Getting Out Alive

Medical Emergencies

2012-01-27T09:10:00.000-08:00

Life in the wilds is nothing like the Hollywood version. Mother Nature has teeth, claws, sharp rocks, bad weather, poisonous stuff, and all sorts of ways to trip you up and cause an injury. In some ways, that's what is so appealing about her — she challenges us to be alive and aware of what's going on around us.

But in spite of our best efforts, sometimes there is a medical emergency in the backcountry while you're miles from professional help. Often, the injuries are nothing more than painful inconveniences, but there are times when they become downright life threatening. That's when it's good to have some reference material to help you through the crisis.

One of the best backwoods emergency medical references I can think of is a book called Wilderness First Responder by Buck Tilton. Buck is an old acquaintance of mine, and he is a man to be trusted. His resume for this kind of material is long and deep. He co-founded the Wilderness Medicine Institute of the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS), served as an advisor the Western State College's Mountain Rescue Team, and has written many books about outdoor medicine.

This book of his, Wilderness First Responder teaches you how to assess and treat everything from head injuries to allergic reactions to fractures, to bleeding, to cardiac arrest…and the list goes on. It's the manual you will want while you're waiting for the rescue helicopter and paramedics to arrive and take over the scene. So I recommend you get it. Just click on this link and it will take you to Amazon where you can buy the book. http://www.amazon.com/Wilderness-First-Responder-3rd-Emergencies/dp/0762754567/ref=pd_sim_b_1

Then read the thing and stuff it in your backpack so you have it with you when you need it.

Nope, Mother Nature is not warm and fuzzy. But if you're prepared, you'll live long and have fond memories about visiting her.

In Over Your Head

2012-01-26T07:06:00.000-08:00

Know When to Hold 'em — When to Fold 'em

2012-01-23T06:47:00.000-08:00

Remember the song by Kenny Rogers that became the theme for the movie The Gambler? The repeating chorus was "You've got to know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em, know when to walk away, and know when to run."

That is a perfect explanation of how to survive just about any kind of emergency. It alludes to the fact that you need to assess the situation before making a decision to hold, fold, walk or run. If you don't figure things out based on all the cards that are on the table (elements of the emergency), then you have no foundation for your decisions.

What you're trying to determine is which of all the elements poses the greatest threat to your physical welfare.

Is it starvation?
Is it dehydration?
Is it hypothermia?
Is it that geyser of blood spurting from your femoral artery?
Is it a drunken brawl at the local bar?
Is it that you're lost and have no idea which way to go?
Is it a raging bull charging at you from across the pasture?
Is it the kid on drugs wildly pointing a gun at you and demanding your money?

I could go on adding to the list of bullet points forever, but you probably get it. For any emergency, the first order of business is to assess the situation and figure out what is the highest priority that needs your attention. There are probably a lot of high priorities, but only one will rise to the highest position on the list. After you get that one handled, move on down the list.

Sometimes you multi-task, handling more than one priority at a time — like seeking to stay dry at the same time you're gathering materials for building a shelter. But both tasks are calculated to take care of the same core priority: avoid hypothermia.

In a disaster scenario (wildfire, hurricane, tornado, earthquake, etc.), you'll have to determine whether to "shelter in place" or evacuate. That's the "know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em" part.

If the house is not in the path of a threatening storm or wildfire, or is not already so badly damaged by the event that it poses a risk if you stay there, standing your ground might be the right thing to do.

Sheltering in place (if the place is habitable) leaves you in possession of all your supplies. When you decide to evacuate, you can only take so much stuff with you, and you don't know for certain (although you should have a plan to work toward) where you're going to end up. You might wind up on your own, ducking and running for cover, or living in a refugee camp. In some circumstances, those are better options that trying to shelter in place. You have to figure that out.

If you're in the crosshairs of a lethal storm, or the fire is advancing toward your house, or some similar scenario is playing out with regard to urban unrest or war, it's probably time to fold 'em and walk away (or run).

Start with assessing the situation and establishing priorities. Only then will you know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em, know when to walk away, and know when to run.

True Survivor Celebrates Life

2012-01-21T07:02:00.000-08:00

I want to dedicate this space to a young lady named Laura Dekker, a 16-year-old Dutch girl who has fought hard to celebrate life by accomplishing a dream she has held since she was 8 years old. Today, she will complete her solo circumnavigation of the world on a sailboat — a huge accomplishment for anyone. She becomes the youngest person ever to circle the globe alone on a sailboat. Congratulations Laura.

Why should I mention her on my survival blog site? Because she has what it takes — courage, determination, a can-do spirit — all of which are requisite to be a survivor. And she backs that up with preparation, clear thinking, a willingness to get her hands dirty and do the work. Most of all, she wouldn't give up, even when her own government tried multiple times to essentially put her in jail to prevent her from making her voyage. She is a true survivor.

As a sailor, I know intimately what it takes to operate a sailboat in rough conditions. A sailor doesn't just push the throttle down and point the boat where he wants it to go. It takes experience and thorough knowledge of the weather, water currents, and how to use the sails to best advantage. It requires strength and agility to raise and lower sails, change to different sails on a pitching deck, raise and lower the anchor, and perform maintenance on a boat that is continually wearing out under the ceaseless action of the ocean.

I've followed Laura's ship's log day by day since she began the voyage, paying close attention to how she handled emergencies at sea, and how she held up under weeks on end of total solitude. During her crossing of the Indian Ocean, she went dark for several weeks on the advice of experts who were telling her not to attempt any contact with the outside world, even by posting her log online, because it would give pirates in that region information about her location. She sailed without radio, without using lights on her boat, without radar — all of which could be tracked by pirates.

There were those in the sailing community who railed against the whole concept of a person so young attempting something so huge. And there were those who consistently stood behind Laura, giving expert advice and encouragement to help her along the way.

To those who fought against Laura's effort in the public media, I say, "Get a life yourself." It's all too easy to sit at your desk and fire off criticism based on your own personal prejudice or your condescending attitude that young people ought not to try to do anything challenging. Maybe those critics have lost the fire of youth and have forgotten what it's like to have a dream and then work toward its accomplishment.

After following Laura's adventure every step of the way by reading her log entries, all I can say is that she is one heck of a girl. Courageous, and able to back up her courage with action. Mature far beyond her chronological years, capable of handling emergency situations calmly, and with a spirit that will not be damped. Way to go Laura! You can be on my team anytime. With a spirit like that, you're a true survivor.

If you want to read her ship's log go to http://www.lauradekker.nl/English/Home.html and click on the News link.

The Ultimate Survival Manual

2012-01-20T07:39:00.000-08:00

My latest book, The Ultimate Survival Manual, is about to roll off the press and is already in worldwide marketing. Because of the massive global marketing effort of publishing giant Weldon Owen, this book is going to be enormously popular. And I recommend that if you want one without the delay of having to wait for a second or third printing you should pre-order it today.

The release date is May 15th, perfect timing to give as a Father's Day gift. It's on Amazon, and you can find it by using this link: http://www.amazon.com/Ultimate-Survival-Manual-Outdoor-Life/dp/1616282185/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1327072409&sr=1-1

This 256-page manual is heavily illustrated and is subdivided into three major sections — Wilderness, Urban, and Disaster. It delivers advice for advance preparation and in-the-moment techniques to help you survive everything from a bear attack to a tsunami to a carjacking to a hostage situation. These are the skills that will get you out alive.

Weldon Owen publishes extremely high quality books. This one not only has a perfect blend of survival information and lavish illustrations, but is packaged so nicely that it will make a fantastic gift.

This book is a perfect companion to my other book, Rich Johnson's Guide To Wilderness Survival, also available on Amazon.

Dangerous Signal Fire

2012-01-18T14:02:00.000-08:00

A lost hiker in Australia accidentally sparked a wildfire while trying to use a signal fire to alert authorities to his predicament. When the rescue helicopter arrived over his position, the downdraft from the rotors caused the fire to flare up and spread into surrounding brush. The incident could have become tragic, but was fortunately brought under control quickly by a small team of fire fighters.

Two types of lessons can be learned from this incident — what the hiker did right, and what he did wrong.

What he did right:

He climbed to a high point where he could be seen from a distance by rescuers.
He decided to aid the rescuers by using a visible signal.

What he did wrong:

He chose fire as his visible signal device. A mirror would have been much more effective and less hazardous. A PLB would be the very best choice, because it transmits the distress signal along with exact GPS coordinates so the rescue team doesn't have to waste time searching empty ground.
Evidently, he didn't clear the area sufficiently to prevent his signal fire embers from straying into dry fuel.
When the helicopter arrived and the hiker could see that the crew had spotted him, he failed to bury the fire with dirt to prevent the rotor downdraft from spreading embers into the brush.

Wildfire is exceptionally dangerous and destructive. Even if you're in a dire survival situation and your life is at risk, don't light the world on fire just to call attention to yourself. It's your responsibility to not only save yourself, but protect everything else around you.

If you decide to use a signal fire (or a fire for any reason):

Build it on mineral soil so underground organic material doesn't start to burn and spread the fire underground.
Clear the area both around the fire and overhead, so there is no possibility that embers can ignite dry material.
Keep the fire small so it's easy to control.
Have loose dirt or water nearby to extinguish the fire.
As you feed wood into the fire, do it gently so as not to send a bunch of sparks into the air.

Your actions while trying to save yourself can end up putting the lives of others at risk. The very act of calling for rescue puts the lives of the SAR team at risk, so don't add to it by creating a more dangerous situation. Before you use your matches, use your brains.

Day Hike Gone Bad

2012-01-17T07:39:00.000-08:00

What happens when you go out for a simple day hike but then, because something goes wrong, you end up spending the night, or maybe two? That's never a good thing and, depending on the weather, it can be downright tragic. And it results from what I call "day hike syndrome."

Day hike syndrome is the mistaken assumption that your little hike into the woods or the desert will just take a couple hours and then you'll get back to your car and drive home and everything will be fine. The unfortunate truth is that it doesn't always work out that way. What looked like a good plan on paper turns out to be totally wrong on the ground.

That's what happened to 66-year-old snowshoer Yong Chun Kim of Tacoma, Washington. An experienced snowshoer, Kim was leading a group of 16 other snowshoers on a hike through deep snow on Mount Rainier when he became separated from the rest of the group after sliding down a slope. That was the last time the group saw him.

Kim survived the fall down the slope and used his radio to let the rest of his party know that he was alright. Apparently he planned to meet up with the group at a parking lot later on, but he never showed up. When he failed to arrive as planned, a search was initiated. That was on Saturday afternoon.

Search teams consisting of park rangers with search dogs, and other volunteers scoured the snowy slopes of Mount Rainier on that Saturday, Sunday and Monday without any sign of Kim. The group Kim had been leading was unable to pinpoint the exact location where he had fallen, and it took until Sunday afternoon for them to find the spot.

Kim's sister-in-law told reporters that her brother-in-law was a strong hiker and had food in his backpack, and was well equipped for a day of snowshoeing but didn't have any overnight gear.

Uh-huh! That's exactly what happens with day hike syndrome. You put a few granola bars in your pocket then head out with a confident belief that you'll be back safely before the end of the day. Then something goes wrong. For Kim, it was a slip off the trail. Sometimes it's a turned ankle, inadvertently taking the wrong fork in the trail, sudden bad weather, a broken crosscountry ski binding…whatever. The causes for delay in your plans are numerous and varied.

My question for Mr. Kim is this: If you had a backpack, why didn't you carry overnight gear? I already can hear the answer he would give me — in fact, I've heard myself use the same excuse. It's because he had so much experience with snowshoeing and knew the area well, so he didn't think anything could go wrong.

I remember hiking miles out of steep mountains in waist-deep snow after one of my ski bindings failed. Actually, it wasn't the binding — it was the boot at the point where it connected with the binding. Since I couldn't ski in those conditions on one ski, it meant I had to remove the other one and wade for miles through the snow. That could very easily have turned into an unanticipated overnight in survival conditions. It happens. Someday it might happen to you.

So, what do we take away from this little discussion?

Expect the unexpected
Be prepared to stay longer than you planned
Have overnight shelter in your pack
Have redundant fire starting equipment in your pack and pockets
Carry signaling methods - radio, mirror, whistle, or best of all a PLB (personal locator beacon).
Pack extra clothing and food
Let someone know exactly where you're going and when you plan to return

Do those things and you'll improve your survival position greatly.

End of the story? They found Mr. Kim on Monday. He was alive. Lucky man. And I'll bet the next time he goes out he'll be better prepared. It's the old story — that which does not kill us strengthens us (or makes us smarter).

Nightmare At Sea

2012-01-14T08:16:00.000-08:00

Have you ever wondered what it was like on that fateful night in the North Atlantic when the Titanic struck an ice berg and sank?

One of the surviving passengers on the cruise ship Costa Concordia, made the comparison. "It was like a scene from the Titanic." Journalist Mara Parmegiani was talking about the experience she had just lived through when her cruise ship struck a reef off the coast of Italy, ripping a 160-foot gash in the hull. The ship rapidly took on water, and laid over on her side.

Imagine being one of the more than 4,000 passengers on that ship. What would you do to get out alive?

As I write this, a day after the accident, the report is that there are 3 known dead, dozens injured (some gravely), and 69 still missing. More than 4,000 were evacuated to shore through the use of lifeboats, the efforts of five Italian military helicopter crews, local ferries, and other boaters who saw the incident and came to assist with the rescue throughout the night.

One of the problems was that, as the ship continued to roll onto its side, passengers and crew became trapped and couldn't use the remaining ship's lifeboats. On the port side, the boats were at such a high angle they were unable to be lowered into the water, and the lifeboats on the starboard side were already underwater.

"It was so unorganized. Our evacuation drill was scheduled for 5 p.m.. We joked what if something happened today," said passenger Melissa Goduti.

Ladies in elegant dinner clothes and high heels, and men in tuxedos and dress shoes were suddenly fighting for their lives to escape a ship that was falling over. Everything that wasn't bolted down crashed to the floor, then to the wall, leaving shards of glass and china to shred the feet and hands of those scrambling to find an exit.

Needless to say, it was chaos.

Trapped in a sinking steel multi-story floating hotel with thousands of other people, the situation is ripe for disaster. So…what would you do to get out alive?

By all means, attend the mandatory evacuation drills, and pay attention to what is said there.
But be proactive. Don't wait for the official evacuation drill. As soon as you board a vessel, do a recon to find out where the lifeboats are and where the life vests are stowed.
Read the emergency card on the back of your stateroom door to learn the location of the evacuation muster area for your cabin. Go to that spot ahead of time and discover at least two ways to get there from your room.
Recognize that an emergency might happen when you are away from your cabin, and always be thinking of how you would get from wherever you are to the evacuation site.
In every room, pay attention to where the primary exits are. In a crisis, most people will rush for the most obvious exits, so plan secondary escape routes as well.
Position yourself so you are near an exit and can be one of the first out of the room before the crowd forms.
Don't be a nervous Nellie, but if you suspect something is amiss, don't wait for the alarm — politely excuse yourself, take your loved-ones and get to a safer location. It's better to apologize later for your sudden departure if you were mistaken than to be late in taking action.
In an emergency, the captain will sound the general alarm, consisting of 7 short blasts followed by 1 long blast. That's the cue for everyone to move to their designated lifeboat stations and stand by for instruction by the ship's personnel.
If you must jump from the ship, put on a life vest first. As the ship rolls over, don't worry about being sucked down — worry instead about being clobbered by something (or someone) falling from the deck. Swim away from the ship to a safe distance.
In the water, cluster together with your loved-ones and take the "huddle" position, facing each other to share body warmth to help ward off hypothermia.
Do whatever you can to call the attention of lifeboats or other means of rescue. This is when it would be good to have a small LED flashlight in your pocket, as well as a mirror and a signal whistle. These are small items, but they can save your life.

Now, relax and enjoy the cruise.

Caliber and Hiking

2012-01-13T07:48:00.000-08:00

On Bud's Gun Shop Forums the question came up: What is the smallest caliber you trust to protect yourself? Here was his response:

My personal favorite defense gun has always been a Beretta Jetfire in 22 short.

Over all the years I've been hiking I never leave without it in my pocket.

Of course we all know too the first rule when hiking in the wilderness is to use the "Buddy System."

For those of you who may be unfamiliar with this it means you NEVER hike alone, you bring a friend

or companion, even an in-law. That way if something happens there is someone to go get help.

I remember one time hiking with my brother-in-law in northern Alberta.

Out of nowhere came this huge brown bear and man was she ever mad.

We must have been near one of her cubs.

Anyway, if I had not had my little Jetfire I'd sure not be here today.

Just one shot to my brother-in-law's knee cap and I was able to escape by just walking at a brisk pace.

That's one of the best pistols in my safe today!

Hmmm, a little humor.

Along that same line, as a scuba diver I've heard the old joke many times that when diving in shark-infested waters you don't need to be able to swim faster than the sharks — you only need to be able to swim faster than your dive buddy.

Of course, surviving in bear country or sharky waters involves "real" techniques that we can discuss another day. For now, just enjoy the joke.

Any Time of Year

2012-01-11T07:30:00.000-08:00

In the temperate parts of the Northern Hemisphere, this is the time of year when people bundle up and sit in front of the fireplace drinking hot chocolate. It's cold outside. It's rainy or perhaps snowy. It's mukluks and mittens weather, with a parka and hood to keep the chill away. This is the time of year when folks become aware of how quickly hypothermia can happen.

But, what many don't understand is that hypothermia can happen anywhere and any time of year. Technically, hypothermia is a loss of body core temperature. The core is 98.6 degrees F., and that warmth is trying to escape by any means available. Here are the ways your body loses heat:

Conduction — direct contact with an object that is cooler than the core temp.
Convection — movement of air around your body carries away the warmth.
Radiation — your body radiates warmth away from itself.
Evaporation — damp clothing acts like a "swamp cooler" type of air conditioner for your body.
Exhalation — with each breath, you lose heat from inside and replace it with cold air.
Elimination — yup, even the bodily act of elimination transfers warmth from inside.

All of these natural functions take place 24/7 no matter what part of the planet you're on, no matter what the season.

Of course, if you're in a hot environment and expose yourself to excessive heat and exercise, you can go the other way and end up with heat exhaustion or heat stroke (another issue for another post). But even in the desert or the tropics, when the sun goes down so does the ambient temperature, leaving you vulnerable to hypothermia.

So, what can you do to counteract the body's natural tendency toward temperature loss?

Get dry. Stop whatever is making you wet. If you're in the water, get out. If you're in wet clothing, get out of them and dry your skin, then get into something (a shelter, dry clothing, etc.) to protect yourself from the breeze. When you're wet, your body will be working overtime on the deadly trio of convection, radiation and evaporation.
Take shelter from the wind. Dry your hair, because you lose a lot of body heat through the scalp. Cover your head.
Get a fire started to completely dry your body, hair and clothing.
Heat water for a warm drink. Add calories to the hot water — chocolate, a soup mix, etc.
Heat up some food an have a hot meal.
Wrap in cloth a stone warmed by the fire, and tuck it into your jacket or sleeping bag.
Use the fire to signal for help — smoke by day, flames by night. The sooner you get rescued, the better.

Hypothermia is not just a cold weather issue. It can happen in relatively mild temperatures when you get wet and fatigued. Swimmers in warm tropical water can become hypothermic if they stay in the water too long. Any time of year and any place on the planet, hypothermia is a deadly hunter that stalks human prey.

Collapse of Civilizations

2012-01-04T18:00:00.000-08:00

Recent scientific findings around the ancient city of Angkor in Cambodia hint at some pretty disturbing news for great civilizations. And Angkor is not alone in the lesson it has to teach us about how major societies can collapse. The southwest American civilization of Anasazi — the famous cliff dwellers — disappeared from the scene after hundreds of years of being at the top of their game. Could the same thing happen to us?

Of course it can. Otherwise I wouldn't be writing about this.

So, what happened to Angkor and to the Anasazi that swept these well-developed societies off the scene? Actually, it was probably not just one thing, but a combination of events that led to the demise of these (and other) great civilizations. But thanks to recent archeological discoveries at Angkor, and similar discoveries made long ago in the land of the Anasazi, we know at least one factor was severe drought.

Angkor was a world-class empire (as were the Anasazi in their realm). In fact, Angkor was a major player in southeast Asia for nearly 500 years, and the great city itself spread across more than 385 square miles, three times the area of modern Philadelphia. The city boasted a complex network of channels, moats, embankments and reservoirs to collect and store water during the monsoon season so it could be used during times of drought. The largest Khmer reservoir could hold 1.87 billion cubic feet of water.

Researchers studied sediments from the floor of the reservoir, to determine what happened. They found that sediment deposits in the bottom of the reservoir were one-tenth of normal when the city fell. Scientists surmise that a prolonged drought overwhelmed even their best efforts at water management, using the technology available at the time (15th century).

Here was a society that was living at the highest level of efficiency, taking many steps to keep their civilization fed and watered — and yet it wasn't enough to survive the change of climate. Mary Beth Day, a paleolimnologist at the University of Cambridge in England said, "Angkor can be an example of how technology isn't always sufficient to prevent major collapse during times of severe instability. Angkor had a highly sophisticated water management infrastructure, but this technologic advantage was not enough to prevent its collapse in the face of extreme environmental conditions."

The Anasazi faced the same situation, and their agricultural efforts collapsed under the weight of a 26-year drought.

Notice that both of those climate change events took place before the industrial revolution, so I don't believe "manmade global warming" had anything to do with it. Fact is, the earth's climate has always been undergoing one kind of change or another. It happened in the past, it will happen in the future.

But the point I want to make is that any civilization, no matter how highly technological or how primitive, can be taken down by such a simple thing as a prolonged drought. Primitive people probably fare better because they are less dependent on someone else to deliver their necessities. Modern societies are particularly vulnerable because the populace doesn't know how to supply themselves with what they need to survive.

Our society is not immune to this kind of catastrophe. In fact, I'd say we're prime candidates. We've become an entitlement society that is dependent on government to give us what we need. That's not a good way to build a stabile civilization that can withstand something like a long-term drought, or a food shortage, or a shutdown of services for any reason.

A good New Year resolution is to work on becoming personally less dependent and more capable of taking care of ourselves.

And if you feel like taking a vacation, I suggest a trip to the ruins of the great city of Angkor. But if you don't want to travel all the way to Cambodia, why not stop by the four corners region of the U.S. southwest and take a tour of the Anasazi cliff dwellings. If you listen to the wind blowing through the slickrock canyons, perhaps you'll hear a warning voice.

Escape Story

2012-01-03T11:38:00.000-08:00

Like something right out of the movies, a 24-year-old Chicago man was carjacked, shot three times in the chest, then dumped into the trunk of his own car while the carjackers drove around town.

What are the chances of getting out alive from a situation like that? Well, apparently, pretty good. The victim managed to escape from the trunk and sought help. He was taken to the hospital in serious condition. His car didn't fare so well — it was later found abandoned and on fire.

If you ever find yourself trapped in the trunk of a car, here are some options to help you escape:

Look for a glow-in-the-dark T-handle emergency trunk release to pop open the lid.
Or look for the trunk release cable that runs from the driver's compartment back to the trunk latch and tug the cable toward the front of the car to unlock the latch.
Search around for tools that can help you pry open the latch — a screwdriver, a tire iron, etc.
Try using the vehicle jack to pry up one corner of the trunk lid so you can catch the attention of other drivers.
Cut or tear loose the wiring that leads to the brake lights, so the police will notice something is amiss with the vehicle and pull it over.
If you're abandoned in the trunk, kick through the back seat and crawl into the passenger compartment.

What's That Noise?

2011-12-31T07:08:00.000-08:00

In a survival situation, you need all your senses working efficiently to keep you alive. That is, in fact, the very reason we have those senses. One of those is your sense of hearing. Humans don't have a sense of hearing just so we can enjoy tunes piped through earbuds.

Don't take me wrong, I love to listen to music through a set of earbuds, but there's a time to set those things aside and pay attention to the world around you. Those who walk around with earbuds hanging from their heads, put themselves at a certain level of risk. That's why participants in a triathlon are not allowed to wear earbuds and listen to music during the cycling or running phases, because they can't hear the traffic around them — and under those conditions, that's a survival issue.

In broader terms of survival, we have the sense of hearing so we can avoid becoming some predator's meal, so we can hear the movements of an enemy, so we can hear a shouted warning, so we can be aware of an approaching storm and take cover, so we can hear the sound of water trickling in a stream, so we can track animals for food, etc. — all for our survival.

When you find yourself in any type of emergency situation, that is the time to tune up your audible awareness of what's going on around you. It may save your life.

Listen for anything unusual. Becoming a legendary Kung Fu master who can hear a tiny ant walk into the room might be too much to expect, but on the other hand don’t be so tuned out to what’s going on around you that people can walk up behind you without your knowing.

Likewise, be aware of the unusual buzz or snap or hum that might alert you to an electrical fire. A growl from under the hood might signal low power steering fluid in the reservoir that can disable your vehicle. A strange vibration might turn out to be a rattlesnake near your feet. A change of tone in the conversations in a crowd might give you advance warning of trouble brewing, allowing you to get out before it erupts.

Pay attention to sounds that are out of the ordinary. Check out the source, and take appropriate action.

Ten Days Stranded

2011-12-22T05:31:00.000-08:00

How would you like to spend 10 frozen days alone stranded in your car with nothing to eat except a couple of candy bars and nothing to drink except melted snow?

That's what Lauren Elizabeth Weinberg, a 23-year-old Arizona State University student did, and it got her name in the headlines. Not that getting headlines for this sort of thing is desirable, but at least she survived her ordeal without much damage.

The whole thing started when Lauren decided to take a drive in the mountains of northeast Arizona, not knowing that a vicious sub-freezing winter storm was about to clobber the region, laying down a blanket of several feet of snow. According to her rescuers, the young lady didn't understand that those forest roads are impassible during the winter.

When the car became stuck, Lauren hunkered down and spent the next 10 days nibbling on candy bars and drinking water she melted from snow. She turned the snow into water by packing it into water bottles and setting them on top of the car so the sunshine could do the melting. A good tactic.

Authorities commented that Lauren's survival was remarkable after such a length of time in near-zero temperatures and with so few resources available. When the car became stuck, she just sat there with 2 candy bars and a bottle of water to keep her alive until some forest service employees happened to ride by on snowmobiles 10 days later checking gates. They weren't even looking for her, because no search was underway. It was pure luck.

What she did wrong:

she didn't let anyone know where she was going and when to expect her to return
she didn't check the weather ahead of making the trip
she didn't understand that the roads were impossible to drive in the winter
the vehicle wasn't equipped with survival gear (food, water, clothing, sleeping bag, signaling, fire)

What she did right was that she remained calm and stuck with the vehicle that provided shelter and offered access to all the resources (meager as they were) she had with her. A vehicle is much easier for rescuers to spot than a person wandering on foot through the forest. But after such a long time with no rescue, it would be understandable for anyone to want to leave the vehicle behind and attempt to hike out. That's especially true if you had not left information with anyone back home that you would expect to initiate a search if you didn't show up.

Lauren made the decision to stay with the vehicle, and that probably saved her life in this case. But there was a lot of luck involved, because she had left no "flight plan" with friends, and no official search was taking place to look for her. She might easily have died alone in her car later in the winter, if not for the fortunate arrival of the forest service workers on snow mobiles.

On the other hand, she probably would have died if she had left the vehicle in an attempt to hike out for self-rescue, because:

she would have been exposed to the bitter cold
her clothing would have become wet
she would have been expending caloric energy she couldn't afford
she would have been increasing her need for water consumption
she would have been exposed to frostbite and hypothermia
in all probability she would not have survived

Maybe there's something we can learn from this incident.

Knowledge vs. Wisdom

2011-12-16T09:06:00.000-08:00

I recently watched a TV program called Dual Survival that features two very knowledgeable guys from different backgrounds placing themselves in a variety of survival situations, then showing how to handle the challenges. Good show, and a good source of survival information. But one of the biggest messages I took from the show is how knowledge needs to be balanced with wisdom.

Both of these fellows have a commendable depth of survival knowledge. One of the men comes from a military background, so his approach is what you might expect from a military mindset — challenge nature, push hard, keep moving, hoo-rah!

The other guy refers to himself as an extreme naturalist who gave up wearing shoes 20 years ago so he could be more in touch with the earth and nature. His approach to survival is to cooperate with the natural elements, move slowly with caution, and utilize all the natural resources.

Like I said, the program is well done, and I can recommend it as an entertaining source to gain survival knowledge. But there is a huge difference between knowledge and wisdom. Wisdom is the proper application of knowledge, and even with all the knowledge in the world you can still make foolish choices.

As I watched several episodes of this program, it became clear to me that going to extremes in one's approach to facing survival (or even general life) challenges sometimes defies wisdom. For example, insisting on living so close to nature that you shun wearing shoes or other protective clothing is (in my opinion) a departure from wisdom. This fellow obviously fancies himself a native, but if you understand the ways of most native cultures, it is clear that they use footwear and clothing appropriate to the season and environment. Clothing is the first line of defense against the elements, and there is no rational reason to fail to provide that level of protection to one's self.

It is true that some primitive cultures go nearly naked and shoeless, but those are exceptions to the rule and only in "friendly" environments. And as soon as those cultures are introduced to more protective clothing, they adopt it as their own. Adaptation is a key point for survival, and natives are quick to adapt new methods when they see that they are an improvement over the old traditions. Some purists see this as an intrusion of civilization on primitive cultures, but you don't see the natives complaining about the upgrades.

Now, I understand that the fellow in question is trying to create a persona for himself as he teaches primitive survival classes. That's a business decision, and it might actually even reach into his personal preferences of how he wants to live. Whatever floats his boat…

The trouble I have with it is that he parades this on a public forum such as TV, and it will undoubtedly influence some viewers into thinking it's okay to disregard the fundamentals of survival when it comes to clothing. Without a doubt, it makes good TV. What it doesn't make is good survival doctrine.

I'm not saying the man is not knowledgeable. It's obvious he is. It's the wisdom I question. And, by the way, I'm not alone in this. His partner on the TV program repeatedly declares the "extreme naturalist" sidekick to be nuts.

In my world, colored and flavored by both Special Forces military training and years of primitive living study and experience, I want people to understand that going to extremes in any direction might tickle your fancy, but it might also be foolish. Gain knowledge and experience, then apply wisdom. That's the best formula I know for survival.

Great Reading For Only 99 Cents!

2011-12-13T22:15:00.000-08:00

If you like political thrillers with a dose of outdoor survival threaded throughout the story, I've got some good news for you. I have reduced the price for my two novels, Code Name Viper and The Container. For only 99 cents you can now download each of these exciting novels from Amazon's Kindle Books division. The best news is that Amazon gives away their Kindle reader application for computers, iPads, iPhones, Blackberries and other smart phones, so you don't actually have to own a Kindle device to be able to access the whole library. Just download the free Kindle app on your digital device or computer. It takes only a minute to set yourself up to be able to read anything in the entire Kindle collection.

Of course, I think my two books are "must" reads, but I may be prejudiced. But if you're willing to risk 99 cents, you can decide for yourself. So, here's the synopsis of my two books.

Code Name Viper is all about a government conspiracy in the depths of the intelligence community, and how it threatens the lives of those who uncover the well-guarded secret. Imagine what happens when the director of a black-ops government intelligence agency goes bad and then tries to cover his murderous past by hunting down and killing anyone who discovers his secret? Mark Benton and his pregnant wife find out how deadly it can be to get in this man's way. Now they're running for their lives, with a murderous spy on their heels. Filled with survival, escape and evasion technique, this story has a twist at the end.

The Container is right out of today's headlines, a survival thriller that will keep you wondering who's going to live and who's going to die. Husam al Din is an al Qaeda warrior on a personal jihad, hoping to die on a suicide mission while delivering a biological weapon to the U.S. aboard a shipping container. Josh Adams is the intelligence agent trying to stop al Din. The action takes you from Pakistan to the Gulf of Mexico in a race to prevent a biological nightmare. This one will keep you on the edge of your seat.

Click on the book image to open the link in Amazon.

Happy reading!

Could You?

2011-12-10T08:12:00.000-08:00

My wife and I used to visit an elderly lady who was totally blind. She lived in a two-story house all by herself. Nobody came to fix her meals — she wouldn't hear of it. She had a staunchly independent nature and wanted to do as much as she possibly could for herself. The only thing she couldn't do was drive, so friends would take her grocery shopping from time to time. Other than that, she got along just fine on her own.

Her house was a model of organization, as you might imagine. In order for her to be able to operate, everything had to be in its prescribed place. And that was a lesson to me.

Now the question — the way your house is organized, could you find everything you need if you suddenly were without the ability to see? Could you, without fumbling around in a frantic search, put your hands on a pair of socks, pants, shirt, shoes, coat, gloves, etc.?

Could you walk through your house without stumbling over clutter?

Could you find the exact can of soup you want for lunch, locate the can opener, find the pot to cook it in, put your hands on a clean spoon and bowl?

I know people who can't find their car keys or sunglasses with their eyes wide open. I have been in homes that were such a clutter disaster that it looked as if the place had been ransacked by burglars or tossed by police looking for a stash of drugs. If there was a sudden emergency in the middle of the night and the electricity was knocked out, those people would be helpless.

Part of being able to "get out alive" from any emergency situation depends on a high degree of organization. You need to know what to do, when to do it, and be able to either put your hands on the right equipment, or improvise. If you have to search through your backpack for the bear spray when the grizzly is bearing (pun intended) down on you, you're not well enough organized. If you can't put your hands on a flashlight from the comfort of your bed, you're not well enough organized. If you can't put your feet into a pair of shoes without getting out of bed and walking across a possibly glass strewn room, you're not well enough organized. If you can't escape your burning house, totally blinded by smoke, without stumbling over clutter, you're not well enough organized.

We can all take a lesson from the old blind lady. Get our house in order. Know where things are, and be able to access them without forming a search party. Be ready for whatever emergency might befall us, without having to search blindly for appropriate clothing to allow us to safely escape into a stormy night.

Could you do that now?

Clarification

2011-12-02T09:22:00.000-08:00

One of the readers of this blog recently made a comment that leads me to believe I need to clarify the function of a PLB or SPOT Satellite Messenger.

What the reader said was that he doesn't go places where he is likely to get lost — as if I had somehow given the misconception that the SPOT is merely a GPS device. It isn't. That is not its function. This is a device that can notify either your friends/family that you are OK on your journey, to alleviate their worry, or to show them your GPS coordinates through a tracking mode so they an see your progress as you travel, or (and this is the big OR) to call in the search and rescue team if your life somehow becomes at risk.

I don't use my SPOT to keep track of where I am. I use it to let others keep track of where I am. I still use a map and compass, common sense, dead reckoning navigation techniques, and occasionally I'll pull out my GPS to verify my coordinates and mark them on the map. For me, the joy of the backcountry is in the simplicity. But in this day of inexpensive and reliable technology, there's no reason not to have a backup system that can save your life.

After all, I never made a parachute jump that didn't also include a reserve chute. Only had to use it once, but on that day I was mighty happy I had it.

SPOT Question

2011-11-29T14:12:00.000-08:00

In the comments to my last post, a question was asked about my experience with the SPOT Satellite Messenger, and whether or not it was hampered by a canopy of trees overhead.

That is a great question. Every type of satellite communication device, whether it be a GPS a Personal Locator Beacon, or the SPOT Satellite Messenger depends to a certain degree on having a clear shot at the open sky. These are not high-powered devices, so the signal can be interrupted by overhead obstructions.

That said, I have successfully used my SPOT in deep forest as well as on open terrain. With a normal PLB, the only way to verify that the unit worked is to listen for the sound of helicopters coming to rescue you. But the SPOT works differently, having a couple modes of operation other than just calling for the rescue team. You can send a "check in" message that allows your team of people back home to follow your progress on a Google Map. Or you can send a "I need help, but don't call the rescue team" message in the event you have a non-life threatening emergency such as a flat tire, or other minor mishap. That message gives your GPS coordinates to your team who can then come and give you a hand. Of course, the final recourse, when you life is at stake, is to press the button that calls in the helicopter rescue teams.

So far (knock on wood), I haven't needed to call for rescue. But I have used the other functions.

Keep in mind that my unit is a first edition — an old model that has since been updated by the company. The newer units are more powerful, smaller and lighter. I paid $149 for mine and maintain a $99 per year subscription to the service. The alternative is to buy a PLB that costs several times that much but requires no subscription fee ever after.

One other difference between my SPOT and a PLB is that I can change batteries myself, while PLB owners need to send their units in for service.

I hope that helps answer the question. I encourage you to do more research. The websites to check out are: www.findmespot.com for the SPOT Satellite Messenger, www.acrelectronics.com and www.mcmurdo.co.uk for PLB information.

No matter which unit you buy, it is money well spent. Hope you never need to use it, but the peace of mind alone for you and your loved ones will be a huge benefit.

A Response

2011-11-28T17:56:00.000-08:00

To my previous post about Quicksand and the use of a PLB or SPOT Satellite Messenger, I received a response from "Anonymous" that reads:

This would be a great gadget to have, but many people simply do not have the money to go out and buy all the great equipment, especially in this economy. Its really hard to justify spending money on items you may only use occasionally. There is a tipping point there somewhere. You make a valid point about being prepared, and that is well taken. The average Joe who just wants to get out in nature to find some peace and solitude from the cacophony of modern life generally isn't going to have the money to buy all the latest and greatest. I think it would be helpful if you could do some posts that would help those less fortunate, financially.

The writer makes a good point. Equipment such as a PLB is not inexpensive, and most people do without for that very reason. It's just human nature to believe that "it" will never happen to us.

If I were in the business of reporting every case of people getting lost or stranded, with no way to make contact with the outside world to spark a rescue effort, there would be no end to it. Every day, somewhere in America, people fall into those situations. And if you expand to the world, there are literally hundreds each day who fall into the depths of trouble that require outside help.

Sometimes, they're lucky enough to be able to work out their problem and save themselves. Sometimes they're not. But in every case, if you were to ask the survivors, they would say that spending a couple hundred dollars to save their lives would be cheap.

It only looks expensive when we don't need it. As soon as you do, you will wish you had made the investment.

And that brings me to my next story. Just a few days ago, a teenage boy named Jacob was hiking with his father and two brothers in the Olympic National Park. All of them were experienced hikers, and this trail was almost in their backyard, so it wasn't like they were neophytes on their first trek to some exotic location like Nepal. Actually, local day hikes are more dangerous than exotic expeditions. The reason is that, for expeditions people train and equipment themselves for the worst that can happen, but for the day hike in their backyard people don't expect anything bad to happen, so they don't prepare for the worst.

But on with the story — Disaster was only a small misstep away. As Jacob stepped onto a narrow section of the trail, the ground gave way and gravity took over. He slid for a ways, then went head over heels, tumbling down a rocky 150-foot slope. When he stopped, his body was covered with cuts and scrapes from the jagged rocks. His right leg wasn't working well, and his left leg wasn't working at all. His left ankle was broken.

Jacob heard his brothers yelling to him from above, but when he tried to crawl up the slope his legs went into spasms and he couldn't move.

Soon, Jacob's dad and brothers descended the slope to check on his condition. By then, it was late in the afternoon, and the sun was about to set. They wouldn't have enough daylight to get themselves out of this situation. They needed help.

From where they were, cell phone reception was too poor to make a phone call, so they tried texting everyone they knew, asking them to call 911 and send help. The dad sent one of the sons down the trail to the car to retrieve their emergency backpack. (Just a note here — wouldn't it be better to have that emergency equipment with them, rather than leaving it in the car? I'm just saying…). It turns out this was the first time they had ever needed the emergency equipment, but the dad later reported that it probably made a big difference in the way things turned out during Jacob's incident.

By 7:00 p.m., park rangers and search & rescue arrived on the scene and determined that Jacob couldn't be moved until morning. The brothers hiked out with the rescue team, and the dad stayed with Jacob and six rangers through the night. At about 2:00 a.m., it started raining.

Before daylight, the rescue team was making plans involving ropes and a litter to carry Jacob down the narrow mountain trail. A secondary plan was to call in a Coast Guard helicopter to make the rescue. But the weather was bad enough that the chopper couldn't fly until 11:00 a.m.

It was afternoon of the day following his "slight misstep" that Jacob was delivered to the hospital for treatment.

As painful as this experience was, Jacob was incredibly lucky. It could have been so much worse.

Imagine if he had been hiking alone
Imagine if he had been fifty miles back in the mountains, far from the emergency kit
Imagine if the overnight temperature fell below freezing
Imagine if there had been no cell phone or zero cell coverage

All those "imagines" do happen. Consider the story of Aron Ralston, the young man who was forced to cut off his own hand to save his life. It's interesting to note that now Aron Ralston is a spokesman for a company that makes PLBs. It is probable that if he had invested a couple hundred dollars to buy a PLB, he would not have had to self amputate his hand. Rescue could have arrived within hours, rather than the days it took him to save himself — and only then at such great anguish and pain.

Back to the story about Jacob. After it was all said and done, Jacob's father made a statement that everyone would do well to pay attention to. "You can't eliminate all risks, but you can take steps to mitigate the danger," he said.

In the end, only you can put a price on your life. How much are you willing to pay to make sure you're safe when you're "out there?" And let's take it a step farther. How much are you willing to pay to make sure your loved ones will be safe? Is a couple hundred dollars too much?

Not for me. Actually, I'm priceless!

Quicksand

2011-11-27T07:41:00.000-08:00

We had an up-close-and-personal incident involving quicksand on the first day of our year-long wilderness living experience in southern Utah back in 1976. That was a long time ago, but I've never forgotten how tricky it can be to deal with this stuff.

And this past week, another fellow learned a similar lesson. It happened to a 25-year-old man who was involved with the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS), famous for their excellent outdoor education programs.

After 23 days trekking around southern Utah, he apparently stepped in the wrong place along the Dirty Devil River and became trapped by a pool of quicksand. He was there for 8 hours before a search and rescue squad was able to get him out. The first attempts at rescue failed, and it was 2:00 a.m. before they finally fished him out of the quicksand.

The guy was lucky, to say the least. But he was also prepared, and that takes some of the luck out of it. The way the authorities found out about his dire situation was because he used a PLB (personal locator beacon) to trigger the rescue effort. The PLB sent a signal to a satellite system that relayed the distress signal to the rescue agency.

After our own encounter with quicksand on our approach to the first cave we lived in, I talked with a local rancher about what happened. "Yeah," he said without a hint of surprise on his face, "we lose cattle to the quicksand all the time down that canyon."

Back in that day, there was no such thing as a PLB. Today, there's no excuse for wandering in the wilderness without the ability to alert rescue teams if you get in trouble. I understand perfectly how that concept offends "purist" wilderness explorers who think it somehow diminishes the experience if you are still tied to civilization via a satellite link. Be that as it may, the older (and wiser) I get, the longer I want to live so I can keep exploring the world. A PLB is cheap insurance. I carry a SPOT (www.findmespot.com), but there are other products available.

What's The Weather Going to Do?

2011-11-22T07:24:00.000-08:00

Being surprised by an unexpected storm leaves you vulnerable. Every seafaring person (of which I am one) knows that weather is a key element to safe travel. That's why we spend some time each day looking at the sky, monitoring wind shifts, reading the barometer, thermometer, and calculating relative humidity. The same goes for outdoor enthusiasts of every stripe. Keeping an eye on the sky and watching a few basic instruments to discern what's coming is a most important skill.

Reading the weather clues in the sky is a good start for doing your own weather forecasting (and it may be all you have to work with after a disaster or if you're lost in the wilderness), but with the addition of a few pieces of equipment, you can have a head start on figuring out what the weather is going to do.

It's always a good idea to read or listen to what the pros have to say. NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) is the big dog in the world of weather forecasting through their National Weather Service. You can access local and regional forecasts via the Internet, smart phones, or a portable weather radio.

A couple of great examples of portable weather radios are the $34.95 Oregon Scientific WE601N (www.oregonscientificstore.com), and the $49.99 Midland HH54VP2 (www.midlandradio.com). In addition to regular weather reports, these “all hazards” radios broadcast warnings and post-event information for all types of hazards: weather (tornadoes, floods, etc.), natural disasters (earthquakes, forest fires, volcanic activity, etc.), technological (chemical releases, oil spills, nuclear power plant emergencies, etc.), and national emergencies such as terrorist attacks.

If you want to combine the ability to receive weather information along with your GPS coordinates, the Garmin GPSMAP 496 (www.garmin.com) allows you to subscribe to XM WX Satellite Weather that transmits real-time high-resolution animated weather data and NEXRAD weather radar. Depending on your choice of service plan (starting at $9.95 per month), you can view as many as 20 different types of weather information.

Wow! A far cry from holding a wet finger up in the wind.

Gratitude and Giving Back

2011-11-15T11:05:00.000-08:00

True Story:

Eddie Rickenbacker was a famous hero back in World War II. On one of his flying missions across the Pacific, he and his seven-member crew went down. Miraculously, all of the men survived, crawled out of their plane, and climbed into a life raft.

Captain Rickenbacker and his crew floated for days on the rough waters of the Pacific. They fought the sun. They fought sharks. Most of all, they fought hunger. By the eighth day their rations ran out. No food. No water. They were hundreds of miles from land and no one knew where they were.

They needed a miracle. That afternoon they had a simple devotional service and prayed for a miracle. They tried to nap. Eddie leaned back and pulled his military cap over his nose. Time dragged. All he could hear was the slap of the waves against the raft..

Suddenly, Eddie felt something land on the top of his cap. It was a seagull!

He would later describe how he sat perfectly still, planning his next move. With a flash of his hand and a squawk from the gull, he managed to grab it and wring its neck. He tore the feathers off, and he and his starving crew made a meal of it — a very slight meal for eight men. Then they used the intestines for bait. With it, they caught fish, which gave them food and more bait…and the cycle continued. With that simple survival technique, they were able to endure the rigors of the sea until they were rescued after 24 days at sea.

Eddie Rickenbacker lived many years beyond that ordeal, but he never forgot the sacrifice of that first life-saving seagull. And he never stopped saying, "Thank you."

That's why almost every Friday night, later in life, he would walk to the end of the pier with a bucket full of shrimp to feed the gulls. Just a bucket of shrimp and a heart full of gratitude.

To survive is great. To remember to be grateful is even better. The one without the other is worthless.

Night Vision

2011-11-11T18:08:00.000-08:00

The ability to see in the dark is a matter of survival. Not only for nocturnal animals hunting for their next meal, or perhaps trying to avoid becoming somebody else's next meal, but also for humans. Evidence of that can be seen on every battlefield and in every military cockpit, both airborne and marine. If you can't see what's out there in the dark, you're vulnerable.

For the human eye, it takes about 30 to 45 minutes to fully adapt to darkness to the point that we have our maximum natural night vision. After that adaptation happens, all it takes is a brief burst of light from the white, yellow, green or blue spectrum to "bleach out" the rod cell photoreceptors in our eyes. The result is instant night blindness.

Illumination sources that don't emit white, yellow, blue or green light don't cause night blindness. That's why a red spectrum of light is used onboard ships and aircraft at night when a light source is needed. Red light has a longer wavelength that doesn't attack the rod photoreceptors in or eyes and disrupt our night vision.

Once night blindness occurs, you have to start over with the adaptation process. But one trick to help retain at least some night vision is to close or cover one eye when an offending light source is approaching. For example, if you are aware that car headlights are coming your way, close or cover one eye to preserve the night vision in that eye. The eye that remains open will be affected, but you'll still have some night vision left after the car passes. Of course, it's better to tightly shut both eyes in the presence of light if you are able, but there are times when you must keep at least one eye open — while you're driving, for example. Be aware, however, that closing one eye will diminish your depth perception and can be dangerous while driving.

But if you're hunting, or being hunted, and white lights (flashlights, helicopters, flares, etc.) are being used in the area, keep that trick in mind. It might save your night vision…or even your life.

Earth Shaker

2011-11-08T17:15:00.000-08:00

A rash of earthquakes in Oklahoma (you gotta be kidding… Oklahoma?) this past week has everyone focused on what to do to prepare for an Earth Shaker.

Begin by making an assessment of your home, looking for all the things that might be thrown down when the house rocks and rolls during an earthquake. Bookcases, knick-knack shelves, entertainment centers, hutches, pictures hung on the wall, mirrors — and more. All that stuff is vulnerable to becoming shrapnel when it flies off its perch and lands on the floor.

The major problem with that is, if the quake happens at night while you're in bed, and you wake up and realize what's happening, and jump out of bed with bare feet — ouch!

But it's more than mere ouch. It's injury and infection and blood loss and muscle/tendon damage that can last a lifetime.

So the smart thing is to assess your home ahead of time, find the vulnerabilities, and take care of them now.

In our home, we have anchored things that I mentioned above, using butterfly bolts through the sheetrock, and L-brackets bolted to whatever unit we're securing. The next challenge is securing all the small items that belong on those shelves and hutches and whatnot.

For knick-knacks, we use a thin layer of museum putty (looks like a cross between Silly Putty and modeling clay) under each item to stick them in place on shelves. Larger items such as the TV or stereo system need to be bolted down with brackets to make sure they remain in place.

Mirrors that were once held to walls by small plastic brackets have now been upgraded to a full framework of decorative moulding. It not only looks better, but is now much more secure. And we've upgraded the picture frame hangers for the oil paintings my wife's mom created.

For the water heater, we used a length of metal strap wrapped around the unit like a belt and then bolted the strap to the wall.

Even with all that effort, a serious earthquake can still make a dangerous mess of your floor. For that reason, keep a pair of hard-soled shoes by your bed so you can slip your feet into their protection before evacuating the house in the middle of the night.

And since we're talking about the middle of the night…it's also a good idea to keep a flashlight within easy reach. And unless you want to flee the house naked except for your nice shoes, keep some appropriate clothing within reach as well.

Earthquakes give precious little warning, so it's best to live prepared all the time.

Winter Storm Survival

2011-10-31T11:32:00.000-07:00

More than 3 million people on the East Coast were hit with power outages as an early winter storm blasted through the region. Connecticut Governor Dannel Mallory said a record number of residents of his state were without electricity and could be for a week. "Ir you are without power, you should expect to be without power for a prolonged period of time," he stated.

The snowstorm dumped more than 2 feet of snow in some places, snarling air traffic and highway travel throughout the New England states. The combination of heavy, wet snow and trees that still carried their leaves resulted in downed power lines as trees shed their limbs or fell over altogether. In Pennsylvania, a man was killed with a snow-burdened tree fell on his home while he was asleep in his recliner. Another man was electrocuted when he stopped to observe police and fire fighters working on downed power lines.

From all this, we can learn a lesson or two.

Don't rely on the calendar to tell you when winter will arrive. The weather can get out of its normal routine.
Always be prepared to have to stay overnight (or longer) in your vehicle, if weather traps you away from home. Have what you need to survive in the car.
Prepare your home so you can live comfortably without electrical power or the municipal water supply. You need water and food stored up for emergencies. You need alternate cooking and heating methods that are safe to use in your house. And you need warm clothes so you can stay comfortable as the house chills.
Have what you need at home so you can live without going to the store for a couple weeks. How's your toilet paper supply?
If you see downed power lines, do not stop to gawk, and don't get out of your vehicle if power lines fall on it.

Shameless Self Promotion

2011-10-28T17:53:00.000-07:00

I might as well take advantage of my own blog to promote a book I wrote that is hot off the press. It's called The Castle Gate. It's a Christian gift book that is written after the fashion of C.S. Lewis' style. There's a story within a story, and it's left to the reader to interpret the meaning found along the way.

This is an excellent book to give as Christmas gifts to those you love. Read the story first yourself, and you will find it will be especially appropriate for special people in your life.

Go to www.candlelight-books.com to find out more about The Castle Gate.

Blizzard Survival Bag

2011-10-28T13:59:00.000-07:00

You never know when an emergency situation is going to happen. That's why, as we approach the coming winter, it's a good idea to be thinking about ways to protect ourselves if there is a sudden absence of the things that normally keep us alive and well.

A winter storm can knock out electrical power to our homes. Or we might be out in the mountains stalking a perfect Christmas tree when we become stranded. Both scenarios happen ever year — many times, to many people, all across the country. At a time like that, it's good to have ways to stay dry and warm.

A product that has recently come to my attention appears to meet some of those needs. It's called a Blizzard Survival Bag. My good friends at LifeView Outdoors (www.lifeviewoutdoors.com) sent me some information about this product. It's made in the UK, but available for $39.95 in the U.S.

This is an emergency survival bivvy featuring Reflexcell technology. It's made of a triple layer of windproof and waterproof material designed with cellular construction and metallic coating to reflect back toward you your own body heat and reduce the risk of hypothermia. A network of elastic bands keep the bag close to your body, reducing cold spaces within the bag. According to the manufacturer, it's intended for extreme cold weather down to -40º F. The bag is used by the military, civilian first responders, disaster relief organizations, and everyday outdoor enthusiasts.

I haven't had a chance to personally test and evaluate this product yet, because I just found out about it. But I wanted to pass along this information so you can do your own research. After I have an opportunity to do some field testing, I'll report back on how it performed. If any of you have experience with the Blizzard Survival Bag, post your comments and tell us what you think of it.

Reach Out and Touch Someone

2011-10-24T17:20:00.000-07:00

Once upon a time, there was a telephone advertisement that said, "Reach out and touch someone." It was clever and catchy, but it was also good survival advice.

Fast forward to yesterday in Ercis, Turkey, where a 7.2 magnitude earthquake knocked down nearly 2,300 buildings, killing hundreds, injuring more than a thousand, and trapping a guy named Yalcin Akay (among hundreds of others). But what was so special about Yalcin Akay was that he reached out and touched someone, just like the ad said to do.

In his case, the someone he reached out and touched was the police department emergency operator. Trapped in a collapsed building, Akay used his cell phone to call for help. He knew where he was and had a clear understanding of the conditions around him. So he gave directions to the police and they were able to find him and save his life.

Others who were pulled from the rubble of buildings all over the city were found by luck. In my opinion, it's better not to rely too heavily on luck when your life is on the line. Having a cell phone with a charged battery can be a lifesaver.

Just ask Yalcin Akay next time you see him.

My Favorite Fire Starter

2011-10-18T18:05:00.000-07:00

When I want a fire, I want a fire. I don't want to mess around with wimpy igniters that just don't do the job. So I'm pretty picky about the kind of fire starters I carry. One of the best I've found is the Swedish FireSteel from a company called Light My Fire (www.lightmyfire.com).

This is a striker-type fire starter. It doesn't make flames, it makes sparks. Getting flames depends entirely upon me to have good tinder available to catch the sparks. But even with the best tinder, if there are no sparks, there will be no flames. And that's what I like about this fire starter. It makes some of the most powerful sparks of any striker I've tried — and I've tried a lot of different ones.

The Swedish Fire Steel comes with a small lanyard that keeps the "flint" and the "steel" together so you don't lose one of the critical components. And the lanyard is just long enough to enable you to work your magic with the flint against the steel to create a shower of 5,500º F. sparks.

The one in the photo is an older model with the earlier style of steel. Has worked just fine for me for several years. But the company has recently come out with their second generation version 2.0 that features a different kind of steel. Still works like a charm. The company claims the striker will last for 3,000 to 12,000 strikes. One of the amazing things is that it works equally well wet or dry.

So now that you know my favorite fire starter, you can buy one for about $13 from REI, and they're available at lots of sporting goods stores. Prices vary. Personally, I wouldn't be too interested in a cheap imitation. I want to know I can get a fire going quickly when I need one.

Personal Preparation Trumps Everything

2011-10-08T10:14:00.000-07:00

When the fertilizer flies through the fan, it's too late to grab an umbrella. Unless you're prepared in advance, you're just going to have to wear the consequences of your neglect.

The same goes for survival situations. It doesn't matter whether it takes place a hundred miles back in the wilderness or in downtown metropolis, it's all the same. When the chips are down, nothing trumps personal preparedness. If you know what to do and either have the right equipment with you or know how to improvise, you'll probably make it out alive. If you fail those criteria, you're going to have to rely on luck.

If you're lucky, someone will stumble across your path and rescue you. It does happen. I've reported before on people lost or stranded who were saved because a hunter or hiker accidentally found the hapless victims. But I wouldn't count on it. It's a long shot to expect a stranger to find you in the vastness of the wilderness.

In an urban survival situation, where masses of people are in trouble all at the same time, you can't expect others to sacrifice their own families or themselves to come to your aid. Thankfully, there are folks who will do that, but by allowing yourself to be a victim you place your rescuers at risk. If you do that because you have neglected to prepare to handle emergencies yourself, then shame on you. You are part of the problem when you could easily have been part of the solution.

Personal preparation encompasses every aspect of life, including where you choose to live. If you choose to live in a little apartment in downtown metropolis, surrounded by mega-millions of unprepared people, you might have very little ability to grow your own food, or a place to store an emergency supply of necessities. I'm not condemning anyone who lives like that, but it's a choice, whether or not you're willing to admit it. If you think you're "stuck" in those conditions because that's where your job is, then you're willing to allow your job to make the decision for you. It takes guts to break out of the herd, but it can be done.

If you really are concerned about emergency preparedness, start analyzing your life. Ask yourself:

If the global economy suddenly went in the tank and money had absolutely no value, what would I do?
If there was a total loss of public services — transportation, communication, food supply, water supply, utilities, police, fire and medical services — what would I do?
If a massive ice storm paralyzed my city for a month, and there was no electricity because all the power lines were down, what would I do?
If I became hopelessly lost while hiking, a storm was blowing in and night was coming on, what would I do?
If there was a biological attack by terrorists against my city, what would I do?
If the municipal water supply became contaminated and warnings were issued about not using the water, what would I do?
If a virulent pandemic spread across the country and I was quarantined for 6 months to my house, with no possibility to go outside, what would I do?
If my car slid off a remote snow-covered road while I was miles back in the forested mountains hunting for a Christmas tree, what would I do?
If a cougar or bear wandered into my fishing camp, what would I do?
If my family members were spread all over town the day a massive earthquake shattered everything, what would I do?

Be thoughtful about every different scenario you can come up with. Analyze your situation, your experience level, your equipment, your skills. Start bolstering where you need to. Make the hard decisions about where you live.

Do you have everything you need to go on living for an extended period of time (at least 6 months) without having to depend on stores or restaurants or public services to keep you alive?

If you expect the government or some relief agency to save you from disaster, you're not really fit for survival. I'm not saying you deserve to die, but I wouldn't want you on my team if you're not willing to take personal responsibility for your own welfare.

Don't wait until the stink flies toward you at a hundred miles an hour before looking for the umbrella.

Escape A Submerged Vehicle

2011-10-06T08:55:00.000-07:00

To safely escape a vehicle that has gone underwater takes quick planning and a cool head. If you panic, you probably won't survive.

As soon as you realize that the vehicle is in deep water and is going to sink, get your seatbelt off and try to open the door and get out. For this to succeed, you must open the door before the water level gets higher than a few inches on the outside of the door. Otherwise, the pressure of the water against the door will not allow you to open it. If you try to shove the door open, but can't, don't waste your energy on that avenue of escape.

The next best thing is to open the window and climb out before the water level reaches the glass. If you cannot open the window, break the glass and crawl out. The window glass will shatter into small fragments, so don't worry about impaling yourself. The best way to shatter the window is to use a heavy piece of metal (hammer, wrench, etc.) or a special spring-loaded glass-breaking punch. The punch takes almost no effort to break the window and you can find them available online for about $10.

If you are unable to escape before water reaches the level of the windows and begins to pour inside, you'll have to wait. Don't panic. You must allow the flow of water coming in through the windows to fill the interior enough to slow the flow and let you escape. The interior of the vehicle will need to be almost completely filled with water before you can get out. This is the most difficult time to remain calm, but it is vital that you do so. If other people are in the vehicle, do your best to calm everyone and tell them what to do.

Get seatbelts off
Work to get windows or doors open
Wait until the vehicle fills with water
Talk about who will go first, second, third, etc.
Follow the air pocket and breathe

Take deep breaths of air as the vehicle fills, pressing your face up against the headliner to get the last of the air before escaping. The vehicle will probably sink nose-down because of the weight of the engine, and that might produce an air pocket in the back where you can breathe while you work out your survival plan.

When the vehicle is full of water, you might be able to shove the doors open because the pressure will be equal on both sides of the door. Depending on the physical size of the occupants, that might be the only way out. If you can get the doors open while you're still breathing from the air pocket, so much the better.

When you're ready to go, take a last deep breath and hold it. Keep your eyes open so you can see your escape route. Then go.

Plane Crash

2011-10-03T11:15:00.000-07:00

I just received word that a close friend of ours was killed in the crash of a light aircraft into the waters of Chesapeake Bay. Actually, she survived the the crash with only minor injury. She and her son, the pilot, were able to get out of the plane together, but they were about 3 miles offshore and had to swim as the plane sank from beneath them.

Our good friend Mary was so excited to take this ride in her son's airplane. Everything went well as they flew above the Chesapeake to an island. Suddenly, the engine died and they were forced to land in the water.

Surviving a plane crash is miracle enough, but then to die in the attempt to swim ashore is a tragedy. Mary and her son swam for more than an hour and a half toward a distant shoreline. She was 78 years old, and for her to swim for so long was another miracle.

Finally, exhausted, she told her son that she just couldn't go on any longer. She drowned, leaving him to swim on through the darkness of early evening until he crawled ashore in a swamp and made his way to a house to call for help.

The whole thing leaves me asking how the outcome might have been different. What if they had be able to use the radio to send a mayday to the Coast Guard before hitting the water? What if they had flotation cushions or life vests on the plane? What if a boat had spotted them going down? What if…

There are lessons to be learned from every incident such as this.

When a plane flies over water, it should be equipped the way a boat would be — with personal flotation devices for each passenger.
We should anticipate that something might go wrong and we will have to swim or hike to find help.
We should wear the kind of clothing that would be appropriate for that challenge — sturdy walking shoes, long sleeve, long pants.
We should know how to use the radio to transmit a distress message.
We should know how to remain afloat indefinitely without wearing ourselves out by swimming.
We should have signal flares and other equipment onboard and know how and when to use them.

Our good friend Mary died in a tragic accident, and I am not in a position to judge what went wrong or what might have been done differently. But it does give me reason to pause and consider ways to mitigate the risks if I ever find myself in a similar situation.

Ignorance Kills

2011-09-24T07:20:00.000-07:00

A new report in the aftermath of the deadly tornados that hit Joplin, Missouri (killing 162 residents) indicates that most of the city's population ignored the tornado warning system.

While conducting a survey to assess the effectiveness of the communications and warning system, officials at NOAA discovered that, "The majority of surveyed Joplin residents did not immediately go to shelter upon hearing the initial warning." The report went on to say that they "did not take protective action until processing additional credible confirmation of the threat and its magnitude from a non-routine, extraordinary risk trigger."

In other words, even though they heard the sirens and broadcast warnings, the folks just sat there and waited to find out if it was "real" or not. The report said that, "the vast majority of Joplin residents" didn't respond to the first siren because of an apparent widespread disregard for tornado sirens. "Relationships between false alarms, public complacency, and warning credibility are highly complex," the report said.

Jasper County emergency manager, Keith Stammer, said Joplin is a "weather ready community," and that the city has applied for federal funding for 10,000 weather radios for Joplin households.

My question is why? Why should the taxpayers shell out for 10,000 weather radios when the people just ignore the warnings anyway?

My opinion is that if you don't want to heed the warnings, then you deserve exactly what you get. It's time for people to take personal responsibility for their own welfare. If you want to hear the warnings, buy your own weather radio. That way, if you decide to ignore the warnings, your ignorance hasn't cost the taxpayers anything. Your decision. Your responsibility. Your consequences.

The government has no business holding everyone's hand and trying to save those who are unwilling to save themselves. You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him do the backstroke.

Now, with that bit of humor, smile and go do something to take responsibility for yourself.

Self-Rescue

2011-09-16T14:51:00.000-07:00

A lot of folks get themselves stranded in places they never intended to stay. And I'm not talking about a seedy motel on the outskirts of Ozarkville. I'm talking about getting hopelessly stuck in the mud or snow, or suffering a breakdown of the sort that means your ride is over.

When that happens, you have two choices — stay put, or take a hike in search of help. If you've read Getting Out Alive for any time at all, you probably already know that I favor the "stay put" method for several reasons.

It's easier for searchers to spot your vehicle than it is for them to spot a person hiking across the countryside.
All your gear is right there in the vehicle.
You can use the vehicle either as a stand-alone shelter, or you can part it out and use the pieces to improvise what you need.
It's safer to sit in one place than to risk injury or getting lost by wandering off.
You conserve energy by staying put, which means you need less water and food to stay alive.
You can develop audible and visual signals that will lead rescuers to your camp.

With all that said, I clearly understand the urge to immediately start a self-rescue effort by leaving the cursed vehicle and hiking out for help. In fact, I've been in that very situation myself. Now that I've made that confession, let's talk about what you need to make sure of before you decide to leave your vehicle and go it on your own.

You must absolutely know where you are going. It does no good to wander around hoping you'll stumble onto some kind of help.
You must know what obstacles lie between where you are now and where you want to go, and know for certain that you can safely overcome those obstacles. This is best accomplished by backtracking the same road or trail you used to get where you are.
If you decide to go, leave a note with the vehicle spelling out who you are, where you are headed, how you're dressed and equipped, your physical condition, and your personal contact information for family/friends.
Carry with you a survival kit that includes fire-making equipment, a shelter, signal whistle and mirror, high-calorie food, and a water filter.
Start out fresh in the morning, well fed and hydrated.
Pace yourself so you don't sweat or become exhausted.
Make camp early in the afternoon while there's still sunlight so you can erect a shelter, gather firewood and get a fire going.
Take particular care of your feet and your footwear.
Stay dry.
Don't take foolish chances. If you get injured, you are probably toast.
Say your prayers and hope for the best.

Toxic Floodwaters

2011-09-09T07:56:00.000-07:00

In the aftermath of the big storms that hit the Northeast in recent weeks, a flood of toxic waters has spread across the land, contaminating private wells and creating a public health crisis.

Pennsylvania Governor, Tom Corbett, said, "We face a public health emergency because sewage treatment plants are underwater and no longer working. Flood water is toxic and polluted. If you don't have to be in it, keep out."

A dozen towns in Vermont are on orders to boil their water, even 12 days after the passage of the storms. Similar precautions are being taken in other states damaged by the storms. The department of health is distributing test kits so private well owners can check for bacteria in their drinking water. Officials warn that if the water smells like gasoline or other petroleum products, other tests will be necessary.

Dr. Henry Chen, Vermont's health commissioner said, "It's clearly one of the biggest concerns after any disaster, including flooding. You have to ask yourself, 'is my water safe?"

In Waterbury, Vermont, the municipal wastewater plant was overwhelmed by the flooding and raw sewage flowed into the nearby river. According to one report, the smell of sewage is strong. On top of that, failed septic systems are a common cause of contamination after many different types of disaster, including floods.

For us, the lessons are clear:

Don't fall into the trap of thinking a relief organization is going to rescue you from the problem in just a couple of days. Here we are 12 days after the storm, and the problems persist.
Store a long-term water supply that can remain free of contamination. In addition to bottled water, consider a few 55-gallon plastic barrels and a siphon kit.
Be prepared to filter available water. Boiling won't remove or destroy inorganic contaminants such as solvents and petroleum products. In fact, boiling will concentrate those pollutants in the water.
Have an evacuation plan so you can remove yourself from the disaster area to a safe location until the situation can be stabilized.

Solar SuperStorms

2011-09-07T11:37:00.000-07:00

Can something as distant as the sun (averaging somewhere around 93-million miles away) thrust us into a survival situation? Only if you think living in the Dark Ages might be a problem.

I use the term dark ages with a double meaning, because not only would you literally end up living in the dark, but you would also end up living without any of the other conveniences provided by electricity. Kind of like they did back in the thirteenth century.

The problem is called a Solar Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) and, as a result of a geomagnetic storm caused by solar flares, it can disrupt the power grid all over the world. Unlike a nuclear EMP attack that would be directed at a region by an enemy, a solar event will take out the whole globe.

So that brings us to today. As I write this, a coronal mass ejection (CME) is headed for earth, because the sun erupted with an X-class solar flare, the most powerful type of sun storm. A CME is a massive cloud of solar plasma that, when it reaches the earth, can knock down the GPS system, disrupt radio signals, and even kill the power grid. That would only be important to you if you happen to use electricity for anything.

Solar EMPs differ from nuclear EMPs in the type of emissions they release. While nuclear attacks emit E1 pulses that are very fast and take out electronics (like the ignition system in your car, computers, etc. as well as the power grid), solar events produce relatively slow E3 pulses that induce large currents that can even take out underground components of the power grid.

A solar storm in 1859 (before there was a power grid) destroyed the telegraph systems in the United States and in Europe. Experts believe that a storm of that magnitude today would disable the entire power grid. Community water supplies would not function. Gas stations would be unable to pump gas. Those on life support would die. Everything is so automated today that there would be instant shutdown of transportation, communication, and every other modern convenience.

In itself, that wouldn't be a problem. The folks back in the 13th century did just fine without electricity. And so could we — at least a few of us. But most people wouldn't have a clue what to do to get water, food, process their waste, stay warm (or cool), and take care of their daily needs.

Unlike a normal power outage that might last a few hours, or even a week or so after a hurricane or ice storm, an EMP would shut down the system for years. That's because of the damage it would do to the large grid transformers for which the U.S. has zero backups and zero production capability. They would have to come from overseas, and with transportation down, that would be a long-term problem. Twelve years is one estimate. So how would you do with a 12-year blackout?

While we're pondering that question, the coronal mass ejection is on its way toward us at a relatively slow 720,000 mph. Scientists are still watching and wondering. Nobody knows exactly what will happen. Even though this is an X-class flare, it's not the biggest one we've seen in the past. But not all the others ejected directly toward the Earth like this one has.

The sun has become very active in the past several months Scientists are saying that the sun has suddenly roused itself from an extended quiet period in its 11-year cycle of activity. This is Solar Cycle 24, and it's expected to peak around 2013.

The thing for us to take away from this discussion is that we need to be considering how we would live for several years without a refrigerator, lights, air conditioning, furnace, stove, phones, computers, TV, radio, automobiles, medicine, store-bought food, water, or the ability to flush a toilet. That's the short list.

Think on it.

How to Choose a Sleeping Bag

2011-09-04T13:18:00.000-07:00

One of the important items in your evacuation kit should be a quality sleeping bag. I know, I know, why invest in an expensive bag when "real men" can just roll up in an old army blanket and tough it out? I've heard that argument, and I've slept plenty of times in my favorite olive drag wool blanket.

First of all, not everybody in a survival situation is a "real man." Some are children, some are nursing mothers, others are sick and frail. So all you "real men" out there reading this, just go ahead and wrap up in some juniper bark if you want to. This information is for the rest of the world who might be interested in finding out how to go shopping for a suitable sleeping bag.

A sleeping bag should be rated for the season and conditions in which it will be used. It makes a difference if you live in Alaska or South Texas. Buy accordingly.

A summer season bag is rated for 35 degrees F and higher.
A 3-season bag will range from 10 to 35 degrees.
A cold weather bag is rated for -10 to +10 degrees.
A winter bag will be rated for -10 degrees F and lower.

When it comes to temperature rating, keep your personal “thermostat” in mind. Gender affects what temperature bag you’re comfortable sleeping in. Women sleep “colder”, usually requiring a warmer temp rating than a man in the same environment. If possible, search for a bag that is temp rated based on the European Standard, EN13537. This test validates a bag’s construction, specifying what temperature it will keep an average man (Limit Rating) or average woman (Comfort Rating) comfortable.

There are 2 main fill types available in sleeping bags — down and synthetic insulation.

Down is lightweight, packs smaller, offers excellent warmth and is still very breathable. Down bags are more expensive up front, but are durable and offer great long term value. They work well in dryer climates and for excursions where weight or pack size are important.
Synthetic insulation is available in a variety of qualities, weights and pack size. Generally, synthetic fill is heavier than down, but less expensive initially. It also works well in wet, cold conditions, retaining body heat even when damp (whereas down loses insulating properties once wet). Synthetic bags are usually easier to clean than down bags.

There are 2 basic shapes — rectangular and mummy.

The efficient shape of the mummy cut requires less of your body’s energy to heat excess space. Mummy bags usually include fitted shoulders and a hood, which help to retain heat at critical locations.
Rectangular bags offer a roomy fit, ideal for sleepers who move around a lot during the night. They also offer excellent versatility, allowing couples to create double-wide options, or opening completely for blanket style use. Because of the extra space and wide opening at the top, rectangular bags are less thermally efficient in very cold environments.
Within these 2 shapes, there are variations. Some rectangular bags include a hood, which is usually a looser fit than a mummy hood. There is also a variation of the mummy fit, a semi-rectangular shape, that offers some of the thermal efficiency and weight savings of a mummy bag, with a little more room.
Ensure that you’re getting a bag that fits your height. A good rule is to look for a bag that is 6” longer than your body height.
Also note that many bags are offered in men’s and women’s versions. Generally, women’s bags offer shorter lengths and more proportionate shoulder and hip girths.

The material your bag is made of can make a big difference. Nylon or polyester ripstop patterns are generally more durable, and good for shell materials. If possible, look for a shell material that has a DWR (durable water repellent) treatment. This does not mean the bag is waterproof, but should help small amounts of water (condensation, for example) bead up and roll off the bag, versus soak through the shell into the insulation.

Some heavier rectangular bags offer a durable cotton blend on the bag’s shell. While these materials generally don’t repel water as well, they do offer a cozy, roomy bag option.
Liner materials should promote breathability, allowing your body moisture to disperse rather than become trapped inside the bag. Some of the most common liner materials are:

Poly-taffeta – smooth finish and lighter weight. Usually cold to the touch upon first entering a bag, but warm up quickly.
Pongees and brushed poly-taffeta – while a synthetic blend, they offer a soft feel and warmer entry into the bag than a plain taffeta.
Cotton blends (poly-cotton, flannel, etc) – softest liner options, warm to the touch and breathable. Generally the heaviest liner options.

Comfort & convenience features include:

Sleeping pad attachments — A sleeping pad will help insulate the bottom side of your bag, and add cushion. Look for a bag that is compatible with your pad, or has sleeping pad attachment loops.
Zippers and anti-snag treatments – Some bags use a locking zipper slider, which helps hold the zipper in place even if you move around a lot during the night. Many bags also offer dual-sliders, which means there is a zipper pull at both ends. This allows you to open the zipper at the bottom of the bag, for additional venting near your feet. Look for anti-snag treatment on both sides of the main zip. There are many anti-snag techniques in the market, so if possible, test a bag before you purchase it, to ensure you’re comfortable with the ease and speed of the zipper design.
Draft tubes – if you’ll be using your bag in colder temps, look for a bag with a draft tube the full length of the main zipper, and possibly around the neck. Draft tubes are filled with insulation and help to seal locations hat suffer higher heat loss.
Ergonomic footbox – available more often on mummy shapes, an ergonomic design at the bottom of the bag allow a person’s feet to lay in their natural position.
Stash pockets – purely a convenience feature, these pockets help keep valuables easily accessible.

Storage – most bags should come with a stuff sack or roll straps. If pack size is a concern, look for compression straps to help cinch the bag as small as possible during packing. Some bags also come with a storage sack, which is usually larger and more breathable (mesh or cotton). It’s a good rule to store your sleeping bag less compressed. Long term storage in a looser sack will add to the bag’s longevity. If your bag doesn’t include a stuff or storage sack, you can easily find options in many camping accessory assortments.

Tough Enough

2011-08-31T14:54:00.000-07:00

Sometimes, a life or death situation calls for extreme measures. That's when you find out if you're tough enough to do whatever it takes to survive. In the case of 61-year-old retired logger, Jon Hutt, it called for self-amputation.

Hutt drove his semi tractor-trailer alone into the Colorado forest to retrieve a load of felled trees to be used for winter firewood. That's when it happened — an accidental slip of the 6-ton trailer pinned his right foot by the toes.

He cried out for help, but there was no one to hear him deep in the forest. His cell phone was in the cab of the truck, so he couldn't call for help. But even if he could have reached the phone, there was no cell coverage in the area. He was truly stuck, with no one to help him, and no way to summon assistance. He had told his wife that he would be gone for several hours, but didn't know when she might start searching for him.

After struggling in vain for 30 minutes to free his foot, Hutt came to the conclusion that the only way for him to get loose was to cut off all five toes. With a 3-inch pocket knife, he cut away his boot until he could see his toes. Then went to work sawing them off, one toe at a time.

"It hurt so bad," he said. "I would cut for a while and then I had to rest."

Once he was free, Hutt wrapped the foot in a shirt to stop the bleeding, then hobbled to the truck and drove himself toward his home. When he got to an area where there was cell coverage, he called for help and an ambulance met him on his way home.

The lessons for us:

Don't go alone to engage in an activity that might result in an injury. Of course we never expect that to happen, but it does. It's wise to have a helper on hand.
Use a personal locator beacon (PLB) or a SPOT Satellite Messenger. One press of the button will bring rescue.

Sixty Five Million

2011-08-26T16:47:00.000-07:00

What happens when 65 million people are all bracing for the arrival of a potential disaster? All we have to do is look at the East Coast right now, because the report is that 65,000,000 residents along that coast are trying to prepare for Hurricane Irene to hit.

One report is that the stores are empty. If you don't already have it, you can't go out and buy it. Oh, you might be able to find a fancy pair of high heels, but those are useless. In fact, that's exactly the reason you can find them — 'because nobody really needs them right now.

But if you want to buy something useful like bottled water, food or a power generator, you're a day late and a dollar short. When the crisis is looming, there might be folks willing to part with the extra generators they went out and bought in anticipation of a rush on the market. The price will double or triple, or more. Some people call that price gouging, but you would be happy to pay the price when you really need those items.

New York Mayor Bloomberg ordered a mandatory evacuation of the city, ordering residents to get out of town by 5:00 p.m. tomorrow.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said that public transportation in the city will shut down at noon tomorrow. The talk is about prior storms, like the one in September 1821 that brought a storm surge 13-feet high that flooded all of Manhattan south of Canal Street. That area now includes Wall Street. It's anybody's guess what's going to happen this time around.

A FEMA spokesman told the Associated Press, "We're going to have damages, we just don't know how bad. this is one of the largest populations that will be impacted by one storm at one time."

Bigger than Katrina? Yup, in terms of population being affected. And if it weren't for the population, the storm would come and go and be of very little importance. It's the populace that turns a storm (or an earthquake, etc.) into a disaster. It's the fact that the people are unprepared to take care of handling their own needs. That's what creates a disaster.

The more prepared you are, the less you have to depend on outside agencies to take care of you. To the degree that you fail to prepare, you become part of the problem.

The East Coast, right now, is learning that the time for preparation is not when you're staring down the barrel.

Tarp For The Tent

2011-08-26T14:57:00.000-07:00

Let's keep going on the earlier post about having a good tent. No matter how tough the tent floor is, a rugged plastic ground cloth (tarp) will help extend its life and keep the floor from damage and soiling.

Carry a second tarp and some rope so you can rig up a roof for the camp kitchen or dining area.

String the rope tightly between two trees, about as high as you can reach.
Drape the tarp over the rope forming the a ridgeline.
Use rope to secure the corners to other trees, keeping the “eves” lower than the ridge for drainage.

If there are no grommets along the edges of the tarp, tuck a small pebble into the material and fold it over. Then loop a simple overhand knot over the tucked pebble and cinch the line tight. That creates a grip point so you can "guy" the lines out to keep the tarp taut.

If you have no tent at all, a tarp (or even a piece of lightweight plastic sheeting) can be rigged up to provide good shelter.

A Good Tent

2011-08-25T16:52:00.000-07:00

If you are forced to evacuate for any reason, you'll need someplace to go. Depending on the situation, one option might be to seek isolation from the masses of other evacuees. In that case, it's a good idea to have a tent in your evacuation kit to serve as primary shelter.

Granted, in a survival situation you need to know how to improvise shelter from whatever is at hand, but having a tent puts you miles ahead of the game.

Tent size will depend on the number of people in your group and their ability to carry gear. For example, if your family includes teens or able-bodied adults, have them carry additional tents so everyone doesn't have to crowd together.

When it comes to design, dome-style tents are simple and work well, but they don’t offer as much headroom as a cabin-type tent, and the sloping walls reduce usable interior space. I have both types and like both of them, but the cabin tent is easier to live in.

A tent that is designed to be free-standing without the need for guy-lines is easier to pick up and move if the need arises (like suddenly water starts to puddle in your campsite). If the tent requires the support of guy-lines, everything will collapse when you try to move the tent.

For every style, pegs are used to hold the floor fully stretched out. But free-standing tents can actually be erected and used without the pegs. Guy-lines are needed for the rain fly, but if you need to move the tent it is only the fly that will collapse, and that can be quickly re-set.

The tent must be durable and easy to erect. You don't want a tent that can't stand up to the rigors, or one that's a mystery every time you pull all the pieces out of the storage bag. Here are some other specific characteristics to look for in a quality tent:

DAC aluminum poles linked with lightweight shock cord make assembly easy. Aluminum poles are generally a little larger in diameter but are stronger and more durable than fiberglass poles.
Double-needle seam stitching throughout will help keep the seams from coming apart even after years of use.
All tent floor and rain fly seams should be sealed so water won’t leak through where the stitching thread penetrates the fabric. I re-seal my seams every year. You can buy seam seal at any sporting goods store.
The tent floor must be tough, waterproof and “tub” shaped with floor material that extends part way up into the sidewalls. A good waterproof coating will measure something on the order of 1500mm thickness. High-denier rating for the fabric means better resistance to wear and tear.
The best wall materials are waterproof and breathable (Gore-Tex, ToddText, Klimate and MemBrain are some brands), so condensation created by living in the tent can migrate through the fabric to the outside. But for general camping use, there are perfectly good (and much less expensive) tents made of polyurethane-coated polyester taffeta that are not breathable. For non-breathable tents, ventilation is very important (see next item).
Zip openings with bug screen material on all sides (and maybe even in the ceiling – which would necessitate a rain fly for foul weather use) provide ventilation to control both interior temperature and condensation. Screened windows and doors also gives you the ability to see outside while keeping critters out. Solid zip panels for doors and windows take care of privacy issues. For best access, the entryway screen should zip open across the bottom, top and one side, so you don’t step on or snag the screen when entering or exiting. YKK zippers resist snagging adjacent material and are more durable than other zippers.
A rain fly made of 1500mm-coated polyester that extends over the windows and entry doors will prevent rain from sneaking inside through those openings. The fly allows you to have an open screen in the ceiling without risk of rain getting into the tent.
A vestibule is a small external sheltered area where you can store your boots or other gear overnight out of the rain. Sometimes this is built into the tent itself, or sometimes it is a design feature of the rain fly.
Inside the tent, look for handy mesh pocket organizers attached to the sidewalls where you can stow a pair of glasses or other small stuff up off the floor while you sleep.

Evacuation

2011-08-25T10:09:00.000-07:00

As I write this, hundreds of thousands of folks are evacuating their homes on the East Coast in anticipation of Hurricane Irene making landfall, or at least a close fly-by in the next few days.

They're smart — they're getting out early. But with that many people trying to get out of town at the same time, there is likely to be some gridlock even though they are leaving ahead of the storm. It's hard enough when you're trying to move a couple hundred thousand vehicles during normal rush hour, and it gets worse if you're trying to move those vehicles when there's a touch of panic in the air. The closer to the hour of crisis the residents come, the higher the stress is going to be. That's why it's always a good idea to see the handwriting on the wall and make your move early.

One thing that makes evacuation a lot easier is being prepared to simply grab an evac kit, throw it in the car, and in 30 seconds you're gone. If you have to slow down to gather up survival supplies, look for a way to carry them, and figure out how much of this and that you're going to need, the whole process gets mired down and costs precious time.

Even if you're evacuating to a relative's or friend's house several hours distant (a much nicer idea than evacuating to a FEMA refugee camp), you still need to be prepared with all your own personal supplies. You don't want to have to borrow someone else's toothbrush or underwear, if you know what I mean.

Everyone, whether they live in a hurricane (or any other kind of disaster-prone) zone or not, should have their own personal evacuation kit already prepared and ready to grab and go. The kit should have everything to meet your basic needs for at least 72 hours (longer is better).

The concept is that after that much time, life will probably return to normal and you'll be able to go back home. However, that may not be the case. Sometimes there's nothing to go back to where wildfires sweep through communities, or earthquakes knock everything down, or tornados obliterate whole neighborhoods, or floods wash everything away. That's when the evac kit might need to keep you going for months.

Think about that, and plan your kit accordingly.

Prolonged Water Shortage

2011-08-22T10:36:00.000-07:00

Any number of emergency situations can result in a prolonged water shortage. If there is a power outage caused by a natural disaster such as a hurricane, tornado, earthquake, etc. the municipal water system will not be able to pump water. If that disaster also causes the breakup of the water treatment system, there could well be major contamination to contend with.

In a report about Critical National Infrastructures by the government's EMP Commission, the issue of how an EMP might adversely affect community water systems was raised. Keep in mind that his report is about the destruction of electronic equipment to operate pumps, not a simple short-term power outage.

"Demoralization and deterioration of social order can be expected to deepen if a water shortage is protracted. Anarchy will certainly loom if government cannot supply the population with enough water to preserve health and life. The many homeowners with private wells also would face similar problems. There would be fewer workarounds to get their pumps operating again, if the pump controller is

damaged or inoperable. Even if power is restored, it is unlikely the average homeowner would be technically competent to bypass a failed pump controller and figure out how to power the pump with bypass power lines. The first priority would be meeting personal water needs. Federal, state, and local

governments do not have the collective capability, if the water infrastructure fails over a large area, to supply enough water to the civilian population to preserve life."

But even in the event of a more "normal" power outage than one caused by an EMP, the report had this to say:

"Storm-induced blackouts of the electric grid have demonstrated that, in the absence of electric power, the water infrastructure will fail. Storm-induced blackouts have also demonstrated that, even in the face of merely local and small-scale failure of the water infrastructure, the combined efforts of government agencies at all levels are hard pressed to help."

Advice:

Don't expect the government to supply you with water (or anything else)
Become as self-sufficient as possible, especially with regard to your water supply, storing as much as possible on your property
Locate sources of freshwater that you can access when the municipal system fails
Be prepared to purify all water that you'll consume, cook with, or wash dishes with
Learn to conserve in the use of water, so you will already know how to live through a severe water shortage

The Will To Survive

2011-08-19T16:05:00.000-07:00

As I review case after case of survival situations — whether it's in the wilderness, or in an urban setting after a disaster, or in an incident involving conflict such as an abduction — there is one common thread that ties all of them together.

It isn't luck.

It isn't age.

It isn't gender.

It isn't physical fitness (although that never hurts).

It isn't survival skill (although that doesn't hurt either).

It isn't experience in prior survival situations.

The one common element in all successful survival incidents is The Will To Live. The will to survive is what keeps people alive. It's the inability to say, "I quit."

It's some kind of motivation that creates an unwillingness to give up and die. That motivation might come from thinking about the family and having an overwhelming desire to live long enough to be with them again. It might be raw stubbornness. It might be a wonderful faith in God that everything will work out okay, if you just keep going.

Whatever it is, you need to have it if you want to survive. Those who don't possess the will to live are the ones who die without a fight.

So, how do you develop a powerful will to survive? You have to be a fighter, a scrapper, a person who doesn't give up easily. Some folks seem to be born that way — they come out of the womb and hit the ground running. Others must work to develop these qualities.

Discover something about life that you just can't live without. It's your passion, your driving ambition, the reason you live.
Develop self-confidence by thinking about all the successes you've had, and knowing that you can also succeed at whatever you're facing right now.
Work on a plan for what you're going to do when you get back home safely. See yourself actually doing those things.
Take command of yourself, your thoughts, your attitudes, your actions. Don't lay down and play the victim.
Learn to endure pain and misery without whining about it. Whiners whine so someone will feel sorry for them, and come to take care of them. They live an entitlement lifestyle, and they are not survivors.
When things are tough, get up and do something about it. Plan your work, and work your plan.
Do a little bit every day to improve your situation, then reach out and help someone else.

Don't wait until you find yourself in a survival situation to develop a powerful will to live. If you're alive today, prove it.

Deadly Amoeba

2011-08-15T18:10:00.000-07:00

In a survival situation, it is imperative to have access to freshwater to drink. But you can't simply bend down and suck water out of a pond or stream with impunity. There are organisms in the water that are dangerous to human health, the most common of which are giardia and cryptosporidium.

But it gets worse. Consider the case of 16-year-old Courtney Nash. Two days after she went swimming in the St. Johns River in Mims, Florida, 44 miles east of Orlando, she died of an infection that she contracted from the water in that river.

Scientists at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed that the killer was a deadly amoeba known as Naegleria fowleri. Brevard County health officials said they believe the parasite entered Courtney's nose while she was swimming, and worked its way to her brain where it caused a lethal infection called primary amebic meningoencephalitis (PAM).

The disease spreads rapidly, leaving the victim suffering symptoms that include headache, fever, nausea, vomiting, loss of the senses of smell and taste, and a stiff neck. In most cases, death occurs within 3 to 7 days. The good news is that the disease cannot be spread from one person to another, because the amoeba itself has to enter the victim's brain in order to do the damage.

The bad news is that the amoeba is commonly found in lakes and rivers. A health advisory issued by the State of Virginia warns that the amoeba proliferates in stagnant freshwater lakes, ponds, streams and rivers when temperatures climb into the 80s.

Officials advise safety precautions when swimming:

Shower with soap before and after the swim
Be careful not to swallow pool, lake or river water.

My issue with these precautions is that, if the amoeba gets into your nasal passages, a shower is not going to stop its destructive trek to your brain. The safest course of action is to keep your face out of the water altogether. If you are camping or in a survival situation and want to wash your face, do it with water you have boiled and then allowed to cool. Boiling will kill all organisms in the water, leaving it safe to use for ingestion and hygiene.

If you must cross a body of water where the stated conditions exist, take every precaution to make sure you don't get your face in the water.

Update

2011-08-13T12:14:00.000-07:00

The good news is that Jared Ropelato has been found alive and in good health. According to the Daggett County Sheriff's spokesperson, "He had done some hiking, but was in good condition. He told us that when night fell Friday, he made himself a lean-to and settled in for the night."

Nearly 300 people took part in the search before Jared was finally found nearly 5 miles from where he was last seen.

This incident is filled with lessons for us.

When you realize that you're lost, don't keep hiking in the hope that you'll somehow find your way back to where you want to be. Come to grips with the fact that you're lost. That means you don't know where you are. And that also means you don't know which direction it is to where you want to be. That's the definition of being lost.
If you keep hiking, there's a strong likelihood that you're going to move farther away from your intended destination. Jared managed to walk 5 miles farther away from the last place where he was seen. Searchers will begin their search at the LKP (last known position) and work outward from there. If you keep wandering, you might stay one step ahead of the searchers in their expanding grid. That's why it is critical that you STOP and make camp.
Another reason not to keep wandering is because you are expending energy and internal fluid supplies that you will need as the survival situation continues.
Yet another reason not to keep hiking is because you risk injury the farther you go, especially as your energy begins to diminish and you become dehydrated or hypothermic.

Jared was lucky. Searchers on ATVs spotted him. Being on vehicles allowed them to search farther afield than would have been possible if they were restricted to foot travel. Had that been the case, Jared might still be out there waiting to be found.

As I mentioned in my previous post, Young Garrett Bardsley was never found.

It happens.

The rules are:

Stop the minute you suspect you are lost.
Move to the nearest clearing that will allow you to be seen by distant searchers.
If there is no clearing, make an emergency camp right where you are.
Don't wander off the trail you've been using, or searchers might pass you by without seeing you.
Start signaling immediately, using a whistle, a mirror, brightly colored items that can be easily seen from a distance. Use anything that creates a visual attraction (motion, color, pattern, contrast), and everything you can think of that makes noise.
Don't scream for help — use audible signals that don't wear you out or create panic as you hear your own desperate voice calling for help.
Create an emergency shelter in a safe spot.
Start a controlled fire (you don't want it to get away from you and burn down the forest) and use smoke during the day and the bright flames at night as signals
Conserve your energy and water supply. Pace yourself so you don't become exhausted or dehydrated. Don't work yourself into a sweat.
Stay dry and protected from the wind, to avoid hypothermia.
Take inventory of everything you have with you and think of possible uses for each item as you improvise shelter and other camp implements.

Lost Boy Scout

2011-08-13T08:10:00.000-07:00

Jared Ropelato is missing, somewhere in the heavily forested mountains of northeastern Utah. Jared is a 12-year-old Boy Scout, who was on a campout with his troop when he disappeared during a hike.

This kind of thing has happened before. Back in August 2004, a 12-year-old Scout named Garrett Bardsley went missing in the Uinta Mountains of Utah during a camping trip with his scout troop when his father sent him back to camp after the boy got his pants and shoes wet while fishing. That was the last anyone ever saw of Garrett. In memory of their lost son, the Bardsley family established the Garrett Bardsely Foundation, which helps locate missing children. The Foundation has stepped in to join the search for young Jared Ropelato.

These two cases — Jared Ropelato and Garrett Bardsley are disturbingly similar. Young Scouts out for a dream trip to camp and hike and fish with their buddies, under the supervision of Scout leaders, and in some cases even with the parents along. How, then, can this happen? How can a young man go missing from among a crowd of other boys, and from beneath the watchful eye of adult leaders? That's a question that should disturb us.

But here's the answer — it just happens. It is SOOO easy to get lost! I've interviewed experienced backcountry enthusiasts who have become lost while hiking trails they considered to be virtually in their back yard — familiar trails they had hiked many times before. Then suddenly, they found themselves in an unfamiliar place. Maybe they missed a critical fork in the trail. Maybe they were overtaken by darkness or a storm and lost their way. Maybe they just weren't paying attention. But it happens. CONFESSION: Much as I hate to admit it, it happened to me once!

I feel fairly secure in saying that if you have never been lost, you just haven't spent enough time in the wilderness yet. Or you're living in denial.

It's only a matter of time, so the important issues are:

How to try to avoid it
How to prepare for it when it does happen

Trying to avoid getting lost consists mostly of maintaining situational awareness.

Always know where you are in relation to where you want to be.
Use a detailed topographic map and compass to make sure you're heading the right direction.
Periodically take a "fix" on topographic features (peaks, bodies of water, etc.) to verify your location on the map.
Watch your backtrail so you will know what the scene will look like when you are returning on the same trail.
Mark the trail with brightly colored pieces of survey tape tied to trees or hanging from bushes at eyeball level. Leave the next mark while you can still see the last one. Remove these markings when you leave the area.

Preparing for that inevitable event when you discover that you are lost involves wearing the right kind of clothing and carrying the right kind of gear.

Top priority when lost is to get found (duh!), so carry signaling equipment so you can call for help. That includes a signal whistle, mirror, cell phone (on the off chance that there is cell coverage in the area), small two-way radio to communicate with others in your party, a GPS personal locator beacon (PLB) or SPOT Satellite Messenger.
Wear clothing that will help keep you alive if you end up spending the night (or several) awaiting rescue. Merino wool base layer, synthetic fleece insulation layer, windproof and water repellent shell. The jacket should feature a hood, or carry a wool watch cap to cover your head.
Carry an emergency shelter — emergency blanket or bivvy, pocket poncho, etc.
Have a knife and some lightweight cordage (550 line is ideal), so you can make the structure for an emergency shelter of natural materials in a suitable location (dry ground, as level as possible, away from widowmakers or other threats). Be knowledgeable how to do this.
Be equipped to start a fire to be used for warmth as well as signaling.
When you realize you're lost, stop immediately. Move to open ground where you can establish an emergency camp where you will be seen by searchers. Start signaling efforts.

Everyone, kids and adults alike, should be well trained and well equipped before taking off for a camping trip, a fishing trip, or a hike in the backcountry.

Hopefully, the news will be positive with regard to Jared Ropelato. Let his experience be the catalyst that moves us in the direction of better preparation, both for ourselves and for those we care about.

Death By Vampire Bat

2011-08-12T14:02:00.000-07:00

When I was in Brazil, years ago, I hiked into a remote farm and spotted a sad looking horse standing in the field with blood stains streaming down its neck. When I asked the farmer what had happened to the horse, he said it was vampire bats. Made me involuntarily shudder and look up. Of course there were no bats zeroing in on my neck at the moment because it was broad daylight.

Vampire bats hunt by night. Typically, they will land on or near their prey without disturbing its sleep, then creep to a position that will give them good access to blood flow. With razor-sharp teeth, they slit the skin of their victim and then lap up the blood as it oozes out. In most instances, the raid is so gentle that the victim never is aware of the attack until the next morning when the blood is apparent.

The biggest problem isn't the loss of blood — it's disease. Bats are carriers of rabies, and they can transfer the disease to their victims through the open wounds left by the bites.

Up until now, in the U.S., vampire bats have been nothing more than mysterious characters in horror stories. But the recent death of a Mexican teenager who had migrated to Louisiana to work on a sugar cane plantation has brought a focus on the issue of vampire bats and rabies invading the U.S. And the speed of the young man's death raised eyebrows at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).

According to a CDC report, the victim suffered an especially virulent form of the rabies virus. Normally, the incubation period for rabies is about 85 days, but in this case it was only 15 days. The symptoms progressed from fatigue to shoulder pain, to a drooping left eye, to numbness in the left hand. He developed a respiratory distress and a fever that climbed to 101.1 degrees F. A postmortem test of the victim's brain tissue confirmed a vampire bat variant of rabies.

Of great concern to the CDC is the feared expansion of the vampire bat habitat. The bats are common in parts of Brazil, Chile, Argentina and Mexico, but now appear to be expanding toward the United States. According to a CDC spokesman, "Expansion of vampire bats into the United States likely would lead to increased bat exposures to both humans and animals, and substantially alter rabies virus dynamics and ecology in the southern United States."

A bat attack on a human is not the only way for the rabies to spread. If the bat attacks a dog or cat, or some other domesticated pet or livestock, the rabies virus can eventually be transferred to humans through interaction with the affected animals.

If you think you might have come into contact with a rabid animal, contact your doctor as soon as possible. The symptoms listed above that the Mexican fellow suffered are typical.

Wilderness Meets Urban

2011-08-05T19:23:00.000-07:00

Burbank, California isn't where most people would expect to see a wild mountain lion roaming the city streets. But it does happen. In fact, just yesterday evening, residents were placed on alert by city officials because a cougar was spotted wandering around town.

Mountain lions are among the most dangerous predators in the wild, because unlike bears that will respond with an attack when surprised or cornered by humans, a cougar will actually stalk a person until an opportunity arises for a planned attack.

A friend of mine was stalked for 7 miles by a cougar that stayed about 100 yards behind him all the way from the campground until he reached his truck. He kept a wary eye on the lion all the way back to his truck and told me later that he knew that if he ignored the cougar, it would sneak in close and jump him.
I have no doubt of that. It is the pattern for these animals. California statistics kept between 1986 to 1995 listed 9 verified attacks, about one per year in that state alone. Three attacks took place in 1994 alone. The modus operandi for attack is for the cougar to lie in wait, hidden from sight until the victim is close enough. Then the animal leaps on the back of the victim and bites through the back of the neck, severing the spinal column.

An example — On April 23, 1994, Barbara Schoener was killed by a cougar. Since she was alone, there were no eye-witnesses. But the supposition is that she was jogging along a trail and attacked by a cougar that was lying in wait on a ledge above the trail. She was apparently knocked to the ground and evidence is that she fought the animal with bare hands until she was killed. Her body was dragged off the trail and most of it was eaten by the cougar.

To avoid a cougar attack:

Travel in groups. Cougars are not known to attack groups, preferring to take down solitary individuals.
Don't take your pet dog with you into the wilderness. Dogs attract mountain lions, so having one on a leash is like trolling bait through shark-infested waters.

If you are confronted by a cougar:

Stop. Do not run! Running will trigger an attack.
Make yourself look bigger by standing tall and holding your jacket above your head.
If you have small children with you, put them on your shoulders. That will help make you look larger and also make the kids look less like a convenient meal.
If you're alone, attract others to your location, because the cougar likely will not attack when confronted by a group. Yell "cougar" not just "help" to let others know what the situation is.
Prepare to defend yourself. Pick up a weapon — rock or stick that can be used as a club. If you have a knife, take it out and prepare to use it. On August 16th, 1994, Robin Winslow used a 12-inch kitchen bread knife to help fight off a cougar that was attacking her friend Kathleen Strehl. During the battle, the cat bit off Troy Winslow's (Robin's husband) thumb, when he grabbed the mountain lion near its mouth. Life can get ragged when you're fighting for your life against a mountain lion.

Cougars are increasingly coming into urban areas in search of food and water. This often takes place after dark, making raids on food and water dishes left outside for pets. With this most recent sighting in Burbank, city officials again reminded residents to take pet food and water dishes inside at night. And with the cougars boldly prowling neighborhoods, it would also be a good idea to bring the pets indoors after dark.

Plane Crash

2011-08-01T10:22:00.000-07:00

A plane filled with more than 160 people crashed in Guyana this past week, and reports from survivors have brought up some issues we ought to discuss here.

On the news, the footage showing the wrecked airplane were taken in full daylight. But the crash happened at night. The aircraft was crushed and broken in two pieces. The electrical system failed, so there were no lights. Inside the darkness of the fuselage, passengers were confused, terrified, and had no idea where to go to exit the plane.

According to one survivor's report, the man sitting next to the emergency exit door didn't understand how to get the door open.

So, here are my thoughts about this particular situation:

Pay attention— whenever you board an airplane, memorize where you are sitting in relation to the emergency exits.
Learn exactly how to operate the emergency exit door mechanism, in case you have to take over for the fellow sitting by the door who doesn't have a clue.
Carry a small LED flashlight on your keychain. There are LED lights the size of a nickel that use a button battery, and can be attached to a lanyard around your neck or to your key ring.
Keep your shoes on during the flight, in case you have to fight your way through debris and then jump to the ground.

On that last point, when this airplane came to rest in a field adjacent to the runway, no rescuers showed up for a long, long time. Passengers were forced to crawl out onto the wings and then jump 12 feet to the ground. Some suffered broken bones, others were knocked unconscious by the impact with the ground. Those who made it most safely to the ground were:

Wearing sturdy shoes (no flip-flops or high-heels or other junk that people wear as shoes).
They knew how to hit the ground feet first, knees bent, and then tuck and roll to one side to absorb the impact. This is known as a PLF or parachute landing fall. It's a good idea to have this technique in your skill set.

Heat Index

2011-07-21T12:15:00.000-07:00

A hot spell has blanketed some parts of the U.S. for the past couple weeks, and it's become a survival issue for some folks — especially the infirm, the elderly and infants who cannot just get up and move to an air conditioned place.

There's a term called the Heat Index that is tossed around to describe how hot the weather feels. For those not familiar with the heat index, it's a bit like the Wind Chill index used to describe how cold the weather feels under certain conditions.

With the heat index (HI) it's the air temperature and the relative humidity that are combined in an attempt to indicated the "human perceived" equivalent temperature — how hot it feels, not just how hot the thermometer says it is.

A high heat index becomes a survival issue for humans because it thwarts our natural ability to cool ourselves. Normally, humans cool themselves through the evaporation of perspiration. According to the laws of physics, evaporation carries heat away from the body.

But when the heat index is high, that indicates a high relative humidity in addition to the high air temperature. Humidity in the air drastically reduces the evaporation rate, leaving humans unable to cool themselves by that method. You'll work up a sweat, but that moisture on your skin will not evaporate and carry away your excessive body heat. You'll just be hot and wet.

If you don't take measures to counteract the high heat index, eventually, you can fall victim to heat cramps, heat exhaustion and perhaps even deadly heat stroke.

When the heat index is high:

Stay inside an air conditioned room
Reduce work load
Increase water intake
Take cooling showers or baths

Cyber Survival

2011-06-21T13:03:00.000-07:00

It seems like almost every day the news media report on cyber attacks against America. Recently, the Associated Press reported, "hackers accessed the credit card information of North American customers, in an online security breach affecting about 200,000 accounts." And that's only one incident. Millions of people have been left vulnerable to identity theft and other crimes against their finances by hackers from all around the world.

As bad as it is for citizens to be under attack from hackers, consider the damage that can be imposed on the government by computer criminals who figure out how to break passcodes and gain access to sensitive defense information. In 2010 alone, the U.S. government was hit by more than 300,000 separate cyber attacks against its infrastructure. According to reports from government officials, more than 100 attempted break-ins were conducted by foreign governments, trying to infiltrate our military and defense plans. And 2011 is shaping up to be a record year for cyber espionage. Attacks are coming from China, Russia and a variety of locations in the Far East.

Once hackers break into a system, they can take control of it and manipulate it any way they want. They can take money from your bank account, they can order a new credit card in your name and start using it, they can make long distance phone calls billed to your account, they can buy plane tickets in your name (using your identity) and travel the world, they can do things that will get your name placed on a "watch" list as if you're a terrorist.

Even if your own personal identity is never stolen, you might still be victimized by cyber attackers Consider these questions and how they might pertain to you:

What if the banking system, ATM and checking accounts are hacked, draining money away and into the hackers' hands, leading to a digital banking collapse?
What happens when the power plants and electric grid, railroads and nuclear power plants become subject to cyber attacks — shutting down the power, disabling water supplies, disrupting transportation and communication systems?

The degree to which we are personally dependent on modern technology will determine the severity of these cyber attacks on us as individuals. For example, if you live without a cell phone, you won't even notice when the cell towers cease to function. If you don't use ATM, you'll never feel the hit when hackers take it down. If you don't use credit cards, nobody can steal your credit card number and run up a huge bill on your tab. You get the picture.

Urban survival in this era, when the enemy hides behind the anonymity of electronic weapons, means we need to analyze our lifestyles and make adjustments that will take us off the digital battlefield. Some of you have already done that; some are in the process, and some haven't even begun yet.

To be safe, we need to live under the radar, out of the line of fire of cyber attackers. Be prepared to do without a public water supply, a power utility, a grocery store visit every day. The more prepared you are to be independent, the safer you will be.

Food-Borne Disease

2011-06-11T07:46:00.000-07:00

The deadly outbreak of E. coli in Europe sounds a wake-up call for all of us. Over the course of just a couple weeks, the death toll has reached 33, with about 3,100 sickened by the bacterium carried on food.

One of the problems has been identifying which food to avoid. Investigators have bounced around from tomatoes to cucumbers to lettuce to bean sprouts — at first suspecting each of those as the source of the disease, then later dismissing them. Now, it appears that they are back to pointing toward the bean sprouts as the culprit.

The uncertainty wreaked havoc with the food industry, as customers abandoned first one type of food and then another, leaving farmers unable to market their crops. In addition to the damage that was done to human health, there was enormous damage to the European economy from this little "epidemic."

I say "little" because, devastating as it is to the individuals and families involved, the numbers are puny by comparison with other disease outbreaks that historically killed millions. Nevertheless, it is still a serious problem when officials can't even put their fingers on what is causing the disease.

Hospitals in Hamburg, Germany (seemingly the epicenter of the outbreak), have been overwhelmed. Doctors and nurses are working around the clock trying to keep up with the influx of patients. More than 700 of the patients are suffering from not only diarrhea and cramps, but have developed life-threatening complications that can lead to kidney failure, paralysis and epileptic seizures. Hundreds of patients are in intensive care. These patients need round-the-clock medical care, working the medical staff and also the hospital cleaning staff to exhaustion.

One of the surprising things about this illness is who it has affected. In a statement by Marc Voss, a senior internist at Regio Clinic Elmshorn, "It has been very stressful for all of us because we are dealing predominantly with younger patients without significant previous diseases." About 77% of patients are women, the majority of them between 20 and 50 years old, most are physically fit and live healthy lifestyles.

How can that be? It's easy to understand when we consider that this particular outbreak of E. coli has been carried on vegetables. The young, health-conscious, physically fit are likely to be eating a diet that includes a lot of vegetables — so they were a prime target.

Does that mean we should avoid eating vegetables? Not at all. In fact, most E. coli outbreaks arrive on meats that have been contaminated during processing. And dairy foods are often carriers of salmonella. So unless you give up eating altogether, there's always a possibility that the food you buy (even organic) might be contaminated.

The solution? Double wash everything. Use a vegetable cleanser such as GSE (grapefruit seed extract) mixed with water in a spray bottle and sprayed onto the food while washing. It's a good idea to wash the outside of fruits and veggies even though you're going to discard the peel (melon, oranges, bananas, etc.) to prevent accidental transfer of contaminants from the outside to the inside.

In this day, when we import so much produce from across the country or around the world, it's a good idea to be especially cautious. But even if you buy all your produce from local farms, that is no guarantee against disease outbreak. For those folks in Germany, the produce came from a local organic farm.

One additional lesson we can take from this incident is how quickly the hospital system can become overwhelmed by even a relatively minor catastrophic event. When something BIG comes along, we won't be able to depend on local medical care or other normal community services. We need to obtain as much training as possible so we are more capable of handling our own situation, insofar as possible. Some crises are clearly beyond our ability to handle without outside help, but we should do as much as we can without depending on the community to take care of us.

Five Rules

2011-06-07T08:18:00.000-07:00

Being a competent outdoorsman doesn’t come naturally for most of us. That shouldn’t be a big surprise, because we live indoors, get our water out of a faucet, eat refrigerated food that’s cooked on something other than a wood fire, and sleep dry in a comfy bed under a roof. We don’t grow up hunting everything we eat, shaking our boots out before putting them on, building shelter from natural materials before bedding down in a blanket roll, and bathing in a cold creek while using a bit of sphagnum moss or equisetum for a scrub brush. That’s because most of us live in civilization.

That being the case, it takes some effort to become competent in the outdoors. To be good at living in a camp setting, we have to break the chains of civilization…at least a little bit. Doesn’t mean we have to live in the dirt, sleep with a pinecone stuck in our back, eat semi-raw burned food, offer ourself up to predatory insects, or be miserable in a hundred unmentionable ways. Nope! All it really means is that we need to learn some new rules of life in order to keep ourself safe and happy.

Here are five suggestions to get started:

The first order of business is to know where you are in relation to where you want to be. It’s called not getting lost.

A butcher friend once told me, when I was foolish enough to ask him if he ever cut himself, “Heck yeah! I’m a butcher, ain’t I?” I took that as a yes. And the same goes for outdoorsmen — if you explore the great outdoors long enough, it’s only a matter of time until you look around and wonder just where you might be. That’s what we call being lost. It comes from failing to pay strict attention to everything around you…especially the trail behind you.

To keep from getting lost, periodically turn around and study your backtrail. It looks totally different going back on the same trail, so memorize the landmarks — the rock with lichens growing on it, the tree with a goofy forked limb, everything.

I got lost once in a deep forest in Louisiana. Being from the West, I grew up looking at mountainous scenery, using peaks and cliffs and canyons as landmarks while I hiked. Well, Louisiana has none of that stuff, and sure enough, I got misplaced (just another way of saying the L word). It’s a spooky feeling, and I don’t recommend it. So pay attention. Turn around often and memorize the backtrail. If there’s nothing memorable to look at, tie a bit of surveyors tape to a twig so it will stand out when you look back upon it. When you hike back out, take the bits of tape with you, so as not to litter the trail.

Be prepared to stay longer than originally planned. You never know what’s going to happen, so if you’re out for a day hike, be prepared to stay overnight, or maybe even two. That means some kind of shelter, some food, water and the ability to make fire and signal for help. All of that stuff can go in a couple of pockets, if you choose your equipment well.

We’re talking the basics here. For shelter, I carry two items — an inexpensive pocket poncho and an emergency blanket by Adventure Medical Kits (www.adventuremedicalkits.com). For food, I carry a few granola bars and some jerky. For purifying water, I carry a Frontier Filter straw by AquaMira (www.aquamira.com). To start fires, I carry a Bic and also a Swedish FireSteel (www.lightmyfire.com) plus a few cotton balls treated with petroleum jelly and stowed in a zip baggie. And to signal for help, I carry a signal mirror and a signal whistle.

Experienced outdoorsmen make camp early in the afternoon, several hours before sunset, giving themselves ample time to get the shelter up, a fire started, and a good supply of firewood to last through the evening, with some left over to start the fire the next morning.

Be prepared to solve emergency medical problems. Even the most cautious life in camp sometimes involves getting a splinter, minor burns, cuts and scrapes. Have a good first aid kit. Expand your knowledge by taking a first aid course. Become competent and comfortable managing factures and sprains, hypothermia, heat-related injuries, CPR, blood loss, shock, drowning, snakebite, and major burns.

Finally, the mark of a true outdoorsman is wilderness etiquette — Don’t take noisy entertainment gadgets with you when you go camping. There’s a reason people like to go into the great outdoors for short periods of time — it’s called getting away from it all. What’s the sense of getting away from it all if you take it all with you?

While boat camping at Lake Powell one summer, we found a quiet cove with an isolated beach, dropped anchor, kicked back and enjoyed the crimson canyon walls and crystal blue water. A hawk soared overhead. It’s the kind of place that causes you to whisper so as not to disturb the silence.

Then they came — a houseboat with a family full of kids. They anchored a hundred feet away, fired up the generator, cranked up the megawatt stereo system, and proceeded to destroy the serenity. I found myself shaking my head in disbelief. We quietly packed up our camp and moved to another canyon.

Real outdoorsmen love the sound of a breeze whispering through the trees, and the chuckle of a stream racing over a bed of rocks. They are polite enough to allow others the same opportunity to enjoy the peace nature has to offer. So my recommendation is that if you absolutely can’t live without noise, at least spare others the annoyance by wearing ear buds or headphones.

So, there you have five fundamentals that can help you become a more outdoorsman-like person.

Prevent Lyme Disease

2011-05-30T07:17:00.000-07:00

When we lived in Wisconsin, it was a daily ritual to perform "tick inspections" on each other and on our kids. Ticks were simply a way of life there, and some would end up crawling up into the scalp area and hiding in the hair. But the inspections had to cover every inch of the body, because ticks are opportunistic and will settle down for a meal just about anywhere.

It wasn't necessary to hike through the woods or across a grassy field to become tick bait. One morning, I got up, took a shower, put on clean clothes, and hopped on my bike to ride the 6 miles to work. My feet never touched the ground from the moment I left the house until I arrived at the office. But when I got there, I felt something crawling up my neck. You guessed it — a tick.

The point is, ticks can hide in your carpet, in your clothes, or just about anywhere you come in contact with Mother Earth. Granted, some parts of the country are more prone to ticks than other locations. But you can find them in all 50 states. And one of the problems with ticks is that they carry disease — Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever and Lyme disease are the two most common.

Lyme disease is caused by the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi that normally lives in mice, squirrels and other small animals. Ticks pick up the disease from those animals and transfer it to humans. Lyme disease cases usually peak during the spring and summer months. That's when the ticks are active and when people are outside more often.

Signs and symptoms of Lyme disease are:

A round, red rash that spreads around the site of the bite
Flu-like symptoms
Fatigue
Headache
Sore muscles and joints
Fever

Treatment includes the use of oral antibiotics, prescribed by a doctor. So if you suspect that you have Lyme disease, the first thing to do is schedule an appointment with your doctor. According the the National Institutes of Health, most patients can be cured within a few weeks of taking the medication.

If the disease goes untreated, serious health problems can ensue, including:

Chronic joint inflammation (sometimes called Lyme arthritis)
Neurological problems such as facial palsy and neuropathy
Memory loss
Heart rhythm irregularities
Difficulty concentrating
Changes in mood or sleep habits

To prevent problems with ticks:

Avoid walking through bushy areas and tall grasses
Use insect repellent that contains 20-to 30-percent DEET
Wear long sleeves and long pants. Tuck pants cuffs into your boots or socks, and spray repellent around the boot tops.
Light colored clothing allows you to spot ticks more easily when they are crawling on the fabric.
Perform tick inspections daily. Check the whole body, from the crown of your head to the soles of your feet.
If you find a tick, remove it as quickly as possible. Use fine-pointed tweezers to grab the tick as close to the mouth parts as possible, where the jaws attach to your skin. Be careful to not squeeze the tick in any manner. Do not try to "back the tick out" by using heat — that only encourages the tick to release the disease into the bite area. If you can't remove the tick yourself, call your doctor.

The good news is that ticks don't usually spread Lyme disease until they have been attached for at least 36 hours, so if you discover the tick early on, you can probably avoid getting sick.

Surviving an EMP

2011-05-25T09:03:00.000-07:00

EMP — what the heck is that? The acronym stands for ElectroMagnetic Pulse and refers to a nuclear weapon detonated at high altitude above a targeted country, sending a powerful burst of electromagnetic energy to destroy the electrical and electronic infrastructure of the nation.

In an EMP attack, the nuclear explosion occurs so high in the atmosphere (25 to 100 miles up) that no physical damage happens at ground level. People aren't killed by the explosion, there is no radioactive fallout, and buildings are not knocked down. Everything looks normal…but nothing that depends on electrical or electronic systems will work. Restoring the systems that are destroyed by the EMP, and thus returning to normalcy might take a year or longer.

If you would like to read an interesting book about what happens in the aftermath of an EMP attack, I suggest One Second After by William R. Forstchen. Although this is a work of fiction, the science is real. The author is a professor of military history and the history of technology, and used proven scientific information as the basis for the story. The foreword to the book was written by Newt Gingrich, and the afterword by a naval captain who is expert on the topic. The book has circulated in the halls of Congress and the Pentagon, and elicited recommendation from those places that every American should read the book to become informed about the potential for this type of attack and how it would impact our daily lives.

Here's a brief rundown of what the experts say would happen after an EMP event:

Automobiles with electronic ignition systems stop dead in their tracks, as if they had run out of gas. Older vehicle that have no electronic control systems might still operate, but fuel will be unavailable, because the pumps will not operate at gas stations. And the ethanol-laced gas stored in tanks will go bad from phase separation within a couple months and be unusable over the long term. Loss of the transportation system means that no new supplies can be delivered.
Communication systems such as telephone, radio, television and Internet cease to function. With no communication with the outside world, rumors will spread and the populace will panic, following every crackpot who comes along with theories about the end of the world.
Failure of the communication system leads to loss of coordination and cooperation. In the ensuing panic, neighbor will rise up against neighbor, community against community.
Electric power generation is disabled, because everything is controlled by computer these days, and the sensitive electronics of every computer will be disabled.
Computer controlled backup generators will not operate, and older generators will only run as long as the fuel holds out.
With no electricity being delivered to communities, there will be no electricity delivered to businesses, homes, hospitals, etc.
There will be no power for the community water company, so no water for your home.
No power for the community water treatment plant, so the sewage system fails.
No garbage pickup service, so the garbage will simply pile up and attract vermin. Disease will follow quickly.
The fire department won't be able to operate vehicles or equipment to put out fires.
The police will be on foot, at first, but most who work in community services will eventually abandon their posts to take care of their own families.
Stores and pharmacies will almost immediately be emptied of all commodities by those who scramble to grab everything before anyone else can get there. There will be no food, medicines, tools or other supplies left on the shelves.
The food supply will run out very quickly — within days — as will the domestic water supply. Those who can will hunt and fish until the local game population is decimated, then will turn to domestic pets as a source of protein.
The drinking of contaminated water by those who are not equipped to purify their own water, will lead to disease and death.
Nursing home personnel have no recourse but to sit by and watch patients die when prescription drugs and other life-saving supplies become unavailable.
The dead have to be buried by hand, because grave-digging machinery will not operate. After awhile, the dead will be left unburied because lack of food will so weaken survivors that no one has enough energy to dig the graves.
Criminals band together into armed gangs and roam from house to house and from town to town in search of food.

The interesting thing about Forstchen's story is that, although no one died from the initial nuclear blast, there was a massive death toll from the loss of services caused by the EMP. Shows just how dependent on modern technology we, as a culture, have become.

Survival Myths

2011-05-17T06:01:00.000-07:00

Call them old wives tales or rumors or myths, or simply lies. By any name, they are misinformation, and they can lead to disaster when you're in a survival situation. Listed below are 15 of the most common survival myths, along with a brief explanation about why these persistent theories are wrong.

1. You can determine direction by looking for moss on the north side of trees. The truth is that moss will grow on every side of a tree if conditions of moisture, temperature and shade are just right.

2. It’s safe to eat whatever you see the animals eat. Nope! Some birds can safely eat poison ivy berries, and some rodents can eat mushrooms that are toxic to humans.

3. You can counteract the effects of frostbite by rubbing the affected area with snow. Exactly wrong. Rubbing frozen flesh with snow will only increase the damage.

4. The most important survival priorities are always shelter, fire, water and food. These four vital survival techniques might be superseded by a higher priority such as a catastrophic injury requiring immediate emergency medical treatment.

5. If you “play dead” a grizzly bear will always leave you alone. Not always. A grizzly is unpredictable and might maul you even though you are doing your best imitation of a corpse.

6. You can safely drink water from an active stream if it is tumbling over rocks enough to become aerated. A tumbling brook might still be infested with giardia and/or cryptosporidium that can cause severe illness. Aeration of the water does not kill these pathogens.

7. It’s a good idea to climb a tree to look for the trail ahead. Although gaining a high vantage point can give you a better view of things ahead, climbing a tree is both exhausting and dangerous and is not worth the energy expenditure, nor the risk of injury.

8. Black bears are not a threat to humans. Black bear attacks on humans, while rare, do happen. It’s a mistake to be complacent about encounters with these powerful predators.

9. Take off your boots before crossing a stream or lake, so they don’t pull you down. The greater risk is that of suffering injury to your feet while crossing a body of water. Keep boots on to protect feet, ‘cause you’ll need them to continue your trek.

10. The best way to dry out wet clothing is to wear it while sitting by the fire. Wet clothing literally sucks the warmth out of your body, so get out of the wet things and cover up with something dry while you dry your clothing by the fire.

11. As long as you can find North, you can navigate to safety. North is meaningless unless you know which direction you must travel to reach safety. Knowing where you are in relation to a safe destination is the only important issue.

12. It’s best to hike through the night to avoid the heat of day. In hot regions, use the morning hours for hiking, from just after daybreak until the heat comes up. Hunker down during the heat of the day, but do not travel through the night or you risk injury or becoming lost.

13. Travel swiftly to get out of the survival situation as quickly as possible. Suffering an injury might be the very thing that leads to your death. Travel cautiously to avoid injury at all cost.

14. The best way to purify water is by boiling. Boiling kills organic contaminants in the water, but does not eliminate non-organic pollutants such as chemicals or heavy metals. In fact, boiling can concentrate these inorganics as the water evaporates.

15. Following a river or stream is the best way to find civilization. Some waterways run their course for hundreds of miles without bumping into civilization, especially in the wilder parts of the world. And following a stream can sometimes be exceedingly difficult and dangerous.

Dramatic Rescue - Lessons Learned

2011-05-09T07:04:00.000-07:00

Seven weeks after Canadian couple Albert and Rita Chretien drove down the wrong road and got their van stuck in mud miles away from civilization, 56-year-old Rita was discovered by hunters and rescued. Unfortnately, 59-year-old Albert has yet to be found.

The drama unfolded as the Penticton, B.C. couple decided to take a trip to Las Vegas, Nevada on March 19th. They reached Baker City in eastern Oregon safely, where their images were caught by a store surveillance camera. That was the last known sighting of the couple until Rita was discovered by hunters, after the couple made the decision to do some sightseeing and explore back roads in the desert mountains of southern Oregon.

According to a report by Officer Dan Moskaluk of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the couple "got turned around off the main road that they should have been on." The weather in the area had included a lot of rain and snow over the previous month. Moskaluk noted that they weren't prepared for winter weather and that the couple doesn't go camping.

After the van got stuck in the mud, Albert and Rita hunkered down for a couple of days, and then he decided to try to go on foot to find help. That was the last anyone ever saw of Albert Chretien.

Rita stayed with the van and lived on water and small amounts of trail mix they had with them. Over the ensuing 7 weeks, she lost 20 to 30 pounds, according to family members who spoke with the news media afterward.

The search goes on for Albert, covering an area of 3,000 square miles, but up until now nothing has been found.

This kind of story keep popping up with vicious regularity, reminding us of the lessons that should be learned.

Even though a long time may go by, and it feels like a waste of time to just sit and do nothing, it is almost always better to stay with the vehicle where you have shelter and at least some supplies to keep you alive until you are rescued. A vehicle is much easier for searchers to spot than a lone individual wandering on the open landscape.
When you're in trouble, get signaling efforts going right away. Smoke by day, a bright fire by night. Use signal mirrors to flash the horizon, hoping someone might see the signal and investigate or call authorities.
Carry electronic devices such as cell phones, and the ability to keep the battery charged up from the vehicle electrical system.
The ultimate rescue device is a Personal Locator Beacon (PLB) or the SPOT Satellite Messenger (www.findmespot.com), which will call in the rescue helicopters within a few hours after the system is activated.
Carry sufficient drinking water and food in the vehicle to keep you alive for an extended period.
Carry blankets or sleeping bags in the vehicle, and equipment that gives you the ability to start fires.
File a travel plan with friends and family members, detailing your itinerary. Plan "check in" times with those people, and leave instructions to notify authorities if you don't show up where you're supposed to be.
If you decided to make changes to your itinerary, alert the folks you've left your travel plan with, so they'll know where you've gone and when you expect to be at your destination. That step alone would keep you from suffering through 7 weeks of a survival experiences, as Rita Chretien did.

My Idea of the Ultimate Evacuation Vehicle

2011-05-01T13:41:00.000-07:00

A personal evacuation plan should take into account the methods of travel and the routes available to you. The plan should include secondary options, in case the first one doesn't work. That goes not only for the route you'll take, but also the transportation methods you'll use — be it four wheels, two wheels, or no wheels at all.

Vehicles such as cars, trucks or RVs might work. Quadrunners, motorcycles and bicycles might be better under some circumstances. Or you might have the opportunity to leave the land behind and head away from trouble on a boat.

There is a reason we live near a coastline. In my opinion, there is no better escape vehicle (vessel) than a sailboat, and I'll tell you why.

In the event of a catastrophe that requires evacuation, a car, truck, SUV or RV might become bogged down in traffic. If you've decided to evacuate, you might make it only a few miles before you end up stuck in gridlock, surrounded by thousands of other people trying to do the same thing. That could leave you miles from all the supplies you would have had at home, and possibly stuck inside the perimeter of the disaster impact area.

The problem might be exacerbated by a power outage that shuts down the gas station's ability to pump fuel — or the lack of fuel altogether. A fuel shortage can be caused by government imposed rationing, a truck strike, or some aspect of the disaster itself shutting things down. That's when travel by bicycle becomes an option.

Our personal escape involves a sailboat. We've owned a 26-foot trailerable sailboat for more than 15 years and have sailed all over the western states. Twelve years ago, we settled in a coastal community in the Pacific Northwest, and now enjoy what I consider to be the most viable survival conditions possible. The weather here is not a survival issue. It might be overcast or rainy or chilly sometimes, but we don't have hurricanes, tornados, deadly blizzards with sub-zero cold. We have a good growing season, abundant freshwater, hunting and fishing right at our doorstep. But best of all, we have the open coastline and a sailboat.

Yes, we live in a potential earthquake zone, but earthquakes don't affect boats, unless a tsunami is generated. Even though it's a possibility, the statistical chance for a damaging tsunami in our area is less than being hit by a meteorite. During a tsunami, the best place to be in on high ground, but the second best place is on a boat over deep water, because the energy impulse passes beneath the boat totally unnoticed.

In our region, chances are that some type of catastrophic situation would make it prudent to make our exit via sailboat. It could be a chemical/biological/radiological incident caused by either an accident or by terrorists — it could be the chaos generated by economic breakdown — it could be our desire to step out from under excessive government regulation such as martial law — it could be related to a revolution such as it happening all over the Middle East right now. You just never know what's going to happen, but it's good to have the option of dropping out of sight for your own safety. And the sailboat is the best way I've found to do that.

The evacuation would entail casting off the docklines and heading away from the troubled landscape. There's no chance of getting stuck in traffic. The wind is free, so we don't need to worry about fuel shortage. The boat is well equipped for living aboard, complete with a galley (kitchen), head (bathroom) with a composting toilet, sleeping areas, a dinette, and storage space for everything we need. We keep the boat stocked with food and water, as well as all the supplies to keep us going for a long time.

The ability to leave the chaos behind, sail away and drop anchor in a quiet cove somewhere is reassuring. After all is said and done, it's the almost impossible challenge of trying to meet the needs of a population in crisis that creates the survival problems. After the dust settles from whatever form of disaster has struck, it's the massive populace that generates survival issues that can last for years after the event has subsided — just look at Haiti, for example. The ability to remove yourself from that picture accomplishes two goals — first, it puts you in a safer position; and second, it eases the burden on relief organizations because they won't have to be concerned about taking care of you.

I know that not everyone lives near a coastline. We didn't always live near one ourselves. But after we analyzed what was going on in the world, we took the steps to put ourselves in this position so we would have a better chance of survival. Your mileage may vary. But I encourage you to think about this and figure things out that will best suit your location and your personal situation.

Escaping The Uprisings

2011-04-25T18:40:00.000-07:00

There is so much news today about revolutions rising up to overthrow governments — primarily in the Middle East. Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, Libya, Syria,…who's next? People are dying, getting abducted by government or rebel factions (sometimes never to be heard from again), women are being molested and raped under the guise of one faction of another claiming to be attempting to establish or maintain order. Children are being recruited (because who would suspect a child of being an enemy?) and indoctrinated to become soldiers for one side or another. It's a mess, and it's only going to get messier.

I don't want to get into a political discussion of the why's and wherefores. I have my opinions, and I'm sure you do, too. But that's not why this blog site exists. We're only here to talk about how to "Get Out Alive." That means, first of all, avoiding threatening situations such as uprisings.

You don't have to travel to the Middle East to find yourself in the midst of a violent uprising. Downtown Seattle will do, when there's something going on that attracts organized anarchists to bus themselves in from out of town to stage a "spontaneous" demonstration so the "voice of the people" can be heard. It's ludicrous that anyone would pretend to believe that these things are:

spontaneous
the voice of local people
non-violent (and if there is any violence, it's caused by the police)

Trust me, they are anything but. In actual fact, uprisings are;

well planned
well organized by "community organizers"
well funded from behind the scenes to accomplish a specific agenda
populated with "rent-a-rioters" from out of town posing as freedom fighters
bent on property destruction
bent on costing taxpayers as much as possible to clean up the mess
bent on creating chaos
bent on violence
politically motivated
intended to intimidate the peaceful public

If you happen to find yourself caught up in one of these events, the best course of action is to try to determine the direction of movement. There is always movement of the mass of people. Figure out where it's going, and do your best to move perpendicular to it. Head in a direction that is at a right angle to the direction of movement. The reason for this is that if you simply turn around and run 180 degrees away from the demonstration, you'll probably get caught up in one of two things:

more rioters racing in from the rear to catch up with the main group
police sweeping in from behind

If you maintain some semblance of situational awareness in the days leading up to the revolution/riot/demonstration, you should not be surprised by it. There will be rumblings in the street, rumors, anticipation of something that is about to happen. When that occurs, take the initiative and get out of town ahead of time. Don't wait until the riots start, or you probably won't be able to escape the area.

Use Your Head

2011-04-16T10:01:00.000-07:00

There are two ways to do things — the hard way, and the right way. Unfortunately, all too often in the face of a challenge we "macho up" and put ourselves in more danger than necessary. We do things the hard way.

That's okay, if your name is Superman and you can stand in front of a rushing freight train, stopping it in its track without injury. But that kind of Hollywood thinking is what gets people hurt or killed. Let's take a look at s couple of examples:

You're out for an evening of fun when suddenly a ruckus gets started and fists are flying.
You're on a day hike, three miles from your vehicle when an unexpected storm drops the temperature and rain starts falling hard.
While fishing in the middle of the lake, your boat overturns.

In the first episode, you have a choice to make — you can stay and watch the fight escalate, you can join in the fracas, or you can quietly head for the door. Here's the truth — it doesn't matter if you know the hottest martial arts on the planet, you can still get yourself killed by some lunatic with a knife, a club, or a gun. Any real martial artist will tell you that the greatest form of self defense is avoidance. Get out of there before the trouble envelopes you.

Second scenario — you can keep hiking through the chilly rain in the hope that you can make it to your car before hypothermia sets in, or you can stop and seek shelter to wait out the storm.

Third — the boat is now upside-down, or maybe it has simply swamped. All small boats are mandated by law to have sufficient built-in flotation to keep them on the surface even if they are full of water. Your choices are to swim for shore or hang onto the boat and await rescue.

In all of these settings, you can do things the hard way or the right way, and the choice is always yours to make. Make the right choice and you get out alive. Make the wrong choice and you probably won't.

The title of this post is Use Your Head. Actually, if you use your head, you probably won't find yourself in very many nasty situations in the first place. The general principle is this: if I want to avoid dying of a drug overdose, all I have to do is never take drugs — right?

So if I want to avoid getting involved in a bar fight, maybe I should make another choice about where I go for an evening of entertainment.
If I want to avoid hypothermia because a sudden storm overtook me on a hike, I can make sure I have emergency survival equipment in my daypack so I don't have to depend on being able to find a suitable natural shelter.
If I want to make sure I don't drown when my fishing boat sinks, I should always wear a life vest and carry a cell phone or two-way radio in a waterproof container so I can call for help.

This principle can apply to every aspect of life. If we use our heads, we can avoid most of the problems in life — not only in the woods, but also in civilization. Most. I said most, not all. There are things that are totally beyond our control, and sometimes we get caught up in something even when we've taken every reasonable precaution.

For those situations that are unavoidable, you need to be trained and prepared to dance to whatever music happens to be playing at the moment. There is no substitute for training and preparation. And getting yourself trained and prepared is the ultimate way to use your head.

Most Dangerous

2011-04-13T14:27:00.000-07:00

The statistics are in for the 2010 Crime State Rankings. According to CQ Press, that publishes these statistics each year, the most dangerous cities in America (from a violent crime standpoint) are:

St. Louis, MO
Camden, N.J.
Detroit, MI
Flint, MI
Oakland, CA
Richmond, CA
Cleveland, OH
Compton, CA
Gary, IN
Birmingham, AL
Baltimore, MD
Memphis, TN
New Orleans, LA
Jackson, MS
Little Rock, AR

The criteria for determining which of the 400 cities in the evaluation are most dangerous were the overall ranking for six types of crime — assault, murder, rape, auto theft, robbery, and burglary. For example, in Camden, New Jersey, the rankings were #2 in the nation for assault; #4 for murder; #1 for rape; #23 for auto theft; #1 for robbery (way to go, Camden, you win top spot for two categories!); and #78 for burglary. Seems that Camden criminals lean toward rape, robbery, assault and murder rather than theft.

Are there demographic patterns to these top 15 crime cities? I'll bet there are. You think it over and see if you can come up with what all these places have in common. I won't try to influence your thinking on this subject — I'm sure you can figure it out. But this is good information to keep in mind if you want to avoid being in dangerous places.

A Period of Giant Earthquakes?

2011-04-10T14:48:00.000-07:00

Richard Aster is a geophysicist at the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, and he is also the president of the Seismological Society of America. To say he knows a bit about the makeup of earthquakes is an understatement. And he's been studying with great interest the major earthquakes of the past several years.

The official definition of Giant Earthquakes are those that register 8.0 or higher on the Richter Scale. Historically, temblors of that magnitude are relatively rare, when compared with the total number of all earthquakes. If we look back to 1900, we can study the statistics. According to Aster, we may now be in the middle of a new age of large earthquakes. Take a look at the numbers and maybe you'll see what he is seeing.

1903 — 8.3 Greece
1906 — 8.8 Ecuador
1906 — 8.2 Chile
1918 — 8.2 Philippines
1920 — 8.6 China
1922 — 8.7 Chile
1923 — 8.5 Russia
1933 — 8.4 Japan
1934 — 8.1 Nepal
1943 — 8.2 Chile
1945 — 8.0 Pakistan
1946 — 8.1 Japan
1948 — 8.1 Philippines
1950 — 8.6 China
1952 — 8.1 Japan
1952 — 9.0 (a really big one) Russia
1957 — 8.1 Mongolia
1959 — 8.0 Russia
1960 — 9.5 (most powerful quake ever recorded) Chile
1964 — 9.2 (another monster) Alaska
1965 — 8.2 Indonesia
1966 — 8.2 Peru
1968 — 8.3 Japan
1970 — 8.0 Colombia
1971 — 8.0 Papua New Guinea
1976 — 8.0 Philippines
1985 — 8.0 Mexico
1995 — 8.0 China
1995 — 8.0 Mexico
1996 — 8.2 Indonesia
2000 — 8.0 Papua New Guinea
2001 — 8.4 Peru
2003 — 8.3 Japan
2004 — 9.3 (monster that killed nearly 300,000) Indonesia
2007 — 8.1 Solomon Islands
2007 — 8.0 Peru
2007 — 8.5 Indonesia
2009 — 8.1 Samoa
2010 — 8.8 China
2011 — 9.0 (another monster) Japan

So since the year 1900, there have been 40 earthquakes that registered 8.0 or higher on the scale. During that period, 5 of the temblors were measured a 9.0 or higher.

What's interesting is that there seems to be a pattern — for example, during the period from 1950 to 1967 there was a spike in large earthquakes. Then there are lulls, then heightened activity again during certain periods. One pattern of interest is that none of the 9.0 or greater quakes occurred in the first half of the 20th century. All 5 of them happened after 1952. And two of them in just a 7-year period. And, during that same 7-year period, there have been 7 Giant Earthquakes (and we're not finished with this year yet) — something that has never happened before.

Are we entering a period of Giant Earthquakes? The statistics are very interesting.

Getting Around - Alternative Transportation

2011-04-05T09:34:00.000-07:00

Have you ever thought about how often you use your vehicle to accomplish daily tasks? We are an automobile (that includes trucks and SUVs) intense society. Not many among us walk very far. Of course there are exceptions, but most of them do their walking for recreation, not to obtain the necessities of life.

So, what would happen if, for whatever reason, it was no longer possible to use a car for your daily activities? Could be a fuel shortage (or maybe it just becomes too expensive) or some kind of disaster that breaks up the roads so they're not passable. How about an EMP that knocks out all electronics, including what it takes to keep an engine running? What then?

We need to be thinking in terms of alternative forms of transportation.

Walking — it's slow and takes more energy (read caloric consumption) that some other options, but it's reliable as long as you're fit and have good shoes. Getting fit is simply a matter of practice. Walk every day. Begin with a distance and pace you're comfortable with, and every 10 days increase your distance by 25%. You'll know when you're ready to increase the pace. The important thing is to not overdo it and cause an injury that lays you up, because then you'll lose the fitness you've built up. Wear shoes that are supportive and comfortable enough to allow you to walk for 5 miles or more without foot fatigue.

Bicycle — much easier and faster on level ground and going downhill. You can cover a lot of ground in a relatively short amount of time. My average cruising speed on my fat-tire mountain bike is about 15 miles per hour without too much exertion. To cover 15 miles on foot would take 5 or 6 hours and leave me very foot weary and tired, as well as depleted of caloric energy and hydration. Granted, not all of Earth's surface is level or downhill — When traveling uphill, if it becomes too difficult to pedal, hop off and push the bike. The bike becomes a mule, able to bear a fair burden on a rack or in panniers supported by racks across front and/or rear wheels. Add a day pack to your back and you can carry a lot of supplies pretty easily. A fat-tire bike with at least 21 gears is best, especially if the path is rough or strewn with rubble. My advice is to get used to riding now, so it isn't a new and challenging experience when you need to use the bicycle as your primary form of transportation.

Weather Forecasting

2011-03-30T10:49:00.000-07:00

When the weather turns nasty, it can trap you right where you stand, and it can kill you unless you're aware of what's coming and able to take the proper steps to save yourself. So it’s important to keep a weather eye on what’s happening. You might detect significant local atmospheric activity that has escaped the attention of weather forecasters.

As you watch for signs of bad weather, what you are looking for are cloud patterns and movement. The atmosphere is made up of gigantic air masses that differ from one another in temperature, pressure and humidity. Interaction between these air masses results in changing weather conditions such as cloud formation, precipitation and wind. Clouds are the biggest clue to the type of weather that is coming. The three primary types of clouds that we will discuss here are cumulus, stratus and cirrus. Watching the progression of cloud evolution gives clues about what’s coming.

Cumulus clouds are the puffy ones. They are the most unstable type of clouds and are often associated with cold fronts or air rising over mountains. The puffiness indicates that there is some degree of upward movement (a rising air mass), causing air to climb to a colder altitude where the water vapor in the air condenses and “grows” the cloud at the top. A bunch of little cumulous clouds scattered in the sky like so many sheep on a pasture don’t pose a threat. But when cumulus clouds bunch together into a huge mass, or grow into towering monsters, a thunderstorm (or worse) is possible. Cumulus giants can spawn sudden downpours, lightning and thunder, violent wind, flashfloods, hail, and tornadoes. This is especially true when warm/moist air collides with cooler/drier air along a frontal boundary.

Stratus clouds form shapeless solid layers of overcast, leaving a gray, dreary sky. If there is a lot of light penetrating the stratus layer, it probably isn’t dense enough to produce much precipitation. You might get the odd shower, but it takes a cloud thickness of 4,000 feet or more to produce steady rain. But if the clouds become dark and low, expect showers or drizzle. Stratus clouds don’t result in sudden and violent downpours, the way cumulus clouds do, but the rain can continue steadily for hours or even a couple of days, so there is still a danger of flooding, especially if the ground is rocky or already sodden.

But there is the potential for a hidden danger with stratus clouds, because you can’t see what is happening above them, when you’re standing on the ground and looking up. It is possible that a giant cumulus formation is above the stratus layer, so be alert to the possibility of violent weather, even if things look pretty benign from below the cloud deck.

Cirrus clouds form so high in the atmosphere that they are made of ice crystals instead of water vapor. These wispy clouds (sometimes called Mares Tails because of their shape) don’t cause rain, but they can foretell the coming of a warm front that brings precipitation. If stratus follows cirrus, and if that stratus evolves into a thicker and darker layer, expect rain. How quickly the rain comes depends on the speed that the front is moving.

Clear blue sky doesn’t necessarily mean everything is hunky-dory. If a high-pressure system moves in and pushes a low-pressure system out of the way, it brings clearing skies — but it might also bring strong and gusty wind as the pressure between the two systems attempts to equalize. Trees can be knocked down and tents blown away under clear, blue sky.

By tapping into the available weather information and keeping an eye on the sky, you can make better judgments about what kind of weather to expect.

Location, Location, Location

2011-03-24T18:58:00.000-07:00

You know what they say about real estate — there are only three things that you have to keep in mind. Location, location and location.

Well, the same thing applies to the little patch of real estate where you set up your shelter. Except that I'm going to give you five important points to keep in mind, instead of just three. And my five are all different. Each one is essential to your safety and comfort while living in a survival shelter. Some are related to natural hazards or nuisances that you need to avoid. One point is related to getting yourself rescued, and one is related to your comfort while in camp.

Before building your shelter, pay attention to the following:

• Look down — You’re looking for ants, ground-dwelling wasps, or other insect colonies that may already inhabit the construction site.

• Look up — You’re looking for wasps or beehives, as well as for widow makers (branches that can fall out of an overhead tree, or rocks that may slide off a hillside or cliff). You’re also looking for evidence of water that might stream over the edge of a cliff during a night storm.

• Look around — Check the area for snake habitat, scorpions, spiders. Make sure your shelter site isn’t in a drainage that could fill from a distant storm and wash you away in a flash flood.

• Try to locate your shelter where it may easily be seen by search and rescue teams. If possible, place the shelter within easy access to firewood, water and food supplies.

• Take advantage of existing shade in hot weather, open exposure to the sun in cold weather, natural windbreaks, etc.

Shelter In Place

2011-03-21T10:50:00.000-07:00

Word out of Japan is that an elderly woman and a teenager were rescued from their collapsed home 9 days after it was damaged by the earthquake. That brings up a couple thoughts I'd like to share.

In a catastrophe, two scenarios develop. One is that you must evacuate, the other is that you can stick around and "shelter in place." Shelter in place is the term used when the building you're in when the crisis hits is suitable for your occupancy and there are no circumstances absolutely requiring that you evacuate.

The case in Japan is not what I would call sheltering in place, but the damaged residence did provide adequate shelter to keep these two alive for 9 days until they could be rescued. I must point out that this structure was damage by the earthquake, not the tsunami. There is no way to shelter in place when a tsunami is sweeping through the area — higher ground (or levels of a building above the waterline) must be reached.

I haven't seen photos of the building where these two were rescued, but my mind conjures scenes of rubble (probably because that's the kind of footage the media is providing) in which the two were trapped.

Still, there is a point to be made that even a badly damaged structure might be useful for shelter from the elements until the situation can be improved. Of course, if the structure is likely to continue collapsing around you, it is not a safe place and must be evacuated. But if the structural damage has settled and there is little risk of further collapse, perhaps it can be used to shield survivors from wind, rain and snow or hot sun.

Short of having the damaged building fall on you, the real shelter-related risks to survival are exposure to the elements. So being able to stay dry and out of the wind are two priorities. I remember seeing images of homes with blue tarps stretched over damaged roofs after hurricanes, and this same concept might apply after an earthquake. So a big tarp can be a valuable addition to survival supplies, because it might be used to help you shelter in place even though your home has been damaged.

A tarp, some rope and tent pegs are also useful if you have to evacuate. With a length of rope stretched between trees or other anchors to form a ridgeline, the tarp can be used as an emergency tent to get you out of the elements.

Before deciding to evacuate (unless there is a compelling reason - like a tsunami), consider the possibility of staying put and sheltering in place. You have a house full of resources to use, if that situation is possible. But if you decide that evacuation is the best course of action, do it early to avoid the rush.

Hostage Part 3

2011-03-17T10:15:00.000-07:00

Well, we've talked about avoiding a hostage situation, but what if the worst happens and you end up being taken? How are you going to survive?

According to Cameron Gamble, a veteran instructor of the Air Force SERE (Search, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape) school, you need to put yourself through a 3-phase situational assessment process to avoid what he calls capture shock. The assessment goes like this: try to determine 1) who has me? 2) what do they want? and 3) how far are they willing to go to get it?

If your captors are local punks out for some kicks by stealing your car for a joy ride, that's a different scenario than if you are carjacked by a bunch of armed bank robbers on the run from police. So first figure out who the captors are, what they want and how far you think they're willing to go to get it. That will help you determine your course of action.

Randy Spivy conducted hostage survival training for Department of Defense personnel. He also promotes a 3-stage strategy, based on the letter C — calm, connect, and capitalize. To quote him, "You want to be a calming influence, maintain our composure, and don't do anything to escalate the tension. If they say don't look at them, don't look at them." As the hostage crisis wears on, the captors might become bored and receptive enough for you to try the next two steps — connecting and capitalizing. Connecting means that you make yourself appear as a person, not an object. See if you can find some common interest to talk about with your captors — your family, recreational activities, hobbies. By doing this, you're engaging in a reverse Stockholm Syndrome, making yourself appear to be likable. Hopefully, they won't injure or kill you if they like you as a person. The capitalize phase is when you encourage your captors to seek a peaceful resolution to the crisis. Express your confidence that everything is going to work out okay. Topics to avoid are religion, politics and economics, unless you are positive that you can connect with the captors by agreeing with them on those subjects.

When it comes to physically engaging the enemy, you need to be sure you have an absolutely clear motive. If they're holding a gun to your wife's head and you know for certain they're going to pull the trigger, that's when you have no choice. If you fight back and your wife is killed, the outcome is no worse than if you had just sat there and watched her die without lifting a finger.

In a hostage crisis, there may be a time to fight, or it may be better to keep everything calm by cooperating with the captors. You need to assess the situation and figure out what to do and when to do it. Make the right choices and you might live. Make the wrong ones, and people are probably going to die.

Hostage Survival

2011-03-09T17:59:00.000-08:00

Continuing the previous discussion about piracy — being taken hostage whether at sea, in a public place, in your own home, or even in a car-jacking situation — the first issue is about how to avoid that situation in the first place. There are steps you can take to avoid being taken hostage:

The simplistic answer is don't go where hostage situations occur. Face it, there are some places that are more dangerous than others, and you need to recognize the risk factors involved in places you go. At sea, it's anywhere within 500 miles of Somalia. Car-jacking is more likely to occur in certain neighborhoods. Don't wander around in seedy parts of town. Just don't go there. That's the easy part. But when it comes to being taken hostage in a public place or even in your own home, the unfortunate fact is that criminals have been known to hit posh hotels, fast-food restaurants, and residential homes in every kind of neighborhood. So you are somewhat limited when it comes to simply avoiding bad places. But use your head and stay away from places where trouble is likely to come.
Make yourself a harder target. Lock your doors and windows day and night. That goes for the vehicle and the house. Don't provide easy access. Make it hard to get to you.
Be ready to roll. If you're in a public place, position yourself near an escape route. If somebody come into the room brandishing a weapon, burst out of the escape route as quickly as possible before the bad guys have a chance to take control of the room. Just fly out of there instantly. If the bad guys want to control the room, they probably won't chase after you and risk losing everybody else.
Be constantly aware of what's going on (situational awareness). If something doesn't feel right, get out immediately. If it turns out that you were wrong, don't worry; it's better to suffer embarrassment than to suffer at the hands of criminals.
If someone you don't know approaches your vehicle while you're sitting at a stoplight or intersection, roll up the windows and lock the doors. Be ready to jump on the gas pedal and take off. If a bad guy reaches through your window, floor the gas pedal. If bad guys surround your vehicle, run over them. It's your life to save, so you better be ready to do whatever it takes. But don't just sit there and let them take you without trying to escape.
If you are armed, you need to decide if getting in a gun battle is going to make things better or worse. For example, if I were alone I'd be more prone to engage the enemy than if my wife and children were in the room with me. It's up to you to determine how much potential collateral damage you are willing to risk.

If you are taken hostage, you need to figure out how to survive. We'll deal with that next time.

Piracy

2011-03-07T07:22:00.000-08:00

There's been a lot of talk lately about piracy on the high seas. Last year, pirates highjacked 53 ships and held nearly 1,200 hostages for ransom. This is a deadly game that has been going on for a long time in some parts of the world, but the reason the chatter about it has ramped up in the last little while is because of recent attacks on privately owned sailboats with families aboard. Up until recently, it's been rare for pirates to attack these types of boats because they've concentrated primarily on container ships and oil tankers that can bring a high ransom.

Most hostages are not killed, because the pirates are only interested in collecting ransom to release the crews and ships being held. But, last month 4 Americans on a sailboat were murdered by Somali pirates. And within days of that tragedy, a Danish vessel with a family of 5 (3 teenagers) and 2 additional crew was taken by Somali pirates. Why? Private sailboats are not worth much ransom, and most cruising families don't have much money back home to buy their release — so why the sudden interest in highjacking these boats and crews?

My guess is that the game is simply ramping up. The pirates, rich from the millions they've collected (one south Korean tanker company paid over 9 million dollars for the release of one of their ships), and facing almost zero resistance, they're just starting to knock off any boat that's in the area for the fun of it.

The big question is, how do we stop this kind of activity? My answer is to take the fun out of the game. Eliminate the reward and escalate the downside for the pirates. Actively hunt down their mother ships that send out the small, fast attack boats, and sink those mothers — along with everybody onboard.

This is nothing different from gangs taking over neighborhoods on land. And you can either surrender to them and let them run wild and get away with murder, or you can make it so dangerous for them to operate that they go someplace else. Now I have to admit that I am a "take no prisoners" kind of guy, so I'm not prone to catch-and-release. Read into that whatever you want, but my personal belief is that when criminals make that career choice, they also choose the possible consequences. So I'm not going to lose any sleep over being the delivery system of those consequences.

Piracy on the high seas has its counterpart on dry land. Home invasion is the same thing — so is general hostage taking in public places. This kind of thing is becoming more prevalent these days, so my next message will be about how to avoid and/or survive being a hostage in your own home or somewhere else.

Let Someone Know

2011-03-03T11:00:00.000-08:00

John and Patricia Norvell sat trapped in their Jeep Grand Cherokee for 4 days, hoping each day that someone would come along and rescue them.

Their survival ordeal began when their Jeep slid off the snow-covered forest road new Mount St. Helens and ended up stuck in the borrow pit running alongside the road. Over the next 4 days, a couple more feet of snow fell and the overnight temperatures dropped into the teens. The Norvells weren't prepared with sleeping bags or extra food and water. According to the report, the only food they had was a bag of jelly beans, and their water came from melting snow. To stay warm, they ran the engine only a few minutes at a time so they wouldn't run out of gas. To top it all off, nobody back home had a clue where to look for them.

It wasn't until the middle of the week when family members dropped by the Norvells' home and discovered that the cats hadn't been fed. That's when relatives alerted authorities. One family member said, "No one had any clue. Normally they tell you, 'hey we're going to drive to the beach today, or we're going to go here.' They had talked about maybe going to the seaside or Port Angeles. We called every hotel in Port angeles. It was a dead end everywhere we went."

The Norvells tried to call their family earlier in the day before they got stuck, but there was no cell coverage where they were driving. After continuing up the forest road for a while, they decided to turn around. That's when they got stuck.

At one point, Patricia decided that they needed to hike out, but John felt like they should stay with the vehicle where it provided shelter and some warmth. Good decision John!

After their rescue (by some folks who just happened to drive by and spot their vehicle buried in snow), the Norvells made a list of what they wish they had with them. On their list were a shovel, food, and more water. I might add to that list a sleeping bag for each person, and signaling equipment better than just a cell phone.

But the biggest lesson of all is about the importance of letting friends and family members back home know where you're going and when to expect you back. That alone might have shortened the Norvells' adventure significantly.

Magnetic Compass Conundrum

2011-02-25T17:17:00.000-08:00

You might have read (or heard) something about the Earth's magnetic pole shifting at an increasing rate, which causes compasses to point in the wrong direction.

Technically true. Like "climate change" this is something that has always happened and always will happen in the future. The Earth's magnetic pole is directly related to the movement of the magnetic field, which in turn is related to movement on Earth's liquid iron core. The core continually transfers heat, thereby creating a naturally occurring electrical conductor that creates the magnetic field. So just to be clear about this — what's happening has nothing to do with the end of the Mayan calendar on December 21 next year, or anything else so dramatic. This is nothing new, but the folks who write the news have to have something to talk about and this sounds pretty big, so they write about it.

For the record, the shift in magnetic pole position amounts to about 1 degree every 10 years. So if you're out hiking for the next 30 years, you'll see a 3-degree shift on your compass. Whoopee!

The reason I say Whoopee is because nobody, regardless of how good you are with a compass in hand, is steady enough to be flawless when using a magnetic compass for navigation. At best, you'll be a few degrees off anyway as you navigate your way through brush and trees and around lakes and detour around canyons. This isn't brain surgery. You use a compass to maintain a general heading toward a desired point. Then you shoot another bearing and head off in that direction. You take compass readings on visible landmarks, walk to that landmark, then shoot another bearing to the next one. Over and over again, you repeat the process to enable you to hike in the general direction toward your destination, continually making adjustments as you sidetrack around obstacles. So maintaining a precise bearing to the very degree is not only unnecessary, it's also impossible.

If you're out on the ocean, the boat will bob and weave with very motion of the water and wind, not to mention the effect of current. The fastest way to go blind and nuts at the same time is to stare at the compass and keep your hand on the helm, trying to steer a perfect course. Celestial navigation was invented to keep mariners from going blind and nuts. With celestial navigation, a sailor takes a sighting on the sun or moon or stars once per day (or night), makes calculations based on published tables for precise times each day. Then adjustments are made to the heading to correct the course. Same goes for use of a GPS — it's only a method of taking a "fix" on your location so you can compare that reading with the map to see where you are relative to where you want to go.

And my point is? My point is that regardless of what you hear or read or see on the news about how you're going to get lost because the magnetic pole is racing toward Siberia, don't worry. You won't get any more lost than you ever would before.

That said, I think everyone who ventures into the outdoors should carry a detailed topographic map of the area and a quality compass. More important than that is to know how to use those tools. If all you ever rely on is GPS, the day will come when that system will fail you (probably because of dead batteries), and then you really will be lost.

Carry a map and compass. Know how to use them.

Warning!

2011-02-22T21:45:00.000-08:00

The sign read: DANGER! If you cross this boundary, you may lose your life and your ski pass will be revoked.

Might sound kind of funny, when you think about it, but the message is clear — it's not safe to go beyond the boundaries, and if you choose to do so there will be penalties to pay if someone has to come rescue you.

This past weekend, snowboarders in at least two states tested the boundary and lost. Well, they lost their ski passes, but thanks to search and rescue teams, they didn't lose their lives. In both instances, the snowboarders became disoriented — in one case because of fog and in the other because of heavy snowfall that obscured their vision.

I can sympathize. I was skiing one day when the snowfall became so heavy that I couldn't see 20 feet ahead. Fearing that I might nail a tree, I decided to stop for a few minutes and wait until conditions improved before continuing down the slope. I threw on the brakes and skidded to what I thought was a complete stop, and just stood there relaxed. That's when a tree slowly glided past and I realized that I was not stopped after all. In the whiteout conditions, it was virtually impossible for me to have a perfect point of reference with my surrounding. When the tree went past, an interesting thing happened to me — I almost threw up. Something about the difference between what my brain thought was reality, and what was really reality upset the inner ear and my senses went nuts.

I confess all this only to illustrate how easy it is to get lost in the backcountry. Been there; done that. Don't want to do it again.

In both of the snowboard cases, the individuals were able to call for help by using their cell phones. WARNING! That doesn't always work. Much of the backcountry doesn't have cell coverage, so if you get lost there, you're going to stay lost unless you carry some other devices to let people know they need to come and get you. The SPOT Satellite Messenger (www.findmespot.com) or a Personal Locator Beacon (www.acrelectronics.com) are reliable "call for help" devices, but they won't work if you don't have them with you and know how to use them.

My advice is:

Respect the boundaries, because if you go out and get yourself lost, other lives are going to be put at risk trying to save yours.
Know your limits and have as much fun as you possibly can within them.
Carry survival gear so you can stay alive for a few days while working out the solution to your problems.
Carry equipment that will help get you rescued when you get so far in over your head that you're not going to be able to get out by yourself.

Survival Story

2011-02-16T07:43:00.000-08:00

Surviving 5 days in the desert without water can be difficult for anybody, but when you're 84 years old and so crippled up that you can't walk, surviving that long is almost a miracle.

But that's what happened to Henry Morello, who was rescued this past Saturday near Arizona's Bloody Basin Road and Phoenix Interstate 17. Morello had mistakenly taken a wrong turn and drove into the barren desert. I don't know the details, but after his rescue he reported that his car battery died, as did his cell phone battery.

"I can't walk, so I had to stay there," he said. "I tried to walk away, but I fell down and had to crawl back."

Using his cane, he struggled to get back inside his car. When the temperature fell into the 30s at night, Morello used the car's floor mats to cover himself. Those long, cold nights were the worst, he said, because he got scared that nobody would ever find him. He had no water to drink, but he did have some leftover pasta in the car, but choose not to eat it because it made him more thirsty.

On day 5, he heard a knock on the window and was found by some hikers who, as luck would have it, were passing by. That began his rescue process and a 3-day stay in the hospital.

This is a story that could have had a much more tragic ending, so we're happy for Mr. Morello's family. But it's better to not rely on luck bringing wandering rescuers accidentally to our aid, so there are things for us to learn from this incident.

Early rescue is better than late rescue, so be sure to carry devices that will allow you to call for help when you need it. Morello had a cell phone, but the dead battery made it useless. Have the ability to charge your cell phone from the vehicle's cigarette lighter socket. Then don't kill the vehicle battery by running the lights or continually trying to start a reluctant engine to the point that the battery dies. If you're within range of cell service, that little device can save your life, so make sure it works.
To signal your position and alert people who can initiate a rescue, have the ability to start a fire. Feed green foliage or oily rags or rubber into the fire during the day to create massive amounts of smoke. Keep the fire burning brightly at night to show your position.
Carry a signal mirror and whistle in your vehicle and put them in your pocket if you leave the vehicle, so you are equipped to signal for help both audibly and visually. The flash of light from a mirror will carry for miles. When the sun goes down or you're in dense forest, use the whistle when you think someone might be near enough to hear it.
Carry in your vehicle enough drinking water to last you a few days. The easy way to do this is to buy a case or two of bottled water or a few 1-gallon jugs at the grocery store and leave them in the trunk. It's not always possible to find or "make" enough water to keep you alive, so the best thing is to carry it with you. Figure on 1 gallon per day per person.
Morello was right to avoid eating when he didn't have water to drink. Eating increases thirst, but worse yet it increases the body's need for water to carry out the digestion process.
Morello was also right to stay with the vehicle. If you're lost and someone is looking for you, they'll spot a vehicle more easily than they will spot an individual hiking through brush or trees. In the physical condition of Mr. Morello, it would be unwise to attempt to hike out of the desert, although someone in better condition might be successful hiking out for help. In that case, the best option is to follow the trail back in the direction from which you came, rather than attempting to take shortcuts cross-country.
He did the right thing by improvising the floor mats into some covering to help retain his body warmth at night. Better yet would be to carry an emergency blanket in the vehicle and even a sleeping bag, if you have the room for it.

Cooking Under Pressure

2011-02-14T07:07:00.000-08:00

I have to admit that the title of today's post has a double meaning. When something happens that causes the lights to go out over a long-term period (could be an earthquake, hurricane, ice storm, etc.), the pressure is on to continue life as close to normal as possible. And that's when cooking under pressure becomes especially important.

Using a pressure cooker to prepare meals does two good things:

Uses less fuel to accomplish the cooking
Produces more nutritious meals than cooking the same food by other means

If there's a power outage, one alternative for cooking is the use of a propane stove. When that happens, you'll have to be very careful about conserving the fuel, because you won't know how long the emergency is going to last. This brings to mind sailors who cruise the world, off the grid (so they are essentially living under the same conditions as you would during a massive power outage) using a limited supply of propane for everything from space heating to running the refrigerator to cooking. They typically use small pressure cookers to make everything from bread to stew. And the reason they use a pressure cooker rather than a normal pot is because the cooking times are so much shorter, and that translates into fuel savings.

A couple days ago, we prepared a 4-pound lamb roast smothered with baby carrots, onions and quartered new potatoes in our small pressure cooker. What would have taken more than an hour to prepare in the oven was done to tender perfection in half that time. The meat was so tender and the vegetables so tasty that it made me wonder why everyone doesn't cook this way.

The second positive about pressure cookers is that they retain the moisture and nutrients that are lost when cooking for more prolonged times in pots and pans that are not pressurized. Not only that but the food just plain tastes better. All the flavors stay with the food, and it's nothing short of amazing how much better the same recipe tastes when cooked under pressure.

There is no question that a pressure cooker offers a lot of advantage for day-to-day use when cooking major meals (I don't use one for my morning bowl of oatmeal), but in a crisis situation the fact that it cooks faster and uses less fuel is a huge advantage. They aren't expensive, and they are safe to use if you follow the simple instructions that come with the unit. The old stories of "exploding pressure cookers" are not reality with today's equipment. Become familiar with the operation of this fantastic piece of equipment, experiment with recipes, enjoy better tasting meals, and along the way you'll be learning a better way to cook under emergency conditions.

Secure Your Property

2011-02-11T14:30:00.000-08:00

Steve Albrecht worked for the San Diego Police Department from 1984 to 1999, and wrote several police books, including Contact and Cover with a friend of mine named John Morrison. I recently received some information written by Mr. Albrecht about what he would do if he were a crook. This is based on his experience as a cop, knowing what to look for and what most people simply ignore. Here's a tidbit about bad guys breaking and entering your home, either to assault you or to burglarize your house.

Tools of Convenience

The best way to gain access to a house would be to use whatever tools the homeowner left me for my residential burglaries. The average yard has all kind of useful stuff laying around, including axes, shovels, hoes, hammers, ladders, and nicely-stacked lawn furniture. With the a ladder or even a lawn chair I could get on to the roof and through the usually unlocked second-story window. Heck I could do it in broad daylight. All I would have to do is wearing a white painter's hat and clothes and driving a work van that would help me blend.

If you want to protect your home, take Albrecht's advice and secure your property. Don't leave convenient tools around the yard that can be used to gain entry to your home, garage or other buildings. Keep your neighborhood safe by being aware of who the strangers are that are roaming around, even if they appear to be workers in vans and trucks. Call the police if you suspect that something is amiss. They won't mind coming to check things out.

Emergency Prep

2011-02-08T17:33:00.000-08:00

Before we moved into the cave to begin our year-long wilderness living experience in southern Utah, we spent time getting ready and learning what we needed to know. But after we had been on the ground for six months in that desert, we hardly gave it a moment's thought day-to-day. We just lived. We transitioned from being in "prep mode" to being in "life mode."

Being in "life mode" insofar as emergency response goes, is the safest way. You just naturally do the right things to be able to handle problems when they arise.

For example, consider for a minute that an earthquake is going to slam your region in the middle of the night while you're asleep. Under those conditions, is it better to have a flashlight in the dresser drawer at the far side of the room or within easy reach of where you sleep? Is it safer to have your shoes organized in the closet or right beside your bed? Is it safer to have some gloves tucked away out in the garage or there in the bedroom?

If the earth shook and things fell off shelves, windows shattered from twisted frames, mirrors exploded sending shards of glass across the floor, you wouldn't want to have to walk barefoot to find your shoes. You wouldn't want to have to dig through rubble bare handed. You wouldn't want to fumble around in the dark hoping to remember where the flashlight was. Under those conditions, you would want to be in "life mode" rather than in "prep mode."

If a disaster hits during the day while you're out and about, there are so many variables about where you might be and what you might have access to that the only thing I can recommend is to always be aware of what is around you and how you might use it to provide the necessities to keep you alive.

But from the standpoint of being at home and having a disaster hit while you're asleep (which will really catch you off-guard), there are some things you should always have near your bed so you can have immediate access to them. You don't want to have to go hunting for these things in the dark when your world is coming unglued at the seams. You just live prepared all the time.

Ideally, you should be able to reach these items without having to leave the bed to grab them.

First, sturdy shoes. If you have any reason to believe there is broken glass or any other type of debris on the floor, do not put your feet down until they are inside sturdy shoes that can protect against nail penetration, etc. Injured feet will not only invite infection, but will also disable you from being able to carry on with survival tasks.
Heavy leather gloves. If you need to claw your way out of a collapsed structure, or move broken and splintered wood to clear your way to the exit, these will protect your hands.
Safety glasses or goggles. If you're blinded by dust or flying debris getting in your eyes, you won't be able to save yourself or anyone else. A lightweight pair of swim goggles will work, and they don't take up much space.
A flashlight. You want to be able to reach and grab a flashlight (loaded with fully-charged batteries) without having to get out of bed to find it. If it is a "headlamp" type, so much the better, because that leaves your hands free to do whatever is necessary to get yourself and your family to safety. An LED light draws much less power than a light with incandescent bulbs, so the batteries last longer.
A fire extinguisher. What if you awaken to discover that your house is in flames and the only extinguisher is in the kitchen, and you can't get to it? You're toast — literally! Keep an extinguisher within reach so you can fight your way out of a burning room if necessary.
A cell phone (fully charged). You might awaken to noises in your house that don't belong there. Home invasion by burglars (or worse) might involve the cutting of your residential telephone lines, leaving you unable to call 9-1-1 for help. Even if it's not a home invasion, but just your run of the mill disaster that has torn everything up and left you injured, your landline might be dead and you might be able to use the cell phone to summon assistance.
Protective outdoor clothing. If you must evacuate your dwelling into a cold, rainy, windy night, you will appreciate being able to quickly grab a coat and long pants.

A Safe Room

2011-02-03T08:49:00.000-08:00

When we lived in Wisconsin for 4 years, we learned the meaning of cold. Our final winter there, the bulb temperature fell to -40ºF and the wind drove the windchill down to -100ºF. That was the winter two people died in our small town. Not that people dying was an unusual event, but the way these two died was. One elderly man died on his porch after he fumbled his house keys and couldn't get the door open. The other died in his car as he struggled but failed to get it to start.

That was the year we put our Safe Room into practice. A Safe Room is a place where you can retreat and stay warm when it's just not possible to keep the whole house warm. That would happen during a power outage when the furnace or other main house heating system no longer operates.

For us, the safe room was upstairs, because heat rises. It was a small interior room with only a single windows and no doors directly leading outside. To help insulate the window, we hung old wool army blankets as drapes. That was where we planned to wait out the cold, bundled in sleeping bags, protected as best we could against the deadly winter wind and frigid temperatures.

A better solution would be to retreat to a room with a fireplace that will operate without outside power, but not everyone has that option. A safe alternate heat source is to use small electric heaters that are powered by a generator. There are small, efficient generators that will run for several hours (outside only!) and produce enough energy to run a small heater in the Safe Room at the end of an extension cord led inside the house.

Open combustion sources of heat are not to be used inside an enclosed space that has limited ventilation, because of the risk of oxygen starvation or carbon monoxide poisoning. If you're careful, it's generally safe enough to use a camp stove to heat food and water for hot drinks, but not for general space heating. Shut off the stove as soon as the cooking is done. Use the hot meals and drinks as a way to keep your body's core temperature up, and hunker down in the sleeping bags to retain your body warmth.

A Post Script

2011-02-01T08:35:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, I wrote about being prepared to evacuate. I used the current crisis in Egypt as an example of a situation in which thousands of people are wanting to evacuate all at the same time, but there aren't enough airplanes to do the job and the streets are clogged with rioters. My point was that those folks could have gotten out of that area before it broke down into total chaos, perhaps trapping them there with no way out.

That post prompted a reader's comment, and that comment leads me to write this little post script.

Hello! I wasn't talking about Egypt. When I mention what's happening in Haiti, I'm not talking about Haiti. I use those situations only as living examples of what happens in a crisis. And those events can take place anywhere — even right where you live. You don't have to go anyplace to be vulnerable.

Earthquakes can happen anyplace. Outbreaks of disease can happen anyplace. Drought, famine, pestilence, war, chaos in the streets, economic failure, the breakdown of transportation and communication services, utility outages leaving you without water or electricity — all of these things exist without regard to borders or social status.

Sometimes we fall into the trap of thinking that we Americans, living here in America, are untouchable. That is a mistaken notion that can lull you into a false sense of security and the faulty belief that, "as long as I stay home I'll be safe."

So when I post information about an event that is happening somewhere else in the world, please don't misunderstand and think that if you just stay home you won't ever be exposed to those types of problems. Maybe you won't, but maybe you will. Life in America is not getting more secure. We've experienced riots and looting, just not on a national scale … yet. But there's a tipping point beyond which an outbreak cannot be turned back. We see that in Tunisia and Egypt.

Parts of America have experienced devastating earthquake, severe drought, lethal winter storms that trap millions of people, massive power outages, raging wildfires the leave millions homeless and on the run, even tsunamis that crushed coastal regions. So let's not get smug and think that those things happen only someplace else, and if we just stay home we'll be safe.

You'll be safe only if you're prepared and knowledgeable and lucky. Those are the three legs of the stool. And I'll add one more — you'll be safe only if you employ those other three and take action at the appropriate time. The point of my post yesterday "Get Out Now!" was this — Don't wait for someone to tell you it's time to evacuate. Get prepared. Engage your own situational awareness and use your best judgement.

Get Out Now!

2011-01-31T14:50:00.000-08:00

The latest from Egypt is that there are approximately 2,400 American who want to get out of the country now, before problems escalate to the point that they end up being hostages the way Americans did in Iran back in 1979. Secretary of State Clinton warned against a takeover that resembles the one in Iran, so it's past the time when folks who want to leave should be packing their toothbrushes.

The problem is that most people don't do anything until they're told to do it by someone in authority. Maybe it's a failure to put two and two together. Maybe they can't count that high. I don't know what it is, but most will simply stand there staring at the world falling apart around them as if they're watching TV. Then, inevitably, they will demand that the government do something to save them.

Is it ignorance or insanity? Maybe it doesn't matter, because the outcome is the same. Perhaps the insanity is that we keep saving those who are too stupid to save themselves. I don't know, but it's frustrating.

But as long as I'm on the subject of getting out, let's talk about evacuation for a minute. In the situation in Egypt, an alert individual could see the chaos coming for weeks in advance. At least days in advance, people could start quietly boarding airplanes to elsewhere. Some probably did, but they don't make the news headlines. The ones who end up in the news are the ones who didn't recognize the trouble that was coming.

This is the kind of crisis that shouldn't catch anyone unawares. It isn't like an earthquake that just suddenly explodes beneath the pavement. This is one of those slow-cooking societal eruptions that gives advance warning in the form of public outcry and protests way before the situation blows completely to pieces. Anyone who travels to those parts of the world where the domestic political act is walking a tightrope should be fully aware of the potential for disaster, and have their toothbrush packed and ready to run at all times.

Our State Department has issued advisories to U.S. citizens who want to get out of Egypt that they should expect lengthy delays at the airports, and they should bring food, water and other necessities with them. That sounds like what we used to call a "bug out bag" or what I now call a "grab and go" kit. In the kit should be all the things you need to live without outside resources for at least 72 hours.

That doesn't mean 3 square meals per day or enough water to take a bath. It does mean enough emergency rations to keep you alive and able to keep going until help arrives or you get to a better location. High-energy foods such as Power Bars, some water and a water filter system so you can make drinkable water out of non-drinkable water sources, toilet paper (try going without that for 72 hours!), and any medications you absolutely need to stay alive and well. Some kind of shelter, even if it's only an emergency blanket, a method for for starting a fire, a signal mirror, a whistle, some cordage so you can rig up a lean-to. Basic stuff.

By all means, throw in your toothbrush and toothpaste, some hand soap, insect repellent, and sun screen. The point is to be able to stay alive and live with some level of dignity without having to depend on outside sources of supply for at least the first 72 hours of a crisis. If you end up evacuating to a refugee camp, you'll be a step ahead of the game if you have some of your own personal stuff with you.

Now, about evacuation — Get out early, ahead of the official declaration of emergency conditions. To do that, you must keep your eyes on the situation at all times. Don't get so lost in the daily dazzle that you fail to see or hear what's going on around you. Then listen to your gut. If something starts to feel weird, pay attention to your instincts and get out early. It's far better to misread the situation and leave too early than it is to fail to read the situation and get caught up in the chaos.

In sailing there's an old saying — when you first think about reefing (reducing the amount of sail that is up), you should already have done it. The point is that If you ignore your gut feeling, the wind is going to punish you severely.

If you're in a situation that doesn't feel right, grab your bag and get out now! Don't wait for the authorities to be in the streets with bullhorns telling you to evacuate. By then, it's a little late and you're going to end up competing with all the other masses of humanity who are trying to do the same thing at the same time.

Use your head. Analyze the situation, make a decision, and do what needs to be done.

Danger of Running The Vehicle Heater

2011-01-28T19:03:00.000-08:00

Trying to stay warm inside a vehicle can be deadly, as two young girls found out. The two victims of this near-tragic incident were only 4 and 7 years old. They were playing inside the snowbound vehicle in the Bronx, New York while their mother was outside shoveling the snow away so they could drive off. To stay warm, the engine was running and the heater was turned on.

Apparently, some snow got piled up against the tailpipe, backing up the exhaust and forcing it into the vehicle. Both girls soon lost consciousness, and when they were admitted to Lebanon Hospital, they were both in critical condition. The 7-year-old was placed in a hyperbaric oxygen chamber to treat her near-death condition. The last report I received said the doctors were trying to determine in the younger girl would need the same treatment.

I'm often asked if it's safe to take shelter inside a vehicle and run the engine so the heater can keep you warm. This incident gives a clear indication of the answer. Carbon monoxide poisoning is deadly and sneaky. The gas is odorless, colorless, and the effects of exposure are so subtle and sudden that when you realize what's happening, you probably won't remain conscious long enough to even open a window or move outside.

NOTE: After receiving a reader's remark about the above posting (it doesn't show up in the comments because I don't post comments that contain foul language or bitter rantings, only comments that can be useful to readers), I am prompted to add here that becoming a victim of carbon monoxide poisoning doesn't require that you smother the tailpipe of a vehicle with snow. A perfectly open tailpipe at the end of a faulty exhaust system will still do the job. Leaky exhaust systems are very common and, if the vehicle is sitting still while the engine is running, presents a lethal hazard. So sleeping the night in your vehicle with the engine running to keep the heater operating is unwise. Folks die in their RVs because they left the power generator running all night to keep the air conditioner going, and the exhaust from the generator invades the living quarters, which then become death quarters. People die of CO poisoning in their homes due to malfunctioning gas furnace. So you don't have to be stuck in snow that has covered the tailpipe to become a near-death victim as the two girls in the above incident, or a totally dead victim.

Bitter Cold

2011-01-24T09:07:00.000-08:00

In Connecticutt, a woman's frozen body was found in her driveway after a neighbor called police. According to the police report, Denise O'Hare apparently fell in her driveway and froze to death when temperatures were close to zero.

As I write this, the wind chill in some areas of New England are down to 50 degrees below zero. That is lethal cold. It's cold enough to freeze exposed flesh almost instantly, resulting in immediate frostbite. And it's cold enough to kill someone unfortunate enough to be exposed to it for very long. During this cold snap, a Philadelphia man froze to death in his car, where he had chosen to sleep the night.

Wind chill is a combination of thermometer temperature and the additional chilling effect of the wind. From the chart below, you can see the relationship between decreasing temperature and increasing wind.

The best way to protect yourself against wind chill is to stay indoors where you have the benefit of an active heating system. If you must go outdoors, dress in layers that trap body-warmed air between the layers of clothing, wear a windproof shell over all the layers, and make sure none of your skin is exposed. Along with all your other clothing, a neoprene facemask and goggles are essential items of protective gear in extreme cold.

Getting out of the wind is a top priority, so look for a windproof shelter. In bitter cold weather, the inside of a vehicle turns the interior into a perfect refrigerator, unless you have a heat source.

If you close yourself up tightly in an enclosed space and use a heat source that employs combustion of any type, you risk death by oxygen depletion (asphyxia) or from carbon monoxide poisoning. Never use a hibachi or BBQ indoors, and be careful to provide adequate fresh air ventilation if you use propane appliances such as a camp stove or propane heater in an enclosure.

It's easy to die in times of extreme cold, and you must be careful every step of the way.

Sleeping Bag

2011-01-19T07:49:00.000-08:00

If you're in the market for a sleeping bag, you might as well get one that has all the right features. Here are the things I would be looking for, if I were shopping for a bag.

Choose a bag that has a rating slightly lower than the coldest temperature you expect to encounter. Zippers that open from both top and bottom allow ventilation options so you don’t overheat when the weather is warmer than your bag rating. Research indicates that women generally prefer a warmer bag than do men. According to the good folks at REI, the following bag ratings apply:

A summer season bag is rated for 35 degrees F and higher.
A 3-season bag will range from 10 to 35 degrees.
A cold weather bag is rated for -10 to +10 degrees.
A winter bag will be rated for -10 degrees F and lower.

Some cold weather bags are designed to hug your body, while those rated for warmer climates are often rectangular and looser fitting. The best choice is what you’re comfortable with. In a tight-fitting bag, a generous footbox is nice so your feet don’t feel constrained. Try a bag on for size before buying it, to make sure you’ll be okay with the dimensions and overall shape. There are bags especially designed to fit the female body shape, and there are also children’s size bags.

A convenient option for couples is to create a doublewide bag. This is accomplished by having two bags with compatible zippers so the bags can be zipped together to accommodate two people.

High quality synthetic fill material is almost as good as down when it comes to insulation value — it weighs more, doesn’t compress as small, but costs a lot less. Down fails when wet, while synthetics continue to provide insulation value. So, for camping in wet weather, I’m looking for a synthetic fill such as Polarguard, Hollofil, and Micro-loft. For cold weather in a situation where getting wet is not an issue, prime northern goose down is the fill material of choice.

Construction features to look for include:

Nylon or polyester ripstopsShell material treated with durable water repellent (DWR). The treatment doesn't make the bag waterproof, but it helps moisture bead and roll off the bag instead of soaking into the filler.
Anti-snag zipper with a flap or baffle that covers the zipper to keep drafts from coming through.
Tuck stitching or internal tubes or baffles to hold the insulation material in place without through-stitching that would allow cold to penetrate.
Cold-weather bags should have a hood and collar arrangement to help keep body warmth inside.
A pillow pocket where you can tuck a shirt or jacket to serve as padding beneath your head.
A sleeve for inserting a sleeping pad, or external attachment points for connecting to a sleeping pad. This helps keep the pad under the bag, even though you might squirm around a bit in your sleep.
A stuff sack or roll straps to make packing the bag easier. If the bag doesn't come with a stuff sack or rolls traps, you can buy these accessories at a sporting goods store. In a pinch, you can use bungee cords or a couple lengths of cordage to serve as roll straps.

Fire is Life

2011-01-15T09:56:00.000-08:00

There are so many benefits to being able to get a fire started when you need one that I thought I'd post a few of my thoughts on that subject. Here are ten reasons you need to be able to make a fire in a survival situation:

Warmth for your body — No matter where you are, it gets cold at night. Deserts are notoriously cold after the sun goes down, even if was blazing hot during the day. There is a misconception that the tropics are nice and warm at night. This is fueled by the fact that the temperature might hover in the 70s all night long. But the thermometer does not tell the whole story. You must factor in the reality that there is nearly always wind and dampness to deal with in the tropics, and those are the deadly duo that bring on hypothermia. Even in the tropics, a fire is useful for staying warm.
Dry your clothes — If your clothes get wet, you'll be miserable…no matter where you are. In some cases, it will go way beyond misery and result in death. "Stay dry or die" is not a cliche, it's a reality.
See in the darkness — One survival rule is that you need to start making camp early in the afternoon. The reason for this is because there's a lot to do and you want to get it all accomplished before darkness falls. After dark, it's much more difficult to get the work done, and a much higher risk of injury as you bump into thing, trip over stuff, or wander off and get lost. Having the ability to see in the radius of your campsite after dark is a huge benefit that can be provided by a campfire.
Allow others to see where you are — Perhaps even more important than you being able to see around camp is the ability for others to see where you are. If you're in a non-military survival situation, you want to let the world know your location as soon as possible. A campfire at night will pinpoint your spot to search parties who are looking for you.
Purify your drinking water — One sure way to kill off all the organic contaminants in drinking water is by bringing it to a rolling boil for one minute. The most common water-related problems in the outdoors are Giardia and Cryptosporidium, both of which are eliminated by boiling the water. Inorganic contaminants such as chemicals and heavy metals are not eliminated by boiling, but in the backcountry those are of lesser concern.
Cook your food — A hot meal makes a lot of difference to the way you think and feel about your situation, boosting morale and adding energy. Sure, you can survive on raw or cold foods, but if you can heat it up over a cheery campfire, life seems so much more manageable.
Make hot drinks — A warm drink is more important than merely cheering you up…it also delivers important warmth to the core of your body, helping prevent hypothermia. A secondary benefit is derived by adding hydration. Both hypothermia and frostbite are promoted by dehydration, so keeping yourself hydrated will help prevent those devastating conditions.
Push back the psychological demons — Night can be spooky. Every noise is a monster, and at night the wildlands are filled with sound, as nocturnal hunters come out to take care of their own survival needs. If you can fill your campsite with the light of a fire, you'll feel more secure. That will help you remain calm and keep a level head. If you get scared out of your wits, you might panic and make poor decisions that can lead to disaster.
Make a warm bed — If you clear the ground of all combustible materials and then build a spread-out fire over the soil, you can dry the ground and warm it up a bit to become a more comfortable place to sit or lie down to sleep. After the ground is dry and warm, go ahead and spread pine duff or other dry materials over it to build up a mattress. The best solution is to build a hot rock bed, which I talked about in a previous post on June 9, 2010.
Discourage predators from entering your camp — Generally, wildlife shuns contact with humans. But accidents happen when wildlife and humans stumble upon each other. One way to prevent animals from happening upon you in the darkness is to maintain a fire that will show them where you are.

Protect Important Documents

2011-01-11T16:19:00.000-08:00

You might think that surviving a disaster would be enough. Live through the crisis then get busy clearing away the rubble and rebuild. Sounds so simple. Life doesn't always work that way.

An excellent example is Haiti. A year ago, the earth shook and suddenly a few million people were left homeless. Those were the lucky ones — survivors of the earthquake that killed hundreds of thousands.

So here we are, exactly a year later. More than a billion dollars has been donated by countries and relief orgaizations around the world to help with the recovery and rebuilding of that devastated nation. The Red Cross alone collected more than 32 million dollars just from text message donations — $10 at a time from so many concerned and caring people who were willing to reach out to help perfect strangers. And what's the result of all that money and time spent? On the ground, it doesn't look like much progress, actually. And in the paperwork there is very little accountability of where all the money has been spent.

The watchdog group called The Disaster Accountability Project (www.disasteraccountability.org) asked 200 aid organizations operating in Haiti to spell out how much money they raised and how it was being spent. Only 38 of the 200 even bothered to respond. Those 38 collectively raised 1.4 billion dollars and, to date, has spent only half of it. Many refused to declare their goals or provide a breakdown of how they are spending the money.

Lack of accountability can lead to corruption, but that isn't the only problem. In Haiti, the government corruption runs so deep and wide that much of the aid that has been sent to help the country has been wasted or tied up in red tape and never put to the use for which it was intended. There's not much we as individuals can do about that, but it doesn't hurt to be aware of what's going on. What goes on there could go on here, as well. The art and science of hiding money to fatten one's self at the expense of others has been perfected by governments and organizations who, to quote Rahm Emanuel "never let a crisis go to waste."

Another of the stumbling blocks standing in the way of rebuilding in Haiti is that so many important documents were destroyed in the collapse of government buildings, so now people are having a hard time proving that they are the owners of property where a home was destroyed. Without that proof, a new home cannot be built.

And that leads me to my main point: Make sure you protect the important documents that prove your identity, your ownership of property, your medical records, financial records, insurance policies, estate documents, etc. You need to have this documentation for your entire family, with birth certificates for each member and immunization records for children and pets. Proof of ownership of vehicles, boats, airplanes, and other property should be included.

Place a copy of all these documents in a portable fireproof vault (you can buy these at Staples or Office Depot for between 35 and 60 bucks, depending on size). Place the vault somewhere in your home where you will be able to dig it out after an earthquake or flood. These vaults can provide limited protection against fire (like 1/2 hour in a fire of 1550 degrees F, for example) but are not perfect protection against a raging inferno. To aid in waterproofing the vault, place it in a kayaker's drysack or just seal it inside a couple of garbage bag, each of which has been duct taped shut. Off-site storage of a backup vault would be wise, hoping that not all venues would suffer total devastation at the same time.

You might consider backing up the paper documents with photographic or digitally scanned copies that are stored on CDs or other storage media. These days, it's possible to store the files in "the cloud" of the Internet, from whence they can be retrieved even if all physical evidence of the documents has been destroyed.

That is assuming that there are still computers and an Internet system after the crisis. I suppose if the entire world suffers a thermonuclear meltdown, it won't matter much. But short of that, having access to the important paper in your life can mean the difference between being able to rebuild or having to squat in a tent at a refugee camp while the wheel of government aid grind slowly forward.

Surviving A Small Plane Crash

2011-01-10T08:31:00.000-08:00

This morning's headline — A light aircraft is missing and presumed to be down, somewhere in the mountains of southern Colorado. Snow is falling across the area, hampering search efforts, slowing any possibility of rescue for survivors, if there are any.

In the early stages of an incident such as this, there is much that is not known. In this case, it isn't even clear how many people were onboard, so searchers don't know how many survivors to prepare for. So they go in ready to care for as many people as the aircraft can hold.

But what if you were one of the passengers? How would you get out of this alive — assuming that you survived the initial crash? That assumption is based on a lot of luck and the skill of the pilot in putting the plane down with minimal impact. But let's say you do survive — what then?

The priority list is likely to stack up like this:

Take care of life-threatening injuries. A plane crash is likely to cause physical trauma, so stop the bleeding, clear the airway to enable breathing, stabilize fractures or potential spinal injuries, treat for shock from blood loss or simply caused by the psychological effects of the crisis. If you don't already know how to do all this, I recommend enrolling in an emergency medical technician course of study.
Preserve body core temperature. This means shelter from exposure to wind and precipitation. (By the way, you might be able to use the cabin of the wrecked plane for shelter. Images of explosion are created by Hollywood for audience thrill, and do not reflect the reality that most planes don't explode on impact. Nevertheless, be aware of the danger posed by the potential spread of fuel and weigh your options. You might have to move away from the wreckage until the fuel has evaporated or otherwise dissipated.) Wrap up, covering the head and neck, wear gloves (mittens are better) and insulated footwear.
Establish a shelter a short distance from the wreckage, but stay within view of it (searchers will find the wreck before they would find you if you wander away from it) and build a fire. A simple lean-to that will block the wind and precipitation is sufficient, and position the fire in front of it so the warmth reflects off the slanted roof to warm your back while the flames warm you from the front.
Improvise shelter parts from anything you can strip off the aircraft — headliner, carpet, upholstery, aluminum panels, windows, wiring for lashing things together. If you can access some of the aircraft fuel, use a small amount (we're talking teaspoons, not gallons) to help get your fire started.
Take advantage of every opportunity to create visual signals. Lots of smoke from your fire, reflective items to use as signal mirrors, etc. If the aircraft radio is operational, that is your first choice. Try the cell phone to see if, by some miracle, you have coverage. If you have a personal locator beacon (PLB) or SPOT Satellite Messenger, this is the time to press the magic button that will bring rescue.
Hunker down and conserve your energy. If you are alone, do your best to keep your faith up that rescue is on its way. If you are in company with others, take care of their injuries and other survival needs, and employ positive conversations to keep their spirits up. Help is on its way, but you're going to need to be patient, especially if the weather is bad enough to slow down the process.

The Tough Decisions

2011-01-06T14:35:00.000-08:00

There are times when the stress of the moment activates a natural inclination to jump up and run. Sometimes that's the right decision. Sometimes it is not. Let's look at a few scenarios, to catch the spirit of this issue.

You're alone in a dark ally when suddenly out of the shadows a thug approaches you with a knife and demands your money, threatening to kill you if you don't comply.
The smell of smoke awakens you to the horror of your house on fire. You don't know where your spouse is, but two young children are in a bedroom down the hall.
In the middle of the night, you feel something slither into your sleeping bag. Instinctively you know it's a snake, but you have no idea what kind.
As you round a blackberry bush, you come face-to-face with a bear.
A sudden microburst of wind topples trees onto powerlines, dragging them from their poles and onto the ground all around where you are standing.

Of course there is no end to the variety of scenarios we could play with in this exercise. But let's take these few one at a time to work through the decision process.

The thugging — Questions to ask yourself as you make a decision about how to handle this situation might include such variables as your physical condition. Are you even capable of running away, or are you crippled and using a walker just to get around? (You see, it's not always easy to make a snap judgement based on a short description of a scenario.) Do you just hand the guy your wallet and hope for the best? What other options are open to you? Can you create a distraction by throwing a pile of bills into the air so they scatter and cause the thug to divert his attention from you while you escape? Are you a martial arts expert with years of experience disarming knife-wielding opponents? Are you a little old lady who can fake a heart attack? What is the best decision to make?
House on fire — Can you get to a phone to call 9-1-1? Have you prepared your family by doing fire drills, complete with escape training through windows by using collapsible ladders kept in bedrooms for just such an emergency? Do you run through the house screaming to find your missing spouse? Do you jump out of the window, grab a garden hose and start spraying the house? Do you try to rescue the kids? Do you feel the closed door to detect heat on the other side before opening? What do you do?
Snake in your sleeping bag — I have to admit that this one gives me the willies, just thinking about it. If ever there was a time to remain calm, this is it. All snakes are cold-blooded, so it would be natural for one to seek the comfort of your warm sleeping bag. It isn't there because you look like a good meal — it's only trying to stay warm. But do you lose your mind, jump up and start screaming while trying to extricate yourself from the bag? Or do you just lie there pretending to be dead, hoping the serpent won't defile itself by having your dead carcass for a midnight snack? Think about how you would handle this situation.
Bear in the bush — Do you know what to do if you find yourself sharing blackberries with a bruin? Do you know the different habits of different types of bears…black bears vs. grizzlies for example? Do you run, or stand your ground, staring the bear in the eyes to convince her that you're bigger and badder and she better leave your bush alone? Do you look for a tree to climb, or fall down and do your best imitation of a corpse? The right decision might save your life — the wrong one will get you killed.
Powerlines down — With live wires snapping around you like high-voltage snakes, what is the right thing to do? Do you just stand still and hope the wires won't jump and touch you? Do you carefully try to pick your way through the tangle of wires so you can escape to safety? Do you take your shoes off or leave them on? Is it safe to throw your coat over the wires so you can pass by without danger? Do you try to move the wires with a stick (as long as it's wood, it should be safe, right? Not!)? Make the wrong decision and you're toast — literally!

The point of this whole exercise is to prompt you to think about what you would do in a variety of situations. When I was studying Taoism, I was impressed by the concept of figuring out all your possible moves ahead of time, so you would never face a situation you hadn't already considered. That lowers the surprise factor significantly. There is wisdom in planning how you would handle tough situations, inserting as many "what would I do if…" variables as you can think of. Eliminate the surprises and you are able to remain more calm and make the right decisions.

Survival Conditioning

2011-01-02T07:57:00.000-08:00

Most of us live day-to-day in conditions that don't require us to physically chase our food, kill it, butcher it, and drag it home for dinner. Nor do we live a nomadic lifestyle that demands finding a new location of a suitable site for the construction of our shelter every afternoon before daylight vanishes and the cold of night sweeps in upon us. Most of us don't have to engage in a daily hunt for supplies to kindle a fire to give us light and warmth and to cook our food and purify our water. And, speaking of water, most of us do no more than turn a tap to access all the water we need — already hot or cold according to our desire. We live in a time of great blessings.

But the truth of the matter is that all these blessings can have the effect of making us soft, if we allow that to happen. We can lose the knowledge of how to provide for ourselves. And not only the knowledge is lost, but the physical ability to perform tasks that were common to our ancestors two generations ago.

That would be fine if we could live in perfect confidence that nothing will ever happen that will require us to have those physical and mental skills that were once a part of daily life. But we can't. Every day, the headlines tell of people struggling to survive one kind of disaster or another, either natural or manmade. Sometimes it's the weather, or a geologic event, or disease, or human conflict. There is no shortage of catastrophe in the world, and we might find ourselves caught up in something of that nature someday. The purpose of this blog is to help spread information about how to prepare ourselves for those moments when our world gets turned upside-down, and what to do during and in the aftermath of those events.

The title of today's post is Survival Conditioning. I would like to propose a two-pronged approach to this conditioning — first mental, and second physical. It's been said that 90% of survival is mental, and I believe that. By that, I don't necessarily mean cerebral — I mean psychological. Yes, the cerebral part (knowing what to do) is important, but the psychological component is absolutely critical. The knowledge you can pick up from books, taking classes, talking with other people, watching TV, etc. But the psychological aspect comes mostly from personal experience, coupled with wisdom (the wise use of knowledge). You become psychologically stronger as you gain experience. Once you've weathered the storm, so to speak, you won't be so easily terrified when the next storm comes. Emotional strength comes slowly but can rise to the moment of need immediately when you're facing a crisis. It's the ability to lead with confidence, with an even temperament, with compassion, with encouragement toward others who are struggling.

The second prong — physical — is developed by doing. You can't sit on a couch and watch an exercise video and become physically fit. You have to be up and doing, or that aspect of conditioning will never be yours. The physical demands that come with any survival situation are both sudden and enormous. You might have to jump out of the way, run for your life, pick up and carry something heavy, keep going for hour upon hour. Each survivor's story is unique insofar as the physical demands are concerned. Those who either give up psychologically or can't keep up physically fail to survive.

The truth is that it isn't all about your abilities, either mentally or physically. Sometimes pure luck (being in the right place at the right time) plays a huge role in whether or not you will make it out alive. But in every event, your chances are better if you are both mentally and physically prepared.

So, back to my proposal. Let's call it a New Year Resolution, since this is the beginning of a new year — I propose that we continue working on the "learning" aspect of both urban and outdoor survival topics, but that we also get out and put into practice the physical components. That means we go hiking and camping, learn to gather tinder and make kindling and start our fires without matches or flame devices. It means we take inventory of our home supplies of food, medical supplies, etc and take an orderly approach to setting aside a quantity that would carry us through a disaster for several months if we were fortunate enough to be able to shelter-in-place at our home. It means putting together a substantial 72-hour kit for the vehicle. It means putting together a logical evacuation plan. It means doing.

I wish you a Happy New Year and my hope that you will never need to use what we talk about here — but that if you ever do need it, that this blog will have served you well.

Avoid Getting Washed Away

2010-12-22T18:58:00.000-08:00

There's a lot of concern about floods and mudslides right now in about half dozen of the western states. Governors are filing for "state of emergency" federal funds, officials are ordering evacuations, people are losing their homes, and some are losing their lives.

Flooding is a huge problem that can lead to both urban and backcountry survival situations. According to national statistics, flooding is the leading cause of weather-related deaths in the U.S., killing, on average, about two hundred people each year. Two hundred per year might not sound like a lot, until you compare that number with the average statistics for hurricane-related deaths (24), or tornadoes (69), or lightning strikes (81).

One of the deadliest flash floods in U.S. history swept down Colorado’s Big Thompson Canyon during the height of the 1976 summer tourist season. People were trying to escape Denver’s city heat by going to a popular camping area, where the temperatures were cooler and the day was perfect. As it turned out, the day was perfect for an unusual combination of atmospheric conditions to join forces, with deadly results. Afternoon heat created powerful updrafts that carried moist air aloft, and when that air reached the cooler upper atmosphere, it didn’t take long for a thunderstorm to form.

Heavy rain began to fall in the mountains above Big Thompson Canyon. Normally, thunderstorms move fairly rapidly across the landscape, being pushed across the countryside by strong winds. But this one didn’t. It just sat there and dumped. Three hours later, more than a foot of rain had fallen, with eight inches falling during one intense hour-long cloudburst.

The stream grew from its normally placid 2-foot-deep trickle to a violent killer that was 19 feet high and raging through the canyon, wickedly propelling 10-foot boulders and broken trees that had been ripped out of the ground. In a heartbeat, everything was gone — vehicles, buildings, and people. The crushing flood swept through the canyon with such speed and violence that it was impossible to out-run. Buildings and vehicles instantly became death traps, and there was no possible avenue of escape, except straight up the canyon walls. Two hours later, the death toll was 145, including 6 people who were never found.

The trouble with flash floods is that they arrive unannounced, and they often come from many miles away. It might not even be raining where you are, but twenty miles away a cloudburst can set things in motion and a few hours later the flood sweeps you and your camp away in a raging torrent.

Flash floods feed on three things — heavy rainfall (or perhaps sudden snowmelt), a system of drainages or lowlands where the water collects and funnels downstream, and time. A ten-minute monsoon isn’t going to create much of a flood but one that lasts an hour and dumps several inches of water will.

Soil that doesn’t absorb moisture easily is a huge contributor. And if the area is denuded of vegetation by fire, timber harvest or other land clearing operations, the problem is made worse. The brushfires that denuded hillsides over the last few years are a major factor in the flooding and mudslides now ripping up southern California.

There is literally no region that is safe from the possibility of flash flood — deserts, mountains and plains are all vulnerable areas.

Flash floods are sneaky — they seem to come out of nowhere. There could be a violent thunderstorm taking place farther back in the mountains or on a distant desert plateau — a downpour might be hitting the rocky ground and funneling runoff into a drainage that eventually leads to your location. You might have no clue a deadly flash flood is roaring toward you like a liquid freight train until you hear the approaching rumble, feel the ground tremble, and suddenly see a wall of water carrying trees and boulders through your camp.

So you need to have a survival plan, just in case you find yourself in the wrong place on the wrong day.

Preventive Planning

Listen to the weather forecast before heading out. If the forecast talks about unstable air, thunderstorms or other violent weather, don’t go into places where a flash flood might catch you.
Periodically monitor the NOAA Weather Radio station in your area to learn if there are weather events taking place that will affect you. You can buy a fairly inexpensive and compact, battery-operated weather radio at places like Radio Shack.
If Flood Advisories, Warnings or Watches are issued, heed them.
When you arrive in camp, look the situation over and imagine what the place would look like if it were suddenly swept by a 30-foot wall of water (yes, they get that big). Choose a campsite that is above the danger zone. Don’t camp in lowlands or even in a minor drainage.

Surviving a Flash Flood

Get to higher ground immediately. The water level might rise incredibly fast.
Don’t stop to gather up your equipment. Saving your life (and the lives of others) is more important than saving your vehicle or other gear.
If you are trapped by floodwaters that are surrounding your vehicle, get out immediately and make your way to higher ground. It takes only 2 feet of water to sweep away a vehicle, and it will roll and tumble and smash as it is swept downstream. A vehicle is not a safe place to be. Approximately half of flood-related drownings are vehicle-related.

Do not attempt to drive across a flooded road. What you can’t see is that the roadway might have been ripped up by the rushing water, leaving a hole that will swallow your vehicle.

If you recognize the potential danger of a flash flood, take steps to keep yourself, your friends and loved-ones safe during your travels and camping trips.

Search & Rescue

2010-12-18T08:25:00.000-08:00

Michelle Yu was a very experienced outdoor enthusiast who was preparing for an ascent of Argentina's Aconcagua, the highest mountain peak in the Americas at 22,841 feet, beating Mt. McKinley by nearly half a mile. As part of her preparation for the climb, she was hiking Mt. Baldy in southern California every week and had recently completed the ascent of several 14,000-foot peaks. To say that she had a good climbing and hiking resume would be an understatement. But even the best can get in trouble sometimes.

On December 4th, she set out for a training and conditioning hike and was seen by other hikers near the summit of the trail she chose that day. But that night, she didn't return. The following afternoon, a friend reported her missing, and the West Valley Search and Rescue unit was called into action.

Even though there was no information available about the route Michelle had taken into the mountains, her car was located and SAR teams were deployed to scour Goode Canyon, San Antonio Canyon, The Sierra Hut Trail, and the Devil's Backbone.

The search was difficult and slowed by very high winds and severe rain. At high elevations, the rain turned to snow and ice. The rock fall hazard was serious because of all the flowing water, with reports of very large boulders crashing down the canyons. But the search continued for the next three days, and spread out into new areas that had not already been searched. Additional SAR teams from all of California were called in to help.

Then a team being extracted from Fish Fork noticed something during their helicopter ride out of their area. They put people on the ground to investigate and found that it was Ms. Yu. She was discovered in the same general drainage that the team had descended, but the drainage is a complex of three drainages that combine at the bottom and Ms. Yu was in the "sub drainage" that was adjacent to but out of sight of the one the team had been searching.

Apparently Michelle Yu had fallen 2,100 feet from the rugged trail above. How did that happen? Nobody knows for sure. The day of her hike had started out beautiful and sunny, but bad weather swept across the area later in the day, bringing rain, snow and ice. Could she simply have slipped and fallen as she was crossing the drainage, and tumbled more than 2,000 feet to her death? Maybe.

Could she have succumbed to hypothermia due to the cold, wet conditions and suffered a breakdown of judgement that took her into that steep drainage looking for a fast way to get off the mountain and reach warmer temperatures at a lower elevation? Maybe.

Could it be a combination of those two scenarios, or something else entirely? Maybe. Nobody knows for sure.

So what can we learn from this incident?

No matter how experienced you are (or maybe it's just that you think you are), accidents can happen.
Going alone into the wilds is rewarding on some personal levels, but increases the risk all the time.
It doesn't take much to kill a person. A misstep or a twisted ankle at the wrong time can send you over a cliff or tumbling down a steep ravine.
Always leave specific details about the trail you're going to hike, and then stick to that plan. If you deviate and find yourself the object of a search, it will take additional time before rescuers locate you.

Stranded Traveler

2010-12-13T07:35:00.000-08:00

From coast to coast, the U.S. has been experiencing unseasonably cold weather. Jokes are flying about, "where is global warming when we need it?" First it was the Pacific Northwest, now it's the Midwest and east coast, all the way down the Florida where the winter strawberry crop is at risk of freezing.

But it isn't the strawberries we're most concerned about — it's the people. When we lived in Wisconsin, there was one memorable winter when the wind chill factor drove temperatures down to -100 degrees F. That winter, there was one man in our small town who died in his car because he couldn't get it to start and he stayed there until hypothermia took him. Another man died on his porch because he couldn't get the key in the door lock. It doesn't take long at -100 degrees to lose dexterity, and that is the first domino to fall before the rest collapse.

Right now in the Midewest, several cold-related deaths have already taken place, and the winter is just getting started. National Weather Service meteoroligist Jim Taggart said the weather in the region is what would normally be expected in January, but not December. As I write this, we're still more than a week away from the official start of winter, so if this is any indication of things to come, it's going to be a long, cold one.

Some airports have been shut down. Thousands of flights have been cancelled or delayed. At Chicago's O'Hare Airport alone more than 1375 flights were canceled. Stranded travelers are wondering what to do. O'Hare officials set up more than 200 cots and supplied toothbrushes and toothpaste to help ease the situation for those stranded in the airport.

This is a good time to talk about what you can do insofar as personal preparation is concerned.

Nothing trumps situational awareness — be informed about what's coming before you make plans to travel. Watch the weather forecasts. Look at the long-term situation, not just what's going to happen this afternoon.
Be prepared to cancel or alter travel plans. If the trip absolutely must happen, consider altering your route so you miss the bad weather, even if it means going out of your way to dodge the trouble.
Pack your own emergency supplies so you don't have to depend on someone else to share a toothbrush with you. An emergency blanket will help keep you warm, some high calorie snack foods will keep your energy up, and be aware of where the water source is.
Might be handy if you carry your own emergency supply of toilet paper. I know, it sounds goofy, but you haven't lived until you've been trapped in an airport with a thousand other people and there's no toilet paper in the restrooms.
Wear appropriate clothing that you would be comfortable in if you were forced to sleep on the floor at the airport. Pack gloves, a watch cap, a scarf, and a base layer of merino wool clothing to help stave off hypothermia or just misery.
If you have luggage, spread it out and sleep on it rather than on the cold floor. This is assuming there is no more comfortable place to rest — like a chair or bench — which would be your first choice. Trouble is that those spots disappear quickly when folks are stranded, so you might end up on the floor.
Do not wear fancy clothes or jewelry, and don't flash your money around because that will put a target on your back for thieves who take advantage of the situation when folks find themselves stranded.
Remain calm and cooperate with officials. Trust me, they don't want you sleeping on their floor any longer than necessary and they're doing everything possible to get you out of their hair as quickly as possible, so it's counterproductive to get upset and behave poorly. Try to be a positive, rather than a negative.

Ten Quick Tips

2010-12-07T18:27:00.000-08:00

To collect water from damp ground, dig a seep hole and allow water to ooze into the depression. To keep your water filter from clogging, let water in a freshly dug seep hole settle for an hour before filtering for drinking.

Before building a fire on cold or damp ground, construct a solid firebase of stone or green logs to keep the fire up off the ground where moisture from below can weaken the blaze.

Study local wind patterns before erecting a shelter, and keep the opening opposite the direction of the night wind.

To help prevent blisters, remove boots and socks frequently during long treks to rest your feet and allow the boots and socks to air out and dry.

Always gather dry tinder material as you encounter it, and store it in a dry place, because you cannot be sure of finding good tinder when you need it most.

Never pass up discarded materials. Examine every piece of litter you find to determine ways to put it to use. For example: A piece of a tin can or broken bottle glass can be used as a cutting edge.

In cold weather, start seeking or building your overnight shelter about three hours before sundown, to give you time to secure against the elements, get a fire going and gather sufficient firewood to see you through the night.

In hot weather, naturally seek the shade as you hike, moving from one shade to the next as much as possible. Move slowly, inhale through your nose to help prevent dehydrating your lungs.

Use a t-shirt to make an expedient covering for your head, neck and the sides of your face. Tie it on using a belt, a strip of cloth, or even a limber tree root. If necessary, just hang it over your head without a tie.

In your pocket, carry a folded sheet of heavy-duty tin foil to be used for fashioning a pot in which to boil water.

The Water Conundrum

2010-12-04T11:24:00.000-08:00

One of the most pressing needs for human survival is adequate drinking water. By adequate I mean sufficiently abundant and sufficiently pure. The definition of "sufficiently abundant" changes depending on environmental conditions of temperature and humidity, individual activity level, conditions of health, age, body size, and other factors. In a survival scenario, where conditions are more demanding, the need for water intake increases. I recommend planning on one gallon per person per day for drinking and food preparation — and that doesn't take into account the need for water to handle sanitation issues.

Insofar as water is concerned, our bodies are like car engines that are never turned off, but are left running all the time. Unless the fuel supply is replaced, eventually the tank runs dry and the engine quits. Extending that analogy to our bodies, even in our sleep the engine is running. The metablolism that keeps our cells alive involves processing water through every cell 24/7, so there's no such thing as shutting down the need for constant water intake.

The challenge comes when we try to keep enough water on hand to supply our needs in the event that some kind of catastrophe shuts down the "normal" water supply. To prepare a method of suppling our own water needs when the domestic supply is unavailable, there are only so many solutions.

One is to have a well on your property, along with the means of raising the water from the depths of the well to the surface — a pump — and the means to keep that pump running: an electric power generator or some mechanical method. That might work for those who live in an area where drilling a well is possible, but that doesn't apply to the vast majority of folks in this country. And even if you have a well, it might go dry in drought years, or if an earthquake causes a shift in the subterranean supply. So wells are not totally infallible.

A few lucky people live near some kind of surface freshwater supply — a river, lake, pond, etc. If you're one of those, you might be able to capture sufficient water and then purify it for your use. If you live in a big city and expect to collect water from the pond in the city park, you'll find yourself competing with other folks and probably dealing with seriously contaminated water from pesticides and industrial pollutants. So factor all that in.

Another solution is to simply store water by utilizing containers ranging from 1-gallon plastic bottles to 55-gallon barrels. Freshwater weighs in the neighborhood of 8.4 pounds per gallon, so the small containers are easier to deal with than larger ones. And if you live in an apartment or condo, where you don't have any property on which to store such items, you'll have to use the smaller containers, storing them in a closet or under the bed, etc.

For those who have the ability to store larger quantities of water in 55-gallon drums, the issue of keeping that much water "fresh" over the long term comes into play. Some people I know dump their barrels every six months and refill with new water. That's not only a pain in the neck, but it can be a huge waste of water unless you are able to make use of it as it's discarded.

I recently learned about a product that makes it unnecessary to recycle the stored water so often. It's called Water Preserver Concentrate (#2C) and is available from a company called QuakeKare (www.quakekare.com). For $11.95 you can buy a proprietary formula of stabilized, ph-balanced sodium hypochlorite that is designed especially to treat a 55-barrel drum full of stored water. The company claims that this product has been tested for 10 years and is registered and licensed by fenderal an state EPA. The company guarantees effectiveness against bacteria, virus, mold and fungus for a 5-year period.

I wanted to let you know about it in the event that it will be useful for your water storage system.

Small Emergencies Are Good For Us

2010-11-30T10:07:00.000-08:00

Last night, the power went out over a wide region where I live. I was in the bathroom at the time, and suddenly it was very, very black. At first, I thought my wife was playing a joke on me by switching off the breaker — she's like that sometimes. So I chuckled and called out, "nice trick, honey!" But she claimed it wasn't her — all the power was out in the house. I asked her to look across the street and see if the lights were on at the neighbors' house, which would tell us if it was something that was only affecting us. As it turned out, the entire city was black.

In each of the rooms, small emergency lights turned on when the power went down. That gave us immediate ability to navigate around the house. But we noticed that a couple of those lights that remain always plugged into an electrical outlet so they can charge internal batteries, were almost of no use because the light from them was so dim. Who knew? But now we know that we need to buy some replacements, and that we need to test them every once in a while to make sure they'll work when the power dies.

Becky grabbed a flashlight (we have flashlights in every room in the house…except, unfortunately, the bathroom). So there I sat in the dark. "Hey honey, would you point a flashlight under the door?" She did, and that helped me accomplish the task at hand.

A few minutes later, we had our decorative Christmas candles happily lighting up the kitchen and dining room, a couple of small oil lamps illuminating the bedroom and office, and we each had a flashlight in hand. The power outage was no big deal, because we were able to maneuver around the house and prepare to go to bed and wait for the sun to come up.

But, for those who have a serious need to have electricity for more than just turning on the lights, it could be a disaster. Some folks have medical devices that operate on electricity, and when there is a power outage, it can be a life-threatening situation.

Or if the outage lasted for days, or even weeks as it does in some cases where severe weather tears down power lines all over the city, that type of incident could cost lives. Ice storms can rip down virtually all the above-ground power lines, leaving a city without power for weeks on end. In the middle of a bitter winter, people without the ability to operate their furnace can be in trouble pretty quickly. Just last month, there was a massive power outage in western Washington that left tens of thousands of homes without power. During that outage, two elderly men died of hypothermia in their homes. Residents resorted to driving around in cars and trucks for no other reason than to be able to run the heater.

All utilities — water, power, natural gas — are vulnerable to situations that will shut them down. It's good to have little emergencies like the one we passed through last night, to tune us up and remind us that we need to be prepared to do without those amenities. Small emergencies show us where our weak points are, so we can correct them. Some areas we might strengthen are:

Water that is stored in easy-to-access form so that we can continue to drink and cook and take care of sanitation while waiting for the supply to return to normal.
Alternative methods of cooking (camp stove), so you can have hot meals and warm drinks to help prevent the onset of hypothermia.
A supply of easy-to-fix foods and hot beverage mixes.
Lighting, of course. Keep flashlights in every room (even the bathroom!) where they can be quickly grabbed. Check the flashlights now and then to make sure the batteries are still good. And keep a supply of fresh batteries on hand.
A power generator to handle serious needs like medical or just to keep the refrigerator and freezer cold or to run the furnace.
Warm blankets or sleeping bags and clothing so you can bundle up as the house grows colder.

If the cause of the power outage is such that it's going to be a long time before power is restored, you might have an evacuation plan in place so you can travel to an unaffected area and have someone to stay with there. Of course, that only works if the roads are open and able to be safely traveled upon. If you can't do that, you must shelter in place and be prepared to take care of your own needs until life returns to normal.

Hazmat Emergency

2010-11-29T08:50:00.000-08:00

If your area is hit by a hazardous materials (hazmat) emergency, will you be prepared and know what to do to protect yourself?

Hazardous materials include toxic chemicals, flammable substances, radioactive materials, explosives, or poisons. An emergency incident can occur involving hazardous materials when an accident happens during the transportation of these substances by rail, over the highways, by ship, or aircraft. If you live near a major highway, railroad line, ship yard or airport, there is potential risk that you could experience a hazmat incident.

A hazmat emergency can also happen during production accidents. But chemical plants and explosives factories are not the only sources of hazardous materials. Perhaps surprisingly, gas stations, hospitals, and waste disposal sites are also potential hazmat sites. So, if you live near any of those facilities, there is risk of a hazmat episode.

What can you do to protect yourself in the event of a hazmat emergency?

Be aware of the potential for such an emergency. Take inventory of the hazardous materials sites in your town, and their location relative to your home. Note also the direction of prevailing winds in your area and determine whether or not your home is generally downwind or upwind of these sites.
Even if your home is upwind, and therefore safer than places downwind of potential hazmat sites, realize that the wind can change and you should still be prepared to take appropriate action if hazardous materials are accidentally released into the atmosphere.
Prepare an emergency supplies kit that includes plastic sheeting, duct tape and scissors. In a hazmat emergency, use the sheeting and duct tape to seal windows, doors, roof vents, furnace ducts and air conditioners to prevent contaminants from entering your home.
If you become aware of an incident, monitor local radio and TV stations for details and instructions. Do not be tempted to be a "lookee-lou" near the site of the incident — that would put you at risk of contamination and you might impede containment or rescue operations. Stay away from the area.
If you are outdoors, use the word UP to remind you what to do — remain upstream, uphill and upwind. Move at least a half-mile from ground-zero.
Do not step on or touch any spilled liquids or solid chemical deposits. Stay away from any airborne mist, smoke or fog.
If you are in a vehicle, remain inside, keep the doors, windows and vents shut, and do not use the air conditioner or heater (they draw in outside air).
If you are at home, use the plastic sheeting and duct tape to seal the doors, windows, heating ducts, air conditioner, and any other openings (cracks, etc,) that might allow outside air to penetrate.
Continue to monitor radio and TV for instructions about when it is safe to come out, or for other decontamination information.
If possible, consider evacuating the area. However, before deciding to evacuate, consider that the contamination might be spreading over the escape route, or that the route might be closed off by authorities to keep people out of the area and allow decontamination and rescue units in. Before leaving the relative safety of your shelter, monitor reports on radio and TV to learn if evacuation is a viable option.
If you are away from home when the incident occurs, contact authorities to find out if it is safe to return. Do not enter the contamination area until you are told it is safe.
When you are permitted to return home and the area is declared to be safe, open windows and doors and turn on fans to provide ventilation.
If you become contaminated, follow instructions issued by authorities. In some cases, you might be told to take a shower, but in other cases you might be instructed to stay away from water. Not every incident is handled in the same manner, so make sure you get specific instructions before attempting to decontaminate.
Remove exposed clothing and shoes and seal them tightly in plastic bags for later disposal, as instructed by authorities.
Until you are sure that the situation is safe, avoid contact with other people. You could inadvertently contaminate them, or they could do the same to you.
If you become ill, seek medical treatment as soon as possible.

Foul Weather Travel

2010-11-22T10:01:00.000-08:00

As I write this, much of the United States is experiencing some form of nasty weather. In some places it's snow or freezing rain, in others it heavy rain, and some locations are being whipped by strong winds. To my friends in Florida and Hawaii, all I can say is that this post won't apply to you — you lucky dogs.

But for the rest of us, we're entering an early cold season, thanks to La Nina. Areas of the country that normally have mild winters are already seeing abnormal cold temperatures and snow. Central Montana today is 45 degrees below normal!

On top of that, we are sneaking up on the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, when many of us will be traveling to join with family and friends to enjoy some time together. Bad weather and travel can spell trouble, so this is a time for us to prepare our vehicles and ourselves for the possibility of difficult travel conditions. Here are some suggestions:

Be willing to cancel the trip. I know this sounds extreme, and goes against the grain — especially for most men (I don't mean to sound sexist, but this is simply the truth). We guys tend to think we can plow ahead and overcome everything, and the hormonal inability to pull the plug on a trip can lead to disaster. It's best to deal with reality, have compassion on your passengers, and exercise wisdom — even if it means canceling the trip.
If you decide to travel, wear appropriate clothing. That means footwear that you can comfortably walk a few miles in, through snow or slush. It means weather-appropriate layers made of fabrics that will turn the wind and rain, won't absorb moisture from outside, will breathe, and will wick away from your skin the moisture you create by exertion. Headgear and gloves (or mittens) should be an integral part of your wardrobe considerations. This doesn't mean you have to dress in all that clothing while driving, but at least have it in the vehicle with you so you can use it if necessary.
Make sure the vehicle is up to the trip. If traction is likely to be an issue, four-wheel-drive is best, front-wheel-drive is second best, and rear-wheel-drive is least favorable. A 2x4 truck with an empty cargo bed is worst of all, insofar as losing traction is concerned. Good tires help a lot. In snow and ice country, studded snow tires or chains will work wonders. If you're carrying chains, make sure you know how to install them. When I say know how, I mean actually do it a few times, not just read the instructions.
Carry specialized items of equipment such as a shovel, ice scraper, snow brush, bags of sand for traction aid, and winter windshield washer fluid. Carry a cell phone and charger. I carry a SPOT Satellite Messenger, in case we get into real trouble and need to call for rescue.
Keep the gas tank topped up.
Do not be tempted to take shortcuts. Stick to main routes of travel, because that's where help will be when you need it.
Take a supply of food and water, and a sleeping bag or blanket for each person. Have several methods of starting a fire — Bic lighter, storm-proof matches, flint 'n steel striker, and some prepared tinder material. There have been cases where folks have had to survive for many days off the beaten path before rescue arrived. The ability to stay alive might depend on what you are carrying in the vehicle and your ability to start a fire, both for the warmth and for signaling.

What Would I Do?

2010-11-20T07:21:00.000-08:00

Last night, I was at a social gathering and was approached by a young man who asked a pointed question. The night was rainy and cold, snow was in the forecast for the mountains, and this friend of mine wanted to know what I would do if I were out there in the mountains lost and alone without any camping gear that night.

What would I do? It's a great question. In fact, it's the perfect question that we should all be asking ourselves all the time, not just on a dark and stormy night. What would I do if…and then plug in the scenario. What would I do if I accidentally fell overboard from our sailboat? What would I do if a vehicle suddenly came at me in the wrong lane? What would I do if a submarine earthquake triggered a tsunami in our region? What would I do if a wildfire broke out in the forest and threatened our home? What would I do if I was diagnosed with cancer? What would I do if home invaders broke in and took my wife hostage? What would I do if a deadly pandemic was spreading through our area? What would I do if…?

You get the picture.

If you don't don't play the "what would I do if…" game in your own mind, you have no basis for preparation, and you leave yourself vulnerable to be surprised by events that can thrust you unexpectedly into a survival situation. On the other hand, if you do play that game mentally, you find yourself thinking about strategies, techniques, equipment, supplies, escape routes, and attitudes that can help you survive when the event presents itself. I'm convinced that 90% of survival is mental. It's psychological, it's emotional, it involves mental preparation ahead of time and mental toughness during the challenge. If you never think of these things, you have no chance of being prepared.

As a paratrooper, I went through a lengthy training session called "Malfunctions." It covered just about everything that can go wrong with a parachute, with the airplane, and with the jumper himself. We talked extensively in terms of "what would you do if…" And, wouldn't you know it, during my jump career I experienced 3 malfunctions. The training saved my life 3 times. Without that training, I would have been caught unawares and wouldn't have known what to do.

When my friend confronted me with the question about what I would do if I were caught out there in the mountains on that cold and stormy night, my brain snapped into visualization mode and I saw myself in the forest with frigid rain pouring down. I imagined an immediate search for natural shelter opportunities, and steps I would take to improve the shelter as quickly as possible to protect me from getting wet. In my mind, I saw myself hunkering down in a small, tight place — staying dry while the world around me was getting soaked.

"What about fire," he asked.

"Definitely a priority," I answered. "But it would be tough to get a fire going in these conditions. Not impossible, but extremely difficult unless you were carrying the right materials with you. Assuming you had to depend entirely on what the forest provides, it would be unwise to be out in the rain getting your clothing soaked while scrambling around trying to find materials for a fire. Even if you were able to succeed with the fire, you would still be wet. And although the fire would help dry you out, the bigger question is this; what if you were unable to start a fire tonight, and you were now soaked because you went out in the rain to search for fire materials? The risk/benefit balance is weighted too heavily on the side of risk," I told him. "On a night like this, you must stay dry at all cost. Even if you have to suffer through a miserable night without fire. Get wet, you're dead. Stay dry, you have a chance."

We talked for the next hour about various scenarios. He's a young man with great enthusiasm for the outdoors, but doesn't have my Wilderness Survival book yet, so I suggested he get a copy and study it. Preparation begins with study, and is enhanced by field experience.

With a foundation of knowledge and experience, you can play the "what would I do if…" game in your own mind. The process will sharpen your situational awareness and allow you to think through a variety of possible scenarios and have strategies figured out to help keep you from being blindsided.