Before You Arrive

Arrival and Directions

Colorado campus driving directions

Arrive one hour before the class start time for check-in. Check the schedule for your selected course date. Contact TSU before traveling if the start time or meeting location is unclear.

Course Arrangements

Students enrolled in this course may remain on the training property overnight during the scheduled program. Students staying on the property provide their own shelter and sleeping equipment, using tents, tarps, hammocks, or primitive field shelters. Use of the training property overnight is limited to enrolled students and authorized program participants. Campsites are not independently rented or offered to the general public.

Students who prefer to stay off site can choose from multiple hotels and Airbnb rentals in the surrounding area. Cripple Creek is approximately a 15-minute drive from our location, and Woodland Park is approximately 30 minutes away. Students are responsible for arranging their own lodging and making reservations directly with their chosen provider. Please call or email us before the course if you have questions about overnight arrangements.

Facilities

• Sanitation/Hygiene: A portable restroom and potable water will be provided at the main camp. There are no showers.

Food and Water

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.

What to Bring

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

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!

Clothing and Weather

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.

Course Notes

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.

Recommended course gear list