Nothing But a Knife & Gun: The tiny survival kit inspired by Alaska

Travis and I went to Ketchikan in 2024 to visit our friends Matt and Caitlyn. The plan was to spend our time hunting, fishing and adventuring together in some of the most beautiful terrain in southeast Alaska.

We would drive 45 minutes into Tongass National Forest, park the car on the side of the road and walk into the bush with nothing more than the clothes we were wearing and the guns we were hunting with. Travis and I took turns going with Matt, while the other stayed behind at. the car with Matt's daughter. We traversed muskeg that soaked through my waterproof boots, crossed ravines where one wrong move could mean a long fall with broken bones, and wandered through thick woods with no landmarks. Sometimes the vegetation was so thick, I couldn't see the car just 40 feet away. With only two of us in the woods at a time meant that an injured person would have to be left alone to get help. If both people had a problem, the person at the car couldn't come to help with a toddler in tow.

Can you spot Matt in the photo?

I thought about just how difficult it would be if one or both of us got hurt or lost. I was soaking wet and surrounded by a waterlogged forest where daytime temps rarely exceed 50°F even in the summer - tough conditions for survival. It was unlike me to go into the wild without even a day pack. At the bare minimum, I should have had more than a just knife in my pockets.

One night we came back a bit later than Caitlyn expected and she got really worried. The very next day they bought the Garmin GPSMap67i so we could stay in touch in the wild. But rescue could still take hours if we had a problem, and I didn't have basic gear to survive.

That experience inspired the Pocket Survival Kit- designed specifically to fit in the pocket of my hunting pants. This year I sent Travis with one. He went to Alaska without me and is currently there, spending nearly a month hunting and fishing. I knew he was unlikely to carry a pack on a day-hunt but I could convince him to put this in his pocket.

Travis with his Pocket Kit

The pocket kit is great. I love it because it combines two of my favorite things- tiny things and survival. But that kit is limited- there is nothing to store or boil water in. The blanket is not big enough to use as a tarp. 17 feet is not a lot of cordage. So the Long Way Home kit was born. It is small enough to throw into your day pack but has the resources you need if things go sideways.