Time traveling in the Monte Bello Open Space Preserve

For our second anniversary, my wife and I thought it'd be a good idea to spend it outdoors enjoying the magnificent spring weather and appreciating the remarkable scenery that the Bay Area has to offer. It was absolutely the right decision, although it turned out even more amazing than the views and the picture perfect weather (which were marvelous in their own right).

Picture perfect day

As we were hiking through a forested part of the Monte Bello Open Space Preserve, a question dawned on me. Why I hadn't thought of this during previous hikes, I don't know, but it happened that day. The question was, if we were to be transported back in time to that very spot, pre-Columbus, would we be able to survive with only what we had.

I had a wallet, keys, sunglasses, iPhone, shorts, shirt, a baby carrier, and Taiga (our son). Mayui had a plastic 1 L water bottle and her clothes. That was it.


The first thought that occurred to me when faced with wilderness survival was, damn, a lot of what I know is absolutely useless for survival. Or put another way, we are truly products of our time. Can't eat Excel worksheets or PowerPoint presentations. And good luck with business strategy, marketing, classical piano, salsa dancing, and snowboarding. About the only thing I'd say that 'might' be of use is Muay Thai, in case I needed to kick some animal in the face. Everything else, all the knowledge that we bear on such a wide array of subjects, would do nothing to help us survive.

After that sobering realization, we moved on to figure out how to survive. Luckily, there was a source of fresh water, which of course wouldn't be guaranteed during that time period, but we assumed it to be present. That would be a huge plus, given that water is probably the most important resource (and priority) for survival.

Water!

We then turned our attention to food and warmth. There was a snake sunning itself on the path that we could've eaten, and some nuts and mushrooms that looked relatively safe. Tried an acorn myself, and it tasted better than expected, but found out later online that it can be toxic in large quantities unless cooked. Warmth would've been an issue at night, but we probably could've made do with leaves. We were lucky in another way in that the trail was on the edge between a forest and grassland, where there tends to be more biodiversity and wildlife, so that would've helped.

For the remainder of our hike, we found ourselves completely absorbed in figuring out what was edible. It was a funny transition, and definitely transformed our typical hike into something much more. Plus, it was a lot of fun to do so! All in all, we agreed that our chances of survival were pretty low, unless we happened to run across indigenous people that would take us in.

We then contemplated life at that time, a time where one is by necessity so intimately connected with nature because it provides everything and can take away so much as well. A life without computer screens or street signs. Just the forest, your tribe, and your family. If we were taken to a world such as this, could we be happy, knowing everything We already know? We thought we could, at least for a shorter duration, but were uncertain about longer term. How about you?

Badass Gentleman takeaway is that survival training will be put on the list of necessary skills. It's hard to be Badass if you can't stay alive.