Master Yourself: Hands-On Backcountry Survival & Bushcraft Course

When you step into the backcountry, you leave behind the safety nets of modern infrastructure. Going off-grid without practical training means you are entirely at the mercy of the elements. Led by survival expert Jeff Thornton, this intensive, hands-on course is designed to transition you from gear-reliance to self-sufficiency.

Through practical field application, students will learn to administer self-aid, manage core body temperature, navigate challenging terrain, and secure clean resources using the landscape itself.

Course Curriculum & Training Modules

Self-Aid & The 5 Bs of Survivability

True survival starts with maintaining your internal systems under pressure. Students will learn how to maintain total situational awareness—both internal and external—and implement the 5 Ds of Survival (Don't panic, Don't bleed out, Don't get dehydrated, Don't get too hot, Don't get too cold).

You will receive direct, hands-on training to address the 5 Bs of Survivability to successfully navigate a 72-hour emergency event:

• Bleeding: Immediate application of direct pressure, wound-packing gauze, and tactical tourniquets.

• Breaks: Crafting field-expedient splints using natural materials (branches) and standard gear (tent stakes, sleeping mats).

• Burns: Sterile irrigation techniques using cool, clean water to prevent critical pathogens and infections, followed by proper dressing.

• Blisters: Foot care management using dry white wood ash as a natural drying powder, popping friction points safely, and applying protective cargo tape.

• Bites & Stings: Safe extraction of stingers/ticks using multi-tools and sourcing native, wild medicinal plants for localized pain relief.

Core Temperature Management (CTM)

Your physical priority in any weather is managing your core temperature to prevent hypothermia or hyperthermia. Students will learn the thermodynamics of heat loss (through conduction, convection, radiation, perspiration, and evaporation) and how to construct a complete, protective microclimate to serve as a CTM stoploss consisting of three distinct layers:

1. Something to Sleep ON: Calculating ground insulation R-values. You will learn to construct a dry "browse bed" using leaf litter, pine straw, and heavy-duty trash bags to achieve the critical 3 inches of compacted loft needed to stop conductive ground heat loss.

2. Something to Sleep IN: Mastering environmental clothing layers (wicking, insulating, durable, and weather-proof) to trap body heat.

3. Something to Sleep UNDER: Rapid deployment of multi-configuration tarp shelters (Lean-to, Plow Point, A-frame) to block wind and rain.

10 Essential Knots for Wilderness Recreation

To build reliable, fast-deployment shelter systems and secure gear, students will physically practice and master these ten core knots:

• Marlin Spike

• Slip Knot

• Bowline

• Single Fisherman's

• Lark's Head

• Prusik

• Double Overhand

• Arbor Knot

• Sheet Bend

• Half Hitch

The 5 Ws of Camp Selection

Setting up camp in the wrong spot can turn a minor survival situation into a disaster. Students will learn to evaluate potential campsites based on understanding of the 5 Ws:

• Wood: Proximity to sustainable, dry fuel sources for warmth, water purification, and psychological comfort.

• Water: Balancing the need for hydration with safety. You will learn why camping too close to water sources increases tactical exposure and wildlife encounters.

• Weather: Finding natural windbreaks, identifying low-lying frost pockets, and avoiding potential flood zones.

• Widow Makers: Actively scanning overhead trees for hanging dead limbs or loose rocks before pitching shelter.

• Wildlife: Evaluating animal trails, avoiding insect nesting grounds (such as ant beds), and identifying local snake habitats.

Water Sourcing, Collection, & Disinfection

Water is life, but unpurified water is a vector for illness.

Students will learn to read the landscape to locate water indicators (such as willow, sycamore, and river birch trees) and collect water safely using various containers.

You will be trained in the three-step water-cleansing process:

1. Coarse Filtration: Utilizing cotton cloths or specialized Milbank bags to remove heavy mud and turbidity, dramatically extending the life of your fine filters.

2. Chemical Treatment: Calculating proper dosing for emergency disinfectants (iodine, chlorine dioxide).

3. Physical Purification & Boiling: Sourcing water and bringing it to a true, rolling boil. Students will learn how altitude affects boiling points and how to properly adjust boiling times to destroy all bacteria, viruses, and protozoa.

Modern & Primitive Land Navigation

A lost survivor is a vulnerable survivor. This course teaches students how to systematically mitigate lateral drift and move in straight lines with absolute direction.

Modern Navigation Tools

Using a compass, topographic maps, pace beads, and protractors, you will learn to walk straight lines and navigate by

• Adjust for local magnetic declination.

• Estimate distance using personal pace counts calibrated across flat, uphill, and downhill terrains.

• Shoot and follow precise bearings while logging travel routes on weather-proof paper.

Primitive Wayfinding Methods

If your electronic devices fail and your compass is lost, you will learn to navigate using primitive methods:

• First Shadow / Last Shadow Method: Planting a central stick at dawn and dusk to draw a highly accurate East/West and North/South orientation line.

• Horizon Line Adjustment Method: Using hand-width measurements against the solar arc (where each finger width represents 15 minutes or 3.75 degrees of travel) to calculate the sun's position and orient yourself due

Bushcraft at the Lake 10/17-18/2026