“OK I'm lost, and I'm having an Unexpected Overnighter©”

 

 

For more on this adventure look for the future videos on my YouTube Channel, at BandanaMan Productions, HERE -- Author’s Note

 

So last weekend I got lost, I prefer the word “misplaced”, personally ... and I did it on purpose!  I had an on-purpose, unexpected overnighter, unplanned adventure, and spent the night alone in the middle of the Allegheny National Forest.  This way, I could create some videos to demonstrate what you should and shouldn’t do. 

 

The “Leave a trip plan with a responsible person and a note in your car at the trail head”, and “always have a buddy” rules are all part of the “it CAN’T happen to ME” rule.  They are good rules to always follow, however unfortunately, they are often forgotten or ignored by hunters and hikers, and all too often this leads to tragedies.  The unexpected CAN happen to YOU, so be prepared, leave a note, and take a buddy with you, because Mother Nature dislikes the unprepared and her reminders to follow the rules are often killers! 

 

To get lost on purpose, I had to bend the “it CAN’T happen to ME” and the “Leave a trip plan with a responsible person and a note in your car at the trail head” rules, and I completely broke the always have a buddy rule!

 

I couldn’t really break the “it CAN’T happen to ME” rule, because obviously, I was planning on having it happen to me!  However, even with all my experience and training, I must admit that I was a little nervous, because anything completely unexpected, like a fall, a medical emergency, sudden bad weather, COULD happen.  I figured a little nervousness was a good thing, because it would keep me on my toes. 

 

I only bent the “Leave a trip plan with a responsible person and leave a note in your car at the trail head” a little, since even though I didn’t leave a note in my car, I did tell my basecamp crew roughly where I was going and when I would be back.  However, other than that I was on my own as I walked off into the wilderness without a buddy. 

 

I was lucky because I picked a good weather weekend to get “misplaced” on, it was warm, almost hot during the day, but because the sky was clear it got cold at night.  The temperature in the valley bottom when I left was below 50^o F (10^o C), so I wore a fleece jacket as I walked out of camp, carrying my camera gear and my “Oh, Shit Kit!”¹ in a pack, and a ferrocerium striker, a pocketknife, a quart bottle of water, and my “minimum item survival kit”² in my vest. 

 

I waited till it was about was about two hours from local sunset (the time when the sun sets behind the local trees and hills) and then pretended to myself that I didn’t know my way back to camp (I did) and that there wasn’t time to get back before dark (there wasn’t).  I was on the summit of the 1,700 foot (518 meter) high ridge overlooking two valleys, and I decided that because of the lack of available firewood, water, and shelter, I needed to find a better spot to spend the night.

 

I left some signals pointing in the direction I was headed in and started downhill looking for some shelter from the nighttime winds and weather. 

 

I need to find some place that satisfied the majority of the 5 W’s, which are protection from the wind, a lack of widow-makers andwildlife, and plenty of wood and water.

 

Since, one of the first rules of survival is “Do Not Waste Precious Energy”, I hoped to find rock shelter, a type of half cave, (for more read “Rock Shelters or Half-Caves, That Home Away From Home, Part One ©, HERE, Part Two ©, HERE, and “Remember This If You Want to be Warm ©”, HERE)  but I was willing to settle for an uprooted tree or big rock (for more read, “Fallen Trees, an Emergency Shelter ©”, HERE)

I was lucky and I was able to find a rock shelter facing east and downhill, which was within about 100 feet (approximately 30 meters) of where I was when I decided I was “misplaced”. 

 

There was plenty of dead wood on the ground nearby and the rock shelter gave good protection from the night-time winds, which generally flow downhill and down-valley.  Also, because it was between the ridge top and the valley floor, it would be warmer than either, due to the thermal belt. 

 

There weren’t any widow-makers in the surrounding trees and no wildlife in the rock shelter, both of which I was glad for.  The only thing that this shelter lacked was easy access to water, it was a dry camp.

 

After checking to make sure the rock ceiling was safe, I gathered more firewood than I thought I would need (which means I would burn through most of it by morning).  Then, I built a reflector/fire ring from stones about three feet (one meter) long and about 12 inches (30 cm) wide. 

 

By building the fire just past the “dripline” of the half-cave, I minimized the chances of thermally shocking the roof of the shelter and causing it to collapse down on me.  The heat radiated into the rock shelter, and the outside of the rock face acted as a chimney to draft the smoke up and away.

 

Whenever you are sleeping rough, remember that to sleep warm you need a reflector, a fire and a backwall, and you sleep between the fireand the backwall.

 

Also, I gathered all the windblown leaves that I could find under the roof of the shelter, heaped them up into a pile, and covered themwith my trash bags, to insulate me from the cold ground.  By then it was beginning to get dark and anticipating that I would probably wake every hour or so from the cold, to rebuild or add wood to the fire, I laid down to get some rest.  The “long fire” fire lay that I had built, helped to keep my whole body warm, and since I was practicing the “Do Not Waste Precious Energy” rule, it allowed me to burn long, thick pieces of wood that I wouldn’t have been able to break otherwise.  As the middle of the logs slowly burned away, I simply pushed the ends further into the fire.

 

It wasn’t a great night’s sleep, the temperature dropped below 60^o F (15^o C), and it got a little chilly, but I made it through the night and walked out to the roadhead in time to meet my basecamp crew.

 

Don’t forget to come back next week and read “The Science Behind Signal Mirrors ©”, where we will talk about how to mirrors and other improvised reflecting devices to attract attention.

 

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

 

¹ My “Oh, Shit Kit!”, was only to be opened in emergencies, and contained a first aid kit, a       Spot satellite GPS messenger, a light sleeping bag, a 1 liter Nalgene bottle of water, a lighter, some toilet paper as tinder, and axe and a sheath knife.

 

² My “minimum item survival kit” included, two 42-gallon, 3.0 mil contractor bags, a one quart-sized Ziploc® style freezer bag, a meal replacement bar, a pea-less whistle, a brightly colored, yellow bandana, a mirror, a piece of 12 by 18 inch (30 by 46 cm) heavy duty aluminum foil, and a knit cap.

 

Sources

 

Burns, Allen Joseph; “Prehistoric Rockshelters Of Pennsylvania: Revitalizing Behavioral Interpretation From Archaeological Spatial Data”, August, 2009, https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1OKWM_enUS921US921&ei=da6FX5vbD72JytMP0JCMkAM&q=rock+shelter+drip+line+hearth&oq=rock+shelter+drip+line+hearth&gs_lcp=CgZwc3ktYWIQAzIFCCEQoAE6BAgAEEc6BQghEKsCOggIIRAWEB0QHjoHCCEQChCgAVC9R1ipU2DiWGgAcAJ4AIABVogBxgOSAQE3mAEAoAEBqgEHZ3dzLXdpesgBBcABAQ&sclient=psy-ab&ved=0ahUKEwjb6ZKK2bHsAhW9hHIEHVAIAzIQ4dUDCA0&uact=5, page 72, accessed October 13, 2020