While I am the type that is predisposed not to go on the road less traveled, there are occasions where I find myself not knowing where I am and worried about my whereabouts. While some may think that with guides and clearly marked treks, precaution and extra gear are unnecessary; my experience had taught me otherwise. Hence, I would like to share some tips and precaution which I take in case I get lost in adventure.
1. Guides are not fool proof
While hiking with a guide or a local is a very good way to rest your mind from topography and allow yourself to concentrate 100% on the scenery and photography, I prefer not to follow blindly simply because it may just be a case of the blind leading the blind.
Not all guides are experienced and sometimes you may be allocated with a guide that just “graduated” from trekking school. These new guides may have just scaled the mountain only once or twice before and may still be unfamiliar with the route. Moreover, rain and snow may change the terrain and guides may be misguided and miss some of the familiar landmarks that have been changed by the weather.
2. Try not to go solo
Having a buddy is the greatest asset you can have when you get lost. A buddy can provide assurance and comfort just by being lost together with you. A friend can also motivate and spur the both of you on to get out of the unfortunate misadventure. Should one of you get hurt, the other person can attend to your wound, cook food or build shelter for the both of you. Having a buddy also means that someone can go get help while the injured partner stays and wait. Buddies mean extra hands, extra feet and extra brains. Even if nothing happens, a good friend is always an asset on any trip for good company and extra fun.
3. Bring more than you need
You’ll never know what’ll happen. There was an occasion when I went for what I thought was just a 3 hour hike (as described by the guide book) that turned out to be more than half the day. I had only brought water and no food for that particular hike thinking that I would be out before lunch. However, a wrong turn took me on a wrong direction and got me lost. While I had to grapple with finding my way out, I also had to deal with the unnecessary feelings of hunger and thirst which further impaired my ability to find my way out.
After that incident, I learnt that I should always bring more food and water than what I think to be necessary. Even if you didn’t get lost, the food and water will be useful if you decide to take it easy, extend your trip slightly and have a picnic midway to admire the beautiful scenery.
4. Bring Equipment
Prepare yourself as if you are sure to get lost. Always bring a compass, map, torch, mirror, lighter and a whistle. Some others may even advocate bringing flares and smoke grenades but as I mentioned earlier, these are overkill for my choice of hiking destinations; I prefer the road MORE traveled.
The compass allows you to walk straight. While the sentence may sound silly, walking in a straight direction in a dense forest is more difficult than said. Buy a compass that allows you to take “aim” i.e. the compass has a thin line for you to fix a distant object to walk toward. Align the compass in a direction that you wish to walk towards, find a prominent tree approximately 10 meters away, walk towards the tree and repeat the process. This ensures that you walk in a single direction and thus out of the situation faster.
Whistles and mirrors are great tools for people to locate you. Mirrors with sight holes allow you to aim for the sun and create the reflection in the case of an aerial rescue. Start aiming for the sun when you hear the sound of a plane or a helicopter. This works best if you do not stand under a thick canopy of trees. The mirrors also ensure that you look good before the big rescue. A torch light is the night equivalent of a mirror. The darker the night, the further the light from your torch travels.
Whistles are great for land rescue. Rescuers can hear you from far away without much effort of shouting from your part. High frequency whistles produces sounds which travel further.
A lighter is a gift of modern technology. Since you are born in the 20th century, might as well enjoy the comforts of one. Use the lighter to make a fire to keep you warm at night. A fire also produces good smoke signals. Feed the fire with dry leaves and dry branches but make thick black smoke signals by putting wet leaves over the fires.
5. Leave a message
1. Guides are not fool proof
While hiking with a guide or a local is a very good way to rest your mind from topography and allow yourself to concentrate 100% on the scenery and photography, I prefer not to follow blindly simply because it may just be a case of the blind leading the blind.
Not all guides are experienced and sometimes you may be allocated with a guide that just “graduated” from trekking school. These new guides may have just scaled the mountain only once or twice before and may still be unfamiliar with the route. Moreover, rain and snow may change the terrain and guides may be misguided and miss some of the familiar landmarks that have been changed by the weather.
2. Try not to go solo
Having a buddy is the greatest asset you can have when you get lost. A buddy can provide assurance and comfort just by being lost together with you. A friend can also motivate and spur the both of you on to get out of the unfortunate misadventure. Should one of you get hurt, the other person can attend to your wound, cook food or build shelter for the both of you. Having a buddy also means that someone can go get help while the injured partner stays and wait. Buddies mean extra hands, extra feet and extra brains. Even if nothing happens, a good friend is always an asset on any trip for good company and extra fun.
3. Bring more than you need
You’ll never know what’ll happen. There was an occasion when I went for what I thought was just a 3 hour hike (as described by the guide book) that turned out to be more than half the day. I had only brought water and no food for that particular hike thinking that I would be out before lunch. However, a wrong turn took me on a wrong direction and got me lost. While I had to grapple with finding my way out, I also had to deal with the unnecessary feelings of hunger and thirst which further impaired my ability to find my way out.
After that incident, I learnt that I should always bring more food and water than what I think to be necessary. Even if you didn’t get lost, the food and water will be useful if you decide to take it easy, extend your trip slightly and have a picnic midway to admire the beautiful scenery.
4. Bring Equipment
Prepare yourself as if you are sure to get lost. Always bring a compass, map, torch, mirror, lighter and a whistle. Some others may even advocate bringing flares and smoke grenades but as I mentioned earlier, these are overkill for my choice of hiking destinations; I prefer the road MORE traveled.
The compass allows you to walk straight. While the sentence may sound silly, walking in a straight direction in a dense forest is more difficult than said. Buy a compass that allows you to take “aim” i.e. the compass has a thin line for you to fix a distant object to walk toward. Align the compass in a direction that you wish to walk towards, find a prominent tree approximately 10 meters away, walk towards the tree and repeat the process. This ensures that you walk in a single direction and thus out of the situation faster.
Whistles and mirrors are great tools for people to locate you. Mirrors with sight holes allow you to aim for the sun and create the reflection in the case of an aerial rescue. Start aiming for the sun when you hear the sound of a plane or a helicopter. This works best if you do not stand under a thick canopy of trees. The mirrors also ensure that you look good before the big rescue. A torch light is the night equivalent of a mirror. The darker the night, the further the light from your torch travels.
Whistles are great for land rescue. Rescuers can hear you from far away without much effort of shouting from your part. High frequency whistles produces sounds which travel further.
A lighter is a gift of modern technology. Since you are born in the 20th century, might as well enjoy the comforts of one. Use the lighter to make a fire to keep you warm at night. A fire also produces good smoke signals. Feed the fire with dry leaves and dry branches but make thick black smoke signals by putting wet leaves over the fires.
5. Leave a message
Last by not least, leave a message. Before you go on a hike, also let someone (other than the people going with you) know where you are going. Provide them with a plan of your route, let them know how long you are going to take and tell them that if they do not receive your telephone call by a certain time and date, they should start calling the rescue team to look for you. Unless the person you inform wants you dead, you’ll have a great source of comfort knowing that a loved one is putting all efforts to look for you when you are lost.
4 comments:
Hey! Those are great tips. However, I do have an additional tip to add. Since we are living in modern times, a very useful modern tool to bring would be a mobile phone. If you are not too far out, you may still get some reception to call for a rescue.
Thanks for the tip. Yes I surely forgot to include mobile phone. A working phone with reception surely puts all the otehr equipment I suggested to the trash.
However, as you aptly mentioned, reception is the key. Therefore my advise would still be to bring all the other equipment as backup.
A working mobile phone can bring rescuers to your area but the whistle or a fire can pin point your exact location.
When I go hiking and trekking, I usually go with friends and I just let them organize everything. After reading your post, I think that what you say makes alot of sense.
Can you recommend what type of compass or whistle to buy? I also read from your other post about the basic equipment to bring on hikes. Can you elaborate more such as the type of hiking pole, type of accessories etc etc. Thanks
Hey Hitch Hiker,
I will reply to your question in the coming week with regards to the compass and whistle.
cheers,
Post a Comment