Being safe in the woods
Aug. 9th, 2011 12:06 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kengrOk, the news keeps covering this young woman who was found last week after being lost in the woods for 4 days. Somewhat mountainous terrain.
I'm glad she's okay and all that. But the last straw was when they started talking about how brave and resourceful she was, and how it'd make a great movie.
Ok, she got lost the first afternoon after wandering away from camp. She broke her leg that night by walking over a 50 ft cliff in the dark.
She drank water from streams (not the best idea in the wrestern US, because of giardia, butif you need water, you need water). She ate berries (usually ok), bugs and caterpillars and even slugs.
Used to be when covering stuff like this, they'd mention the first rule. Namely, if you get lost *stay put*. If she'd followed that she'd not have gone over the cliff in the dark.
In the woods, *especially* if it's just you and a friend or two, you never set foot out of camp without some granola bars or the like (basically food that won't spoil and that can survive getting rained on oir falling in a stream). A water bottle or canteen, a good knife (suitable for cutting small branches and stuff), and waterproof fire-making materials.
Cell phones are nice if you have coverage. FRS-radios are better because they don't need cell sites, and you can talk back to camp or to rescuers. Be sure to agree on what channel to use.
GPS is good, even a rock bottom model will let you set a waypoint for the camp and thus tell you how far away you are and in what direction.
Spare batteries for the FRS & GPS are good.
Heck, I carry most of that when biking around town!
Also, do read up on the area you are going to be and find out what is ok to eat and what is a really *bad* idea to eat (some caterp[illars, for example are not a good idea to eat. Ditto for some berries (deadly nightshade anyone?)
Heck, a lot of this is stuff you should have in your *car*.
The time to get ready for being lost or stranded is *before* it happens.
I'm glad she's okay and all that. But the last straw was when they started talking about how brave and resourceful she was, and how it'd make a great movie.
Ok, she got lost the first afternoon after wandering away from camp. She broke her leg that night by walking over a 50 ft cliff in the dark.
She drank water from streams (not the best idea in the wrestern US, because of giardia, butif you need water, you need water). She ate berries (usually ok), bugs and caterpillars and even slugs.
Used to be when covering stuff like this, they'd mention the first rule. Namely, if you get lost *stay put*. If she'd followed that she'd not have gone over the cliff in the dark.
In the woods, *especially* if it's just you and a friend or two, you never set foot out of camp without some granola bars or the like (basically food that won't spoil and that can survive getting rained on oir falling in a stream). A water bottle or canteen, a good knife (suitable for cutting small branches and stuff), and waterproof fire-making materials.
Cell phones are nice if you have coverage. FRS-radios are better because they don't need cell sites, and you can talk back to camp or to rescuers. Be sure to agree on what channel to use.
GPS is good, even a rock bottom model will let you set a waypoint for the camp and thus tell you how far away you are and in what direction.
Spare batteries for the FRS & GPS are good.
Heck, I carry most of that when biking around town!
Also, do read up on the area you are going to be and find out what is ok to eat and what is a really *bad* idea to eat (some caterp[illars, for example are not a good idea to eat. Ditto for some berries (deadly nightshade anyone?)
Heck, a lot of this is stuff you should have in your *car*.
The time to get ready for being lost or stranded is *before* it happens.
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no subject
Date: 2011-08-09 07:13 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-08-09 09:00 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-08-09 09:52 am (UTC)The shoulderbag also has batteries, "granola" bars, usually water, as well as my cell phone and a flashlight. And a gizmo that lets me run my cell phone off the AA baterries that my GPS takes.
Alas, my last sleep test shows that I *cannot* sleep usefully without a CPAP anymore. So any camping will require hauling along a hefty battery and an inverter so I can use the CPAP.
But just "hiking" or the like I'd want a minimal first aid kit and the FRS radio.
no subject
Date: 2011-08-09 11:29 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-08-09 12:24 pm (UTC)I just weighed it and it's 8.2 lbs *without* the cell phone, wallet or keys. The water bottle brings it up to 9.2.
I have the bars in there because sometimes I'm on the bus or in the middle of nowhere on the bike and need to eat *something*.
The flashlight is a Coast 3 LED flashlight (blue LEDs). It takes 3 N cells. I often also have my bike headlight in there which is old enough to use a bulb and takes 4 AA batteries.
no subject
Date: 2011-08-09 08:32 pm (UTC)If you need maps, they get more expensive. Last time I looked, my unit (cost over $400 new) was available used for $170 or so.
no subject
Date: 2011-08-10 07:01 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-08-09 12:52 pm (UTC)Hope this is coherent. Very short on sleep this morning.
Face it, most people assume things will always be fine.
I never leave my property without a Leatherman in my belt pouch. I have tools and other emergency equipment in my car trunk. Ditto my two camera bags and my luggage. The TSA leaves a note in my checked luggage every time I fly.
We had a five hour blackout during one of the coldest nights of this past Winter. I lit two Aladdin mantle kerosine lamps and some candles upstairs and ran a kerosine heater in the basement and the temperature never became uncomfortable. As the night wore on I even used a small camp stove to make a hot mug of tea. (CO from this would be a problem in a tent, but in a house there's enough air for the carbon monoxide to dilute below danger level after such a short use.)
Around here, poke plants are very common. Young leaves and shoots are generally safe to eat in moderation. However, mature leaves and berries contain huge amounts of oxalic acid.