There is a lot of useful "trash" in all urban areas.

Check out an abandoned "homeless camp", if possible", although the safest way to do so is in a group or ( best) by going to YouTube.

I don't ever advise anyone to just walk into someone's camp. Acceptable ettiquette is to "Hello the camp" and then wait for answer that invites one in! To just barge into one's camp is equated as a home invasion by many people.

If you're not invited into the camp, it's best to leave. Just sharing my opinion...

An interesting exercise, let’s see.


Well, where I am here in Kentucky there are no shorelines to speak of, but alas, there is plenty of flotsam and jetsam from all the trash people throw out of their cars. Sad really, and it frustrates me to no end (I live on the main road and am constantly picking up what people throw out their windows as they drive by). Some of the more useful items I have found include:

· Assorted cans for use in boiling and/or holding water
· Assorted plastic bottles to hold water
· Assorted cardboard and paper products for fire starting
· Broken glass that might be used as improvised cutting tools, spear tips, and so on
· Assorted wire of various gauges, could be useful in making snares, “pot” handles for the cans, and so on

On the natural side, there is/are:

· plenty of trees around to make use of in building shelter and improvising other items, and obviously for making fire
· Assorted rivers, streams and lakes (the river and some streams being the closest, the closest of the small lakes are anywhere from 30 to 45 minutes of driving, not sure if I’d really want to try to make it there on foot so not sure if I can really count those or not).

Now that I think about it, there IS all the assorted stuff that washes down the “river “ (it runs directly behind my house, it is officially a river due to it’s length, but it is not very wide at all), including buckets and other assorted containers. Will have to look into this some more and see what else turns up. Usually what ends up in the "river" is, yup you guessed it, more trash.

Usable trash is one of the main reasons I carry a multi-tool. I read a lot of post where posters say there is not much need of a multi-tool in the woods. To me, in a bad situation I want to be able to use as much of the trash as I can and a multi-tool makes that much more possible.

David Enoch

I'm one of the guys who stopped carrying a multitool in th woods...but you make a very good point. Time to rethink my thinking.
-Blast

I'm with you when it comes to a multitool in the woods. My Wave is not ultralight, by any means, but I find it quite useful, even in deep wilderness. It is often the best saw I have available and it has been handy many times. The trick is to ensure that you have command of a minimal tool kit - that may or may not include a Wave.

It is really amazing what you can find along the trail - trash is everywhere. My best find was a perfectly fine Buck 110, just sitting in a clearing....