I saw this elsewhere and thought it would work here. You are going to be stranded in the middle of now where and have to make it on your own back to civilization. You'll have two weeks to make the trip. You'll be wearing weather appropriate clothing, have good hiking shoes, a canteen, canteen cup, and a leatherman knife on you. You are allowed to take one more thing with you. You have to choose between the following: Duct / 100 MPH tape A poncho liner 500' of 550 / parachute cord Which one do you take? I'll answer later.
Yeah, the duct tape might come in handy once your clothes/shoes start to wear out, but not in the first 2 weeks. The poncho would be nice to have, but not absolutely necessary. What would be absolutely necessary is food, and the cord is the only one of those items that might possibly be used to catch some.
Also with the cord you can tie branches/logs up to make shelters, rafts, nets to catch game, gill nets to catch fish, a string for a bow and arrow, etc.
What do you mean, I have two weeks to get back to civilisation? What happens if I take three? They won't let me back in?
There's also a permaban on day 15. I'll go with the consensus choice, selecting the cord. Although, if the Leatherman is the one with the compass in the handle, I should be back in time for tomorrow night's Sox-Yankees game.
Nothing wrong with a compass, but knowing the way to safety and actually being able to get there are two different things! Without a map detailing the "big picture" a compass is worthless.
I was joking. All the compass would give me without the map is the same thing I can determine by observing the Sun.
Yeah I picked the 550 cord as well and for the same reasons. Maybe this was too easy and I should have said a hooker, blow, or cigar?
Unless you are travelling at night because it's dangerously hot during the day. Or, it's dark almost 24/7 because it's winter above the Arctic Circle, or maybe just cloudy and rainy during your adventure. If you have varying terrain features (streams, valleys, hills, etc) a map is actually very useful without a compass in planning travel routes.
