know sometimes that’s even better than a photo.
All this would have been enough excitement for one day but we were still waiting to hit the rapids. We stopped for lunch in a small spot with a lot of rounded rocks sticking out of the sand everywhere. I checked my GoPro to see if it was running like it was supposed to and then we continued down the river. It wasn’t long before we pulled in for another break. The sound of the water had intensified now. We were standing on the edge of the rapids and our guides wanted to climb the cliff and read the river from above before we went in.
When they came back from the top you could feel a different kind of focus from our guides. They were depending on us to do our part of the paddling and they basically didn’t know how we would perform. So this was it. Our raft was the first one to go into the narrow gap between the black rocks rising vertically on each side. We were sucked into the river to the sound of the roaring water. “Forward paddle! Two times!” The voice of our guide was lashing through the air as I leaned forward over the side of our raft and started digging into the river as hard as I could. We made it around the first corner. Everything was like a big tumbler. Then it was time to paddle backwards. We needed to steer around a big rock before going down the next drop and then it was the other way around. I have no idea how long this lasted for but then, just as sudden as it had started, everything went quiet again. The experience was so intense that I completely lost track of time. But the rush and the experience was amazing.
We made another stop allowing everyone to take a pee before the next part of the rapids. We continued around a big rock in the middle of the river partly hidden by the flowing water. That’s when we heard one of the other guides shouting: “Oh sh*t!”. They weren’t able to make it around the rock so they went straight over it hitting the river with a big splash. I turned my head forward again and saw a huge branch coming straight at me. With zero time to think I instinctively bent forward just in time to avoid being struck into the river or getting seriously hurt. I only just recovered from the shock before we hit a big splash across the raft. This was so intense. And it lasted most of the afternoon with a few breaks here and there.
That night I had a few extra beers after dinner. It was just great to be out here. I was walking around in the outskirts of our camp looking for firewood when I came across a line of footprints from a black bear. Impressions just kept coming. Knowing that tomorrow would be a calm trip down the river we all sat and talked for hours around the campfire that night. We even had bit of whiskey going around.
A quiet day with some action packed fishing I felt really bad when I woke up the next morning. I couldn’t even take a sip from my water bottle. And for sure I wasn’t able get up. It was an endurance test. Because I needed to pee badly but every time I moved it felt as if I was going to throw up. I heard the others call out several times to let me know breakfast was being served. I had to ignore them. I was so hungover from the whiskey I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to pack up. And then I saw the hand of God coming through the opening of my shelter. Well it was actually just the hand of Claus but he had made me a plate full of pancakes, fruit and bread with syrup. I don’t remember exactly what was on the plate but it felt like heaven and it didn’t take me long before I was up and going again. I was the last one to break camp but it wasn’t that everyone was waiting for me. And surprisingly enough after an hour or so I wasn’t feeling sick anymore.
We had a quiet day ahead of us and the sun was out this morning. I just sat for a while taking in nature. Claus and I weren’t paddling. I asked our guide if I could try to take over the oars and navigate down the river on my own. I know how to row but going down a river is different. The technique here is different because the primary use of the oars is for steering. What I learned was that a river doesn’t flow equally fast everywhere so you want to learn how to read it. Did you know for instance that the current is stronger on the outside of corners and where it runs straight it is stronger in the center. If you can find the stronger current you will go faster without rowing. I also learned how to enter the corners sideways so that you are ready to push away from the outside of the meander once you get to it. I kept going for an hour or so before I handed the oars back over to our guide. It was a great experience learning the basics of oar guiding. What a cool skill to master.
As you know I had brought my fishing pole along all the way and I still hadn’t had a chance to seriously give fishing a chance. We had tried reaching a campsite where fishing was possible with no luck. Claus told me there might be a spot further down the river that we might be able reach for lunch. I didn’t want to set my hopes too high but when we finally landed on the bank for lunch I saw some other people there. With fishing rods in their hands. I quickly rigged my gear and went over there. I didn’t care about lunch now. There was a tributary with completely clear water and I could see salmon in the middle of it. I cast my Danish made FC spinner a few times without luck. Then I felt a tug. and I was struck by adrenalin. I raised my fishing rod and pulled back. I couldn’t pull it in so I released the pressure a bit in order to spin the reel a bit. And then I lost it. I tried several times and the same thing happened.
I waded a bit further into the river but I was wearing only high rubber boots so I couldn’t go too far. I cast the spinner again. Waited. Started spinning and then I felt a huge tug. Only this time I didn’t keep as much pressure on the line. The salmon started moving towards the big river. I tightened the break and pulled back. This was the biggest salmon I had hooked so far and the most lively one too. My fishing rod was bend to it’s breaking point. I was battling this one for a long time until I could feel it give in just a little bit. And then I lost it. It was extremely frustrating to see this much fighting only to loose one salmon after the other. I could see the salmon resting in the water and looking back I regret that I didn’t just wade out there to grab it. I had some great fights though and just witnessing the salmon run was a great experience. Before I knew it it was time to move on. I didn’t prioritize lunch that day but the others had made me a sandwich. So after an action packed noon I sat back in the raft with my sandwich and relaxed a bit.
The end of our trip was closing in. The first sign of civilization was a power line. We had also passed a house with people fishing from the river bank and occasionally a motorboat with hopeful anglers would pass us by. The weather was shifty. It had been sunny during fishing but we saw a lot of rain on the last stretch towards Talkeetna, the take out point of our rafting trip. We were almost there.
We landed by a small slipway. The rafts were disassembled and deflated, we took our gear out of the drybags and put it under a small shed before we were picked up by a van and taken to a small bed and breakfast near town. We were back in civilization.
As I stood in the shower in the small hut I could feel every muscle in my body. It was surreal to stand here after 8 days in the wild and feel the warm water on my body. We were all going out to eat together.
We met in the courtyard at the West Rib Pub and Grill at about 6 I believe. The weather was great and we all enjoyed being outside. There was caribou and halibut burgers on the menu. And of course we had a few beers as well. I didn’t want to wake up the next day feeling like I did this morning so I took it easy. After dinner we took a walk around town to get a few drinks and see the town.
At this point I was tired and I missed my family a lot. I had been thinking a lot about them during the whole trip and now I really just wanted to get back to them. We were going to the Maldives together as soon as I returned from Alaska. So I left early and went back to bed. Back to Anchorage and back to Denmark
We had breakfast at the cosiest little bakery and restaurant called “Roadhouse” before being picked up by an old bus taking us back to Anchorage where we all split up. The ride back was a couple of hours or more. Claus had booked a flight back to Denmark the same afternoon and everyone else had plans to go on a roadtrip from Anchorage. I did some sightseeing and some souvenir shopping for my family before I went to “Gwennies Old Alaska Restaurant” for a “Reindeer Philly” – a burger with a reindeer sausage in it that I recommend you try if you ever go there. After that I went back to my hotel, packed up my suitcase and went to sleep. I regretted booking an extra night in Anchorage at this point really because I had also booked an extra night there before we headed out into the wilderness so I had already seen the most of it. I also knew I would have only 36 hours to pack for the Maldives when I got back home. Look out for that story soon.
How often do you go on a holiday without really experiencing the destination you visit?
You can easily spend an entire week or two doing nothing at a nice resort and when you get home you can hardly distinguish the days from each other. It can be really nice of course but we sometimes forget the opportunity waiting for us right outside our door. You already payed for the trip and you’re in a new and interesting place. So what’s stopping you? I have sort of made it a habit finding adventures to pursue on these types of holidays. Sometimes I bring my kids and sometimes I don’t.
This summer I went to Tenerife with my family. A place swarmed by tourists. Despite the unpleasant sound of it, it’s a very convenient way to travel when you have kids because they are entertained most of the time and you get to spend a lot of time together without the hassle of taking care of everyday duties.
My eldest son really wanted to go scuba diving and I had my mind set on hiking Mount Teide. So this year we set two days aside for other activities. We didn’t realize how tough those two days would become though. Especially for my kids.
On August 5th. we were set to do the hike on Teide. The day before I had booked diving lessons for my kids which was a bit of a challenge because of the difference in atmospheric pressure they would experience. My youngest son wasn’t old enough to do scuba diving so he only took part in the snorkeling lessons the first part of the day. The afternoon was set aside for scuba diving.
It was a long and exhausting day for my kids. And as soon as we got into the minibus that was to take us across the island and back to our resort they both fell asleep. Spending a whole day in the ocean with strong current and sunshine just exhausts you and the next day would turn out to become even tougher.
The plan for Teide
Teide is the third largest volcano in the world and at 3,718 masl it is the highest point in Spain. Our plan was to go to the top by cable car and hike from there to Pico Viejo (The Old Peak) and back. Pico Viejo is another volcano part of the Teide volcanic complex. It is also the second highest peak of Tenerife standing 3,135 masl. I had talked to a guide who told me she had hiked halfway to Pico Viejo and that it was an easy trail.
Preparation
I had filled my backpack with plenty of water and some survival food such as m&m’s, biscuits and some dried fruit. Although the climate is subtropical near the coasts, the inland climate is dominated by the prevailing northeast trade winds. So apart from carrying extra clothes to keep us warm, we also brought some light weight rain gear. Not so much to protect us against the rain but as a protection against the sun and the wind. As always I brought a firesteel, a knife, a first aid kit and a survival blanket. With this gear I feel fairly confident that I’m able to cope with most unforeseen situations.
Leaving for Teide
I had rented a car and I was recommended by a local to take the route to Teide through the Moon Forest (Paisaje Lunar). Let me forward this recommendation to all of you considering taking this trip. It is an amazing place. The views over the Atlantic Ocean and the volcanic landscape is out of this world.
This place is home to the Canarian Island Pine ( Pinus canariensis). An endemic species to this region. This evergreen stands up to 30-40 meters high. And on rare occasions up to 60 meters! It has needles up to 30 cm long enabling it to capture the moist of the northeast trade winds. This is also why you only see the tree in the higher grounds of the Canary Islands. It is both one of the most drought-tolerant pines in the world as well as one of the most fire resistant conifers. It has a beautiful light green colour which makes the whole scenery in the Moon Forest (Paisaje Lunar) extremely beautiful.
We got out of the car on several occasions in order to explore the area. Our ticket for the cable car wasn’t until 1:30 in the afternoon. So we had plenty of time for other adventures.
When we finally reached the cable car it was delayed so we had to wait another hour to get to the top. The sun was really hot and we already felt the low air pressure even at 2,356 masl. We were very excited when we finally boarded the cable car and the trip to the top was extremely beautiful. From here you can see the whole Las Cañadas caldera, the mother of all the craters at Teide which is the result of a major collapse of the magma chamber underneath Teide 160.000-220.000 years ago. It is quite intimidating to see the size of it.
Hitting the trail
When you get off the cable car at the top you’re struck by heavy winds so we soon put on our shell layers. We then had to figure out in which direction to go to reach Pico Viejo. The ascent with the cable car is very fast covering nearly 1.200 height meters in just 8 minutes, so I could easily feel the effect of the thin air as we started to walk. Nothing dramatic but I could feel my breath being a lot heavier. Luckily my kids were completely unaffected.
The first part of the trail is really easy. It is basically a path paved with rocks until some hundred meters down where you enter trail no. 9. There is a small lookout there but we just kept going. Since we had been delayed from the start we were on a bit of a time schedule to make it to Pico Viejo and back in time. The last cable car down from Teide leaves at 7 in the evening during summer. I had estimated the trip to take between three and a half to four hours in total leaving us with only little time for the unforeseen.
My kids were full of energy and anticipation. The trail was quite extreme but also a lot of fun. There were places where you could hardly call it a trail. You basically just made your way down the volcanic rocks. At the same time you clearly get the feeling of being on a volcano because of the solidified lava streams that you see in many places. You also have to be careful not to go off the trail and walk into the gulf in some places.
The hike is amazing. You feel like you’re on a different planet. Raised above the clouds with the crater of Pico Viejo in front of you and the islands La Gomera, El Hierro and La Palma engulfed in clouds in the horizon you feel like you are in the middle of a Star Wars universe. As we descended from Pico Teide the landscape suddenly changed from black lave streams to a pumice desert. It is basically a flat plateau with a stabil surface between the two volcanoes. It’s a very barren environment but extremely beautiful with the clouds underneath you.
At this point we had walked for an hour and a half and we still had quite a distance to go. We were in the pumice desert right between the two peaks. My eldest son was full of energy and he started running through the desert towards Pico Viejo. My youngest son however was starting to feel the effect of the hike and the thin air. He was becoming a bit discouraged. We were on our way up Pico Viejo when he couldn’t hold it anymore. He didn’t want to continue. I tried to motivate him and tell him we almost made it to the top but it was a struggle and he wasn’t happy until we finally stood on the edge of the crater. I told him that no matter how hard it felt he now officially made it to the top and no one could ever take that away from him. I knew of course that the hardest part of the hike was still to come. The ascend back to Pico Teide. We sat down to have a break as well as some food and water. We also built a small cairn as a celebration of our success.
The way back
Knowing that the last cable car off the mountain would leave in just two and a half hours, we had to get going. I took us 2 hours to reach Pico Viejo from Teide and the way back would be a lot harder. As we started walking we passed the first and only plants on our hike. We also saw a grasshopper or survival food as I choose to call it. It must have moved for me to discover it because it was so well camouflaged that it’s hard to see it even in the photo. My youngest son was still not completely happy although he just had a break. Little did it help that we were on a time schedule. He was really brave though and just kept going.
The first part of the hike back was easy. We first went down Pico Viejo and then through the pumice desert. As we entered the black lava streams and started the ascend to Teide my youngest son really started to fall apart. He had been really brave through the whole trip but now he was tired. We had a short break eating a couple of m&m’s and taking a sip of water. We had to move on but he was talking about having a break all the time. Motivating him was a fine balance between encouragement and explaining the situation to him in a gentle way. I didn’t want to pressure him so I just stroke up conversations with him and allowed him to walk in front of us. It can be really demotivating if you’re in the back of a group when you’re tired. It emphasizes your feeling of being weak and you are more likely to give up.
We still had a long way to go but now he demanded a break every 100 meters until he finally refused to move on. He wanted me to call for a helicopter to come and get us off the mountain. I gently told him it wasn’t possible and that we would have to spend the night on the mountain if we didn’t get back to the cable car in time. At this point we were only about half way up Teide and I was considering how to make a shelter from the survival blanket that I brought. My biggest concern wasn’t staying on the mountain in itself, it was spending the night in the high altitude because it also means prolonged exposure to low-oxygen air. My youngest son had been crying for the last 100 meters up the mountain now and his big brother was getting frustrated with him. Then suddenly he said something to me that ended up motivating himself in a way that I hadn’t succeeded in: “I think mom will become afraid if we don’t make it back today”.
We were all really tired at this point. My motivation was keeping my kids safe and getting us off the mountain of course. I wasn’t worried at any time. I was actually still enjoying the trip and I think it was a valuable lesson for my kids to experience how much they’re capable of when it really counts. But we only had one hour left until the cable car closed. We still had a break every 50-100 meters and our tempo wasn’t increasing but my youngest sons determination had changed. He knew we had to make it to the cable car. On the way out the trail didn’t seem as long as it did now. Then suddenly I saw something a bit further up the mountain. It was the lookout that we had passed on our way out. Just the motivation we all needed. Seeing the lookout wasn’t the same as reaching it though. It turned out to be quite a climb until we finally reached it. When we got there I saw the sign that I missed on our way out. It said “Difficulty: Extreme. This trail may be difficult to follow because of the weather and the state of the terrain. This trail requires great physical exertion. Be extremely careful”. It turned out the guide who told me the trail was an easy one had probably not gone further than this point.
We now had 40 minutes left until the last cable car was leaving. Although the trail was now much easier to walk it was still uphill and we were tired. About twenty minutes later we were at the cable car and it turned out we caught the second last departure from the top that day. It was amazing to stand there among all the other people knowing that we had just made it through the toughest hike of our life. Everyone else was looking sporty with short sleeves, caps and clean shoes, but not us. We were covered in dirt from head to toe, our faces were sun burned and we were still wearing our shell layers. But we never felt better.
