Ten Wilderness Survival Backpacking Tips
Why should you learn wilderness survival skills just for
backpacking? They may save your life someday, and for ultralight
enthusiasts like myself, skills replace gear, and therefore
weight. The best reason, however, may be that it's just a good
feeling to know you can deal with whatever comes up. It makes you
feel more at home.
To survive means to stay warm and dry, hydrated, uninjured, and
to find your way out of the survival situation. Eating is nice
too, but not crucial if the situation is for a few days. Below
are some more or less random survival tips, just to get you
interested.
Wilderness Survival Tips
1. Warmth: Sleep with your head slightly downhill to stay warmer.
This may take some getting used to, but it works.
2. Food: In North America, there is no berry that looks like a
blueberry, strawberry, or raspberry, that can hurt you from one
taste. Just spit it out if it doesn't taste right. If it looks
and tastes like a blueberry - it is.
3. Fire starter: If you put dried moss or milkweed fuzz in your
pocket as you walk, you'll have dry tinder to start a fire, just
in case it's raining later. Experiment with different materials.
4. Direction-finding: Mark the tip of the shadow of a stick, and
mark it again fifteen minutes later. The line between the the
first and second marks points east. A few techniques like this
can save you when your compass is lost.
5. Weather: In the Rocky Mountains you can see the clouds forming
just before the afternoon storms. Being able to read the sky can
keep you out of trouble. Lightning kills hikers in Colorado
regularly.
6. Staying dry: Hypothermia is the biggest wilderness killer, and
getting wet is the biggest cause. Watch for ledges or large fir
trees to stand under if you see the rain coming.
7. Shelter: A pile of dry leaves and dead grass can keep you very
warm in an emergency.
8. Hydration: Fill water bottles every chance you get, and you
won't have such a hard time with any long dry stretches of trail.
9. Injury: Pop a "blister" on the trunk of a small spruce or fir
tree, and you can use the sap that oozes out as an good
antiseptic dressing for small cuts.
10. Fire starter: White birch bark will usually light even when
wet.
These are just a few of the wilderness survival tips and
techniques you can easily learn. Why not practice one or two on
your next backpacking trip?
Steve Gillman is a long-time backpacker, and advocate of
lightweight backpacking. His advice and stories can be found at
http://www.The-Ultralight-Site.com
Find More Related Information:
Back to
Index of All Recreational & Outdoors Articles
Back to Index of All Sports Articles
