An Unexpected Overnighter©

 

 

As long as people have been wandering the wilderness, people have become misplaced¹ and have experienced an “unexpected overnighter”!  Even Daniel Boone once famously admitted, “No, I can’t say as ever I was lost, but I was bewildered once for three days”² (for more read, “Being Bewildered and Bending the Map ©, HERE).  But what hasn’t changed is what you are supposed to do when it happens.

In the early 1820’s, in what was then the wilderness, but today is what we call Medina County, Ohio, USA, Mr. William H. Bell went out to look for his cows, but it got dark, and he became confused as to the way home, so he stopped and sat down by the side of tree and waited for morning’s light to make his trail home clear.  It was a common situation, but if you read into this story there are three bits of excellent survival advice buried in it, so let’s talk about them.

 

First, NEVER travel after dark, unless you are absolutely certain of your path.  If you are uncertain or bewildered, and you travel through the wilderness after dark, at best you will only get more confused, but at worst, if you give in to panic, you will become truly “lost”. 

 

Also, you could stumble and injure yourself, take a branch in your eye, injure yourself falling into a ravine, or tumble into a creek or swamp, soaking yourself and increasing your chances of hypothermia.  For more on “lost” versus “misplaced” read “You Are Only As Lost As You Think You Are ©”, HERE.

 

Second, as soon as you become confused, S.T.O.P., and admit that you are “misplaced”. 

 

Stop, sit down, take a deep tactical breath or four, and calm yourself.  Author and U.S. Army Ranger Lieutenant Colonel David Grossman, in his book On Combat, teaches a breathing technique called “tactical breathing”, which will help you combat stress, lower your heart rate, and allow you to think clearly³. 

 

Think.  Ask yourself “What would an intelligent person do in my place”?  Vic Walsh, an Outward Bound instructor says,  “Survival is simply a state of mind”.  And Orbell Apperson Jr., a Mt. Shasta avalanche expert and ski patrolman, noted “When you find yourself lost or snowed in, you have to think of two things.  First, you have to realize that every decision you make could spell the difference between life and death.  Then, you have to tell yourself to stay calm”. 

 

 

Observe and organize.  Take an inventory of the items in your pockets or pack, and what’s in your immediate area that could help you to survive for the next 72 hours, or until rescuers find you.  To read what Les Stroud, the Survivorman thinks about the O in S.T.O.P., read “The O in S. T. O. P. ©”, HERE.

 

Prioritize, plan, and then put into effect your plan.  Avalanche expert, Orbell Apperson Jr. stated, “...one bad decision followed through may be better than six great decisions that are, one by one, acted upon and then abandoned.  Changing strategies is both physically and mentally draining”.

 

The third thing we can learn from Mr. William H. Bell, who found shelter for the night sitting next to a tree, is to stay warm, stay dry, and stay out of the wind.  Bivouacking on the lee side (the sheltered side, the side away from the wind) of a ridge or hill, and then on the sheltered side of a tree, rock, a blow-down, and huddling together for warmth with your buddy, if you have one, will significantly increase your comfort and warmth and your chances of survival.

 

So, hopefully these three survival lessons from Mr. William H. Bell’s unexpected overnighter in the 1820’s, can help us still to survive a wilderness emergency today.

 

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 Personally, I hate the word “lost” and prefer to use the word “misplaced”, because misplaced things, by definition, are eventually found.  But lost things are lost forever.  Being lost is scary!

 

² Margaret E. White, Editor, A Sketch of Chester Harding, Artist: Drawn By His Own Hand, p. 48

 

³ Tactical breathing is sometimes also called combat or box-breathing and it works like this:

·       Breath in a deep breath through your nose taking 4 seconds to slowly fill your lungs, “and-one, and-two, and-three, and-four”.

·       Hold your breath for 4 seconds, “and-one, and-two, and-three, and-four”.

·       Exhale slowly through your mouth for 4 seconds, “and-one, and-two, and-three, and-four”.

·       Hold your breath for 4 seconds, “and-one, and-two, and-three, and-four”.

 

Repeat this four times or until your heart rate slows and you can think clearly.

 

Sources

 

Cleese, Rose Marie; “Winter Survival: It’s All In your Head”, Skiing, January 1975, https://books.google.com/books?id=hFGikpZMQdAC&pg=PT60&lpg=PT60&dq=%22Winter+Survival:+It%E2%80%99s+All+In+your+Head%22&source=bl&ots=of1ReiSM07&sig=ACfU3U2xIUcCYJepMVYvHe2MX2dnPW7yKw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi_-PvKk9uDAxXqFFkFHe77C28Q6AF6BAgJEAM#v=onepage&q=%22Winter%20Survival%3A%20It%E2%80%99s%20All%20In%20your%20Head%22&f=false, accessed January 13, 2024

 

Perrin, W. H., Battle, J. H., and Goodspeed, W. A.; History of Medina County and Ohio, [Baskin & Battey, Chicago, 1881], page 468-469, https://books.google.com/books?id=jOsLHjmVqooC&pg=PA468&dq=%22people+were+often+lost+in+the+woods%22&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjn6pT83NaDAxWWAHkGHdPpCgsQ6AF6BAgLEAI#v=onepage&q=%22people%20were%20often%20lost%20in%20the%20woods%22&f=false, accessed January 11, 2024

 

“Outward Bound's 50th Anniversary in the US”, http://outwardbounds50thanniversary.weebly.com/pioneering-staff.html, accessed January 13, 2024

 

United States Department of Agriculture, Outdoors USA: 1967 Yearbook of Agriculture, [United States Government Printing Office, Washington, DC, 1967], p 87-89, https://archive.org/details/yoa1967/page/n3, accessed January 13, 2024

 

Wikimedia, “A Landscape near Boldrewood”, by Alfred Parsons, 1871, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Alfred_Parsons_-_A_Forest_Landscape_near_Boldrewood_-_B1979.12.786_-_Yale_Center_for_British_Art.jpg, accessed January 13, 2024

 

White, Margaret E. Editor; A Sketch of Chester Harding, Artist: Drawn By His Own Hand, (Houghton, Mifflin and Company, New York [1890]) p 47-48 reprinted in https://books.google.com/books?id=zgROAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA48&lpg=PA48&dq=%22he+had+a+very+large+progeny%22+%22chester+harding%22&source=bl&ots=I9y_v-yRI2&sig=qxwqKUR9y42naWBjhoArGJi2P5U&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj4goGi7czdAhXEnOAKHWvECaoQ6AEwAHoECAUQAQ#v=onepage&q=%22he%20had%20a%20very%20large%20progeny%22%20%22chester%20harding%22&f=false, (accessed 9/21/2018)

 

Wikimedia, “Unfinished Portrait of Daniel Boone”, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/79/Unfinished_portrait_of_Daniel_Boone_by_Chester_Harding_1820.jpg, (accessed 9/21/2018)