A 24-hour survival challenge using only a paracord bracelet. Goal: secure food, shelter, water, and fire. Visit http://www.rewildu.com/paracord-bracelet-survival-challenge/ to learn more. This is a challenge I put before my survival students. It's not enough to just make it through the night -- the idea is to find or make a workable shelter, to find enough food to fill your belly, to make fire, and to safely purify water for drinking. I teach these skills, as well as martial arts, primal fitness, and wilderness awareness (mindfulness) skills. Visit the link above to learn about offerings.
This challenge was one day long, and was held in the northern driftless zone of Wisconsin on the ReWild University training grounds, a 500 acre natural area. A special thanks to Adam Unger, who ran this challenge a week or so before this was filmed. I basically re-ran through the same process he used in his challenge in order to show how he navigated his 24-hour survival experience.
I hope that this video shows that "survival" doesn't always have to be unpleasant. When we approach survival as man against nature, nature will usually rise up to kick our butts. But when we find our own inner wildness and blend with nature, our experience may be more pleasant than we imagine. I was actually quite warm and comfortable during the night.
I'd love to see others take on this same challenge and leave video replies. You, the wilderness, and a paracord bracelet. Or spoof it =)
Also, note that this was my first real self-shot project that included an overnight. Although it went well, I learned a lot and had to deal with numerous issues with my cheap-o camera, including losing footage when the batteries died during the bow drill portion. Aaagh! I re-created the scene the best I could a couple days later. I didn't like the idea of including footage that wasn't taken during the actual challenge, but did my best to re-create the footage that was lost. In full disclosure, I went out to re-shoot with more equipment than just the bracelet, including a pack with snacks, water, and a knife. I was being too lazy to re-cut the hole and notch with stone tools, and thought there was no way I would get a coal from the same hole, due to the thinness of the board. But . . . it worked! So the knife lay unused, and I had a successful re-film and a nice picnic out in the woods at the camp I had made a few nights before. Lesson -- watch my battery indicator!
Thanks for watching, and I hope you have a great time out in the woods!
