-
Hiking: What to Do When You’re Lost
If you’ve been out hiking enough, you might know the sensation: you come on some unfamiliar territory, and as you try to return to your base, you realize that the base isn’t exactly where you thought it was. Instead, you see more trees, more terrain, and way too much wilderness to possibly be in the right spot. It’s the feeling of being lost, and if you’re a novice, you’ll want to prepare to avoid this as much as possible, while also preparing to do the right thing if it ever happens.
This article will help explain what to do when you’re lost, giving you tips and advice for handling the situation when you see it – even if, hopefully, you never do.
- Prevention is key – Knowing what to do when you’re lost doesn’t guarantee that you’ll immediately find what you’re looking for, so avoid getting lost in the first place. If you can, buy up a GPS watch, or at least carry a compass with you, as well as a map, in order to make sure that you don’t go on the wrong track to begin with. Also, as you head out into the wilderness, while you soak in the views, keep a mental track of landmarks to help you navigate.
- Upon getting lost, keep a cool head – A mistake too many people make in survival situations is getting too panicked to think straight. A relaxed mind is the best kind of thinking mind, and being relaxed will keep you open to new solutions, will keep you flexible, and will prevent you from getting too frustrated right away. For all you know, you took one wrong turn from the trail and you might be all right. So relax, before you do anything else, to make sure that you keep a cool, level head. Also, when you’re relaxed, you’re using up less energy – and energy will become critical.
- Plan and prepare for finding your way home – If you’re lost and decide to relax, what’s your next step? There’s no “one” trick that will help you get home – since everyone gets different “degrees” of being lost – but you can follow a certain strategy. And what is that strategy? To take a proactive plan. Instead of being relaxed, but going in circles, give yourself real goals to pursue. For example, try to find recent landmarks that you found on your way up first – these will help remind you of the trip you took and might help you recall the way home.
Staying goal-oriented in these situations is critical. Not only does it make sure you get things done, but it will help your spirits and attitude to have small goals to work toward, giving you hope that a way home will be found.
-
How to Fix a Side Stitch While Hiking
People aren’t exactly sure what causes the side stitch, but there’s no doubt that it results from physical activity. When you’re out hiking and taking on a tough hill, the last thing you want is a side stitch hampering your ability to exercise. But if you want to be rid of it, you’ll have to address it. In this article, you’ll find some quick tips and techniques that can help you slow down your side stitch when you’re out on the hiking trail.
Work on your breathing. Since the shorter breathing of exercise can often bring about a side stitch, try to work on breathing in deeply. It might be a little painful at first, but eventually you should notice that it relaxes the stitch and you’ll have greater mobility after a little while. Try to keep your breathing fairly consistent in order to keep the side stitch away as you continue hiking.
Make sure your stomach isn’t full or that you’re not bogged down by digestion. The old “wait an hour before you exercise after eating a meal” rule applies here. If you eat water-rich foods like vegetables and fruits, you should have little problem exercising shortly thereafter – but if you have something heavier, you might run a bigger risk of having a side stitch when you go hiking.Prevention. When you’re in good shape, you’ll notice that it’s hard to get a side stitch – this is because your body has adapted to the exercise and generally finds it easier, which means less shallow breathing as you work out. When you’re out of shape and you go hiking, your breathing is more likely to be short, which can help cause a side stitch. In order to prevent a side stitch, you’ll have to get through this “beginner’s” period and simply improve your basic core strength and cardiovascular capabilities.
Stop and take a break. You’re under no obligation to keep going through a side stitch – if you want to complete your hike, go ahead and complete it after you’ve had a restful break and feel a second wind coming on. You don’t have to power through every problem you have. The adage “no pain, no gain” doesn’t always apply – it’s just a general rule that means you’ll have to encounter resistance if you want to grow your physical strength and fitness.
Photo Credits: justicho
-
Five Steps for Maintaining a Safe Campfire
It’s not until you see how quickly a fire can spread that you really start to respect the power that fire can have. When a fire grows, it becomes harder to approach it due to the heat. The best way to avoid campfire mishaps is simple: prevention. Preventing any problems from campfires will help you to avoid having to call in the fire department. Here are five steps for maintaining a safe campfire.
Step #1: Dig a proper fire pit. There’s a reason the fire pit is so popular – it works. Digging a fire pit is like installing your own stove in the woods. If you dig a fire pit, you are able to separate the fire from other areas, not to mention keeping the fire at a lower level, which means that you’ll be able to use items to cook over the fire more easily. Make sure that you leave enough room for a little bit of air to flow through the area.
Step #2: Separate the fire pit from regular ground using rocks. Rocks don’t exactly burst out in flames, so they help prevent the flames in your fire from spreading to dry brush around the fire pit area. It also creates a visible barrier that unmistakeably tells other people to avoid that one particular area. Try to wrap the fire area tightly to properly seal it off.Step #3: Don’t add too much wood at once. If you’ve ever been near a fire that has a lot of dry wood to consume, you’ve seen exactly how fast that kind of fire can expand. If you add firewood that expands the fire, it’s common sense that the fire will grow. Sure, there’s a possibility that this will burn down safe and sound later on, but prevention is all about avoiding those dangerous risks.
Step #4: Don’t feed the wood fuel that is bigger than the fire pit. The fire pit is a certain size for a reason. You can build a large fire if you want, but it has to be controlled. If you add large wooden objects that exceed the size fire pit, you’ll see how quickly the original fire pit becomes moot. Don’t do that. Instead, make sure your fire is contained in the area of the fire pit, with a little bit of room in the pit to spare.
Step #5: Keep effective fire-stoppers handy. It’s a good idea to keep a bucket of water and other means of stopping the fire handy, even if you don’t think the fire will get out of control. In case it does, you’ll want to be prepared. Make sure you’re aware of the best ways to put out a fire, and remember that fires need air to survive.
Photo Credits: rudis
-
How to Handle Adverse Weather on a Hike
On an unstable day, the weather can turn from good to bad before you know it. If you’re out hiking and you start noticing the skies turning dark, or the first few drops of rain, it can be very intimidating. In order to weather the storm and remain calm, it will help to know how to handle adverse weather even when you’re outdoors on a hike. Here’s how you can do it.
Prevention. Understand the nature of prevention: you don’t want to be the person who’s stuck in a blizzard telling himself “I wish I’d listened to the weather reports.” Prevention means fixing a situation before it happens is not the sexiest way to avoid an emergency, but it is the most effective. The words “safety first” always apply here – adventure can come when the weather ain’t so bad.
Does that mean bad weather is totally avoidable? Of course not. But having an understanding of the weather, including the weather reports and the signs from nature itself, will help you better stay out of a potentially troubling situation.
Understand the clouds. Reading the clouds is perhaps the strongest indicator of weather if you don’t have any sophisticated instruments like a barometer with you. A cloudless day can indicate high pressure – usually meaning that you’re in the clear for the immediate future. If the sky turns cloudy in a hurry, that can signify the drop in pressure that comes with an approaching storm. Be sure to keep an eye on the clouds in order to better understand what’s headed your way.Checking the clouds for their speed and direction will also tell you where they’re being “pushed,” which should give you an idea of where the weather will be coming from. The winds can vary from day to day, so don’t necessarily expect a storm to come from “where they always do.”
If you don’t have any weather reports, ask anyone you see for them. You can read the clouds all day, but a weather report will help you understand the immediate threat of weather. Ask anyone near you for the weather report; if everyone is headed for home, that might be a good indication that you probably should, too.
Handling the weather means being able to read it as best you can, and being prepared to high-tail it out of there once you realize what might be headed your way. Remember: safety first.
Photo Credits: ingo.ronner
