Traveling by Water
Whether it be a swamp, river, lake, or stream, traveling by water may be the
best route to safety if your only other alternative is to hack through dense
and tangled bush. As you may suspect, however, water travel comes with its
own set of risks. That body of water may seem calm and peaceful now, but
what will you do if you encounter rapids or if a wind storm kicks up while
you’re in the middle of the lake? You also need to consider the possibility
that the water may be home to dangerous creatures such as (depending on
where you are) alligators, crocodiles, hippopotamuses, polar bears, walrus,
sea lions, sharks, or elephants. And then there’s the additional responsibil
ity of waterproofing your gear.
When it comes to exactly how you travel by water, there are few
options. Clearly, it’s best if you have your own vessel, like a boat or canoe.
Barring that, you’re limited to making something, which usually means
a raft. And as romantic as Huck Finn may have made it seem, making a
raft—and traveling with it—is not easy to do. If this is your only option
for safe travel, or you are convinced that making your way down a certain
watercourse will lead you more quickly to safety, then it will be worth the
effort. Just be sure to test your creation before loading it and setting out;
never trust your survival to a flimsy raft.
If you can’t swim or have little boating experience, stay as close to the
shore as possible. When approaching bends in a river, keep to the inside
edge where the current is less forceful. Swiftmoving rivers can pose a vari
ety of hazards, including snags (submerged trees and other foliage that can
grab your vessel), sweepers (overhanging limbs and trees), rapids (portage
around them; don’t attempt to run them), and waterfalls.
If you’re following a river on foot and come to an impasse that forces
you to take to the water with no vessel, there are a couple of lastditch ways
to float downstream, but these are extremely dangerous. You could try to
hang onto some sort of inflatable waterproof container (such as your trusty
orange garbage bags), or if you have something buoyant like a food con
tainer, try to build something atop it. Cattails are also quite buoyant, and
travelers have been known to construct floats from them.
Survival Travel and Navigation (^) | 225