Going Camping or Hiking This Summer?

We have all heard it said "it could never happen to me." If they live on this planet they better think twice. Many people each year have to be rescued by authorities because they were lost in the wilderness or natural disaster had struck their homes. Survival skills are not only an exceptional knowledge to have but are necessary when people find themselves in a position to need them.

They are traveling on a long stretch of road through the mountains and take a wrong turn. They are hiking and become separated from the party; they suddenly realize that they are lost. What do they do? This could become a deadly situation to an individual who has not acquired any survival skills. The consequences of not knowing how to acquire water when no bodies of it are present (or being able to purify it if there is), not knowing what is safe to eat, not knowing how to find or erect a shelter, being unable to build a fire without matches, and not knowing how to prepare themselves psychologically could mean their life.

Many people have found themselves in these situations and had to rely on the efforts of search and rescue. The problem with this is whether or not it is going to be too late; do they know where they are? Are they going to find them alive or dead? "... years ago as I held the body of a young girl in my arms...That girls death could have been prevented...So many people need not have died in the outdoors if only they had been trained how to survive emergencies" Whitmore (2000). Whitmore, a member of a western Colorado search and rescue team, has made educating the public on wilderness survival his life's work. Too many times have search and rescue teams recovered the dead bodies of lost individuals. If only these people had some basic survival skills to preserve them until rescue teams could arrive.

Even if they are not lost one of the biggest unforeseen problems can arise, injury. Camping or hiking in the national forest miles or hours from the nearest hospital with no cell phone coverage. If they, or someone in the party they are with, are seriously injured and they do not have any training on how to deal with the nature of the problem, their life or the life of someone in the party could be in peril. Knowing how to tie a tourniquet, warming someone with hypothermia, moving someone with a neck injury, or simply providing care to a poison victim can be very valuable skills when dealing with a medical emergency.

Acquiring survival techniques would give one confidence to know that if they were placed in a situation, where their survival was threatened, they could put their skills to use and survive. In most cases the individual's safety is not the only factor. Maybe their children are with them; maybe they are with a group of friends. With this knowledge they can meet the basic needs of the group and be the determining factor of whether the group survives or not. With survival skills they are an indispensable part of the group.

Survival skills can also be an exceptional benefit to pass on to friends and children. One cannot always make the time to camp or hike with friends. Their children, should they have them, will grow up and experience the outdoors someday. These skills that would benefit us all could be passed on by teaching them to those who have adventures with us. Johnson (2007) says that we should make sure our children and every member of our group are familiarized with the action plans of what to do if we discover we are lost in the wilderness.

Survival skills not only give us the knowledge on how to prepare ourselves when we are lost or how to deal with a medical emergency but survival skills also give us the ability to equip ourselves properly before we ever leave the house. Packing items such as compasses, matches, canteens, ponchos, hand warmers, flares, first aid kits, and signal beacons could be examples of survival equipment we would want to take on a camping trip.

These are only a few examples of why survival skills are a necessity. Examples become reality when we are faced with the challenges that determine our survival. Survival skills are something that every person should have. Survival should never be a question of if it becomes necessary, but when it becomes necessary are we prepared? Be prepared, set up a course to learn basic survival skills or purchase a survival guide. If we are unable to do these things, then we need to rent a guide to assist us. "...There is no need to die in the wilderness" (Whitmore, 2000).

References:

Johnson, R. (2007). A Parents Guide to Teaching Survival Skills to Children. In Outdoor Life. Retrieved June 30, 2007, from http://www.outdoorlife.com/outdoor/survival/article/0,19912,1602429-4,00.html

Whitmore, P. B. (2000). Wilderness Survival Institute. Retrieved June 30, 2007, from http://www.wisesurvival.com/wsi-philosophy.shtml