Outdoors with Don Q: Be prepared when venturing into the Great Outdoors

With the big Labor Day weekend, the last outdoor trips of the summer, the start of many different big game and bird hunting seasons, the beginning of a new school year, etc., all coming up around the corner, here are some suggestions that just might save your life, if you are planning to venture into the Great Outdoors, all alone, on a photographing, hiking, biking, horseback riding, backpacking, camping, fishing, hunting, climbing, trip:

Before leaving home:
It is extremely important that you do two things:
1. Tell someone exactly where you will be.
Most importantly, DO NOT deviate from that plan, no matter how tempting.
If you do deviate, and if you get into serious trouble, they will be looking in the wrong place for you, and that would not be good for you and your health.
2. Tell that same someone a fail-safe time for when you will return home.
If you do not return by that fail-safe time, they should immediately start a search and rescue operation in the area where you were going.
No one ventures into the Great Outdoors to get injured or lost, but it happens and you need to be prepared if it does occur.

Carry a survival kit:
My survival kit contains the following items and that is because I want to be prepared as much as I can for any unexpected weather or if I have to spend the night outdoors in the event I should become injured or lost:

A. Whistle (to be used for signaling because a whistle can be heard farther than a human voice yelling).

B. Mirror (for signaling during the daytime where your whistle or voice can not be heard, such as near a noisy, rushing stream or tumbling waterfall).
If you should slip, fall, badly injure your leg and are unable to move while trying to cross a rushing stream, it would be very difficult to hear your voice or a whistle above the noise of the moving water.

C. At least two different ways to start a fire:
1. I carry several books of matches in a small waterproof plastic bag.
2. If for some reason, my matches get wet or lost, I also carry a knife plus a small container filled with cotton balls and it has a piece of flint on one end.
If necessary, take a cotton ball and carefully pull it apart until it resembles a miniature pizza. Place the little cotton pizza under a small amount of kindling and strike a knife on the flint.
A spark from that flint will instantly set the cotton on fire, which in turn ignites the kindling; and presto, you have a campfire, without using matches.
That campfire can keep you warm, cook any food you are carrying, keep you company when it is dark and serve as a nighttime beacon for rescuers.

D. An extra pair of socks which can be used as spare socks or as gloves.

E. Lightweight plastic tarp (with grommets) to use as a wind break or as an emergency shelter in inclement weather.

F. Cord or light rope to tie the plastic tarp to nearby trees.

G. Knife, plus a small whetstone to sharpen the knife if necessary.

H. Small flashlight or head lamp, which can be used for signaling rescuers at nighttime (don’t forget to carry extra batteries).

I. Cell phone (hopefully you are in an area where you can get reception, but don’t bet the ranch on being able to call out in most mountainous areas. My cell phone rarely works in remote locations).

I. Water container or canteen.

J. Sierra cup (a metal cup that can be used to heat water over a fire).

K. Food (such as candy bars, nuts, trail mix, jerky, packets of hot chocolate, packets of instant oatmeal, etc.).

L. First aid kit (Mine has personal medicine, ace bandage for sprains, tape, gauze, antiseptic, eye wash, burn ointment, tweezers, small scissors, etc.

M. Small battery radio (to keep you company if you are lost, it’s dark, you’re scared and staring into your campfire).

If you do get lost:
When you realize that you are lost, stay calm and do not panic.
All the running around will do you no good and just get you lost even more.
Carefully look all around your surroundings (360 degrees) and try to see if anything looks familiar.
If nothing does, look for a nearby higher location you can see from where you are located. Note your present location and walk to that higher one.
Look from there to see if anything looks familiar.
If nothing does, return to your beginning location, and then try another higher location in a different direction.
When you have exhausted all of the possibilities, return to your original starting point and stay put until help arrives. Do not wander off, make yourself as comfortable as you can, and wait to be found.

Finally:
Hopefully these suggestions will make a difference if you are alone in the Great Outdoors and should encounter a problem.
Go prepared as much as you can for the unexpected.
The unexpected can happen, so be ready, just in case.

Bet Your Favorite Pigeon
Bet your favorite pigeon that he can’t tell you if I have ever been lost.
If he grins, takes a deep breath and says, ‘Yes, he has. It was many years ago when Don and his hiking partner took a shortcut to return to their backpack camp near the top of Taboose Pass in the Sierra Nevada Mountains.
When they realized they were lost, they backtracked to where the shortcut had started, and returned the long way back to their camp,” he just might be that backpacking partner.

— Writer Don Quilici is the Outdoor editor for Carson Now and www.SouthTahoeNow.com. He can be reached at donquilici@hotmail.com.