here is part of my senior project for school been wanting to post this it is title why unprepared person should no go in the woods
Imagine that a man is in the woods and hes cold, wet and scared. Night is fast approaching. The sun is going down and he is thrashing about trying to find the trail back to the safety of his car and to the warmth of his home. But just a short time ago, he decided that instead of leaving an hour early as he had originally planned, he decided to cast his hook out one more time for that all elusive fish. Of course, that all seems like a distant memory now. Then a greater disaster strikes, he takes a misstep into a hole and fractures his ankle. He can no longer put any weight on it due to the pain ratcheting up his leg. Then he suddenly takes account of his situation. He has no coat, no matches, and no food, nothing to help him out in the wilderness and even though the temperature was in the high 60s during the day, the temperature is supposed to go below 40 at night. As he shivers and his body goes into hypothermia he wonders Why did this happen to me?
Sadly this is the case for hundreds of people all over the country. They expect to be out for a day and they bring along a picnic of cheese, crackers and sausage and neglect to bring ten essential items that they should have such as: a knife, extra food, water, a map, compass, matches to get a fire started, extra clothing for layering, rain gear, flashlight and a first aid kit plus telling someone the plan for the outing should he become lost (Ward and Williams 207).
When people first came to America survival skills were common knowledge. Today, Americans are lazy and used to the conveniences of life. They dont want to carry five or six extra pounds of survival gear including the basic emergency essentials listed above. Unfortunately, this line of thinking can get people killed. Take for example, Aron Ralston, Between a Rock and a Hard Place , he set out to go free climbing (without safety gear) in Horseshoe Canyon, Utah. During his climb, a rock shift occurred which crushed his arm and pinned him in the Canyon. The weight of the rock was too great for him to lift it off himself so he laid there for three days waiting for rescue which never arrived. He then took the drastic step of performing a self amputation. Thats right! He cut his own arm off to save himself. He later wrote that had he left a note alerting folks to where he was going and when hed be returning, he would not have had to perform a self amputation (Ralston 354).
In another example, James Kim, an editor for CNET, and his family became stuck in a blinding snowstorm in Oregon when they became disoriented on a lightly used logging road. They stayed with their vehicle for three days before James Kim decided to try and hike to a town four miles away. Authorities found the family two days after Mr. Kim set out on his journey. Mr. Kim unfortunately was found a day later dead in a creek from hypothermia. He walked 16 miles in two days, mostly in circles, and died on the second day of his journey (Katz).
These are just two of many examples, where people have made simple mistakes with devastating results. Unfortunately in the wilderness, it is the simple mistakes that will get someone killed. Mistakes such as leaving their last known location because no one has shown up or not leaving a note with friend or family member that details ones plans can be disastrous. It seems that in a world of cars with global positioning systems (GPS), cell phones with instant access to medical and fire services, not to mention the vast array of resources found on the Internet, people have grown accustomed to a sense of security. What many people do not seem to realize is how fast technology can fail them. Cell phone batteries die faster in cold weather, cell tower signals arent dependable in valleys or remote areas and vehicles can get stuck in snow or fail when parts break.
Many people do not know what to do if they get into a jam? Could they make it out alive? Most people that get lost are not prepared to face the dangers that can affect them in the backcountry. A clear day can turn into a terrible storm, people get separated from their group and become lost, or as in the case of our friend at the beginning of this paper, they injure themselves by making careless mistakes. Hiking bears some similarities to a child riding a bike where the child has to keep the training wheels on in order to get to a point where he/she can begin to venture out on their own. In the case of hiking, people need to learn various steps in order to take care of themselves out in the wilderness. For example, they can begin by camping near their car which contains all of their equipment. Plus they are still near the safety of their car and maintain the ability to escape if they need to. Then once they learn the basics of camping (including what type of equipment they will need), they can go hiking and backpacking carrying the gear that they require. Once they have mastered that, then theyre ready to proceed with camping carrying minimal gear. When carrying minimal gear, a person should have acquired the ability to live in the environment that theyre staying in. Most inexperienced people that go on a hike take little to nothing with them which they need to survive whereas experienced people realize that at the very least they will need The Ten Essentials.
Survival begins with a great rule for the outdoors known as The Rule of Threes. It boils down to survival priorities: A person can live for three minutes without air, three hours without shelter, three days without water, three weeks without food (Hood). This rule gives the prepared person an idea of how to prioritize their actions during a survival situation. People need shelter first, then water and lastly food. Many people feel that they need food first above everything else. Yes, people need food but thanks to human physiology and modern society we all have a little bit of fat reserve that gives us about 3 to 4 weeks before we are truly in dire need of food. However, once those fat reserves are depleted the human body starts to eat itself.
Next to oxygen, shelter from the elements is the most important rule. The body can quickly go into hypothermia from wind, rain and cold. In wilderness situations, these are the biggest killers. For example, Christopher Appleby, a college student ventured out near Salt Lake City, Utah. He decided to go rabbit hunting in the snow and died from exposure after his car stalled; however, his friend survived because he knew the importance of seeking shelter and dug himself a shelter in the snow (Man Freezes). A shelter can be anything from a small lean-to to a fire to keep one warm. Because our bodies are like small furnaces, people need to keep the heat in and use preventative techniques to stop from losing more of it. We lose heat fast from laying on the cold, hard ground. For this reason, in our shelters it is wise to place a layer of leaves or small sticks on the bottom where one plans to be bedding. This will help one to stay warmer at night and keep out the elements such as rain or snow. Staying dry is another way to protect oneself from losing body heat.
The next most important rule is to stay hydrated. Bodies in modern society maintain a continuous state of dehydration as we are used to living in a temperature controlled environment. Unfortunately, the human body is always losing water through exposure to dry environments, sweat, evaporation due to wind, and through its natural state of respiration and breathing (Lundin 65). The human body loses water continuously and that is why one cant survive more than 3 days without drinking water. Water (and electrolytes) is essential to staying alive. Another thing to keep in mind is that water straight out of a stream can be deadly. One can get sick from micro-organisms living in the water and become even more dehydrated from vomiting or diarrhea. For this reason, boiling water from streams or lakes and/or using iodine or chlorine tablets to kill anything in it that could be harmful is essential (Stroud 64).
These rules can help to keep anyone alive but only if they apply them. What should someone who is lost do if they get lost? First, there is a need to recognize that they are lost. They are lost when they start to tell themselves my car is right around this corner or its right over this ridge. The world starts to spin, they get into dazed thoughts, their vision can begin to blur, and theyre panicking. It is at this precise moment that they need to Stop, Think, Observe and Plan (S.T.O.P. ((Boy Scouts Handbook 40)). Stop whatever theyre doing and sit down, calm their self, take a drink, relax and then think about what theyre going to do next. STOP is also good because the more lost they become the more damage theyre going to do to themselves and make it more difficult for Search and Rescue Services (SARS) to find them. The reason this is so important is because leaving a note gives SARS a starting point to begin looking for them. If they get off the trail for one mile then panic for about five miles then theyre already a good six miles away from where SARS is beginning their search.
The next part of S.T.O.P. is to Observe to look and listen for anyone who may be calling for them or if they hear a car or truck this could signal that a road could be near to them. It is also a good course of action, to see if the area theyre in is a good spot to survive. If its not then they may have to move. Things to consider are: does their current location have a stream to get water? Does it have timber to build a shelter and feed their fire? Are there any animals around that could harm them? Or are there suitable small game trails to potentially catch wild animals? All these thoughts should go through their head while observing.
The next phase is to Plan. They should think about how SARS will find them. Do they have adequate signaling so SARS could see them from the air? How long will one be exposed to the environment before SARS rescues? How long will one last? This can all be boiled down to the Boy Scout motto of Be Prepared (Boy Scout handbook 54). Lord Robert Baden-Powell, the founder of the Boy Scouts which was founded in 1910, was asked What are you preparing for? and he replied Be prepared for anything! This means that when going into the wilderness, people must take along whatever they need to survive, be prepared for foul weather or storms, be prepared for injury, and be prepared by telling someone where they are going and when they plan to return (Boy Scout Handbook 54). Being prepared is the first step before going into the wilderness, so be prepared by always making a plan, having the right equipment on hand and a taking along the ten essentials.
The last thing I would like to touch on is that in order to survive they should have a basic survival kit but without a positive attitude they are as good as dead. This is the single most important factor that will keep them going when they are freezing in their small little shelter. It will be the thing that keeps them going when theyre trying to make fire in the extreme cold. This kind of attitude is the one thing that will keep an unprepared person alive. It is the voice in their head that tells them Hey, youre almost there! Keep going! You dont want to miss seeing your family and kids grow up. A bad attitude can kill one faster than dehydration. Giving up the will to live or feeling sorry for ones self can kill. A poor attitude will prevent one from building a shelter, or building a fire at night. It will cause them to lose the will to live even when rescue was possible. One way to maintain a good attitude is to keep reminding oneself that there are reasons to live such as family or a best friend and to keep ones hopes high no matter how bad things get. Remember the mind is stronger than most people realize and the mind controls the body (Stroud 38).
Survival skills are essential to have before making the decision to take a hike in the woods. Skills such as The Ten Essentials, The Rule of Three and S.T.O.P. can possibly avert a potential disaster. Of course, its also indispensable to have a positive attitude to accompany these skills. This is why I strongly believe that if one is going into the woods, then one needs to plan and be prepared.
Imagine that a man is in the woods and hes cold, wet and scared. Night is fast approaching. The sun is going down and he is thrashing about trying to find the trail back to the safety of his car and to the warmth of his home. But just a short time ago, he decided that instead of leaving an hour early as he had originally planned, he decided to cast his hook out one more time for that all elusive fish. Of course, that all seems like a distant memory now. Then a greater disaster strikes, he takes a misstep into a hole and fractures his ankle. He can no longer put any weight on it due to the pain ratcheting up his leg. Then he suddenly takes account of his situation. He has no coat, no matches, and no food, nothing to help him out in the wilderness and even though the temperature was in the high 60s during the day, the temperature is supposed to go below 40 at night. As he shivers and his body goes into hypothermia he wonders Why did this happen to me?
Sadly this is the case for hundreds of people all over the country. They expect to be out for a day and they bring along a picnic of cheese, crackers and sausage and neglect to bring ten essential items that they should have such as: a knife, extra food, water, a map, compass, matches to get a fire started, extra clothing for layering, rain gear, flashlight and a first aid kit plus telling someone the plan for the outing should he become lost (Ward and Williams 207).
When people first came to America survival skills were common knowledge. Today, Americans are lazy and used to the conveniences of life. They dont want to carry five or six extra pounds of survival gear including the basic emergency essentials listed above. Unfortunately, this line of thinking can get people killed. Take for example, Aron Ralston, Between a Rock and a Hard Place , he set out to go free climbing (without safety gear) in Horseshoe Canyon, Utah. During his climb, a rock shift occurred which crushed his arm and pinned him in the Canyon. The weight of the rock was too great for him to lift it off himself so he laid there for three days waiting for rescue which never arrived. He then took the drastic step of performing a self amputation. Thats right! He cut his own arm off to save himself. He later wrote that had he left a note alerting folks to where he was going and when hed be returning, he would not have had to perform a self amputation (Ralston 354).
In another example, James Kim, an editor for CNET, and his family became stuck in a blinding snowstorm in Oregon when they became disoriented on a lightly used logging road. They stayed with their vehicle for three days before James Kim decided to try and hike to a town four miles away. Authorities found the family two days after Mr. Kim set out on his journey. Mr. Kim unfortunately was found a day later dead in a creek from hypothermia. He walked 16 miles in two days, mostly in circles, and died on the second day of his journey (Katz).
These are just two of many examples, where people have made simple mistakes with devastating results. Unfortunately in the wilderness, it is the simple mistakes that will get someone killed. Mistakes such as leaving their last known location because no one has shown up or not leaving a note with friend or family member that details ones plans can be disastrous. It seems that in a world of cars with global positioning systems (GPS), cell phones with instant access to medical and fire services, not to mention the vast array of resources found on the Internet, people have grown accustomed to a sense of security. What many people do not seem to realize is how fast technology can fail them. Cell phone batteries die faster in cold weather, cell tower signals arent dependable in valleys or remote areas and vehicles can get stuck in snow or fail when parts break.
Many people do not know what to do if they get into a jam? Could they make it out alive? Most people that get lost are not prepared to face the dangers that can affect them in the backcountry. A clear day can turn into a terrible storm, people get separated from their group and become lost, or as in the case of our friend at the beginning of this paper, they injure themselves by making careless mistakes. Hiking bears some similarities to a child riding a bike where the child has to keep the training wheels on in order to get to a point where he/she can begin to venture out on their own. In the case of hiking, people need to learn various steps in order to take care of themselves out in the wilderness. For example, they can begin by camping near their car which contains all of their equipment. Plus they are still near the safety of their car and maintain the ability to escape if they need to. Then once they learn the basics of camping (including what type of equipment they will need), they can go hiking and backpacking carrying the gear that they require. Once they have mastered that, then theyre ready to proceed with camping carrying minimal gear. When carrying minimal gear, a person should have acquired the ability to live in the environment that theyre staying in. Most inexperienced people that go on a hike take little to nothing with them which they need to survive whereas experienced people realize that at the very least they will need The Ten Essentials.
Survival begins with a great rule for the outdoors known as The Rule of Threes. It boils down to survival priorities: A person can live for three minutes without air, three hours without shelter, three days without water, three weeks without food (Hood). This rule gives the prepared person an idea of how to prioritize their actions during a survival situation. People need shelter first, then water and lastly food. Many people feel that they need food first above everything else. Yes, people need food but thanks to human physiology and modern society we all have a little bit of fat reserve that gives us about 3 to 4 weeks before we are truly in dire need of food. However, once those fat reserves are depleted the human body starts to eat itself.
Next to oxygen, shelter from the elements is the most important rule. The body can quickly go into hypothermia from wind, rain and cold. In wilderness situations, these are the biggest killers. For example, Christopher Appleby, a college student ventured out near Salt Lake City, Utah. He decided to go rabbit hunting in the snow and died from exposure after his car stalled; however, his friend survived because he knew the importance of seeking shelter and dug himself a shelter in the snow (Man Freezes). A shelter can be anything from a small lean-to to a fire to keep one warm. Because our bodies are like small furnaces, people need to keep the heat in and use preventative techniques to stop from losing more of it. We lose heat fast from laying on the cold, hard ground. For this reason, in our shelters it is wise to place a layer of leaves or small sticks on the bottom where one plans to be bedding. This will help one to stay warmer at night and keep out the elements such as rain or snow. Staying dry is another way to protect oneself from losing body heat.
The next most important rule is to stay hydrated. Bodies in modern society maintain a continuous state of dehydration as we are used to living in a temperature controlled environment. Unfortunately, the human body is always losing water through exposure to dry environments, sweat, evaporation due to wind, and through its natural state of respiration and breathing (Lundin 65). The human body loses water continuously and that is why one cant survive more than 3 days without drinking water. Water (and electrolytes) is essential to staying alive. Another thing to keep in mind is that water straight out of a stream can be deadly. One can get sick from micro-organisms living in the water and become even more dehydrated from vomiting or diarrhea. For this reason, boiling water from streams or lakes and/or using iodine or chlorine tablets to kill anything in it that could be harmful is essential (Stroud 64).
These rules can help to keep anyone alive but only if they apply them. What should someone who is lost do if they get lost? First, there is a need to recognize that they are lost. They are lost when they start to tell themselves my car is right around this corner or its right over this ridge. The world starts to spin, they get into dazed thoughts, their vision can begin to blur, and theyre panicking. It is at this precise moment that they need to Stop, Think, Observe and Plan (S.T.O.P. ((Boy Scouts Handbook 40)). Stop whatever theyre doing and sit down, calm their self, take a drink, relax and then think about what theyre going to do next. STOP is also good because the more lost they become the more damage theyre going to do to themselves and make it more difficult for Search and Rescue Services (SARS) to find them. The reason this is so important is because leaving a note gives SARS a starting point to begin looking for them. If they get off the trail for one mile then panic for about five miles then theyre already a good six miles away from where SARS is beginning their search.
The next part of S.T.O.P. is to Observe to look and listen for anyone who may be calling for them or if they hear a car or truck this could signal that a road could be near to them. It is also a good course of action, to see if the area theyre in is a good spot to survive. If its not then they may have to move. Things to consider are: does their current location have a stream to get water? Does it have timber to build a shelter and feed their fire? Are there any animals around that could harm them? Or are there suitable small game trails to potentially catch wild animals? All these thoughts should go through their head while observing.
The next phase is to Plan. They should think about how SARS will find them. Do they have adequate signaling so SARS could see them from the air? How long will one be exposed to the environment before SARS rescues? How long will one last? This can all be boiled down to the Boy Scout motto of Be Prepared (Boy Scout handbook 54). Lord Robert Baden-Powell, the founder of the Boy Scouts which was founded in 1910, was asked What are you preparing for? and he replied Be prepared for anything! This means that when going into the wilderness, people must take along whatever they need to survive, be prepared for foul weather or storms, be prepared for injury, and be prepared by telling someone where they are going and when they plan to return (Boy Scout Handbook 54). Being prepared is the first step before going into the wilderness, so be prepared by always making a plan, having the right equipment on hand and a taking along the ten essentials.
The last thing I would like to touch on is that in order to survive they should have a basic survival kit but without a positive attitude they are as good as dead. This is the single most important factor that will keep them going when they are freezing in their small little shelter. It will be the thing that keeps them going when theyre trying to make fire in the extreme cold. This kind of attitude is the one thing that will keep an unprepared person alive. It is the voice in their head that tells them Hey, youre almost there! Keep going! You dont want to miss seeing your family and kids grow up. A bad attitude can kill one faster than dehydration. Giving up the will to live or feeling sorry for ones self can kill. A poor attitude will prevent one from building a shelter, or building a fire at night. It will cause them to lose the will to live even when rescue was possible. One way to maintain a good attitude is to keep reminding oneself that there are reasons to live such as family or a best friend and to keep ones hopes high no matter how bad things get. Remember the mind is stronger than most people realize and the mind controls the body (Stroud 38).
Survival skills are essential to have before making the decision to take a hike in the woods. Skills such as The Ten Essentials, The Rule of Three and S.T.O.P. can possibly avert a potential disaster. Of course, its also indispensable to have a positive attitude to accompany these skills. This is why I strongly believe that if one is going into the woods, then one needs to plan and be prepared.
