Quote:
"Navigation and knots are very perishable... shelters, fire building, and the like less so. Remembering everything when the adrenalin is high, especially difficult - which is why we try so hard to get it down to the point some of this stuff is almost muscle memory."

I think that a significant factor here might be long-term vs. short-term memory. It's possible to learn something, perhaps via a class or another way, and then not do it much after the initial exposure. But then retain the memory of having known about it, having once known how to do it. I think that sort of thing can get you into trouble.

Things that truly do become "muscle memory" are more likely to come back at need ("it's just like riding a bike").

There are also "detail nuances". E.g. (for example), even if you're good at lighting a fire, you might not be any good at finding/making dry kindling and just in general about getting a fire going and sustaining it in really wet conditions.
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Brian Lewis
http://postholer.com/brianle