Basecamp Essentials

3 DAYS/2 NIGHTS

Beginner/Moderate Level

$395.00​

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LOCATION

The Survival University, Cripple Creek, Colorado

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ABOUT

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Wilderness Living 201 (Listed as Basecamp Essentials) is a course that is designed to promote a sense of wilderness living with others and beyond our basic needs of survival. Students will learn how to build varying means of comfort entirely off the landscape including benches, chairs, and beds. As a class, we will learn how to build instruments such as mallets, sawhorses, and vices and how they can aid in processing fuel and other materials. Other topics will include plant and tree identification, firecraft, cutting tool safety, food procurement and preservation, camp maintenance, simple pioneering as well as several different knots, notches and lashings on top of some handcrafted projects at the end of the course. Students will walk away with the knowledge of how to construct a basecamp to share in a community or as individuals in the wild.

Course Project Examples: Creating grass mats with a woodland loom, vices, sawbuck, bucksaw, mallet, dakota fire, tripod smoker, ground refrigerator, brooms, rakes, chairs, spatula, spoon, benches, rope beds, ladders, wash area, utilizing wood ash for hygiene, making a torch from Pine Tar

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COURSE HIGHLIGHTS

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• Learn to create vital food procurement tools for trapping and hunting using natural materials found in the wilderness

• Discover how to construct camp essentials such as chairs, brooms, and benches 

• Go beyond emergency set-ups and learn how to create various tarp shelters for long-term use

• Learn to carve and craft utensils, bowls, and cooking implements

• Learn to craft strong, reliable cordage from plant fibers for use in traps, shelters, and other survival applications

• Gain skills in ethnobotany studying how plants and trees can aid various utilitarian needs

• Craft a camp clock while learning the importance of planning your activity around the sun

• Understand how to repair and maintain your cutting tools to ensure their longevity and reliability in the wilderness.

REQUIRED GEAR LIST

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• Carbon Steel Knife

• Folding Saw or Bucksaw

• Hatchet

• Combination Tool like a Leatherman or SAK

• Utility Cordage (#36 Bank like or 550 paracord)

Recommended Gear for this Course

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ADDITIONAL ITEMS

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• Sleep System (Tent/Hammock)

• Headlamp with Spare Batteries

• Proper Clothing for Season and Weather

• Leather Gloves

• Cookware for personal meals

• water container

• food/snacks

• Hygiene items and Medications

• Notebooks and Pencils

• Combination Tool like a Leatherman or SAK

• Cargo Tape for Repair​​​​​​​​