Woodcraft and Camping Skills from the 18th to the 21st Centuries, Survival Skills, Lost Prevention, Gear Reviews and Much More...
Tuesday, October 30, 2018
Modern Survival: Outdoor Gear and Savvy to Bring You Back Alive, 1979, Part One
Sunday, October 28, 2018
What is Dehydration and How Do You Avoid It? ©
The Dehydration Clock |
Cold environments are less dehydrating than hot environments, since 75% of your body’s excess heat can be dissipated into the environment without sweating, and the average person in a cold environment requires from two to six quarts of water daily, depending on their exercise level. In addition, any physical activity in the snow requires more energy, and therefore generates more waste heat, because of the heavier layers of clothes worn and the additional effort required to move in the snow. In cold environments or temperate climates when it is cold, you must always limit sweating: sweating not only dehydrates you, in these climates, it can also chill you and that can kill you. To reduce the amount you sweat, you should layer your clothes so that as you heat up you can remove a layer and maintain a comfortably cold temperature. Since you head is your body’s radiator, put on or take off, a knit cap as you warm up, or cool down. Also, whenever possible stay out of the wind, not only will it cool you down, perhaps more than you would like, but just like in hot and dry environments it will also dehydrate you.
In high altitude environments, because every activity takes more energy due to the altitude and the bulky clothing worn, and because the air is drier, you will need between four and five quarts of water each day.
- Eat regular meals, make time to drink, drink frequently, make sure the water tastes good and is the right temperature.
FM 90-3 Desert Operations, p. 1-22 |
- Drink before you become thirsty and drink often, thirst lags behind actual water needs, so drink before you become thirsty. When you become thirsty, you are already about a "quart low". Since the sensation of thirst is not felt until the body has already lost 1% of its total body fluids or about ¾ of a quart of water, drink even if you are not thirsty right now.
- Being thirsty makes it harder to stay warm, and in hot climates hard to stay cool.
- Take frequent drinks since it is better to drink smaller quantities of water often, rather than large quantities occasionally, because drinking small quantities of water frequently results in less urination than drinking large quantities infrequently. You should drink a small quantity of water every 50 minutes.
- Drink one quart of water in the morning, since you are dehydrated when you wake up, one quart at each meal, and one quart before strenuous work. In hot climates, drink at least one quart of water each hour.
FM 90-3 Desert Operations, p. 1-24 |
- In both hot and temperate conditions, cool drinks (50o-70oF) increase your desire to drink fluids, cool you and are absorbed by your body faster than cold water. In hot conditions when water is warmer than 75o-80oF, people will not want to drink it, make sure water is kept as cool as possible so it will be as drinkable as possible.
- When temperatures are cold, warm or hot drinks are preferable as they increase your desire to drink fluids and warm the body. The popular view is that tea or coffee are dehydrating and that you should not be drink them to replenish your body fluids. While caffeine is a very mild diuretic, the caution to stay away from them has been exaggerated and the caffeine in caffeinated drinks leads to a loss of less water than the water that is in the beverage itself. Caffeine is only a problem if your entire fluid intake comes from caffeinated drinks. Current research shows that drinking up to four mugs of black tea is as effective as a similar quantity of water, at rehydrating your body Hot cocoa might be better choice in cold climates than coffee, because it has less caffeine and has needed carbohydrates.
- How a drink tastes is a major factor in how much is drank. Adding packets of artificial fruit flavoring or sweeteners to your water can cover existing bad flavors in the water and encourage you to drink more due to the pleasant taste.
- Gatorade or other carbohydrate/electrolyte beverages are generally not required and if used, should not be the only source of water; they are too concentrated to be used alone. Many athletes prefer to dilute these 1:1 with water.
- Carbonated drinks, sodas, beer, and milk are not good substitutes for water because they are more food than drink and are dehydrating.
- Salt is lost when you sweat; however eating your meals regularly and salting your food to taste, usually provides enough salt to counter salt depletion from sweating. If you are unable to eat regularly, add a small quantity of salt (¾ of a teaspoon per quart or a pinch into a mug) to your water, take a salt tablet or drink a sports drink like Gatorade. If you are deficient in salt, you will notice the following symptoms: weakness, muscle cramps, nausea and a hot dry feeling over your entire body.
- If your urine is dark yellow or orange and is less than normal, the last urination cannot be remembered, or if skin has decreased turgor, you are probably dehydrated.
Are You Hydrated Take the Urine Color Test (see sources) |
- Water is best carried in your belly, do not "save" it in your canteen, SO DRINK your water as you need it, don’t ration your water.
- The only way to conserve your drinking water is to ration your sweat, and not the water in your canteen, so drink your water, as you need it. Water is best carried in your belly, do not "save" it in your canteen, SO DRINK your water as you need it, don’t ration your water.
- No matter the environment that you are in, conserve your sweat not your water, simply put “DON’T WORK UP A SWEAT”!
- Sucking on a pebble or chewing gum masks the symptom of thirst and does you no harm. However, it does not replenish lost water and is not a substitute for drinking fluids.
Sunday, October 14, 2018
Desert Survival: Information For Anyone Traveling In The Desert Southwest, 1962 ©
One of my favorite things
to do is to read books on survival and the outdoors…right…wow!...guess I don’t
have many friends…maybe I need a hobby…
Anyways, I found this
article buried in over a hundred pages of unrelated documents in a PDF in the
Arizona Geological Society, Doug K. Martin Mining Collection. It was created by the Maricopa County Civil
Defense Joint Council in 1962 and is one of the best overall articles that I
have ever read on traveling in the outdoors and survival. It was written with desert survival and
travel in the American Southwest in mind, however, the lessons it teaches can
be applied to any wilderness area.
I copied the article
below: if the pictures are printed, they can be folded and assembled into a
booklet.
I hope that you enjoy
reading it as much as I did. The link to
the original file in the Arizona Geological Society, Doug K. Martin Mining
Collection is below if you would like to view the original file: see pages 5
through 20, for Desert Survival.
Desert Survival covers |
Desert Survival page blank and 25 |
Desert Survival page 24 and i |
Desert Survival page ii and 23 |
Desert Survival page 22 and iii |
Desert Survival page iv and 21 |
Desert Survival page 20 and 1 |
Desert Survival page 2 and 19 |
Desert Survival page 18 and 3 |
Desert Survival page 4 and 17 |
Desert Survival page 6 and 15 |
Desert Survival page 14 and 7 |
Desert Survival page 8 and 13 |
Desert Survival page 12 and 9 |
Desert Survival page 10 and 11 |
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
Civil Defense Joint
Council, Desert Survival: Information For Anyone Traveling In The Desert
Southwest, 1962 (Maricopa County; Phoenix, Arizona [1962]) reprinted in http://docs.azgs.az.gov/SpecColl/1988-01/1988-01-0026.pdf,
p. 5-20
Thursday, October 4, 2018
How Do You Say “Hello”?©
An incident on the trip to Fort Wayne, March 28th, 1804 from, A Mission to the Indians, from the Indians Committee of Baltimore Yearly Meeting, p 43-44 |
7 Willem Séwel, A Large Dictionary English and Dutch, (Evert Visscher, Amsterdam [1727]), p 66
References:
North American Review, Vol. XXVI (Frederick T. Gray, Boston [1828]), p. 380 reprinted in https://books.google.com/books?id=cqRKAAAAcAAJ&pg=PP13&dq=%22North+American+Review,+Vol.+XXVI%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjat-Wi0ujdAhVkg-AKHcqYAeIQ6AEIKTAA#v=onepage&q=%22North%20American%20Review%2C%20Vol.%20XXVI%22&f=false, (accessed 10/2/2018)
Henry Rowe Schoolcraft, Notes on the Iroquois: (Bartlett & Welford, New York [1846]) p. 209 https://books.google.com/books?id=wHQTAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA209&dq=%22sago%22+mohawk&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjd7-OSi-rdAhVM0FMKHYu7C_Q4jAEQ6AEIPDAE#v=onepage&q=%22sago%22%20mohawk&f=false, (accessed 10/2/2018)
Nathaniel Parker Willis, Esq., American Scenery, Vol II, (George Virtue, London [1840]), p 65, reprinted in https://books.google.com/books?id=xOMg-B1-dJEC&pg=PA65&dq=%22how+do+broder%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi2p7SCierdAhVpUd8KHfu0CcUQ6AEILTAB#v=onepage&q=%22how%20do%20broder%22&f=false , (accessed10/3/2018)