Resources

Outdoor Skills

151 practical outdoor skills and complete wilderness lessons — navigation, water, fire, shelter and first aid, with steps, practice tips and safety notes.

151 skills

Navigation
60 min
Map & Compass: Take Bearings and Set Courses
Learn to read a compass, correct for declination, plot a route, follow a bearing and locate yourself with a map.
1. Identify the compass parts. Find the direction-of-travel arrow on the baseplate, the rotating degree bezel, the index mark where you read a bearing, the magnetic needle, and the orienting arrow and parallel lines inside the housing. The needle's north-seeking end is identified by the manufacturer; do not assume every compass uses the same color scheme.
2. Check the instrument on safe ground. Hold it level, let the needle settle, and repeat a reading away from your phone, vehicle, knife, magnetic clasp or other metal. If the reading changes when you move, remove the interference before continuing. Keep the compass suitable for the magnetic zone in which you are traveling.
3. Confirm your map and north reference. Read its scale, contour interval, date and legend. Locate true north along the map's meridians and distinguish it from the printed grid north. Find a reliable starting point using multiple matching features, not a single vaguely similar bend or summit.
Read the complete lesson →
Tip: Write every course as bearing + north reference + distance + checkpoint. Keep the bezel unchanged while following that leg.
REI — How to Use a Compass (external instructional video)
Food
45 min
Camp Cooking Tripod: The Definitive Guide
Choose poles, tie a tripod lashing, raise a stable tripod over the fire and hang a pot at the right height with a chain, pot hook or adjustable trammel.
1. Select three sound, straight poles of similar length and thickness; trim side branches flush and test each by flexing—reject punky or cracked wood.
2. Lay the poles side by side on the ground, butts even. Reverse the middle pole so its top points the other way, leaving the tops overlapping by about 18 in (45 cm).
3. About 12–18 in (30–45 cm) from the top, tie a clove hitch around one outer pole and tuck the short tail under the first wraps.
Read the complete lesson →
Tip: Tie the tripod on the ground away from the fire, then carry it over. Spread the legs so one leg points into the prevailing wind; the pot can then swing away from you, not into you.
Warning: Do not hang a pot from cordage that sits directly in the smoke and heat column—use a chain or wire for the final stretch over the flames.
Fire
5 min
Light a one-match fire
A single match is enough when the platform is built before the match comes out.
1. Clear a dry patch of ground down to mineral soil or lay a bark platform.
2. Prepare three graded piles: fine tinder (dry grass, birch bark, fatwood shavings), pencil-thick kindling, and thumb-thick sticks.
3. Build a small teepee of the finest tinder with a pencil-lead-thin gap to insert the match.
4. Strike the match toward the ground, cup it, and touch it to the lowest point of the tinder.
5. Feed pencil-thick kindling on as the flame climbs; only add thumb-thick sticks once flames stand on their own.
Tip: Split a wet stick — the inside is almost always dry. Shave that inside into a pile of curls.
Trailagain — The One Match Fire
Fire
4 min
Carve a feather stick
A feather stick turns one dry piece of wood into a fire's worth of tinder.
1. Pick a dry, straight-grained stick the diameter of your thumb. Split it if the outside is damp.
2. Brace one end on a solid surface at a shallow angle away from your body.
3. Slice long, thin curls with the knife, stopping short so the shavings stay attached.
4. Rotate the stick a quarter turn and repeat until the top third is a bloom of curls.
Tip: Sharper knife, thinner curls. If the shavings snap off, ease the angle and slow down.
Far North Bushcraft — Feather Stick Tips
Fire
20 min
Make char cloth for flint and steel
Char cloth catches a spark instantly and buys you a full ember to blow into flame.
1. Cut 100% cotton (old jeans, canvas) into 2-inch squares.
2. Pack loosely into a small tin with a single pin-hole punched in the lid.
3. Set the tin on coals — smoke will jet from the hole.
4. When the smoke stops, pull the tin off and plug the hole with a twig; let it cool sealed.
5. Cloth should be uniformly black, still flexible, and tear cleanly.
Warning: Opening the tin while hot lets oxygen in and burns your char to ash.
PaleoHikerMD — Making a Better Char Cloth
Fire
15 min
Bow drill: what actually matters
Friction fire fails on details. Get these right before the arm burns out.
1. Match soft, dry woods for spindle and hearth (cedar, cottonwood root, willow). Don't mix hard and soft.
2. Spindle: thumb-thick, 8 inches, blunt on bottom (friction end), pointed on top (bearing end).
3. Cut a pie-slice notch in the hearth board reaching to the center of the burn socket, so dust can pile up.
4. Bow: shoulder-wide, slight curve, loose cord that tightens once the spindle is loaded.
5. Long, full strokes; downward pressure only increases once black dust and smoke are steady.
6. Tap the ember out of the notch onto bark, transfer to a tinder bundle, and blow steady from below.
Tip: If it squeals, it's polished — rough up the socket and hearth with sand.
NatureMentor — Bow Drill Fire
Fire
5 min
Find dry tinder in wet woods
Standing dead wood and inner bark stay dry through days of rain.
1. Skip anything on the ground — it's wicking water.
2. Look for standing dead branches still attached to trees; snap them for a dry, sharp crack.
3. Peel birch bark from dead trees only; it lights wet.
4. Pull inner bark from dead cedar or juniper and shred between the palms into a fluff.
5. Look under conifer skirts for dry needles and pitch-soaked wood (fatwood) at stump bases.
Wilderness Strong — Fire in Wet Weather
Water
10 min
Find water in dry country
Water moves down and collects predictably — read the terrain first, then walk.
1. Head to the lowest ground: canyon bottoms, dry washes, the outside bends of dry riverbeds.
2. Dig at the base of cliff pour-offs and in shaded gravel bars — seep water rises in minutes.
3. Follow converging animal trails downhill; they braid toward water.
4. Watch for green vegetation (cottonwood, willow, cattail) standing out from the surroundings.
5. At dawn, look for insects, especially bees — most fly within a mile of water.
Warning: Always purify seep and puddle water; livestock and wildlife share the same holes.
Chad Zuber — Water in the Desert
Water
10 min
Purify water by boiling
A rolling boil kills every waterborne pathogen you'll meet in the field.
1. Pre-filter through a bandana or shirt to remove silt and debris.
2. Bring the water to a full rolling boil — bubbles across the whole surface, not just the sides.
3. Hold the rolling boil for 1 minute (3 minutes above 6,500 ft / 2,000 m).
4. Cover and cool. Pour between two containers to reoxygenate and improve taste.
Tip: No pot? Boil in a birch bark cone or a hollowed log with rocks heated in the fire.
Bushcraft Survival Australia — Filter & Boil
Water
15 min
Build a three-layer ground filter
A field filter clears silt and cuts pathogens — it doesn't replace boiling.
1. Cut the bottom off a bottle (or use a bark cone) and invert it over a catch vessel.
2. Bottom layer: coarse pebbles, two fingers deep.
3. Middle layer: clean sand, three fingers deep.
4. Top layer: crushed charcoal from your fire, three fingers deep.
5. Pour cloudy water in slowly; the first pass may run dirty — recycle until clear.
6. Boil the filtered output before drinking.
Warning: Charcoal only — never ash. Ash makes the water caustic.
Clay Hayes — Charcoal & Sand Filters
Water
30 min
Collect dew with a bandana
Dew off unpoisoned grass gives you a cup or two before sunrise.
1. Before dawn, tie a clean bandana or shirt around your calves.
2. Walk slowly through tall, ungrazed grass until the cloth is soaked.
3. Wring the cloth into a container. Repeat until sun burns off the dew.
4. Purify before drinking — dew picks up whatever's on the plants.
Warning: Skip grass near roads, farmland, or animal droppings.
Military.com — Collect Dew for Drinking
Water
30 min
Solar still basics
A solar still gives small amounts of clean water at a large cost of sweat.
1. Dig a pit two feet wide and a foot deep in a sunny spot with damp soil or green vegetation.
2. Place a container in the center; line the pit with green plants around it.
3. Cover the pit with a clear plastic sheet and seal the edges with soil.
4. Set a small stone on the plastic directly over the container to form a low point.
5. Water condenses on the underside, runs to the low point, and drips into the container.
Tip: Yield is small — a still is a supplement, not a plan. Dig it only if you're already staying put.
Von Malegowski — Solar Still
Shelter
90 min
Build a debris hut
A debris hut is the warmest one-person shelter you can build with no cordage.
1. Prop a stout ridgepole (twice your height) between a low fork and the ground.
2. Lean ribs of sticks along both sides at 45°, packed tight enough to hold leaves.
3. Pile leaves, ferns, or grass on the outside — three feet deep everywhere.
4. Stuff the inside with dry leaves until you have to burrow in.
5. Plug the entrance behind you with a backpack or a bundle of debris.
Tip: If a raccoon couldn't push through the wall, it's thick enough to hold body heat.
Tom Brown III — Survival Shelter
Shelter
20 min
Site a tarp for wind and rain
Where you pitch matters more than what you pitch.
1. Skip valley bottoms — cold air pools there overnight.
2. Skip ridge tops — wind hammers exposed sites.
3. Look mid-slope, back into a treeline, with the closed end into the wind.
4. Check overhead for widow-makers: dead branches, leaning trees, loose rock.
5. Pitch the low end downhill so water runs away, not under your bag.
TA Outdoors — 15 Tarp Shelter Setups
Shelter
30 min
Insulate a sleeping platform
The ground steals more heat than the air. A bed of debris is warmer than any bag on bare dirt.
1. Rake a bed area longer than you are tall and twice as wide as your shoulders.
2. Lay a base of small logs or thick branches across the bed.
3. Pile springy conifer boughs, dry grass, or ferns on top — four inches compressed, eight before you lie on it.
4. Frame the sides with logs so debris doesn't squirt out overnight.
5. Add a hot-rock heater at the foot if you have a fire going nearby.
Botanik Bushcraft — Shelter Build
Shelter
45 min
Dig a one-night snow trench
A snow trench may reduce wind exposure, but warmth and roof strength are not guaranteed; learn construction with qualified winter instruction.
1. Check local avalanche and land-manager guidance; reject avalanche runout, cornices, snowplow routes and overhead hazards.
2. Practise snow assessment and construction with qualified instruction, an outside partner, dry clothing and a backup shelter.
3. Do not assume improvised supports or a snow thickness rule can certify an overhead roof; keep people off it.
4. Maintain an accessible exit and clear ventilation openings; a single vent is not proof of safe air. Keep all combustion outside.
5. Use a full-length insulated sleeping pad and sleeping equipment appropriate to the conditions; stop before digging leaves you wet or exhausted.
Warning: Collapse and blocked exits can cause burial. No vent, roof dimension or visible check guarantees safety; do not excavate alone or use flames inside.
Gone Feral — Snow Trench Shelter
Navigation
15 min
Find north with a stick and shadow
A shadow moves west to east through the day — that gives you a true east-west line.
1. Push a straight stick vertically into flat, level ground in the sun.
2. Mark the tip of the shadow with a small stone. Wait 15-20 minutes.
3. Mark the new tip of the shadow with a second stone.
4. The line between the two stones runs west-to-east; first stone is west.
5. Stand with the first stone at your left foot and the second at your right — you're facing north.
Tip: Longer wait, more accurate line. This works anywhere the sun casts a shadow.
AlfieAesthetics — The Primitive Compass
Navigation
5 min
Read a topo map in one minute
Contour lines tell you shape and steepness — the whole map is in the spacing.
1. Close-spaced lines = steep. Wide-spaced = gentle.
2. V's pointing uphill = drainage or creek. V's pointing downhill = ridgeline.
3. Circles inside circles = a summit; hachured circles = a depression.
4. Blue = water, green = vegetation, white = open/rock/snow, brown = elevation.
5. Check the contour interval in the legend before guessing elevation.
REI — How to Read a Topo Map
Navigation
10 min
Navigate by handrails and catching features
Two habits that keep you found without a GPS: follow a handrail, aim past a catch.
1. Pick a linear feature parallel to your route — a river, ridge, road, or valley. That's your handrail.
2. Walk keeping the handrail on the same side, checking it visually every few minutes.
3. Choose a catching feature past your destination — a river, cliff, or trail perpendicular to your route.
4. If you hit the catching feature, you've overshot — turn back along the handrail.
5. Aim off deliberately: bias 5-10° left or right of the target so you always know which way to turn at the catch.
Mowser — Essential Hiking Navigation
Navigation
10 min
Measure distance with a pace count
Knowing your pace count over 100 m tells you how far you've walked without a GPS.
1. Measure or step off 100 meters on flat, open ground.
2. Walk it at a natural pace, counting every time your left foot lands. That's your pace count.
3. Typical adult: 60-70 paces per 100 m.
4. In broken ground, up hills, or with a heavy pack, add 20-30% to your count.
5. Track distance with pebbles or knots — one per 100 m walked.
SF Actual — Basic Land Navigation
Food
15 min
Set a simple wire snare
A well-placed snare beats a well-tied one. Read the trail before you set anything.
1. Find a fresh, narrow game trail — droppings, tracks, low-brushed vegetation.
2. Choose a natural pinch point where brush forces animals through single-file.
3. Form a loop in snare wire the size of a fist for rabbits, larger for bigger game.
4. Suspend the loop over the trail so the bottom sits at the animal's chin height.
5. Anchor to a sapling or heavy branch. Brush around the loop so animals can't sidestep.
Warning: Check local law — snaring is regulated everywhere and prohibited in many places outside survival need.
Clay Hayes — 5 Survival Traps & Snares
Food
20 min
Identify wild edibles safely
You don't have to know every plant — you have to know a few, cold.
1. Learn 5-10 edible species in your home region with 100% ID confidence — leaf, stem, fruit, and habitat.
2. Learn their toxic look-alikes at the same time.
3. Positive ID means multiple features match, not just one.
4. Never rely on the Universal Edibility Test in the field — it's slow, error-prone, and can hurt you.
5. When in doubt, leave it out.
Warning: Some deadly plants (water hemlock, false hellebore, death camas) resemble common edibles. Guess = don't eat.
Robin Greenfield — Easy Edible Plants
Food
30 min
Fish with a hand line
A hand line and a hook out-fish most improvised setups.
1. Wrap 30-50 ft of line around a smooth stick or bottle to keep it tangle-free.
2. Tie on a small hook and a stone or split-shot for weight.
3. Bait with grubs from under bark, worms from wet soil, or minnows caught with a shirt seine.
4. Cast underhand from cover; let the bait sink to where fish hold — undercut banks, log jams, current seams.
5. Set the hook with a firm wrist snap the moment you feel the tap.
Tip: Fish are more active at dawn and dusk. If nothing hits in 15 minutes, move.
Fishing Yoyito — Simple Hand Reels
Food
20 min
Cook on a hot rock
A flat, dry rock in the coals is a griddle for fish, meat, and bannock.
1. Pick a flat, dry rock from well above the waterline — never from a stream or lakeshore.
2. Bury it in the fire's coals for 20 minutes so it heats evenly.
3. Brush off ash. Test with a drop of water — it should sizzle and skip.
4. Lay fish or meat directly on the rock; flip once when the underside releases cleanly.
Warning: Wet or river rocks trap steam and can explode in a fire.
Outdoor Life — Cook Food on a Rock

Before you head out

Put the lesson in context with our print-ready fieldcraft guides, compare outdoor equipment, and explore wilderness destination guides.

Educational reference only. Wilderness conditions change fast — practice in low-stakes settings, take a certified wilderness first-aid course, and confirm regional regulations (fire, fishing, foraging, snaring) before you rely on any of these skills in the field.