Schedule and Course Registration

Have you ever wondered what you would do if you found yourself stranded in the wilderness with no immediate assistance available? This could happen to you! Do you have what it takes to survive when the situation seems hopeless? This fast paced three day school will give you the basic tools to survive in the wilderness when help is more than just a phone call away. We will cover the basics of acquiring shelter, water, fire, and food as well as techniques for maintaining a positive psychological point of view of your situation. Whether you're in the desert or a forest, providing and acquiring your basic needs to survive with minimal resources can make the difference between living or becoming a Discovery Channel special. Our goal is to teach you to survive in harmony with your surroundings rather than fighting them. In the countless instances where man has battled nature, man has yet to win.

This class is designed for people with basic or no knowledge of survival skills. This class takes a low tech approach to survival and emphasizes using near by available resources and basic tools to prepare you for a survival situation. We cover basic bushcraft - how to locate a suitable location for a shelter and the basics of shelter building. How to locate water sources as well as purification techniques. Basic fire starting - both with items from a survival kit as well as with a bowdrill. Recognizing potential sources of food and how to go about acquiring them.

You will learn basic navigation techniques with and without a map and compass as well as how to familiarize yourself with your surroundings without losing your way back to your shelter. We emphasize the principles of survival like not over-exerting yourself and burning excess energy and simultaneously putting yourself at further risk. How to avoid sweating and dehydration. This course is for the average person in almost any physical condition. The art of survival is knowing what to do, how to do it, as well as when it can best be done.

Day 1:
We begin with a basic discussion of survival principles as we hike out to our training camp. Here we will learn the basics of shelter. Where is the best place to build as well as techniques for using a tarp, poncho, or emergency blanket. Then we will look at how to best use what nature provides for you to build a more primitive shelter based on your location and natural resources. We will then break for lunch and evaluate the drawbacks and benefits of shelter types and their construction as well as basic awareness of local wildlife - both as a threat as well as a potential food source. The afternoon session will find you learning to search for water - even if none appears to be readily available. We will discuss how to treat water with natural means as well as with what chemicals you might have in a basic survival kit. Evening will bring basic fire preparation and starting techniques. We answer the question of how to prepare your fire building materials so your fire will light quickly and stay burning with minimal maintenance as well as determining what to look for in fire building materials. We then cover basic first aid and wound protection to prevent a minor injury from becoming life threatening.

Day 2:
While day one provides for your immediate needs, day two begins by providing for your intermediate needs. We start with identifying available local food types and how to gather them. We will cover identifying and gathering local plants and how to prepare them for consumption. After lunch, we will cover basic trapping techniques, how to prepare wild game as well as drying and preserving meat for storage. Then we will get into more advanced fire starting techniques using survival oriented fire starting techniques like flint and steel, magnesium sticks, and end the day with bowdrill techniques for fire starting. In the evening, we will cover camp maintenance and safe food storage principles to help avoid attracting potentially dangerous wildlife and also to keep your food out of the mouths of opportunistic critters. The physical and psychological aspects of personal hygiene are covered to round out the evening.

Day 3:
Day three will start with basic navigation. We will show you how to identify local terrain features and familiarize yourself with the area surrounding your camp without getting lost again. You will use natural features as well as a compass to determine direction and location. We cover proper signaling techniques to draw attention to your camp and make yourself more visible to rescuers and facilitate your own rescue. We'll show you how to use a signal mirror and whistle to alert passerby to your position. After lunch, we will begin to break camp and learn to determine how long to wait for help to arrive before striking out and rescuing yourself and why this should be your last course of action. Alternative navigation techniques will be used to guide you back to the vehicles where your journey will end.

Note on Itinerary:
Although we do our very best to adhere to the schedule listed above, this itinerary is subject to change for numerous reasons beyond our control, including weather and trail conditions.

Important Information about Air Travel:
Contact ATS prior to purchasing your air tickets to confirm the trip has the minimum number of participants required to operate.

Price Includes:
Professional instruction; basic survival gear for use during course; Leave No Trace ethics card; campsites; appropriate permits

Not Included:
Transportation from your hometown to the group meeting point; lodging before or after the course; gratuity; insurance of any kind; basic camping gear

Closest Airport(s):
Phoenix Airport (PHX) - Phoenix, Arizona
Palm Springs Airport (PSP) - Palm Springs, California (Joshua Tree School)
Fresno Airport (FAT) - Fresno, California (Sequoia School)

Transfers:
If you require a transfer from the closest airport, just let us know and we'll arrange transportation for a small surcharge (typically $50-$100).

Qualifications:
Participants must be prepared to hike several miles each day with elevation gain/loss of several thousand feet while wearing a backpack over uneven terrain. Students must be prepared for going three days on minimal food and water while sleeping uncomfortably and potentially very cold for two nights.

Weather:
Temperatures can range from 50 - 80° F during the day to 40 - 60° F at night depending on course location and time of year. Upon registration, a seasonal and location specific gear recommendation list will be sent electronically. Course participants should arrive prepared for all possibilities by following the gear recommendations.

Schedule and Course Registration