After toiling for more than 1500 hours during the past two and a half years writing Outdoor Survival Guide, I’m happy beyond my ability to 
describe in words that the book is finally completed, printed and mostly distributed to booksellers nationwide. This project has been a unique adventure for me. When I was invited by Human Kinetics to write the book, I knew it would require a large time commitment, but as most adventures go there were many things that couldn’t be accurately calculated. The inability to plan, calculate and foresee every possibility is the key component of adventure. I must say that I am a master at not foreseeing some of these possibilities and outcomes. This is the politically correct way of defining irresponsibility. So in other words, irresponsibility leads to adventure. Let me just say up front, that I’ve experienced a lot of adventure during my life. Which brings me to the reason I decided to write Outdoor Survival Guide.
I have a passion for the natural world and the adventure it offers. Personally, I’ve received tremendous growth from my experiences in the wilds. I love reasonable adventure and seek every opportunity for it. There’s something very life affirming about being too hot, too cold, too hungry or thirsty. Many of the survival experiences I’ve had were preplanned as a means of learning and honing skills. Others developed as a result of poor planning and irresponsibility (after all, I am a guy). But in the end we each seek a reprieve from the challenge, an end to the adventure at hand, and long to return home for rest and companionship. It’s good to feel familiar terrain beneath your feet from time to time.
Knowing how to survive in a variety of environments is essential to one’s ability to return again and again from work or travels in wild and remote places. To this end I have written Outdoor Survival Guide and offer it up as a guide to the most important and practical survival skills. It is written from my perspective as one who has spent over thirty years teaching people wilderness skills and techniques in a variety of seasons and environments. Outdoor Survival Guide provides a solid foundation of techniques and skills for the novice as well as the seasoned outdoor traveler.
This blog is created as an information exchange. I hope visitors will feel free to share their experiences and ask questions. I’ll post survival related information and news, product reviews, articles about survival skills and techniques, and survival experiences. Visitors and friends are invited and encouraged to respond.
I have difficulty with starting fires in windy, damp conditions. Any ideas?
A friend brought this book to my attention so I checked it out. It seems to be a good blend of both primitive and current survival needs. Gerke’s writing is easy to understand and carries you through the technical parts. It’s easy to locate specific items, but is also a surprisingly good read just for entertainment. It’s a book that asks to be read ahead of time, before the crises hit. I know that my hunting friends, back country skiers, mountain bikers, hikers and general campers would benefit from it. I might even get one for my son’s scout troup. Good book.
I am eager to read your book! I helped in the publishing of the book by Larry Dean Olsen, Outdoor Survival Skills, at BYU Press back in 1972. It was a tad more involved than I would ever hope to need. But I did learn a lot from it. Now that I am trying to keep my own 72-hr. kit sufficiently prepared for whatever could happen, I realize I need more than my memory from back then. What I learned in my Girls Camp Certification does help, but it is not as thorough as I would like my training to be. Here in Samoa, after we have experienced the earthquake and tsunami our mission leaders have strongly urged even missionaries to be prepared for whatever. Having proper materials would be a good start. Knowing what to do with them would be even better.