Trail Walker Book Review: Nov/Dec 2007
Wilderness Survival:
Living off the Land with the
Clothes on Your Back and
the Knife on Your Belt
By Mark Elbroch and
Michael Pewtherer
International Marine/
Ragged Mountain Press, 2006
Reviewed by John Kolp
Wilderness survival skills are a bit far afield
for the typical day hiker. Even the inveterate
backpacker would not want to push the
envelope quite so far. But the title of this
book is, in fact, quite misleading. It's not
really a text book or a field manual. Yes it
does contain 26 detailed and illustrated
essays on essential survival topics: eating a
balanced diet, maintaining personal
hygiene, building "debris huts" for shelter,
fabricating canteens and cooking containers,
catching trout bare-handed, "carcass
care" (aka butchering deer). Rather, the
heart of the book is a journal of the authors'
46-day experiment in living divorced from
civilization and totally by their wits out in
the woods.
The commentary is not political or
philosophical; this is no Thoreau's Walden.
Elbroch and Pewtherer wanted to "stress
test" themselves. They had already mastered
many wilderness skills and taught in
survival schools and camps. They were
familiar with the locale-an undisclosed
location in upstate New York-which had
abundant fresh water springs. Their aim in
this extended "off the grid" sojourn was to
prove to themselves that they were not
merely surviving on stored fat reserves but
actually living in the wilderness, healthily at
that, on the wide variety of flora and fauna
they foraged. The climax of the experience
was a four-day "solo." Each man went off
alone to fast,meditate, and contemplate his
future path in life.
Elbroch, writing a decade after the quest,
says it was a turning point in his life. It
taught him about "letting go" and "going
with the flow." Sure that's trite; more interestingly
he observes that he learned most
about "personal" energy efficiency. "Efficiency
is predominant on your mind when you
live in a survival situation," he writes. "You
cannot afford to waste energy; every action
must have a purpose. I've carried that lesson
from the woods and it has made my life easier.
It has governed my decision making and
focused my intentions and behaviors."
Reading this book, I found myself
at times recalling Stephen Ambrose's
Undaunted Courage about Lewis and Clark's
Corps of Discovery exploring the Louisiana
Purchase and the hoped for easy path to the
Pacific.There was no easy path and themen
had to overcome numerous challenges,
knowing little or absolutely nothing about
what lay ahead. Elbroch and Pewtherer have
that kind of backwoodsmen skill and
adventurer mentality. Having no new lands
to discover, they embarked on an interesting
spiritual quest instead.