Forest survival stories

The forest is one of the best places to get into a survival situation, if there ever was a “good” place to become stranded that is. With ample building supplies and water normally easy to find, this is one of the easiest places to survive, if you know what you’re doing of course. Thousands of people get lost in forests around the world each year, but few match the extreme situations of the forest survival stories below.

Hugh Glass – 200 miles on a broken leg

Hugh Glass has to be one of the toughest survivalists in history, with his adventures becoming so famous they even made a movie about him starring Leonardo DiCaprio called “The Revenant”.

During the early 1800’s he was one of the most successful explorers of the American wilderness and took part in many expeditions to find new lands and riches. During one of these trips in 1823, Glass and a few others set out to hunt small game before the main expedition began in a nearby forest.

While sneaking through the trees, Glass came up close to a large female bear protecting her cubs and startled her. She attacked Glass and broke his leg, along with many deep cuts all over his body and severe bruising. He managed to kill the bear with his knife but the condition he was in led his companions to believe he was going to die.

They dragged him on a sled for 2 days but his condition didn’t seem to improve, so they left two of the group with him who were supposed to wait until he died. Whether or not the two guarding him thought he was already dead or just wanted to leave isn’t clear, but they took his rifle and all his gear and draped the skin they took off the bear over him.

Glass woke up and over the next 6 weeks crawled and hopped 200 miles to safety all the while trying to stop gangrene from killing him.

Hugh Glass – The Full Survival Story

The Lykov Family – 42 years in the wilderness

Being part of a religious group that was opposed to the current government of Russia isn’t something that normally ends well, especially in the early 1900’s when things were particularly harsh.

One day in a small village in northern Russia, the Lykov family were going about their business when a communist patrol came into the area and for some reason, shot Lykovs brother.

Knowing him and his family could be next he took them into the woods and ran, along with a small amount of gear and a few seeds. Normally when people hide in the woods they have the intention of coming out again, but Lykov thought the best chances for his families survival would be to stay there.

For the next 42 years the Lykov family lived in one of the most remote regions of Russia and didn’t have any contact what so ever with the outside world. They even had more children in the wilderness and after the equipment they brought with them rusted and broke, they made birch bark containers and farmed potatoes with their hands.

The Lykov Family – The full Survival Story

Benjamín Sánchez – A 5 year old alone in the Argentinian wilderness

The five-year-old boy became lost after a game of hide and seek with his mother. Someone of this age being alone in any wilderness would be incredibly dangerous, but the area of Argentina he was in is home to snakes, spiders, and night-hunting Pumas.

Benjamín Sánchez – The Full Survival Story

Lisa Theris – Legally blind in the forest for a month

Lisa Theris is legally blind without her glasses and went missing under strange circumstances, to say the least, and to this day no one knows the truth of how she vanished or how she survived. She claims she was drugged and woke up naked in the woods after meeting some very shady people who tried to take her on a robbery with them.

After walking through the trees for a whole month she finally stumbled out onto a road where she was found by a passing car. She did seem to be in the condition of someone who’d been lost for a month, with her losing 50 lbs in weight and having the insect bites and sunburn to back it up, but the way she says she stayed alive doesn’t quite add up.

Lisa Theris – The Full Survival Story

Karina Chikitova – A 3 year old alone in the Siberian wilderness for 11 days

Karina was a 3-year-old who got lost in the Siberian wilderness while trying to walk alone to her father in a neighboring village. Her dog followed her into the forest but they got lost immediately, with her sleeping on him at night for warmth and hiding behind him when wild animals came.

Somehow she managed to stay alive in a region that has one of the world’s highest bear populations for 11 days. Finally, her dog ran off to find help and managed to get some locals from a nearby village to follow him back to Karina.

Karina Chikitova – The Full Survival Story