If you are active in the survival community, paracord is one of those “everyone has some” products like duct tape, WD-40 and water purification tablets.

You may never use it, but you know it is there if you need it, because you have some stored everywhere you have survival gear in one form or another.

Collect water

Found a tiny seep in a rock? Lay one end of your paracord in it and arrange it so the other end is lower. Fill your water bottle or vessel drip by drip.

Fish and Sew

Cut the paracord, exposing its silky innards, and carefully separate out a few strands. Use them for emergency pack repairs (with a sewing needle) or as fishing line with a hook improvised from a thorny branch or carved out of wood.

Make Snowshoes

Gather two pine boughs, 3 feet long by 16 inches wide with lots of little branches off the main shoot. Lay them down, stems facing back. Put a foot on each, and wrap the paracord under the branch and through your boots’ eyelets.

Make a Spear

Find a straight, green stick about an inch thick. Use your blade to flatten an area the size of your knife’s handle. Cut shallow notches near the top and bottom of the flat area. Tie the knife to your stick (go around the guard) and wrap downward, finishing in the second notch at the base.

Just about everyone I know that ventures beyond their backyard has some paracord either as itself or to enhance another product; this is because is a survival situation, it is very versatile.

These three examples are just the tip of the iceberg; paracord has many different survival applications beyond its obvious application to help hold things together.

To learn more survival uses of paracord, check out Backpacker.