it may not look like much--but..


first off,with no major local survival issues like storms or quakes my only real personal problems would be on a solo wilderness canoe trip--i leave for one on the 11th.
now about the photo--it's the end of a creek that leads into a PMA-Primitive Management Area in the Boundary Waters,the wilderness canoeing park in Northern Minnesota.the PMA's are true wilderness with no camps or portage trails into them.you have to bushwhack your way in.a special permit is added to your park permit to allow you into these backcountry lakes.it would be like hiking on one of the big national trail systems and making a hard right and walking off into the woods.you will be alone,your PMA permit allows only you in.last year when i got the PMA permit the ranger at the main station opened the book to write me in and the page was blank!.the one for the last month and the month i was going in, no canoe trippers had taken a PMA.
so i'll be on my own,no passing fisherman or Scout Troops.now i don't expect any problems. the bushwhack is only a mile or so and in some places you just have to drag the canoe up a swampy creek and over many beaver dams.but---this would not be the place to bust a hip or have some nasty medical problem kick in.yes i have thought about a SPOT or PLB but these places are remote parklands and not like you might find in Canada or the Rocky Mountains where help may never come so for now i'll just skip the PLB and take my time and watch out for myself like i have done in the past.the rest of the canoe trip involves paddeling some big lakes but i shoreline those so i'm never more that a short swim to land and i don't travel in bad weather. i'm one of those no EDC or BOB people and i live in a quiet part of the Midwest so this is my only "real" survival issue..