Description
Course Description
Step into the wild with confidence. Our 3-Day Outdoor Survival Basics course is built for outdoor lovers of all experience levels — from total beginners to weekend warriors looking to sharpen their skills. Whether you’re heading out for a quick day hike or just want to be more prepared in everyday life, this hands-on course will teach you the essential tools to stay safe, aware, and self-reliant.
Throughout the weekend, you’ll gain real-world survival skills while also developing leadership, intuition, and situational awareness. We’ll break down the most important elements of wilderness survival and teach you how to use gear that every person should have on hand — not just in the backcountry, but even in your car, at the office, or at home.
This course is about more than just survival — it’s about learning to think clearly, act decisively, and stay grounded when things don’t go as planned.
Course Topics
Psychology of survival
Priorities of survival
Lost-proofing and navigation awareness
How to avoid and handle animal encounters
Basic knife skills and safety
Notch carving on a try stick (a fun hands-on skill!)
Choosing the right clothing and gear
Fire craft: modern and primitive techniques
Building emergency survival shelters
Water purification and filtration methods
Useful knots and how to tie them
Creating a practical survival kit
Tool selection and usage
Signaling for rescue and effective backcountry communication
Course Outcomes
By the end of this 3-day experience, you will:
Feel more confident exploring the outdoors, even in unexpected situations
Know how to build and use a survival kit with intention
Understand the psychology behind survival and how to stay calm under pressure
Start fires using multiple methods and maintain them in challenging conditions
Build effective emergency shelters using both modern and natural materials
Know how to find and purify water in the backcountry
Tie several practical knots and understand their uses
Sharpen your awareness and ability to read your surroundings
Improve your decision-making and leadership in dynamic environments
Be able to signal for help using proven backcountry techniques
Gain a deeper connection to nature through hands-on experience and mentorship
LENGTH:
3 days/2 nights
ACCOMMODATIONS
If students do not wish to camp with us, the town of Cripple Creek is a short 15 minute drive from our location and Woodland Park is 30 minutes away. Students will be responsible for making their own reservations with nearby hotels. We do have a central community campfire location with a few designated campsites but mostly offer dispersed camping. Students will be able to drive their car within 100 feet of the main camp and will not have to hike gear for long distances.
- Shelter Lodging: Students may stay in their own tents, campers, vehicles or a primitive shelter.
- Sanitation/Hygiene: A portable restroom and potable water will be provided at the main camp. There are no showers.
FOOD AND WATER REQUIRED
Water will be provided but students will need to bring their own food. We recommend quick field expedient meals such as freeze dried hiking meals or MRE’s. They can quickly be made at our primitive camps and won’t slow down the learning process. However, students may bring any food that they wish to cook over the campfire or on their own personal camp stove.
Food can be purchased locally at nearby grocers.
SUGGESTED GEAR LIST
We do not provide students with gear unless they have purchased it from us ahead of time. Not much gear is needed for our courses, though good equipment does speed the learning process up greatly! Gear does not have to be purchased from our store to attend the course, but we recommend survival gear of equivalent quality.
- Fixed blade knife (Preferably a full tang bushcraft style knife WITHOUT a serrated edge, 4”-5” blade length, no double edged daggers)
- Ferrocerium rod
- Poncho or Rain Gear
- Outdoor Clothing and appropriate footwear
- Folding hand saw
- Overnight Camping Gear: Tent, sleeping bag, ground pad, etc
- 100’ of 550 Paracord
- Large cotton scarf
- Headlamp and extra batteries
- Cooking pot and eating utensils
- Single walled metal canteen
- Sunscreen and sunglasses
- Insect repellent
- Small Backpack
CLOTHING REQUIRED
Warm outdoor clothing, warm gloves and hat, outdoor boots and wool socks. Cotton clothing is highly discouraged in the mountains! Wool will keep you warm even when wet and synthetics will dry faster. Layers are important in Colorado. You will want a water wicking base layer, an insulating mid layer, and a waterproof breathable outer shell. Check out our Clothes Layering Basics if you are unsure of what to wear.
Check the recommended survival gear list for more details!
If it is still not clear what gear is needed for our survival courses, then we have assembled a complete kit that is still high quality but for a budget friendly price. All the items in this kit were hand selected by our instructors to be the best bushcraft tools on a budget. This survival kit is a useful starter kit that can be used in all of our courses. These tools are a must have, at a good price. It’s a great survival kit, bug out kit, go bag, or use it as a solid foundation to build a kit that perfectly fits your needs. With this kit and our training anybody can survive like a king in almost any environment!
NOTE
Due to the different levels of prior experience and knowledge among students in each class, individual outcomes may vary. Weather conditions can also be a factor in changing class content slightly. Nonetheless, our instructors will always endeavor to be as accommodating and consistent as circumstances will allow to ensure students get the best training experience and value for money.
