Wilderness Survival Skills

Explore the Enigmatic Arabian Desert: Vast Sandscapes & Rich Heritage Await. Discover the Arabian Desert's Beauty and Mystique

By MapQuest Travel

An original survivalist, Dick Proenneke built his home by hand and lived alone in Alaska. But he was also a legendary conservationist and documentarian. Learn more about his remarkable story.

By Nathan Chandler

Coconuts, found on islands in the Pacific, really would be an excellent food source for a castaway.

By Patrick J. Kiger

If you went cave exploring and lost your way, would you how to get out? We talked with the experts for real-world advice.

By Nathan Chandler

Not everything natural is safe — many plants and animals can sicken or even kill you if you eat them. Here are 10 of the deadliest.

By Melanie Radzicki McManus

Vanished hikers. Disappearing backpackers. Missing children. Are these mysteries in the great outdoors due to accidents, mistakes and bad luck, or evidence of something more sinister?

By Alia Hoyt & Becky Striepe

How do you tie a knot if it's impossible to do so? Maybe this is a trick question.

By Melanie Radzicki McManus

You're stranded on a boat at sea, no substantial food or water for days, living off collected rain and already having lustily consumed the leather brim of your hat. That's when you realize there's a huge chunk of meat sitting right next to you.

By Kate Kershner

It may not look like much, but this little piece of wristwear is very useful in a bind. Unlike other jewelry, it can help you get dinner, stop blood or make a shelter.

By Chris Opfer

Long before GPS, before radar, indeed before the compass, people used the stars in the sky to figure out their destinations. You can do it, too. Here's how.

By Julia Layton

The desert is a place of extremes. And camping in such an unforgiving environment requires a good deal of preparation, and above all, a lot of respect.

By Mark Boyer

Well, we can. But why don't we do more of it? With oceans and oceans of seawater, you'd think we could make enough freshwater to never go thirsty again

By Nicholas Gerbis

Blackberries, raspberries and cranberries are all found in the wild, but you'd better be sure you've got the right berry before you eat one off the vine. There are plenty of berries in the woods that could kill you.

By Patrick J. Kiger

There are 23 deserts all over the world — Europe is the only continent without one — and some are hotter than others. Do you know which five are the hottest?

By Jesslyn Shields

When your camping trip turns life-or-death because you've lost your way in a vast, unpopulated wilderness, you'll want to have these gadgets on your person.

By Sarah Winkler

If you're stranded in the wild and you're not carrying a hunting rifle, your best bet for bagging dinner is probably a snare or a trap. But how do you set one up?

By Amy Hunter

A Japanese hiker slipped, was knocked unconscious and then survived 24 days without food or water. That's not supposed to be possible. What survival instincts fuel us through dire straits?

By Charles W. Bryant

Toxic tree frogs, poisonous plants, malaria-carrying mosquitoes. You get the picture: The jungle is no place to get lost. How will you make it out of this lushness alive?

By Charles W. Bryant

Machete, knife, gun, mosquito net. They would all be plenty useful in the jungle. But there's one survival tool that beats out all the rest. What is it?

By Charles W. Bryant

Does the thought of sucking down larvae trigger your gag reflex? Then you may not hack it in the wild. Insects are an excellent source of protein. Pry up a rock and you've got dinner.

By Cristen Conger

Skin a dead animal. Smash its leg bone into a blade. And use its tendons to tie that blade to a handle. Sound gruesome? That's how you'd make a knife in the wild.

By Cristen Conger

In the wilderness, one of these weapons will help you send out a distress signal, keep warm, build a shelter and not drown. The other is relatively worthless.

By Cristen Conger

The sun beats down and your skin burns. Your parched mouth begs for water, and you fear a sandstorm is on its way. You're stranded in the desert. How will you survive?

By Charles W. Bryant

You might not look at a tarantula and think, "Yum." But if you were in a survival situation with only bugs to eat, how would you know which ones are safe?

By Charles W. Bryant

Let's say you're lost in the wilderness. Rather than guess which berries aren't poisonous, you take down a rabbit. If you're too famished for cooking, will eating it raw be disastrous for your health?

By Cristen Conger