SURVIVAL 101

There’s a lot of ways things can go wrong in the backcountry. Losing your trail or enduring an injury can result in you spending more time in the wilderness than you planned or prepared for. Learning how to find and build the essentials to stay warm, safe, and hydrated can better your odds of surviving until help reaches you. In this class you’ll learn various ways to build fire & shelter, access water, learn essential knots, how to use a knife, how to signal for help, and what to expect when you have to reach out for emergency help.

This is a low-impact, easy, classroom-style class with little to no hiking. Unless stated otherwise, this course runs from 9am to 4pm.
Please use an active email address to register with as we will use this to contact you with more details regarding the course.

Skills we’ll cover:

  • Knife Anatomy & Strokes

  • Shelter Building

  • Fire Building

  • Essential Knots

  • Water Collection

  • Signaling

  • Search & Rescue Process

This class is for women who…

  • are looking for the skills to help them feel more confident on the trail whether hiking alone or with others.

  • are overcoming the fear of “what if” that might be holding you back from taking on more longer or isolated trails.

  • spend their time, or want to spend their time, on trails that take you several miles into the backcountry where rescue could take hours to days.

  • are looking to enhance their camping trips by learning how to build fires and use correct knots to hang things like hammocks, tarps, and bear bags.

  • are interested in bushcraft skills and lifestyle and want to start learning the essentials

  • are ready to experiment with new tools and learn why some things work, and some things dont!

All learning supplies are provided but you will need:

  • Layers to stay warm & dry (depending on weather)

  • Notebook / paper & pen

  • Water, Snacks, Lunch

  • Optional: Fixed-blade knife (if you have one, we have plenty to borrow!)

  • Optional: Any type of fire starter you already have that you want to tryout

  • Optional: Whatever you normally bring on a hike: Backpack, trekking poles, first aid, etc. - we’ll do a shelter building activity where you can only use the materials I give you and the gear you bring.

Upcoming Classes

Survival Instructors

  • Sara Basse

    Lead Emergency Skills Instructor

    sara@wildforces.org

    Insta: @sbasse

  • Refunds can be issued if cancelled within 24 hours of event.

    You may also request a class credit, in which a credit will be issued to the price of the course that can be applied to any future Wild Forces course. Cannot be applied to third-party events.

    No Show: No refund or credits can be issued

    Refunds may take 3-5 days to process depending on your card or bank.

    Because our teams are often in the backcountry and in areas where communication is difficult. We will honor the cancellation date of when the initial request was sent. Please allow 2-3 days for those communications, if that is the case.

  • Outdoor activities can be inherently dangerous. All participants are required to sign a liability waiver and emergency contact form prior to this event. Please register with an active email address as this will be how we communicate with you and send you paperwork.

    If this event is held with a third-party partner, you may be asked to sign a second waiver or any other documents they require to participate.

  • Trips, classes, and events lead by third-party partners are at-cost and Wild Forces does not collect any revenue.

    Please consider donating as Wild Forces is a 501(c)3 organization that relies on donations to operate.