Wilderness survival : staying alive until help arrives

105 Pages·2016·0.86 MB·English

by  Suzanne Swedo

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STAYING ALIVE UNTIL HELP ARRIVES
Third Edition
Suzanne Swedo
For Rex
FFAALLCCOONNGGUUIIDDEESS®®
An imprint of Rowman & Littlefield
Falcon, FalconGuides, and Outfit Your Mind are registered
trademarks of Rowman & Littlefield.
Distributed by NATIONAL BOOK NETWORK
Copyright © 2016 by Rowman & Littlefield
Illustrations by Todd Telander
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in
any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, includ-
ing information storage and retrieval systems, without written
permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may
quote passages in a review.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Information avail-
able
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data available
ISBN 978-1-4930-1734-8 (paperback)
ISBN 978-1-4930-1735-5 (e-book)
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum
requirements of American National Standard for Information
Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materi-
als, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.
The author and Rowman & Littlefield assume no
liability for accidents happening to, or injuries
sustained by, readers who engage in the activities
described in this book.
Contents
Acknowledgments vii
Introduction 1
Using This Book 3
1 Before You Go 5
2 The Ten or More Essentials 10
3 How Not to Get Lost 16
4 If You Get Lost 26
5 Survival Priorities and First Aid 32
6 Shelter from Cold and Heat 35
7 Starting an Emergency Fire 53
8 Water Emergencies 63
9 Food Emergencies 82
Conclusion 90
Appendix: Checklists 91
About the Author 96

Acknowledgments
Special thanks to Ron Hood for reviewing the
manuscript and for striking the spark, to Brad Childs
at the Wilderness Institute, Melinda Goodwater and
Singaman Lama of Goodwater’s Adventures, Jim
Lowery of Earth Skills, and Steve Tabor of Desert
Survivors. I appreciate help from the National Out-
ings Program of the Sierra Club and to the organizers
of the Angeles Chapter of the Basic Mountaineering
Training and Wilderness Training Course. Thanks
to Kylie Chappell at the Yosemite Conservancy. For
assistance in the field, special thanks to John Alder-
son, Betty Berenson, Craig Deutsche, Laura Lathrop,
Fumiaki Nakamura, and Rex Raymer.

Introduction
Most backcountry travelers set out into the wilder-
ness for recreation, love of nature, or self-discovery
and to experience the sense of freedom that comes
from breaking out of the technological and social
cocoon that feeds and shelters them—and separates
them from the natural world. That freedom has a
price, however. Wilderness, by definition, is a place
without easy access to the facilities and services estab-
lished to keep people out of trouble or rescue them
when they get into it. In the wilderness you are on
your own and expected to be both mentally and
materially self-sufficient.
Most wilderness areas in North America are under
the jurisdiction of some public agency—such as the
USDA Forest Service, the National Park Service,
Parks Canada, or the Bureau of Land Management—
that is equipped to help people in emergencies. These
agencies recognize that accidents can happen to even
the most skilled and experienced outdoorspeople.
Still, such agencies are usually understaffed and
underfunded and already busy enough protecting
the wilderness from destruction by visitors rather
than the other way around. Many national parks,
for example, which formerly conducted helicopter
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