Surviving 72 Hours in the Forest Alone (CHALLENGE & EXPERIMENT) (3)

I changed my sleep schedule though to sleep during the day and stay up at night in case

of wandering bear again.

Also I won't lie, those weird howls and screams had me on edge- specially after my encounter

with the bear.

On the coast I managed to find edible mussels pretty easily, and I ate some raw- which I

immediately regretted- and then roasted the rest in their own shells.

Mussels are great for energy, but you have to be careful if you're low on water because

they can add a lot of salt water to your system.

If you aren't peeing regularly, the salt in your body can add up dangerously.

By the way, they taste like mermaid boogers when you eat them raw.

I also managed to find some edible flowering plants.

With flowering plants you want to pluck the actual flower off, because the sap in the

stem can be really bitter and unpleasant.

The bud of the flower and the petals though make for good eating in a pinch, and dandelions

typically grow in most places.

If you really don't mind the bitterness, you can eat the roots of most flowering plants,

which are chock full of minerals and nutrients- though be careful, never eat a flowering plant

whose flower is umbrella shaped.

Those are poisonous and may not kill you, but will have your stomach twisted up in knots.

Lichens and bugs made up most of the rest of my meals, grubs were pretty plentiful in

rotting logs.

I couldn't remember which mushrooms are edible and which aren't, so I stayed away from them-

better not to risk them.

Also mushrooms don't actually pack a lot of energy, so don't waste time trying to look

for them unless you have no other options.

Same goes for trying to hunt.

Wilderness survival is a numbers crunching game, and your job is to waste as few calories

as possible while gaining the most possible from what you eat.

Hunting can burn a lot of calories, so forget trying to catch anything larger than a squirrel

or a rabbit- and even then only go after them if you can make some rough traps and snares,

or happen to find a burrow or warden.

I made it through my three days pretty alright, though very much on the hungry side.

My encounter with the bear though definitely left me a bit shaken, that was a very serious

situation which could have gone very badly.

The girlfriend wasn't happy to hear about it, and we both talked for a long time about

these challenges- they have definitely started to ramp up in risk, and I guess I have to

think about if I really want to keep taking some of the risks I do.

I love reading some of the feedback from you guys, and I'm happy that they are entertaining

and sometimes even enlightening, but I guess this whole bear experience is just making

me reconsider.

I'm not saying that I'm never going to do a challenge again, but I feel I just have

The Infographics Show, Surviving 72 Hours in the Forest Alone (CHALLENGE & EXPERIMENT) (3)