Strange weather here in strange California. Malibu suffered a highly publicised fire from high winds and dry conditions hardly a week ago.Yyesterday brought a thunderstorm and cold front that dumped snow on the ashes and made the canyon to that beach, and my horses impassable due to iced roads. And all through my county heroic efforts were underway to save crops from lemons to the green onions wrongly suspected of poisoning fastfood patrons not long ago. Giant fans were on to warm the air, old fashioned kerosene heater pots, burlap sacking and mulch. And generating concerned phonecalls was this scarlet red steerman biplane darting like a crazed woodpecker at low level. It turns out he was risking his own safety to keep a friend's startup crop of a new south american fruit warm until tired mixtec indians could hand cover the yearling trees. I got to thinking about the crazy improvisations I've seen, tasks completed with very little. We benefit from some pretty amazing gear, sometimes letting it override common sense. But at the other extreme we dismiss, with justified cause a lot of 'junk' I was watching that red aeroplane twirling a folded book of paper matches. What if I only had that book, a roller pinned hollow handled survival knife ( make it a spanish Muela at least) or a lousy space blanket ( make that two space blankets so I can be doubly frustrated.) It may be a fun thread for us to 'make some lemonade' with these lemons and see what we learn?

True.

As an old instructor of mine said 'It's better than fingernails'.

Better to be grateful for the tools you have than to weep over the ones you don't.

You do what you can with what you have where you are - you can do nothing else.

Great post. Isn't the computer between your ears the greatest tool we posses? The ability to improvise and make the best out of what we have is going to keep you alive a lot longer than the best knives or equipment you can buy. Turning lemons into peaches or a bad situation into a good one is what surviving is.

A lot of people think they lack the ability to do this, but you will be surprised at what people can do when they actually have to in order to survive or get by. People don't push themselves to their limits enough in this cushioned world. Its nice to see that some of us still can improvise and use what we have to survive.

"...When all you've got are lemons..."

Add some ice and vodka, sit back, and reflect on the problems of mankind (or play with your gear)...

Well, 'ellsbells, if you've got matches, a knife and a couple of el cheapo survival blankets, what else do you need? <img src="/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

Break/cut some branches and make a brush lean-to with one of the blankets over the main ridge support to keep it drier, unless you've found a bunch of bark slabs to shingle it, in which case you can use the blanket on the ground inside the shelter.

Fill it with loose stuff like dried grass or leaves or cattail fluff.

It's precipitating nearly everywhere now, so make a rock oval or rectangle, and line it with the second blanket to catch water. If there aren't any rocks, dig a shallow pit.

Look around for signs of Man's passing and see if there's something for use as a container if you have to melt snow. Bud Light travels everywhere. It's hard to find a place where people haven't left their trash behind. Esp in California. Not much different here in WA.

Sue

Hiking in Trancas north of Malibu awhile back, I stumbled upon a rock face covered with petroglyphs. This reminded me that someone a long time ago figured out how to thrive and survive there a long time before lemons were a cash crop.

Here is my take on Chris' scenario:

The clothes on my back
Book of paper matches
a crappy knife (I am unfamiliar as to what exactly a Mulea is)
two mylar emergency blankets

Location - an isolated coastal canyon in an ice storm?

First off, I have to admit (probably to the horror of many forum posters) that my everyday ensemble (when I am not wearing a uniform or wearing my non cotton stuff that I use for hunting/hiking) is canvas jeans, simple (ie uninsulated) brown leather boots, a cotton t shirt, and then a wool sweater and canvas Carhartt coat in the winter. So right off the bat I would put myself at risk for hypothermia in this ice storm. That being said, assuming that I am uninjured, my priority would be for shelter and warmth. I would probably have to sit tight and wait for the storm to subside (few hours or a few days) until I could contact one of those farmers or ranchers that Chris mentioned.

I am not too familiar with California climatology/geography, but, being Pacific coast, I picture a rugged, rocky shoreline and tall pine forests. I would use those pines to the fullest extent. First I might stuff the layer between my sweater and jacket with DRY pine needles for extra insulation. Then I would go about making a debris shelter. Find a nice straight piece of pine about 12-15' long, and place it in the crook of another tree at just below waist height. I would then place a frame work of pine branches over my ridgepole, covering with additional boughs and massive heaps of pine needles and forest floor "stuff" until it was thick enough to where I could reach through and NOT touch my framework. Even a poor quality knife might be able to help me cut the softwood pine branches for the frame. The inside of the shelter would be filled with DRY pine needles, nearly all the way filled. When I go to sleep, I would burrow into them like a hamster and use the mylar for additional heat retention.

I would then build a small fire near the opening of my shelter. (I think I would build the fire second, after the shelter because the shelter takes so much time and I wouldnt want the fire to be left unattended, potentially extinguishing because pine burns quickly, while I searched for materials. And I could get out of the weather if it worsened. What would everyone else do?) With the limited resource of the matches, proper firebuilding/maintainence techniques become very important. 75% of the work of a fire is done before the match is even struck. Gathering enough of the right materials is critical, you don't want to have to run off to find more kindling after you get your tinder to catch. I would gather 2 or 3 times what I think I might need for the night (remember that softwoods burn real quick). It would take some time to find another good supply of dry pine needles (excellent tinder with matches) and dry kindling. I would try and shelter the firelay on the lee side of a rock, tree, stack of logs, etc, to shelter the growing flames from the bad weather. I like a lean-to fire lay, and I often gouge out a small trench alongside the base of the lean-to that I then lay my tinder across. The trench allows me to get a match under the center of the tinder, and provides great air flow.

Once the fire gets going, I would try and dry out my clothes. Up until this point, I hope that my levels of exertion building and gathering and my pine needle insulation would keep me from getting too cold. At night I would stack a pyramid of logs and place fire on top, allowing the fire to slowly burn it's way down the pryamid. I think this is most important with a softwood fire, again they burn quickly and do not leave many good coals, so it is important to keep the fire going all night long so you do not have to start from scratch in the morning.

OK so you might ask "where is he going to find all these dry pine needles and kindling sticks that he keeps saying are so important, given that he said it was a winter storm?" My answer is to look at the bases of the pines. The area at the bottom of a pine tree is quite sheltered from the weather, and there is often dry pine needles at the bases. The dead, bottom most branches that we called "squaw wood" back in my scouting days makes excellent kindling and is always dry.

I would hopefully be able to acquire some water from a nearby stream, and I would drink it straight up (dehydration kills faster than the buggies do) since I don't foresee an adequate way to purify it given the scenario (futher comments please?). I would scour the beach (again, I assumed Chris was talking about a coastal area) with the good chance of finding a plastic bottle among the driftwood. I could then fill that with snow and ice and place it near the fire to gently melt it into something drinkable. I hear that it is bad to straight up eat snow and ice.

I think with those methods I would be able to weather the storm and be alive to signal for help (fires or "SOS" in logs on the beach) from SAR or the local populace. I am no expert on California and could have gotten this all wrong, but I still hope that it sparks futher conversation. I would like to get feedback and continue to learn from my mistakes. The wise man knows he knows nothing - Socrates, I think...

Matt