New Mexico Living off the Land Survival Expedition
in the Gila Wilderness
10 Days
June 8-17, 2017
Learn the ancient survival skills that Geronimo used for years while hiding out to avoid the U.S. cavalry. Rather than depending on modern conveniences, you will perform basic survival tasks including making fire, collecting water, constructing shelter, and securing food. Build your skills and confidence so that when you finish you will be prepared to handle a variety of survival situations.
Trip Dates: June 8-17, 2017
Duration: 10 Days
Experience Previous survival or primitive skills
Activity Level: Experience helpful but not required. Participants should be in good physical condition and able to cope with high altitude and inclement weather.
Accommodation Tent camping and survival shelters
Price: $2,590 per person
Destination: Gila Wilderness in Southwest New Mexico
Trip Summary
This trip will test your physical and mental limits as you find out how indigenous people lived off the land in the rugged mountainous environment! Expert instructors will initially guide you for the first five days in performing the fundamental tasks that Native Americans mastered, and then you will have to demonstrate these skills on your own for the next five days. This will include procuring food and water, building adequate shelter, making friction fire, and carrying out other essential tasks. Upon finishing the expedition, you will have a sense of confidence in your knowledge and ability to utilize natural resources to survive in the wild!
Detailed Description:
This is an adventure in the Gila Wilderness, a high and arid environment in Southwest New Mexico where Geronimo survived for years avoiding capture by authorities. It is also a unique bioregion where distinct ecozones intersect bringing together the plant and animal communities of the southern Rocky Mountains, the Chihuahuan desert, and the northern extreme of the semi-tropics, thus necessitating a variety of survival strategies.
Over the course of ten days, you will learn an array of primitive skills and get the chance to put them into practice with guidance from your expert instructors. You will traverse over the landscape in rough terrain performing all the necessary tasks in order to demonstrate your ability to utilize natural resources to cope with whatever nature throws at you.
The expedition will be divided into two phases. Phase one will include spending a few days at a campsite while our team of experts will instruct you in learning the following skills:
· Primitive shelter construction
· Creating friction fire using various primitive methods
· Locating, capturing and purifying water
· Making survival bows, rabbit sticks, and spears
· Setting snares and traps to catch small game
· Animal processing and preparing food using primitive methods
· Making and using primitive fishing implements
· Identifying and foraging for edible and medicinal plants
· Making cordage and other useful tools out of local plants
· Observing cloud formations and predicting future weather events
· Navigating across unknown landscapes without a compass/map
After practicing the above skills in camp, you will be sent into the “bush” for several days to perform them as if you were a native living off the land in a real survival situation. Accordingly, you will have specific tasks that you will need to accomplish and you will be monitored as to how well you perform them. Our instructors will be on hand to keep an eye on your activities and to keep you on track in the event of any mishaps, difficulties, or unexpected events (drastic changes in weather, etc).
The trip will require that you be in good physical condition and able to withstand the rigors being outside for an extended period of time without the aid of modern conveniences, as well as being able to handle some discomfort like being cold during the night, functioning with minimal food, etc. Additionally, you will only be allowed to have a few changes of clothes and one small bag, and will not be allowed to bring extra water, supplemental food, etc. (the instructors will maintain emergency rations in the event they are needed).
This will be a once in a lifetime experience where you will learn a tremendous amount about your inner resources, as well as how to cope with nature and the elements in a harsh environment like our ancestors did. After you finish, you will understand what it was like to live in a world before modern technology and will have a greater appreciation for indigenous cultures and the challenges they faced on a day-to-day basis.
Daily Itinerary
Day 1 - Arrival in the Gila Wilderness, New Mexico
Arrive in the morning at the Gila Wilderness and be welcomed by our instructors and support staff who will show you around the base camp area. You will setup your tent and campsite, where you will be based for the next several days during the instructional part of the event.
After getting settled in, our instructors will go over the itinerary and what to expect during the next ten days. We will break for lunch and then during the afternoon the instructors will give an overview of the basics of survival and answer any questions you might have about various topics.
In the evening we will gather around a group campfire to cook our meal and unwind for the day.
Accommodations: Tent Camping
Meals Included: Lunch, Dinner
Days 2-5 – Phase 1, Learning Survival Skills
Wake up early to a campfire with breakfast and then get ready to begin the first phase of the expedition: learning essential survival skills. We will break the day up into several segments, and during each one our instructors will select a survival topic and start by explaining that topic in depth and all the things you need to think about to be successful. Then they will perform the particular skill and demonstrate the important techniques you need to learn in order to master it. Next, you will attempt the skill yourself and continue practicing it during the rest of the allotted time so that you reach an acceptable level of proficiency (you can also continue working on it over the next few days during your free time).
We will repeat this step-by-step process with each basic survival skill over the course of the next several days until we have covered all of them. The following is the list of skills that will be taught:
• Primitive shelter construction
• Creating friction fire using various primitive methods
• Locating, capturing and purifying water
• Making survival bows, rabbit sticks, and spears
• Setting snares and traps to catch small game
• Animal processing and preparing food using primitive methods
• Making and using primitive fishing implements
• Identifying and foraging for edible and medicinal plants
• Making cordage and other useful tools out of local plants
• Observing cloud formations and predicting future weather events
• Navigating across unknown landscapes without a compass/map
During the evenings, we will gather around a group campfire to cook our meal and unwind for the day.
Accommodations: Tent Camping
Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Days 6-9 - Phase 2, Living off the Land Survival Scenario
Now that you have learned the basic survival skills, phase two will commence where you will be sent into the “bush” for the next five days to live off the land as if you were in a real survival situation. You must put into practice what you have learned thus far, and use these newfound skills to take care of your basic needs including food, water, shelter, fire, exposure, etc. You will only be allowed to take with you the clothes on your back and one instructor approved survival implement of your choice (e.g. knife).
This will be a challenging experience and will test your fortitude and your ability to organize your tasks, handle adversity, and to think quickly on your feet especially when you are tired, cold, hungry and/or thirsty. Your instructors will be close by to monitor your progress and lend assistance in case you run into any mishaps or emergencies (injuries, severe weather, etc), but otherwise will not be helping you with any of your efforts. As long as you adhere to what you have been taught during the first five days of the expedition, you will be able to get through this challenge and pass with flying colors!
Accommodations: Primitive Shelters
Meals Included: None
Days 10 – Depart from the Gila Wilderness
This is the last day of the expedition so congratulations, you have made it!
After you wake up in the morning and complete your remaining tasks (safely putting out your fire, etc) you will walk back to the campsite and convene with the rest of the group for one last time around the campfire. We will have a nice breakfast waiting for you along with refreshing beverages, so that you regain your strength before you depart.
Once you warm up, get some food, and regain your energy, you will pack up your tent and campsite and then depart for your journey back home, taking with you many great memories of your experiences in the wild and the confidence that you now have what it takes to survive in a rugged landscape, just as our human ancestors did for many millennia!
Accommodations: Primitive Shelters
Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner