When Survival isn’t enough... Chapter 1

John Rankins awakened to the smell of burning plastic, rubber and fabric wafting through the air. Groggily he tried to shake his head to clear the mental fog that surrounded him.  Doing so causes a sharp pain to run from his neck all the way down his spine. With the pain, his eyes cleared up, and as he looked around him through the thickening smoke, it all comes back to him in a rush of jumbled thoughts.

Just this morning he gathered his gear from the motel room in Fairbanks and went by taxi to the airport where he flew into Bettles, AK.  From there, he loaded his gear into the float-equipped Piper PA-18 Super Cub airplane and began the last flight of his journey deep into the Alaskan bush. His goal was to do a 1000 mile solo hike through the Alaska Brooks Range.  After months of careful planning and packing, grueling miles of endurance training and maintaining a strict diet for optimum hiking efficiency and to get his body used to the kinds of food that he planned to pack with him into the wilderness, he felt like he was ready for anything.

What he didn’t anticipate was the tremendous storm that developed during the first 30 minutes of flight from Bettles. As the pilot alternately struggled with the controls and talked over the radio trying to find a way around the giant thunderheads looming over the mountains, there was a sudden bright flash in the air.  There was a smell of something burning and at that instant the engine sputtered out and the radio went dead.  The pilot continued to battle the air for control as the now powerless plane was increasingly battered by huge wind gusts. Finally, he was able to get the engine restarted and for another few minutes of tense flying, it seemed that everything was going to be alright.  Then, without further warning, the engine died again and this time all efforts to re-start it were in vain. The pilot looked at John and said to make sure the seat-belt was securely fastened as they were going to have to crash-land somewhere.

The only place visible through the lashing wind and rain was a small lake not big enough for a proper landing.  Expertly, the pilot maneuvered the plane and began the tedious job of trying to set the plane down on the postage stamp sized lake.  With no engine control and the force of the storm, the landing was rough and the waves on the small lake seemed like huge ocean whitecaps.  With way too much speed, the floats soon ran out of lake and the plane smashed headlong into a stand of Alder at the end.  There was a sound of tortured metal and the ripping of fabric and then, a sudden blackness descended over his consciousness.

Now, John looked over to the pilot, an involuntary shudder rips through him.  One of the tree limbs has crashed through the windshield and impaled the pilot, crushing him into his seat. No doubt about it, he is gone.  Suddenly alone, and with no idea where he is, and in a burning plane, a panic comes over him. His seat-belt is jammed so he digs out his pocket knife to slice through the thick material.  Carefully, but quickly, and painfully aware of the pain in his neck and backbone, he extricates himself from the broken aircraft.  Already the flames are leaping up around the cargo compartment and before he can recover his gear, there is the sound of an explosion from the propane canisters next to his backpacking stove.  He stumbles as fast as he can away from the plane just as the remainder of the plane’s Av-gas goes up in a gigantic fireball.

As the storm rages on, John huddles in the pitiful shelter of a downed tree and for hours the elements rage around him.  Finally, the rain and wind stops lashing at him and he hobbles over to the remains of the plane. Almost nothing is salvageable except for his metal cooking pot. Even his expensive custom knife is ruined as the temper has been lost in the extreme heat and the full tang handle slabs have burned away leaving blackened metal in its place.

With his hands and the now softened knife blade John digs a shallow grave and does his best to bury the remains of the pilot.  Without a proper shovel, the grave isn’t deep enough and so he gather stones from the area and makes a mound over the grave to protect the remains from predators.

Soon, the sun comes out and John begins to take stock of the situation.  The pain in his neck and back has lessened and seems to be from the impact and not from any serious injury.  He empties his pockets and begin to assess what gear he has to effect survival.  A BIC lighter, a Fresnel lens, a ferrocerium rod on his key-chain, a sturdy, folding pocket knife, a pocket sharpener, a comb, a pair of fingernail clippers, a bandana, a leather belt, and two seven foot strands of paracord on his boots.  He is wearing 8 inch waterproof boots, wool socks, rip-stop nylon cargo pants, a light windproof, waterproof jacket and a waterproof boonie hat.  On his wrist is his waterproof watch. In his  jacket pockets he had stowed a stick of beef jerky, a small bag of peanuts and a couple of Cliff bars that he had planned to snack on during the ill-fated flight.  There is plenty of water around and with his metal pot, he can boil it to make it clean enough to drink.

With no compass, his maps burned to ash, his GPS and Sat phone destroyed in the fire, no cell signal and no other form of communication, he knows that he must do the best that he can to survive until help arrives.  However, he is painfully aware that the plane was already off course because of the storm and then they flew for a while with no radio at all.  So, he knows that even though Search and Rescue will be looking for them, it could be some time until they locate the crash site.  Fortunately, he has training from a great survival school and he has extensive backcountry experience.

So with a prayer for guidance and protection on his lips, John begins to form a rudimentary shelter from scattered and broken plane pieces, slabs of bark and a bit of the aluminum skin that had been ripped off the plane wings and that hadn’t melted in the intense heat. With that done and the evening drawing near, he uses the keychain ferrocerium rod to build a fire and then scoops up a pot full of water from the lake and puts it on to boil.  As he went down to the lake, he noticed through the clear water that there are some fish in the depths and he smiled softly, knowing that a safe source of food and protein awaits just as soon as he can fashion some primitive fishing gear.  As he lies down for the night on a bed of spruce boughs, he munches on a half a Cliff bar and attempts to go to sleep. At first, he struggles to calm down.  But finally he succeeds.  He has survived the crash, his first day in the Alaskan wilderness, and tomorrow, wilderness living begins.  However, he doesn’t just intend to just survive the experience, he is determined to thrive and have great stories to tell to the grandchildren someday.

Spiritually speaking, when Adam and Eve sinned, our whole world began to die.  Then, about 1500 years later, a global flood destroyed the planet and Noah and his family had to re-boot civilization.  Now, our world is no longer a friendly place that easily sustains us, but a harsh environment where we must wrest our existence forcefully from the bosom of Mother Earth.  One day, all will be restored to it’s proper place and our world will once again be a place of peace.  But, until that time, we must do the best that we can to live and thrive based on the circumstances that are handed us.

Most people live miserable lives, even though on the outside, they seem to have it together.  Jesus said in the Bible, in John 10:10, “I am come that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly”.  Are you living the abundant live? If not, God wants to offer you a fresh, new way of living.  While your life or health may not be what you wish, you can still enjoy the blessings of sins forgiven, the promise of a new body and a Heavenly home.  So, when survival isn’t enough, and you want more from life, ask Christ into your heart and begin to live abundantly. Don’t just survive, thrive!

Thanks for reading!

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James B