the jump-off creek

i'm in a woman vs. wilderness theme here, must have been the getting to find our campsite via kayak adventure.  so right now i'm reading "the jump-off creek" by molly gloss (a PEN/Faulkner Award Finalist) of which william kittredge says, "an instant classic...a truly beautiful piece of American storytelling".  i agree.  i find myself feeling pretty handy at the prospect of the great outdoors, but then again, we have REI.  could i REALLY survive/homestead/pioneer?  as i was drifting off to sleep i came up with a list in my mind of what i think i could do and what classes i'd need to take from the grown up wilderness scouts of america.  pretty good at list: general resourcefulness, map-following, animal prints and tracking, first aid, canoeing, fishing, cooking, planting a garden, care & feeding of animals, arranging/beautifying, washing, sewing, chopping wood and building fires--including but not limited to candle-making.  ambience and light are important! the help-me, i'm homesteading for the first time list:  lumber & building skills, how to shoot a gun, knot-tying, various cuts of meat and preservation techniques, water-proofing, and pretty much everything else i haven't thought of yet.  i think it would be fun to get to choose supplies to start with (coffee!) and see how long i could go (see also the character Sam in "my side of the mountain") and i suppose for the first few months of my wilderness experience (spring or summer, thank you very much) it would be helpful to be near civilization.  but what about you?  what would you want to learn if you were playing at you vs. the wilderness?