Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
OUTDOOR SURVIVAL SCHOOLS
prepare to survive in the wilderness
WILDLANDS ACROSS THE UNITED STATES
Survival is more than just a superficial insurance policy. With the practice
of survival, one begins to relax into the earth, to learn its rhythms, to blend
in balance and harmony with all things.
—Tom Brown, Jr., owner of Tracker School
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You won't be put into a tribe, left on a tropical island, or given a series of immunity chal-
lenges, but you will learn how to survive in the wild without carrying food, water, or matches.
You'll also learn that real “survivors” don't spend a lot of time watching the popular TV show.
They're too busy tracking their next meal, finding potable water, and creating a shelter out of
sticks and leaves. As Boulder Outdoor Survival School states in its literature, “Stoves, sleep-
ing bags, and tents are nice, but not necessary for a positive wilderness experience.”
So why would anyone want to learn to make a hut out of mud or debris when perfectly
good tents are available for less than a hundred dollars? Because, by learning to make peace
with the natural world, you find out what a strong and resourceful person you really are. As
our society gets more dependent on technology and further separated from nature, we lose our
ability to really “see” and comprehend natural ecosystems, the species within them, and the
relationships they have with all life. Getting all your information about nature from books, the
Nature Channel, or, worse yet, the media doesn't nurture the passion that's necessary to pre-
serve it.
Although there are hundreds of survival schools out there ranging from modern disaster
training (i.e., how to survive a power outage or even another Hurricane Katrina) to military-
style, evasion-and-escape training (usually taught by former Navy SEALs and Army Green
Beret types, these are for Rambo wannabes and closely resemble boot camp), the trio below
are some of the best schools for mastering wilderness training.
