Could You Survive a Surprise November Snowstorm©

 

Author’s note -- I hope that you enjoy learning from this resource!  To help me to continue to provide valuable free content, please consider showing your appreciation by leaving a donation HERE.  Thank you and Happy Trails!

 

It’s that time of the year.  Hunting season is coming up, and the weather is getting changeable...colder and snows on the way!

 

What would you do if you and your companions were confronted by an early surprise snowstorm, you’re all cold and wet, you’re at least one hours walk, maybe two, from your camp.  It is later in the afternoon, dark will be soon, you don’t have a compass, visibility is dropping and one of you is starting to stumble, mumble and complain about being tired?  That is the question that the Air Force Survival experts asked, almost fifty years ago, in the “Could You Survive’ column published in the Spokane Daily Chronicle, on October 25, 1977.  It’s a good question, what would you do?

 

Here’s some clues from the authors and some information to help you make your decision.  The authors wrote “...one of your companions begins to stagger and complains of fatigue”, this is a clear symptom of hypothermia...it is called the ‘5 umbles’.

 

The ‘5 umbles’ are an easy to remember checklist of behavioral and physical warning signs that can be used to identify the onset of early to moderate stages of hypothermia; the point where the body’s core temperature drops below 95°F (35°C).  Temperatures between 95°F and 90°F  (between 35°C and 32°C) is mild hypothermia, and at this stage, your body is still actively fighting the cold, however symptoms such as fatigue, shivering and clumsiness may appear.

 

The 5 Umbles

·       Grumbles.  When someone uncharacteristically begins to be irritable, complain, becomes apathetic or has a sudden negative attitude, this can be a symptom of hypothermia.

·       Fumbles.  The body responds to a lowering of the core body temperature by reducing the blood flow to the extremities, to keep the body core warm.  This causes a loss of fine motor skills, trouble zipping jackets, buckling gear, or holding objects, clumsiness, and slow reaction times.

·       Stumbles.  The lower blood flow to the limbs also leads to a loss of balance, missteps, stiff muscles, and trouble walking unaided.  The stumbles is often an early symptom of hypothermia, with the victim showing small signs, such as missteps and appearing off balance.

·       Mumbles.  Slow, thick, confused or incoherent speech, along with growing general confusion or sleepiness are a sign of the beginning of hypothermia.

·       Crumbles/Tumbles.  These symptoms are the final sign in the stage toward death by exposure.  The victim could display severe confusion, paradoxical undressing (taking off clothes while freezing), because the person is unable to understand the sensation of sudden “warming”, combativeness, irritability, collapse, unconsciousness, or cardiac failure.

 

So what do you think you should do?  Choice A, B, C or D?  Remember only one gets you all out alive!

   

 

What to Do about the Umbles

 

 

·       Seek shelter.  Look for a dry, sheltered, or area, out of the elements.  Find someplace out of the wind and weather.  Build a fire if possible.

·       Remove/replace wet clothing.  Gently take off wet layers and replace them with dry, warm clothes or blankets, if any are available.

·       Insulate and rewarm.  Cover the victim with wind- and waterproof layers, and place warm (but not hot) water bottles or heat packs in the armpits and groin.

·       Provide fuel.  If they are fully conscious and can swallow, offer warm, sugary drinks – no vasodilators, such as alcoholic or caffeinated liquids.

·       Call for help.  If possible, seek help immediately if body temperature is very low, confusion is severe, or the person becomes unresponsive.

 

So did you get the right answer?  I hope so.  In any case now you know and if you’re ever in this situation, now you’ll know what to do.

 

Don’t forget to come back next week and read another well researched and informative article on the outdoors.

 

I hope that you enjoy learning from this resource!  To help me to continue to provide valuable free content, please consider showing your appreciation by leaving a donation HERE.  Thank you and Happy Trails!

 

I hope that you continue to enjoy The Woodsman’s Journal Online and look for me on YouTube at BandanaMan Productions for other related videos, HERE.  Don’t forget to follow me on both The Woodsman’s Journal Online, HERE, and subscribe to BandanaMan Productions on YouTube.  If you have questions, as always, feel free to leave a comment on either site.  I announce new articles on Facebook at Eric Reynolds, on Instagram at bandanamanaproductions, and on VK at Eric Reynolds, so watch for me.

 

That is all for now, and as always, until next time, Happy Trails!

 

Sources

 

Air Force Survival School, Fairchild AFB; “Could You Survive”, Spokane Daily Chronicle Oct 25, 1977, page 17, https://books.google.com/books?id=ElZOAAAAIBAJ&pg=PA9&dq=%22could+you+survive%22+september+october+november&article_id=6776,2056101&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj6qK-5obiXAxW8z_ACHQKaO5AQ6AF6BAgOEAM#v=onepage&q=%22could%20you%20survive%22%20september%20october%20november&f=false

 

Mullenix, Todd; “Let’s Add Humble to the 5 ‘Umbles’ of Hypothermia”, January 23, 2023, [© 2026 NCOAE], https://ncoae.org/blog/lets-add-humble-to-the-5-umbles-of-hypothermia/, accessed October 17, 2026

 

Day Hiking the North Country Trail©

 

Author’s note -- I hope that you enjoy learning from this resource!  To help me to continue to provide valuable free content, please consider showing your appreciation by leaving a donation HERE.  Thank you and Happy Trails!

P.S.—Sorry for the lack of original pictures from this hike.  There was a phone camera malfunction, and none were saved.

 

Maybe you want to go fall leaf-peeping, maybe you just want to go for a great hike and get away from it all.  But maybe you don’t want to do primitive overnight camping, or you only have time for a day hike.  If so, I have just the place for you!  The Cherry Grove Quadrangle section of the North Country Trail!

 

You can stay at the Minster Creek campsite, or you could rent a room in a hotel in Warren, PA, but either way, it’s a wonderful day hike.  A travel map and a topographic map of the Cherry Grove, PA Quadrangle are available in the sources or HERE and HERE

 

To get there, first get to Warren Pennsylvania.  And from there navigate south to Clarendon, PA.  Just south of Clarendon turn right onto Cherry Grove Rd, which will take you mostly south.  Turn right (west) when you get to the intersection of Cherry Grove Rd, and 2002 (also known as Austin Hill Road if you go east and Hearts Content Rd if you turn west).  Turn left from 2002, when you get to Mayburg Rd/FR116.  Stay straight at the fork to continue on Mayburg Rd.  After about half a mile, you will see a parking lot and the trail head for a portion of the North Country Trail, on your right.  You’re there!  Park.  Hike.  Enjoy.

 

We went both east and west from the parking lot.  We hiked west to the junction of FR419, an hour’s walk in both directions, almost three and a quarter mile (just over 5 km), returning to the trailhead, before hiking east to the Queen Creek lean-to, an hour and a half, or so, away, about four and a quarter miles round trip (almost 7 km).  The entire hike was just over seven and a half miles (just over 12 km)

  

Remember this isn’t front county, even though it is only a short drive from an urban area, this is a primitive, and in some areas, an old-growth forest.  

So always let so one know where you are going,  and when you’re planning to get back.  And bring your Ten Essentials!  Never leave home without them.

 

I hope that you enjoy learning from this resource!  To help me to continue to provide valuable free content, please consider showing your appreciation by leaving a donation HERE.  Thank you and Happy Trails!

 

I hope that you continue to enjoy The Woodsman’s Journal Online and look for me on YouTube at BandanaMan Productions for other related videos, HERE.  Don’t forget to follow me on both The Woodsman’s Journal Online, HERE, and subscribe to BandanaMan Productions on YouTube.  If you have questions, as always, feel free to leave a comment on either site.  I announce new articles on Facebook at Eric Reynolds, on Instagram at bandanamanaproductions, and on VK at Eric Reynolds, so watch for me.

 

That is all for now, and as always, until next time, Happy Trails!

 

 

Sources

 

Forest Service, USDA; “Visitor Maps and Guides: Allegheny National Forest Recreation Map”, https://www.fs.usda.gov/sites/nfs/files/r09/allegheny/publication/Allegheny%20National%20Forest%20Recreation%20Map%202016.pdf, accessed October 10, 2026

 

National Park Service; “Ten Essentials”, https://www.nps.gov/articles/10essentials.htm, accessed October 10, 2026

 

USGS Store; “Cherry Grove, PA Quadrangle”, https://store.usgs.gov/product/824333, accessed October 10, 2026

 

The North Country Trail©

 

Author’s note -- I hope that you enjoy learning from this resource!  To help me to continue to provide valuable free content, please consider showing your appreciation by leaving a donation HERE.  Thank you and Happy Trails!

 

Have you ever hiked the North Country Trail?  Have you even heard of it?  It’s Fall and the leaves are starting to change

 

Everyone has heard of the Appalachian Trail, with its 2,198 miles (approximately 3,538 kilometers) of trail, which crosses through 14 American states, from Springer Mountain in Georgia to Katahdin in Maine, it’s an all-star.  Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it, not as many people have heard of the North Country Trail.

 

The North Country National Scenic Trail (NCNST), known more widely as the North Country Trail, was one of the proposed trails, created when Lyndon B. Johnson signed the National Trails System Act, on October 2, 1968.  Congress approved the proposed trail in 1980, and when fully completed the North Country Trail is expected to reach 4,600 miles (approximately 7,400 km), from Crown Point, New York, on the southwest shore of Lake Champlain, to Lake Sakakawea State Park in North Dakota.

 

In 2023, about 1,800 miles of the total trail had been finished, including more than two thirds of the 195 mile (314 km) Pennsylvania section, which winds through the northwestern corner of Pennsylvania.  It enters Pennsylvania’s Allegheny National Forest in the north from New York’s Allegheny State Park, near Willow Bay Recreation Area, on the eastern shore of Allegheny Reservoir, and exits in the southwest, near Negley, Ohio.

 

Of the trails in the Allegheny National Forest, the 96 miles (155 km) section of the North Country Trail in Pennsylvania, snaking south through the Allegheny National Forest, is the longest trail in the national forest.  This trail, which is marked with blue blazes, winds through old-growth forests in the Tionesta Natural and Scenic Areas, before bending westward through Cherry Run and Henrys Mills.  Later the trail briefly joins the northern end of the Minister Creek Trail, before traveling westward to Dunham Siding near Heart’s Content Scenic Area, then turning south again through Kellettville.  The North Country trail leaves the Allegheny National force when it joins the Baker Trail at the national forest boundary south of Muzette.

 

For the backpacker, seven national forest campgrounds are located on or near the trail.  Also, primitive camping is permitted nearly anywhere within the national forest, except at a few designated areas.

 

A good rule of thumb is that most federal public lands , such as Allegheny National Forest, is open to camping.  Primitive campers (backpackers) are permitted to camp in most areas of the forest without a permit if staying no more than one night in any location, and may camp overnight anywhere except:

 

·       In designated Natural Areas

·       Within 200 feet of a forest road

·       Within 25 feet of a trail

·       Within 100 feet of a stream or any open water

In State lands and Game lands, they often do not allow camping.  There are exceptions to these rules, so make sure to do your research ahead of time.

 

·       There are black bears in the area, so it’s important to store your food overnight hoisted in a tree, do not cook or eat in your sleeping area, and make sure that you are not antagonizing the bears.

 

·       There is plenty of water running through this area that looks clean and clear.  This water can be consumed, but it must be treated first by water purification or filtration.

 

·       Leave a printed copy of the map at home so someone knows where you are going and your expected time of return.

 

·       Develop a plan to check in before/after the hike where cell phone reception permits.

 

So, if you want to see beautiful fall leaves, consider trekking the North Country Trail through The Allegheny National Forest.

 

Don’t forget to come back next week and read about some cool sections of the North Country Trail that you can hike in a day.

 

I hope that you enjoy learning from this resource!  To help me to continue to provide valuable free content, please consider showing your appreciation by leaving a donation HERE.  Thank you and Happy Trails!

 

I hope that you continue to enjoy The Woodsman’s Journal Online and look for me on YouTube at BandanaMan Productions for other related videos, HERE.  Don’t forget to follow me on both The Woodsman’s Journal Online, HERE, and subscribe to BandanaMan Productions on YouTube.  If you have questions, as always, feel free to leave a comment on either site.  I announce new articles on Facebook at Eric Reynolds, on Instagram at bandanamanaproductions, and on VK at Eric Reynolds, so watch for me.

 

That is all for now, and as always, until next time, Happy Trails!

 

 

Notes

 

Sources

 

KTA; “North Country Scenic Trail”, [© 2023], https://www.kta-hike.org/north-country-national-scenic-trail.html, accessed October 3, 2026

 

National Park Service; “North Country, National Scenic Trail”,

https://npshistory.com/publications/noco/map.pdf, accessed October 3, 2026

 

I’m Going on an Adventure; I’m Going on a Trip©

Your regularly scheduled Blogcast has been preempted for a Weekend trip.  It will return at its regularly scheduled time next week, with all new content!

 

Butternut, Uses and How to Know if it is a Hybrid ©

 

Author’s note -- I hope that you enjoy learning from this resource!  To help me to continue to provide valuable free content, please consider showing your appreciation by leaving a donation HERE.  Thank you and Happy Trails!

 

The Butternut, juglans cinerea, is a fascinating species of tree, historically it’s nuts were used as food by Native Americans and early settlers, since the kernel of the nut is sweet, oily, and edible; it was also a source medium brown wood, herbal medicines and sugar-sap. 

  

But today, the Butternut tree is a tree under pressure, both from hybridization with the Japanese walnut, juglans ailantifolia, and from a fungus called sirococcus clavigignenti-juglandacearum, which is the cause of Butternut canker, which is a lethal stem disease.  Multiple cankers can girdle branches and tree trunks causing tree death.  Butternut trees are not currently protected as a threatened or endangered species under the Federal Endangered Species Act (ESA) in the United States.  However in New York State, where I live, they are classified as “Exploitably Vulnerable”, which is shorthand under for “...it is illegal for any person to pick, pluck, sever, remove, damage, or carry away any protected plant species anywhere in the state without the consent of the landowner...New York Environmental Conservation Law § 9-1503”.

 

The only good news in this two front war that the Butternut tree is in, is that the hybridized trees, called Buartnut trees, which are part Butternut and part Japanese walnut, tend to resist butternut canker infection and heal quickly if infected.  They also have the characteristic hybrid vigor, grow rapidly and don’t drop their leaves until after a killing frost, unlike butternuts, which drop their leaves two or more weeks before the first heavy frost.

 

But what did I find?  That’s a good question, with important implications for where this article goes.  It can be very difficult to tell Butternut trees from Buartnut trees, especially as they become more genetically mixed, or ‘backcrossed’, with Butternuts.  In many cases genetic testing is the only way to identify if a tree is fully Butternut, juglans cinerea. 

 

Another way is to count the nuts.  According to the USDA, Butternuts bear singly or in clusters of from 2 to 5 nuts, and Buartnut trees typically produce 8 to 15 nuts in a single cluster.  Another is to compare the shape and ridge structure of the nut. 

 

Based on the work of Purdue University it looks like what I found are Butternut, juglans cinerea, nuts.

 

So...Okay I’m not going to eat them.  If they had been hybrid Buartnut trees I would have talked about how to harvest them and use them for food.  However now in a future article, I’m going to talk about how to germinate and plant them instead.

 

I hope that you enjoy learning from this resource!  To help me to continue to provide valuable free content, please consider showing your appreciation by leaving a donation HERE.  Thank you and Happy Trails!

 

I hope that you continue to enjoy The Woodsman’s Journal Online and look for me on YouTube at BandanaMan Productions for other related videos, HERE.  Don’t forget to follow me on both The Woodsman’s Journal Online, HERE, and subscribe to BandanaMan Productions on YouTube.  If you have questions, as always, feel free to leave a comment on either site.  I announce new articles on Facebook at Eric Reynolds, on Instagram at bandanamanaproductions, and on VK at Eric Reynolds, so watch for me.

 

That is all for now, and as always, until next time, Happy Trails!

 

Sources

 

Amherst College, “Butternut (Juglans cinerea)”, https://www.amherst.edu/museums/naturalhistory/education/community-connections/amherst-college-wildlife-sanctuary/206---flora/node/803401, accessed September 12, 2026

 

International Dendrology Society, “Carya illinoinensis (Wangenh.) K. Koch”, https://www.treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/carya/carya-illinoinensis/, accessed September 12, 2026

 

Purdue University, “Forestry and Natural Resources; Identification of Butternuts and Butternut Hybrids”, FNR-420-W, https://www.extension.purdue.edu/extmedia/fnr/fnr-420-w.pdf, accessed September 19, 2026

 

USDA; “Butternut Juglans cinerea L.”, https://research.fs.usda.gov/silvics/butternut, accessed September 19, 2026

 

Wikimedia, “Juglans cinerea, Juglandaceae, Butternut, White Walnut, leaves and bark”, by H. Zell, July 13, 2009, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Juglans_cinerea_002.JPG, accessed September 12, 2026