What Are You Scared Of?! ©

 

The Canadian bush, near the shore of Lake Louisa, Algonquin Provincial Park, photograph by the author.

You are “misplaced”¹ in the woods and the Sun is going down!  According to your finger clock, you have about four-fingers or an hour, till full dark (for more information on “Estimating The Time Till Sunset”, click HERE).  You are alone and the night-time sounds of the forest scare you.  You are tired, but you are afraid to sleep because your fire might go out or maybe you will freeze to death while you sleep?  Maybe you are afraid of the dark?

No one likes to be scared; however, fear is a normal emotional response to an unexpected and stressful situation.  It can and will happen to you, if you ever become “misplaced”.  It even happens to experienced guides and survival writers, like me, from time to time.  There is no sin in being afraid, however giving into to your fears and panicking is dangerous!  If you panic in the woods, or in any situation really, the situation will only get worse.  Panicking in the woods means that instead of being simply “misplaced”, you are now “lost” and on the path to death!

Should you become “misplaced” or worse yet “lost” your greatest enemy will be your fears, and once fear has set in, it is swiftly followed by the rest of the “Seven Enemies of Survival”²: cold, thirst, hunger, boredom, loneliness, pain and fatigue; all of which can make your fears worse and lead to panic.  These enemies of survival may attack in groups, and in which case they have a cumulative effect, or singly.  Since they are familiar to us, we sometimes overlook them, until it is too late.  These psychological enemies of survival are real and your mental reactions to them, if not firmly controlled can increase your fears and lead to panic: not to be too melodramatic, your reaction to them will determine if you live or die.

Name Them to Tame Them...

The best thing to do if you are scared is to name your fears and talk about them aloud to yourself.  Simply by verbalizing and naming your fears you can start to control them.  Things are never as scary as you imagine them to be.

  

An excerpt from “Psychological Aspects and Seven Enemies of Survival”, by Flight Officer E. M. Beldam, page 31

So just what are we afraid of?  Below are some of the common fears that plague people, both adults and children, when they are “misplaced” in the wilderness.

Scary Night-time Sounds...

“Shhh...What’s that?!  I think I heard something!”  Have you ever had a conversation like that while sitting around a campfire late at night?  Imagine that you are alone, without a fire and you are “misplaced”.  Now imagine that you are injured or a child.  Wow, that just got scary very, very fast, didn’t it?  So, what do you do in a situation like that? 

 

Information on the International Whistle Code from the back of a Fox 40 Whistle package, picture by the author.

Simple, if you hear a noise in the woods, a good rule is to “answer a noise with a noise”.  Pull out your whistle and blast three, three-second long whistle blasts at it, wait a minute and do it again, and keep doing it until you feel better.  Usually you don’t have to worry about wild animals, since they don’t like to be near people.  If it was an animal that made the noise, then it will run away, if it was a rescuer that made the noise, then you are found. 

“What if I don’t have a whistle?”  If you don’t have a whistle, and you should always have one if you go into the wilderness, sing your favorite song, bang a stick on a log or a rock, or as a last resort, shout.

 

An excerpt from “Scouts and Outposts”, The Climbers’ Club Journal, page 178

  

“Why is it important to always have a whistle”, you ask?  I often ask students of my survival classes, “how long can you yell for help, before you become hoarse?”  Another question that I always ask, “How far do think your shouts for help will carry?”  The answers to these questions are, unfortunately, not very long and not as far as you would like.  Shouts for help can only be heard for about 100 meters or yards, depending upon the atmospheric conditions and whether there are leaves on the trees or not, which in the grand scheme of the wilderness isn’t very far.  A whistle on the other hand can be heard for much greater distances, between 200 to 400 meters or yards, depending on what type of whistle that it is³.  This is why whistles are important survival tools and you should never leave home without one. 

If I Fall Asleep...

Have you ever been “misplaced” in the wilderness and thought, “If I fall asleep, I might freeze to death!”  What about “If I fall asleep, my fire might go out!”

An excerpt from “Survival In The Open”, by John T Flynn, M.D., page 62

  

I have slept outside, rough⁴ a number of times and I have been pretty cold, and sometimes I had a fire and sometimes I didn’t.  What I noticed was, whenever the fire burned down or I was too cold to sleep, I shivered myself awake.  Sometimes if your fire burns low, you will have do more than just throw wood on it, you might have to blow it back to life from the hot embers!  This is why you should always keep plenty of tinder on hand.  If you are sleeping without a fire and you wake up because you are cold, it is time to do some exercises; jumping jacks, deep knee bends, walking around and around a large tree trunk, whatever it takes to warm you up and get the blood flowing again.

In the Dark of the Night!

 

A campfire on Lake Louisa, Algonquin Provincial Park, photo by the author.

  

Have you ever been all alone in the woods at night without a fire?  It is really dark and kinda scary.  It’s hard not to be afraid when you can’t see your hand in front of your face.  Don’t forget that there is nothing wrong with being scared of the dark, a lot of people are.  Also, remember that nothing changes just because the sun goes down and it gets dark.  You can overcome your fear of dark by memorizing your surroundings, while it is light, so that you can see with your memory when it gets dark.

No matter what you are scared of, remember to keep busy and to keep calm by singing, whistling, making plans for what you will do later to help yourself survive, or even by telling yourself jokes or stories. Talk to yourself out loud; go ahead, no one but you can hear you anyways.  Use your imagination to pretend you are somewhere else that you really enjoy, imagine doing something fun or eating a big meal.  Do whatever it takes to make yourself feel better and to keep your fears from turning to panic.  Remember, it okay to be scared and “misplaced” things are found, but if you panic you are “lost” and sometimes “lost” things are just never found. 

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 For years I have taught that, you are never “lost”, only “misplaced”, because misplaced things are found, lost things are not and that is scary.  The reason that this distinction is important, is that in the woods, panic kills, and sometimes word-games make all the difference in your ability to deal with “wood shock” and overcome panic.  For more information read “You Are Never Lost, Only Misplaced…©”, HERE.

² The “Seven Enemies of Survival”, or as they are sometimes called “The Seven Deadly Enemies of Survival”; are pain, cold, thirst, hunger, fatigue, boredom and loneliness.  Your psychological reaction to these enemies of survival largely determine if you will or won’t survive an unexpected situation in the wilderness.  The “Seven Enemies of Survival” as a concept was first developed by Ellis Paul Torrance, in 1953.

³ Scott Free, the author of “Whistle Test: Bigger, Better, New & Improved”, stressed in his article that the greater the distance over which your whistle could be heard, the greater the lung power required to blow it.  If you are injured, exhausted, elderly or a child the more powerful whistles might be impossible for you to use.

⁴ “Sleep rough”, this is a British phrase, which means “to sleep outside because you do not have anywhere to live”, which if you are “misplaced” in the wilderness is true.  Macmillan Dictionary, https://www.macmillandictionary.com/us/dictionary/american/sleep-rough

Sources

Andrews, Arthur Westlake; “Scouts and Outposts”, The Climbers’ Club Journal, Vol. VII, No. 28, [George Philip & Son, London, 1905], p 178 https://books.google.com/books?id=sU5NAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA180&dq=scout+how+far+shout&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&ppis=_e&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiRrYTP7v_nAhVOmuAKHTiGBxAQ6AEwBnoECAQQAg#v=onepage&q=scout%20how%20far%20shout&f=false, accessed March 3, 2020

Beldam, Flight Officer E. M.; “Psychological Aspects and Seven Enemies of Survival”, Medical New Letter, Vol. 31, No. 12, [United States Navy, Bethesda, Maryland, June 30, 1958] page 31, https://books.google.com/books?id=0ONHAQAAIAAJ&pg=RA12-PA31&dq=seven+enemies+of+survival&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjL3Pi55_7nAhXsm-AKHRqTDQIQ6AEwAXoECAUQAg#v=onepage&q=seven%20enemies%20of%20survival&f=false, accessed March 3, 2020

Free, Scott; “Whistle Test: Bigger, Better, New & Improved”, October 25, 2011, https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/whistle-test-bigger-better-new-improved.894108/

Department of the Air Force, Survival Training Edition, AF Manual 64-3, [US Government Printing Office, Washington DC August 15, 1969] p 1.13 - 1.15

Flynn, John T, M.D., “Survival In The Open”, Flying, January 1961, Volume 68, Number 1, [Ziff-Davis Publishing Company, New York, NY], p. 62, 80-82, https://books.google.com/books?id=1ZUDOCzJUrcC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Flying+Magazine+Jan+1961&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiu0OuB3eznAhWIlHIEHcs4D8AQ6AEwB3oECAUQAg#v=onepage&q=Flying%20Magazine%20Jan%201961&f=false, accessed 2/25/20

You Alone in the Maine Woods ©

“A practical guide to woods comfort, safety, and survival” You Alone in the Maine Woods, from the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife Information & Education.

I know I have asked you this before, but do you like reading survival manuals?  Because if you do, I have a good one for you.  First published in 1972, by the Maine’s Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, it is titled, You Alone in the Maine Woods.

This manual was originally compiled and written by Recreation Safety Officer Gareth Anderson and Warden Colonel John Marsh, with the help of many wardens, guides and old time hunters.  Warden John Ford illustrated it.   

This booklet was written to provide you with information about what to do before you go out into the Maine woods and by extension any wooded wilderness area within the same general latitude as Maine.  Maine covers four degrees of latitude, from 43:05 to 47:14: other places located within those latitudes are southern France, northern Italy, Romania, Mongolia, Manchuria in northeast China, Vladivostok in eastern Russia, and the northern Japanese Island of Hokkaido¹.  In addition, this manual was written to teach you the steps you should take to aid in your own rescue if you have an “unexpected adventure” in the wooded, wilder parts of the world, and to make yourself more comfortable while you wait for the searchers. 

 

Some areas in the eastern US, within the same latitude as Maine.  From Google Maps.

I have always taught the “72 hour rule” which states that, in the United States, most “misplaced” people are found within 72 hours of being reported missing.  In fact, experts note that 85% of “misplaced” persons are found alive within 12 hours and 97% are found alive within the first 24 hours of being reported missing.  The key statement is “of being reported missing”; it is very important to always tell someone when you are leaving, where you are going and when you will be back.  Never, never, never, ever change your plans without telling someone.

I like You Alone in the Maine Woods.  I like that the authors included this disclaimer in their booklet was not “a guarantee against getting lost”.  I like this statement because everyone who goes into the woods will someday become bewildered and possibly “misplaced”: hopefully, if you ever become bewildered and then “misplaced” you do not panic, because then you will be truly “lost” (for more on “misplaced” versus “lost” read, “You Are Never Lost, Only Misplaced…”, HERE). 

Another thing that I liked about You Alone in the Maine Woods was that it was originally written in 1972, with the assistance of old Maine guides and wardens, when old knowledge was still common knowledge.  This is important, because by the late 1970s and early 1980s, as exploring the outdoors became increasingly popular and more mainstream, people began to rely on expensive, hi-tech gadgets and gear, which can break, get lost or run out of batteries, at the expense of learning outdoor skills.  Also by the 70s and 80s, many of the old-time guides and wardens would have passed away.  What do you do when you are alone in the wilderness and you don’t have your gadgets, if you have never been taught how to do things the old-fashioned way?  As a bonus, the State of Maine has kept You Alone in the Maine Woods current with advances in modern gear and technology, like synthetics, light-weight waterproof fabrics and GPS, by updating and releasing ten editions with the most current one being released in 2003.

Read this manual before you trek into the woods and then carry it with you on your journeys in the wilderness.  The authors covered many different topics and designed the booklet to be a guide, to use until help arrives, if you become “misplaced”. 

The contents of You Alone in the Maine Woods, from the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife Information & Education.

The authors pointed out that “This manual may not contain all there is to know about survival”.  No one source can cover every situation that can occur in the wilderness, the best that you can hope for from a survival manual is that it paints with a broad brush and covers concepts, generalizations and a few specific details and tips.  You Alone in the Maine Woods, does just that.

Here are some examples of the tips that you will find in You Alone in the Maine Woods…

“This is your personal survival manual.  Read it thoroughly before your trip into the Maine woods, and then carry it with you when you go.”

 

You Alone in the Maine Woods, from the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife Information & Education, page 4.

You Alone in the Maine Woods, from the the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife Information & Education, page 5.

“[the items in the survival kit above] These items, even in moderate amounts will help prevent hunger and create a sense of well being if you become lost.  The amount of each is up to you.  There are other things that may be added, but try to keep the package small and light at all times, so it will remain easy to carry. (page 5)”

“Along with your survival kit, you have another obligation to fulfill before entering the Maine woods.  Make sure you tell someone where you are going, including a written itinerary, and when you plan to return (page 6)”

“…woodsman of old…knew that wool, even when wet, retains warmth far longer than flannel, cotton or man-made fabrics…(page 6)”

 

“The Clothing Worn by an Old Maine Guide”, from the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife Information & Education, page 8.

“Today’s lightweight garments have a remarkable ability to withstand penetrating winds.  In addition, the better garments such as the climate control fleece ones, can handle perspiration buildup equal to or better than wool.  This moisture can amount to one and a half pints of water every 12 hours.  Trapped moisture can be a serious problem in a survival situation…(page 9)”

 

You Alone in the Maine Woods, from the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife Information & Education, page 10

“It is a good practice to carry an extra pair of socks when traveling for a day…A dry pair of socks will feel like a million dollars if your others get wet…(page 11)”

“One final rule with compass work: Believe your compass under all circumstances (unless it is obviously broken)…(page 19)”

Author’s Note: always bring two compasses, a main one and an emergency spare: compare them for peace of mind, for more on this read “Getting Lost And What To Do About It”, Circa 1915”, HERE.

These tips and many, many, more can be found in You Alone in the Maine Woods: you can download a free PDF copy HERE or you can go HERE to order a free hardcopy booklet, by emailing the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife Information & Education, on their “Contact Us” page.

Read it, study it, use it and most importantly enjoy it!

Notes:

¹ “Maine An Encyclopedia, Latitude and Longitude” https://maineanencyclopedia.com/latitude-and-longitude/, accessed May 25, 2019

“Survival Drill”, Updated and Explained©

 

  

Do you know what to do first, second and third, and what questions to ask, if you find yourself “misplaced” in the wilderness?  Do you know the “Survival Drill”?

 

The “Survival Drill”, created in 1972 by North Frontier Communications, is an excellent tool to help you organize and prioritize survival tasks and ask the important questions that you must ask if you are to survive.  It is a checklist of actions and questions, which includes two smaller checklists. 

 

There are three problems, with the “Survival Drill” as it was originally presented by North Frontier Communications.  First, North Frontier Communications didn’t offer much explanation of the steps of the drill.  Second, they left out an important question, which they assumed you would ask, even though it was not explicitly stated in the drill.  Third, the order of the steps of the “Unable To Walk Out” checklist doesn’t agree with the “Rule of Threes”.  Therefore, I have fine-tuned and built upon the original ideas of the writers of the North Frontier Communications by adding an additional question, reorganizing one of the checklists and explained the ideas behind the steps of the “Survival Drill”.

 

First things first, though, just what is a drill?  A drill, as in, “you know the drill…” is a checklist of steps or actions performed in a particular order, which you take in a high stress situation: a drill is similar to a “Standard Operating Procedure” or SOP.

 

The first step on the drill is “Lost”.  The word lost is used in a couple of different ways in the “Survival Drill”; at best, it means that it is too close to nightfall for you to safely walk out, even if you know where you are.  It could also mean that you do not know where you are or you are injured and in either case, you cannot rescue yourself safely.  At worst, it means that you have let your sub-conscious and its closet full of fears take control, and you have panicked.  Once you give into “woods shock” and panic, you will most likely die.  A way to control your fears is to never you the term “lost”, and instead use the word “misplaced”.  Lost is a very scary word, as lost things are not found, since, they are lost.  Misplaced things are found and if you are misplaced, you just have to wait for the searchers to find you.  For more on “lost” versus “misplaced” and on woods shock, read my article “Getting Lost And What To Do About It”, Circa 1915” found HERE.

 

North Frontier Communications addressed the issue of fear, when they wrote the following, below the drill: “REMEMBER – Fear is the only real enemy.  Searchers will be out looking for you as soon as you are missed – make things easy for them.” 

 

Step one, “Face The Fact”; you are now having and “unexpected adventure” or an “unplanned overnighter”!  You are “misplaced” so, now what are you going to do about it?

 

“Stay Cool, Sit Down, Think”: a quote from “Trainee’s Notebook MATS Survival School”, by Belmore Browne.  Photo by the Author.

After realizing and accepting that you are “misplaced”, step two is to “Stay Cool, Sit Down, Think”.  Your brain is your number one survival tool -- use it!  The next few decisions that you make might be the most important one you will ever make, remember.  Do not give into your fears and panic, the best thing you can do is to sit down and think.  Many time lost people who are scared, keep moving, walking or running, and that just their wastes time and energy and makes it harder for searchers to find them.  More recent survival experts use the acronym S.T.O.P. to describe the “Stay Cool, Sit Down, Think” stage of a wilderness emergency.

 

The Boy Scouts of America S.T.O.P. Card, picture by the Author.  For more on S.T.O.P. go HERE.

At step three, you ask yourself two very important questions and your answers to these questions will determine what you will do next.  Question one is “Are You Injured”: I added this question to the “Survival Drill”, because while it was implied it was not actually stated.  If you are injured, then your very first task, provided the situation is safe and you are not hanging from your fingers on the edge of a cliff or are almost surrounded by a wildfire, will be to perform first aid on yourself.  If you are injured, depending on the nature, location and severity of your injuries, you may be “Unable To Walk Out”.

 

How to determine how much daylight you have remaining, picture by the Author.  For more information on how to determine how much daylight you have remaining, go HERE.

 

The second question deals with how much daylight is remaining, so “Check The Time”.  Often, this very important question is ignored or forgotten by wilderness travelers.  You only have so much time before dark, more in the summer and less in the winter, and often, when by the time you accept that you are “misplaced”, it will probably be late afternoon.  It is important to remember, that you should never attempt to walkout of the wilderness when it is dark, even if you know where you are, because the risk of injury or death is very high if you do.  The authors of “Survival Drill” assume that if it is close to dark, and that means that the Sun will be down below the horizon in two hours or less, you will be “Unable To Walk Out”.  If you have enough time to walk out, without crossing the two hours until Sundown deadline, then you might be “Able To Walk Out”.

 

If you are uninjured or have only minor injuries which will not prevent you from walking and there is enough daylight remaining that you can walk out before dark, then you should proceed to the “Able To Walk Out” step.  If, on the other hand, your injuries are severe and affect your ability to move easily or there is not enough time before nightfall for you to walk out, then you should begin the “Unable To Walk Out” step of the checklist.

 

“CHECK MAP – Carry a large scale map of the area if possible.  Otherwise fix the position of local rivers and roads, etc., in your mind before starting out from camp so that you have a good mental map”, “Survival Drill” by North Frontier Communications, 1972

 

Your first step in the “Able To Walk Out” checklist is to “Check the Map”.  You should always carry a map of the area that you are going to be exploring, and you should study it before you head into the wilderness.  Once you have pulled out your map, you must orient it, by turning it so that the North on the map is pointing to compass north.  This is the first half of the “Orientation” step of the checklist. 

 

“ORIENTATION – Carry a compass, but you can also check direction by using a watch (point hour hand at sun; bisect angle between hour hand and “12” to find South), stars (mark direction of pole star with line on ground to provide basis for next day’s navigation), woodpeckers (they drill for grubs on South side of tree), snow (melts soonest on South-facing slopes), prevailing winds (sometimes distort growth of exposed trees)”. “Survival Drill” by North Frontier Communications, 1972

 

You should always carry a compass with you in the wilderness, and I hope that you did, as it will make orienting the map much easier.  If you did not bring a compass or yours has been lost, then you will have to determine the general directions from the movements of the Sun, which in the northern hemisphere rises in the East to Southeast and sets in the West to Northwest, depending on the season.  You could also use a traditional or digital watch or a shadow stick to find the cardinal points, North, South, East and West; for more on how to do this check back for future article on “How To Find Your Way Without A Compass”.

 

After you have oriented you map and know which way is North, South, East and West, it is time to orient yourself.  This is the second half of the “Orientation” step.  If you have a map, you can attempt to locate where you are by observing the terrain around you and finding it on the map.  If you don’t have a paper map but have a good “mental map” of the area instead, you can try to find landmarks and terrain features that you recognize.  Hopefully, you remembered to turn around and look behind you at your back trail, as you traveled into the wilderness, as this will make it easier to recognize landmarks as you try to orient yourself and as you travel back out.

 

If you are certain that, you know where you are then you can try to walk out.  With any luck you will find your way out of the woods, however you should mark your trail by blazing trees or breaking branches or pushing sticks into your trail, pointing in your direction of travel, or by arranging rocks or sticks as trail markers; in case you must return to your starting point because you are “misplaced” again.  For more on how to do this check back for future article on “Trail Marking: How To Find Your Way Back”.

 

The Rule of Threes, graphic by the Author.

But what do you do if it is less than two hours to nightfall or if you are injured and cannot walk out on your own, safely?  This is the time when knowing the “Rule of Threes” will become important to your continuing survival.  The “Rule of Threes” is a planning tool, which helps you prioritize which actions are the most critical to your survival.  The “Rule of Threes” states that you cannot survive for more than 3 Minutes without air or with severe bleeding.  You cannot survive for more than 3 Hours without shelter from a harsh environment, whether it is hot or cold, or if you are in cold or icy water.  You cannot survive for more than 3 Days without water or sleep, but you can survive for 3 Weeks without food.  The “Rule of Threes” assume that the rules above them have already been met, for example, if you have a large quantity of water, yet are bleeding severely, according to the three-minute rule, the most important action to take at that moment, is to stop the bleeding.  For more on the “Rule of Threes” go HERE.  I rearranged the steps in the “Unable To Walk Out” checklist on the “Survival Drill”, so that the steps would agree with the “Rule of Threes”.  The original “Survival Drill” had the “Unable To Walk Out” steps in this order: pick a bivouac site, light fire, prepare signals, build shelter, and prepare food, drink.  I have always taught that it is important to build a shelter before you light a fire, because you AND the fire, will need shelter from the wind, the weather, and the Sun.  The only exception to the building your shelter before you light a fire rule, is if you have been in cold or icy water, in which case you will need to get a fire lit before you become too cold to light one.

 

Since you are going to spend the night in the wilderness, it is time to “Pick Bivouac Site”.  This when the “5 W’s” of wilderness survival are important: wind, water, widow-makers, wood, and wildlife.  Wind in a survival situation can dramatically reduce your core body temperature and the primary function of a shelter is to block the wind.  Ideally, your site will have trees, rocks, or other natural features that you can use to shelter from nighttime breezes and the weather.  Water, you need water for drinking and therefore your site should be near water, but not so near that you have to worry about bugs, flooding, in the case of creeks or rivers, or wind and weather, in the case of lakes and other large bodies of water.  Widow-makers are the most dangerous of the “5 W’s” and one of the most frequently overlooked, simply because people forget to look up.  Widow-makers are dead trees or trees with large dead branches or snags stuck in their crowns that could come crashing down on you in case of a storm.  Wood, your site should offer plenty of downed wood for building a shelter or for a fire.  Fallen branches or downed dead trees are important, because in a survival situation you might not have an axe or a saw or be too badly injured to use one.  Lastly, wildlife, mostly animals will leave you alone, but selecting a bivouac site near their den, near an insect nest, on a path they frequent or near a food or water source might bring you into conflict with them.  Once in Algonquin, I was caught by nightfall and I had to camp on a portage path, that night a moose wandered down the path and kicked into tent guy-lines.  Looking back, a better plan would have been to pitch my tent in the brush besides the path.  Other things to look for in a bivouac site, would be a nearby, large open area, visible from above, where you can put out rescue signals and where the trees won’t disperse a column of smoke.  Lastly, a good shelter site should not be the near the largest tree in the area, as they are the most likely to attract lightning.

 

Your first task is to get out of the wind, the sun and the rain or the snow, so “Build Shelter”.  If it is rainy, snowy, or windy, and you have remembered to bring a poncho or a trash bag, find a natural shelter, get out of the wind and the wet and use your rain gear.  Do not be out in the wind and the wet building a shelter, when you can huddle in your rain gear and conserve scarce body heat.  For more on “Using your poncho or a trash bag as an Emergency Shelter”, go HERE and HERE.  If it is daytime in the desert, get out of the sun and the wind as soon as possible to conserve precious body fluids.  Also, in areas where it gets cold at night, remember to build an emergency bough bed, because you will lose much of your precious body heat to the ground by conduction.  For information on “Making an Emergency Bough Bed”, go HERE and HERE.  Also, for more on emergency shelters check back, as I will be publishing an article soon on how to build emergency shelters. 

 

Your next step is to “Light Fire” and for that, you are going to need kindling, tinder, fuel, and a source of ignition.  One mistake people make, beyond not bringing matches, a lighter, kindling, a candle, etc., with them is not gathering enough fuel.  You want to have all your wood gathered before it is dark, as it is difficult to gather wood in the dark and it is very easy to get hurt.  It takes a lot of wood to get through the night and a good rule of thumb is to gather what you think you need and then double or even triple that amount.  You can also measure your fire’s consumption of wood for an hour and then multiply this amount by the number of hours it will be dark.

 

Now that you have the shelter built, the wood gathered and fire going, it is time to “Prepare Food, Drink”.  Sit down, conserve energy, if you have some food you can either eat it or save it, depending on how hungry you are.  Never eat if you do not have enough water, as digestion uses up body fluids.  If you have water drink it, do not save it: if you can warm it up over your fire, warm it up.  For more on water, survival and dehydration, read my article “What is Dehydration and How Do You Avoid It?” found HERE.

 

After you have rested and had something to eat and drink and if it is still light out, “Prepare Signals”.  Remember three of anything is a signal of distress and signals must be large and stand out from the background: dark on light or light on dark or brightly colored.  The U.S. Coast Guard recommends that each letter of an SOS be 18 feet by 3 feet.  Signal fires should be in groups of three, in either a straight line or in a triangle, since one fire looks like a campout and two in a line looks like a party.

 

“Tell people at camp where you are going and when you’ll be back” “Survival Drill” by North Frontier Communications, 1972

 

I hope that you told someone where you were going and when you would be back and you didn’t change your plans without telling someone, because now comes the hardest part, where you sit and “Wait For The Searchers”.  The searchers should find you in the next 72 hours, as long as you stay put, if you wander you simply make it harder for the searchers to catch up with you.  Devon O’Neill, writing in Outside online, noted that statistically most “misplaced” persons are found within 72 hours of being reported missing.  He also wrote that, according to Paul Anderson a 42-year veteran of the National Park Service who spent 11 years as superintendent of Denali National Park, 85% “misplaced” persons are found within the first 12 hours and 97% within the first 24 hours of being reported missing.  So, gather more firewood, improve your shelter, improve your signals, boil some water, and talk to the trees, but do not leave your bivouac site, help is on the way. 

 

 

Sources

 

Anderson, Gareth, Safety Officer and Marsh, Col. John F.; YOU ALONE in the MAINE WOODS, [Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, Maine, 10^th Edition 2003] p. 26 https://www.maine.gov/ifw/docs/aloneinmainewoods.pdf Accessed 5/17/2019

 

Browne, Belmore; The Airman’s Arctic Survival Guide, [Salty Press, 2014]

 

Garza, Dolly; Outdoor Survival Training For Alaska’s Youth: Instructors Manual, [Alaska Sea Grant College Program, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, Alaska, Third Printing 2005] p. 30-31

 

O’Neill, Devon “How Backcountry Search and Rescue Works”, [Outside, March 4, 2016], https://www.outsideonline.com/2059616/how-backcountry-search-and-rescue-works, Accessed 10/09/2018

 

Risk, Paul H.; Outdoor Safety and Survival, [John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York, NY 1983] p. 284-285