The Woodsman's Journal Online: December 2023

Sunday, December 31, 2023

“Winter Survival ... a Low-hanging Tree Shelter©”

This week I planned on writing about digging a hole in the snow to shelter from the wind in a survival situation....but, alas, it is a green Christmas and there just isn’t any snow! So, let’s talk about huddling under the low-hanging branches of a tree, instead.

Huddling under a tree? That’s crazy! Or is it?

In a survival situation, it is all about the wind and the wet, you need protection from both, IMMEDIATELY, especially if it is cold or it will get colder. And don’t forget that while most cases of hypothermia occur when it’s cold, hypothermia can occur even at temperatures above 50^o F (10^o C)¹ particularly if it is windy and/or you are wet from rain or sweat.

At a temperature of 5^o F (-15^oC) and a wind speed of 5 to 10 miles per hour (8 to 16 kph), you are in little danger from the cold, as long as you are properly dressed and are dry. But if the temperature drops to -30^o F (-34^o C) and the wind speed doubles, then it’s going to feel like -58^o F (-50^o C) and prolonged exposure becomes very dangerous and exposed flesh can freeze within 30 seconds!

During the winter of 1971, as described in “A Candle and a Plan”, by Major Samuel A Munch, Jr., survival experts from K.I. Sawyer AFB made a quick and simple shelter, by wrapping a parachute, as many times as possible, around a young, medium-sized bushy evergreen².

They stomped the snow down over edges of the parachute, to hold it down to the ground. The lowest limbs of the evergreen, which were relatively snow free, were cut off and used to brush away the snow from under the tree, and afterwards to provide ground insulation.

Total time to construct this shelter was 14 minutes, and it gave good protection from the 10^o F (-12^o C) temperature and 17 mph (27 kph) winds, since once inside the shelter, they found that the wind chill effect was completely negated.

In addition, the survival experts were provided with a candle from a SEEK-2 survival kit³. They lit this candle after crawling into their shelter and it was able to warm up the interior, in conjunction with their body heat, to 32^o F (0^o C), within six minutes!

Now, most people won’t find themselves stranded in the wilderness with a parachute, so what should they do? They can still take shelterunder a medium sized evergreen, and they can wrap themselves in a piece of canvas, plastic or in garbage bag emergency shelter (for more on this read “Using your poncho or a trash bag as an Emergency Shelter ©’, HERE), for protection from the wind and the wet.

Oh, and if you are wearing a garbage bag emergency shelter, or wrapped in a piece of plastic or canvas, don’t try to use a candle as heat source INSIDE your coverings. That is just asking for some nasty burns and a bad ending to your survival emergency!

Also, never sleep or sit directly on the ground, ALWAYS put something underneath you to protect you from the cold and wetness of the ground. Evergreen boughs, dry weeds, or whatever you find that can be used to provide insulation from the heat stealing ground (for more read “Making an Emergency Bough Bed ©”, HERE).

And don’t forget the lesson learned by the main character of “To Build a Fire”, by Jack London. If you build a fire under an evergreen covered with snow, once the fire gets going, the snow is going to melt, fall, and put out the fire. For other lessons from “To Build a Fire”, read “Survival Tips From Jack London, Part One©” and “Part Two©”, HERE and HERE.

So, which tree would you choose?

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 “Colorado Winter Weather Preparedness Week - Wind Chill Temperatures and Hypothermia”, by US Dept of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Weather Service

² While the author didn’t specify the type of parachute, we can assume that it was a T-10 parachute with a diameter of 35 feet (11 m), since this parachute was introduced into U.S. military service in the 1950’s, and continues in use today, HERE.

An additional fun fact is that full grown evergreen trees can spread across a diameter of 30 feet (9 m).

³ I couldn’t determine the actual size of the candle that is in the SEEK-2 kit, but it appears to be similar in size and shape to a Coghlan’s ¾ wide by 5 inches long, (2 cm wide by almost 13 cm long) emergency candle, which has a burn time between 4 and 5 hours.

Sources

Hockman, Lyndell L., TSGT; “Survival”, Combat Crew: Magazine of the Strategic Air Command, November 1960, page 17, https://books.google.com/books?id=-SH0nzkSdP0C&pg=RA16-PA17&dq=tree+shelter+parachute&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjojrTP4LeDAxXfk4kEHcozCQ04FBDoAXoECAkQAg#v=onepage&q=tree%20shelter%20parachute&f=false, accessed December 30, 2023

Koskella, K. R., Captain; “Cold Weather: Are You Prepared to Survive?”, Approach, Volume 30, Issue 7, February 1985,

https://books.google.com/books?id=Vt3fueQgHu0C&pg=PP26&dq=%22survival+kit%22+candle&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj227eMiriDAxVOrokEHRCDBlQQ6AF6BAgEEAI#v=onepage&q=%22survival%20kit%22%20candle&f=false, accessed December 30, 2023

Munch, Jr., Samuel A., Major; “A Candle and a Plan”, Approach, The Naval Safety Center's Aviation Magazine, January 1972, pages 26-29, https://books.google.com/books?id=vO9Gc8mF2G0C&pg=PP352&dq=%22tree+pit%22+survival+how+much+warmer&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj7rqD296aDAxVhg4kEHWhmD14Q6AF6BAgHEAI#v=onepage&q=%22tree%20pit%22%20survival%20how%20much%20warmer&f=false, accessed December 30, 2023

USAF; “Survival Training in the USAF”, Air University Quarterly Review, Vol. 5, No. 4, Winter 1952-83, page 77, https://books.google.com/books?id=q90IAAAAIAAJ&pg=RA2-PA77&dq=tree+shelter+parachute&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjojrTP4LeDAxXfk4kEHcozCQ04FBDoAXoECAoQAg#v=onepage&q=tree%20shelter%20parachute&f=false, accessed December 30, 2023

U.S. Dept of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Weather Service, “Colorado Winter Weather Preparedness Week - Wind Chill Temperatures and Hypothermia”, https://www.weather.gov/gjt/wwpw_co_day5, accessed December 30, 2023

U.S. Marine Corps; Commander's Guide to Cold Weather Operations, FMFRP 7-24, [United States Navy, Washington D.C., , August 22, 1988], page E-3, https://books.google.com/books?id=TRy5-eizh9wC&pg=RA3-PA1&dq=%22tree+pit%22+survival+how+much+warmer&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj7rqD296aDAxVhg4kEHWhmD14Q6AF6BAgFEAI#v=onepage&q=%22tree%20pit%22%20survival%20how%20much%20warmer&f=false, accessed December 30, 2023

United States Army; “PEARL’s”, United States Army Aviation Digest, Issue 7, July 1969, page 51 to 55, https://books.google.com/books?id=Guu3U6usU0oC&pg=PA55&dq=seek-2+kit+candle&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiDlM_bhriDAxV7kokEHVY7CI8Q6AF6BAgGEAI#v=onepage&q=seek-2%20kit%20candle&f=false, accessed December 30, 2023

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Sunday, December 24, 2023

North Pole...Where? ©

Everyone knows that Santa Claus lives at the North Pole, but no one has ever found his workshop. Maybe that’s because there are FIVE north poles and two of them are constantly moving!

Five north poles? Oh wow! No wonder Santa has stayed hidden all these years! This is a mystery deeper than Oak Island’s Money Pit!

North pole number one is the “Geographic North Pole”, number two is the “Magnetic North Pole”, three is the “Geomagnetic North Pole”, four the “North Pole of Inaccessibility” and lastly, number five, is the “North Pole of Greatest Cold”. Under which one is Old Saint Nick’s workshop?

Let’s look at these five poles and maybe we will find a clue as to where Kris Kringle’s place is hidden.

The Geographic North Pole

The “Geographic North Pole”, also known as “True North”, or the “north celestial pole”, is the most northern point of the planet, the point around which the Earth spins on its axis. It is found in the middle of the Arctic Ocean at 90^o North latitude. The good news is that this point is easy to find, since Polaris, the North Star, is less than 1° away from true north. The bad news is that the geographic north and south poles aren’t fixed points, because the Earth isn’t a perfect sphere and since it is instead an ellipsoid, it wobbles on its axis.

Unfortunately, true north isn’t the same as the magnetic north pole, and that is why you must adjust your compass to point in direction of geographic north pole when aligning a map with the landscape. The declination of a map is the number of degrees of adjustment between true north and magnetic north needed, to correctly align your map and compass.

The Magnetic North Pole

The “Magnetic North Pole”, or the “North Magnetic Pole” as it is also known, is aligned with Earth’s magnetic field, and is located in the Northern Hemisphere, where that field is exactly vertical. This point is in constant motion and is currently moving northwest towards Siberia at between 28 to 34 miles per year (45 to 54 Km per year).

Strangely enough though, the geographic north magnetic pole is actually the south pole of the gigantic dipole magnet that is planet Earth, which is why it attracts the north end of your compass!

The North Geomagnetic Pole

The geomagnetic poles are the points on the north and south of the
planet where the magnetosphere’s axis pass through the Earth. Earth’s “North Geomagnetic Pole” is currently located near Ellesmere Island, Canada, 80.8^o north by 72.7^o west and used to be called the “North Wind Pole”. Unlike a bar magnetic, Earth’s magnetic field is complicated, and it isn’t a perfect dipole, since its ends are not perfectly opposite each other. However, this pole is relatively stable and has stayed in the same spot for many years and is also the home of the aurora borealis or northern lights.

The Northern Pole of Inaccessibility

The “Northern Pole of Inaccessibility”, which is also known as the “North Ice Pole”, is the only pole that is determined solely by geography. Poles of inaccessibility are those places that are all as equally far from a coast, and therefore, as inaccessible as possible. The northern pole of inaccessibility is located at 85^o, 48 minutes north latitude by 176^o, 9 minutes west longitude, and is equally distant from Ellesmere Island, Henrietta Island in the East Siberian Sea, and the Komsomolets Island in the Russian Arctic. From the northern pole of inaccessibility, there is nothing but frigid sea water and pack ice for 626 miles (1,008 km) in any direction.

North Pole of Greatest Cold

The “North Pole of Greatest Cold” is the place in the northern hemisphere where the lowest air temperatures have been recorded. Contrary to what you may imagine, the north pole of greatest cold, is not located at the geographic north pole, but is instead south of the north pole in Northern Siberia.

So, that is all of the five of the North Poles, which one do you think Father Christmas lives at?

Personally, I am betting that Santa’s workshop is at the north geomagnetic pole, on Ellesmere Island, northwest of the top of Greenland. But just as no one is certain what is at the bottom of the Money Pit on Oak Island, no one can claim to know exactly where Papá Noel lives, so your guess is as good as mine.

Merry Christmas and I hope you have Happy Holidays!

Don’t forget to come back next week and read “Winter Survival ...A Snow Pit©”, where we will talk about how to shelter from the wind in the winter.

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

Notes

Sources

“The Four North Poles”; January 24, 2018, https://mapoftheweek.blogspot.com/2018/01/the-four-north-poles.html, accessed December 23, 2023

Corliss, William R.; “Earth Orbital Science”, [NASA, Washington, DC, 1971], https://books.google.com/books?id=6HHxAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false, accessed December 23, 2023

Feerick, Jack; “Earth Actually Has Four North Poles”, December 28, 2020, [©2023 Kalmbach Media Co.], https://www.discovermagazine.com/planet-earth/earth-actually-has-four-north-poles, accessed November 24, 2023

Poynting, John Henry, and Thomson, Joseph John; A Textbook of Physics, Volume 4, [Charles Griffin and Company Limited, London, 1914], https://books.google.com/books?id=YL0KAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA343&dq=bar+magnetic+field+lines&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwisyZrRqqaDAxUfjIkEHebfCss4FBDoAXoECAwQAg#v=onepage&q=bar%20magnetic%20field%20lines&f=false, accessed December 23, 2023

Popular Science, “Flyers Make First Air Map of North Magnetic Pole”, May 1931, page 45, https://books.google.com/books?id=ZigDAAAAMBAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false, accessed December 23, 2023

Wikimedia; A Christmas Carol, [London: Chapman & Hall, 1843], by Charles Dickens, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Scrooges_third_visitor-John_Leech,1843.jpg, accessed December 23, 2023

Wikimedia; “Andrew_Revkin_of_The_New_York_Times_on_Sea_Ice_Near_the_North_Pole”, April 27, 2003, by Andrew Revkin, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Andrew_Revkin_of_The_New_York_Times_on_Sea_Ice_Near_the_North_Pole.jpg, accessed November 24, 2023

Wikimedia; “Arctic_Ocean_SV, G: Limits of the Arctic Ocean according to the CIA world factbook”, October 25, 2020, by Quentin Bernard, https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Pole, accessed November 24, 2023

Wikimedia; “Baseplate compass”, Nov 10, 2023; by Dellant, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetic_declination#/media/File:Rotating_Dial_Compass.jpg, accessed November 24, 2023

Wikimedia; “Earth's magnetic field”, August 19, 2008, by JrPol, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Geomagnetisme.svg, accessed December 23, 2023

Sunday, December 10, 2023

Your body is a machine, and food IS fuel, or as they say in the prepper commercials “calories are life”. Humans are warm blooded and must continuously metabolize food to produce heat to stay at 98.6^o F (37^o C) and sustain life, and this heat is measured in calories.

Burning calories for heat...

This heat production is either basal metabolism from unconscious and continuous body processes, or muscular metabolism, which is consciously controllable. The harder you work the more energy you burn and the warmer you get.

Each pound of fat, equals two days of fuel...

In a survival situation food is usually your last concern, especially when you consider that 82% Americans are carrying too much body weight on their body’s. Up to 30% of Americans are overweight, having up to 34 pounds (15 kgs), of extra fat, while 42% of Americans are obese, carrying between 35 and 103 pounds (15 - 47 kg) of fat on their bodies, and 9% of Americans are severely obese, carrying more than 103 pounds of spare fat on their bodies².

Research has shown that about 3,500 calories of energy is equal to about 1 pound (0.45 kg) of fat. Most women need between 1,600 to 2,000 calories per day to maintain their weight, while most men require 2,000 to 2,400 calories per day. For example, a sedentary 130-pound woman needs about 1,700 calories, while a 175-pound, inactive man requires about 2,300 calories daily to maintain a healthy body weight. Your caloric requirement may be more or less.³

So, each pound of fat, on average, is equal to two days of fuel energy for the average woman and about 1-½ days for the average man. And this means that for more than 18% of Americans, you could live for longer than 22 days on just your stored body fat!

During long periods of fasting, you will still experience nutritional deficiencies because of vitamin and mineral depletion, but you won’t starve.

Heat loss....

Since human comfort depends on maintaining a skin temperature of 91^o F (33^o C), clothing insulation is required at temperatures below 68^o F (20^o C). Because even at an ambient temperature of 68^o F, a naked human must maintain a metabolic rate of 125 Cal./m²/hr., which is the equivalent of light work or a slow, level walk at 2-½ miles per hour, just to stay in thermal equilibrium!

The colder it is the more energy is required to maintain a 98.6^o F, 37^o C, normal core body temperature. You can either put on more clothes or you can burn more energy to keep warm. For more information on the insulation value of clothes read “Clo Values...What’s That?©”, HERE.

Humans constantly lose metabolic heat generated by living and life activities to the surrounding environment, through an exchange based upon conduction, convection, radiation, evaporation, and heat production. Of the 50 Cal./m²/hr. of metabolic body heat produced while sitting inside in a chair, most of the the body’s heat, 76% (or 38 Cal./m²/hr.) is lost as radiation, conduction, and convection from the skin through the clothing, and the remaining 24% (or 12 Cal./m²/hr.) is lost to evaporative cooling from the skin and lungs.

This heat loss must be made up by burning more fuel to generate heat. The greater the heat lost to the environment from wind, wet and weather, the faster your store of calories are expended.

Additionally, humans burn and maintain heat differently based on sex, with men tending to produce more heat than women, and body mass. Heat production is proportionate to body mass, but heat dissipation depends on body surface. A thin or small person has a greater surface to volume ratio than a larger or more rounded person and will lose heat faster to the environment. Also, being injured makes it more difficult to maintain your thermal balance, and an injured person is at greater risk of exhaustion and hypothermia than an uninjured person.

Exhaustion and hypothermia...

Exhaustion is when your body runs out of energy reserves and heat production falls below what is required to maintain your normal core body temperature of around 98.6^o F (37^o C). Hypothermia is when your body loses heat faster than it can produce heat, causing a dangerously low body temperature, and occurs when your body temperature falls below 95^o F (35^o C).

Don’t forget to come back next week and read “The North Pole Is/Was Here ©”, where we will talk about the wandering magnetic North Pole.

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

Notes

¹ “...the normal body temperature's 98.6. Once it starts to drop down around 97 or 96, you're going to start shivering. And that's just your body's way of trying to produce heat. You shiver. It produces heat. It tries to warm up the core. But the really concerning thing is if you stop shivering. That's when your body temperature gets less than 90 degrees, and that's where it becomes life threatening”.

From Dr. Troy Madsen, from “Do I Have Hypothermia, or am I Just Really Cold?”, January 19, 2015

² From National Institutes of Health; “Overweight & Obesity Statistics”

³ From Erin Coleman, R.D., LD, “Calorie Requirements for Men & Women”, July 5, 2013, and “Don't count calories, but be aware of them”, October 20, 2023, by Harvard.

Sources

Coleman, Erin, R.D., LD; “Calorie Requirements for Men & Women”, July 5, 2013, [© 2023 Hearst Newspapers, a division of Hearst Communications, Inc.], https://www.weekand.com/healthy-living/article/calorie-requirements-men-women-18004997.php, accessed December 9, 2023

Eisberg, Harry Belleville; Owens, J. E.; Fundamentals of Arctic and Cold Weather Medicine and Dentistry, [U.S. Navy Department, Washington, DC, 1949], https://books.google.com/books?id=2-bYnbMCwYQC&pg=PA80&dq=clo+values&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjJtpavyMuCAxU0KlkFHWKIByYQ6AF6BAgFEAI#v=onepage&q=clo%20values&f=false

Harvard; “Don't count calories, but be aware of them”, October 20, 2023, [©2023 Harvard Health Publishing® of The President and Fellows of Harvard College], https://www.health.harvard.edu/healthbeat/dont-count-calories-but-be-aware-of-them#:~:text=Most%20women%20need%201%2C600%20to,may%20be%20more%20or%20less.&text=Another%20approach%20is%20to%20simply,the%20effect%20of%20limiting%20calories, accessed December 9, 2023

Havenith, George; “Clothing and Thermoregulation”, Current Problems in Dermatology, February 2003 Volume 31, pages35-49, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/10643719_Clothing_and_Thermoregulation/download?_tp=eyJjb250ZXh0Ijp7ImZpcnN0UGFnZSI6Il9kaXJlY3QiLCJwYWdlIjoiX2RpcmVjdCJ9fQ, accessed December 9, 2023

Lounsbury, Dave E. MD, FACP, Colonel, MC, U.S. Army, Editor in Chief and Director; Medical Aspects of Harsh Environments, Volume 1, [Office of The Surgeon General at TMM Publications, 2001] page 496-497, https://books.google.com/books?id=0xGGOJpUbK0C&pg=PA496&dq=exhaustion+hypothermia&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi3r63ooIODAxV3rokEHdiZCeQQ6AF6BAgGEAI#v=onepage&q=exhaustion%20hypothermia&f=false, accessed December 9, 2023

Madsen, Dr. Troy; “Do I Have Hypothermia, or am I Just Really Cold?”, January 19, 2015, [© 2023 University of Utah Health], https://healthcare.utah.edu/the-scope/health-library/all/2015/01/do-i-have-hypothermia-or-am-i-just-really-cold#:~:text=So%20you%20think%20the%20normal,You%20shiver, accessed December 9, 2023

National Institutes of Health; “Overweight & Obesity Statistics” [U.S. Department of Health and Human Services], https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/health-statistics/overweight-obesity#:~:text=Adults,-Age%2Dadjusted%20percentage&text=the%20above%20table-,Nearly%201%20in%203%20adults%20(30.7%25)%20are%20overweight.,obesity%20(including%20severe%20obesity), accessed December 9, 2023

Rathbone, Thomas M., Lt.; “Bligh’ Me-Survival at Sea”, Surface Warfare, Volume 5, Issue 11, November 1980, page 16 to 17, https://books.google.com/books?id=XNQDYsVnxQIC&pg=PA17&dq=body+fat+survival+sea&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiwgovgmb6AAxVMGFkFHZwTDak4ChDoAXoECAYQAg#v=onepage&q=body%20fat%20survival%20sea&f=false, accessed August 7, 2023

About Me

I live near Buffalo, New York and have more than 25 years of experience in the outdoors. I enjoy being in the wilderness, paddling a canoe or exploring the woods, when I am not researching survival, woodcraft, camping skills or life on the Old Northwest Frontier of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. I am a published author and I have been a guide for Birchbark Expeditions and an Outdoor Skills trainer for the Boy Scouts since 2014. I am also a martial artist, having studied several different combat arts over the past 30 years. Currently, I am the author of The Woodsman’s Journal Online and BandanaMan Productions on YouTube.

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Sunday, December 31, 2023

“Winter Survival ... a Low-hanging Tree Shelter©”

Sunday, December 24, 2023

North Pole...Where? ©

Sunday, December 10, 2023

Burning Calories for Heat ©

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