PREPARING FOR OUTDOOR ADVENTURES

2011-05-27T10:09:00.000-07:00

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2010-07-04T09:16:00.000-07:00

Spending a lot of time enjoying the great outdoors year-around, be it primitive or carrying modern gear, can be a hobby filled with memories for a life time. I enjoy hiking, backpacking, and caving adventures in some of the most remote wilderness areas you can imagine. I personally love to go on treks to places seen by few.

Take the time to plan for your outdoor adventures, do your homework and leave little to chance. Eventually luck will run out, so are you prepared for your next adventure with the tools to make your adventure as safe as reasonably expected?

How well things go from start to finish can be significantly influenced by how well prepared you are before leaving the point of no return.

Good planning, training, proper clothing, adequate equipment and experience are vital essentials to an uneventful outdoor adventure trip. On the other side of the coin, if you are ill prepared, improvising your survival will become a test of your resourcefulness and your good luck.

You have seen the dramatic events unfold on the news of people lost with a hundred search and rescuers, dogs, helicopters and airplanes working to find the lost person. Even with all the experience, skills and preparedness bad things can still happen it is a fact of life.

I am going to try and tip the scales slightly in your favor by presenting some basic tips for being prepared. I am not the soloist type so the people I take adventure trips with are my close friends and family who enjoy these adventures also.

My suggestion is you go out on adventures with people you trust, may be even with your life. When the chips are down can you count on them and can they count on you. Even the most minor problem in a wilderness adventure can become very serious quickly. Do not expect to dial 911 for help. Even if you do manage to get a call out for help, how long is it going to take to reach you?

So with that said; being prepared is very important. If you are an enthusiast just getting started I suggest your first step is to be prepared with some simple but life saving skills and items before your adventure trip.

Making a survival pack of items to always have with you is a must. Fire making methods, shelter materials, enough water, water treatment and signaling devices are priority must haves. Food is a benefit to your physical energy and mental health. Though not really necessary, I love to eat so my survival pack has some energy snacks just-in case. First aid supplies can make life easier when you need them so pack at least a basic kit. Have the basic survival items on your person not in your main pack. Never leave home without these basic tools and you will have a story to tell and not a tragedy to explain.

Have the training for the type of outdoor activities you plan on doing. Take it slow, and learn to walk before you run. Take the time to learn and hone your level of skills and experience. Beyond training, read as much as you can on your desired adventure interest. Learn from others who have made the mistake or have that special idea you can pull from when you need it.

I recommend all outdoor adventure enthusiast take a wilderness first aid and CPR course. The Wilderness Medicine Institute has programs tailored to the outdoor adventurer or you can find a course from any of the many quality first aid training providers in your area like the American Red Cross, The Emergency Care and Safety Institute, National Safety Council just to name a few. Look at this as added insurance to your family, friends and fellow adventures. Knowing what to do in an emergency will have its reward if you use it just one time.

How is your health today? Make sure you have the health and fitness level to do the activity safely. This is not the time for keeping secrets. Have your medications on your person and let everyone you adventure with know where it is and what to do with it. See your physician if you have any questions about your health. Again start slow and work up to the desired fitness level.

Do your homework on the area you are planning to visit. Talk to the locals to verify what you found during your planning process.

Plan for the possible worst weather changes you could encounter. If you venture in the outdoors its time to become weather wise. The national weather service has some educational pages to help. The typical request for emergency help is generally during severe weather events. Become a weather watcher or find someone in the area with the knowledge. Good forecasts in the region, area and in real time are a vital part of planning and preparedness. Do not be afraid to cancel the trip for weather.

Tell someone that is very reliable of your travel plans in detail. Write your plans down and give it to them. We have been out on a lot of search missions for people overdue, who just did not leave written plans with a reliable person to make the report. When you are overdue and may need help immediately, the best thing you could have done was to leave your plans in the hands of someone you trust with your life. Your planning ahead could save your life by giving search and rescue the advantage of a reliable starting point to search.

I carry a SPOT (satellite personal tracker/messenger) to give me even more of an advantage when things go wrong. The SPOT has some handy functions like I can send a message letting the family know we are OK and they can also track our progress online in my map page, if we need help from them or when we check-in they get global position coordinates with each message or if things really go south you can send a signal for emergency help. Do the research and see if a satellite personal tracker/messenger is something you would consider adding to your survival kit.

Hope to see on the trail real soon! Stay safe and have fun learning!

Author Bio:

Robert W. Elliott

Life long outdoors adventure enthusiast, enjoy wilderness backpacking, hiking, adventure canoeing, caving and going places rarely visited by others. Professional firefighter, Emergency Medical Technician, Wilderness EMT, Search & Rescue, and Instructor. Visit my site for more details on survival tips.

http://preparingforoutdooradventures.blogspot.com/

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Robert_Wayne_Elliott

PREPARING FOR OUTDOOR ADVENTURES

2010-06-24T16:44:00.000-07:00

I spend a lot of time enjoying the great outdoors year-around. Be it primitive or carrying modern gear, you need to be prepared with some simple but life saving items on every adventure. Take the time to plan for your outdoor adventures and leave little to luck. Not that any of us ever left on a trip and down the road or trail we remember that item we forgot or something we didn't do before locking the house.

It does happen so we are always refining our checklist to make sure we have those comfort items and importantly the survival essentials. You've managed to survive thus far by a bit of luck. Eventually luck will run out, so are you prepared for your next adventure with the tools to make your adventure as safe as reasonably expected. How well things go from here can be significantly influenced by how well prepared you are before leave the comfort of home. When we leave the comfort of our home each day it can be filled with situations that pose risk that we have learned by experience or trial and error.

Good training, proper clothing, adequate equipment and experience are vital essentials to an uneventful outdoor adventure trip. On the other side of the scale, if you are ill prepared, improvising your survival will become a test of your resourcefulness and your good luck. You have seen the dramatic events unfold on the news of people lost with a hundred search and rescuers, helicopters and airplanes working to find the lost person and bring them home to safety.

Even with all the experience, skills and preparedness bad things can still happen. I'm going to try and tip the scales slightly in your favor by presenting some tips for being prepared in general terms. Most of my outdoor adventures not only involve my families safety but the safety of others as well. Anyone that tells you they have never had a problem is full of it! I'm not the soloist type so the people I adventure in the outdoors with are my close friends who enjoy these adventures. Tip number one is to go out on adventures with people you trust, may be even with your life.

Picture to the left: a recent hiking trip to Death Valley with me getting a helping hand from friend Jerry in some of the most rugged terrain you can imagine.

The first part of being prepared is make a basic list of items to always have with you. In example- fire, shelter, water, signal are a priority must have. Food is a benifit to energy and mental health. First aid supplies can make life easier. Never leave home without them and you will have a story to tell and not a tragedy to explain.

Have the training for the type of outdoor activities you plan on doing. You should include basic first aid skills and kit. I recommend a wilderness first aid course and CPR. Wilderness Medicine Institute or find a course from any of the many first aid training providers in your area.
Make sure you have the health and fitness level to do the activity safely. This is not the time for secrets. Have your medications on your person and let everyone know where it is. See your physician if you have any questions about your health.
Have the basic equipment, to include basic survival items on your person. See the general equipment list you should have.
Do your homework on the area you are planning to visit.
Tell someone that is very reliable of your travel plans in detail. Write your plans down and give it to them.

Picture to the left: Me in the lead with my friend Dennis on my heals in Death Valley.

We have been out on a lot of search missions for people overdue, who just did not leave written plans with a reliable person to make report to the search authorities. When you are overdue and may need help immediately, the best thing you could have done was to leave your plans in the hands of someone you trust with your life. Your planning ahead could save your life by giving search and rescue the advantage of a reliable starting point to search.

I carry a SPOT ( satellite personal tracker/messenger) to give me even more of an advantage when things go wrong. The SPOT has some handy functions like I can send a message letting the family know we are OK and they can also track our progress online maps, we need help from them or sending a signal for emergency help. If you are interested go to my link below (hot gear) and see if a satellite personal tracker/messenger is something you would consider adding to your survival kit.

In an overview, lets look at our clothing and foot wear as the first part of our sheltering system from the environment. Winter or summer seasons you need to have the right clothing for the possible conditions and activity. Plan for the possible worst weather changes you could encounter. If you venture outdoors you need to become educated in the weather. The typical request for emergency help is generally during severe weather event. Become a weather watcher or find someone in the area with the knowledge. A good forecast in the region, area and real time weather forecasts are a vital part of planning and preparedness.

Our first objective of providing shelter is to prevent heat loss or heat gain. Clothing systems are the principle part of your shelter system. I recommend a good layered clothing system for the environment and activity you are planning.
The essence of staying warm in the winter is minimization of heat loss. In terms of clothing, this is achieved by adding insulation to the body through 1) having proper clothing material, and 2) effective use of them.

In the summer, we look at shelter from the sun and helping our natural evaporation system be efficient and if we get that unexpected storm we are still warm and dry.

Are you looking for a survival guide featuring tips to most every survival situation like a natural disaster, I recommend you click below for Ultimate Survival Skills Guide. The guys at USSG are also giving away a free First Aid Guide with every purchase. Click Here!

PLANNING AHEAD...PREPARATION IS THE KEY!

Most everyone can manage with choosing summer clothing. During these hot times, you may decide to minimize or stop outdoor activities. To keep up your physical activity during the summer, "heat sense" is the "best sense." Below are a few tips to help you continue your outdoor activity preparedness even in the hottest weather:

The sun's UV rays are the strongest between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. Whenever possible, try to avoid sun exposure during these times.
Do your activity early in the morning or late in the evening when it is coolest.
You will need to acclimate to the heat so take it slow. Limit your outdoor physical activities till you are ready.
Look for indoor locations during the heat of the day; i.e. air-conditioned places to do fun activities such as gyms, community centers, or shopping malls to keep your physical training level up.
Switch the channel. Try other physical activities that can easily be done indoors (e.g., using a treadmill) or try swimming to cool down.
Dress for the weather. Wear bright, breathable fabrics that are loose fitting. Wear hats to protect your head from the heat and sun glasses. Don't forget sunscreen! Sunscreen regularly please!
Rest, hydrate, snack, and hydrate some more. Most of us are mildly dehydrated before we begin any activity. I love coffee so I make an effort to balance my caffeine intake. You should too!

If you still plan to go outdoors you should be able to recognized heat related stress:

Heat stress symptoms include nausea, flushed skin, cramping, headache, mental confusion, rapid heartbeat, shortness of breath, weakness or exhaustion, seizures, sunburn, and absence of sweating.

Heat related stress should be considered an emergency! Don't wait to see if it goes away. Many die needlessly because know one recognized a heat related emergencies. Hydrate, hydrate and hydrate some more, rest and recover before starting out again. Allow everyone adequate time to recover!

Summer is in full swing so lets get ready for the cold season now by talking about some winter clothing materials options. This is the time of year to score on some great deals on clothing and equipment. Go to my link and see if Amazon has what you are looking for! Here are some of the types of materials available you can consider for your next purchase. Do the research on the clothing before you buy. You will need to consider a lot of things before spend your hard earned money. Remember your clothing is the first part of your sheltering system from the environment. Typically you are looking for the right materials and functionality for you personally, the activity level and the potential environmental condition.

Do you know your winter clothing material options? Your clothing is an important part of your survival. You will likely not find a piece of clothing that meets all your needs on a given adventure.

1. Wool – the 3-dimensional wavy crimp nature of its fibers enables it to trap air very effectively. As much as 60-80% of a thick wool cloth can be air. Wool can also absorb a fair amount of moisture without imparting a feeling of ‘dampness’ because the water "disappears" into the fiber spaces. Even with moisture in the fabric wool still traps dead air space and still insulates you. Heavier when its wet. Wool is relatively inexpensive.

2. Pile or Fleece - is a synthetic material that has a similar insulating capacity as wool but it will not hold water like wool, so it dries more quickly. The fabric comes in variety of weight/thickness, thereby offering different amounts of insulation. The disadvantage of pile is that it has very poor wind resistance and hence a wind shell, is needed on top.

3. Hydrophobic fabrics (e.g. Polypropylene) – What’s special about hydro-phobic fabrics is that it moves the water vapor away from the source (the body). Polypropylene layers are extremely effective worn directly against the skin as a way of keeping the skin from being wet and reducing heat loss (when moisture evaporates from your skin).

4. Vapor Barrier Systems – even when you are not active, the body perspires. That perspiration continually evaporates into the air (causing heat loss) unless the air humidity is 70% or higher. The idea of an impervious vapor barrier is to trap the water vapor near the skin. Eventually the humidity level rises to the point where the body senses a high humidity level and shuts off the perspiration. This in turn cuts down evaporative heat loss.

5. Polarguard, Hollofil, Quallofil and others – you find these in heavy outer garments like parkas. It’s built with lots of dead air space. Hollofil, for example, has four “holes” running through the fiber for maximum insulation. Their advantages are that they do not absorb water and dry fairly quickly.

6. "Superthin" fibers – e.g. Thinsulate, Primaloft, Microloft, Arc'teryx - the principal behind these fibers is that by making the fiber thinner you can increase the amount of dead air space. Thinsulate is made in sheets and therefore tends to be used primarily for outer layers, pants or parkas. It’s a good choice when bulk matters, the garment usually sports label such as ultra-light, thin, Golite. Another advantage to this synthetic material is that they don’t absorb moisture.

7. Down - feathers provide excellent dead air space for very little weight. But it absorbs water. And that can be a major problem in the winter. Once the feathers get wet they tend to clump, and lose trapped air space. Most down jackets have a waterproof outer layer to prevent this problem. When considering a down jacket, check out the quality of the feathers used (measured in fill power, the higher the better) and look for sewn-in baffles to prevent the down from shifting and creating cold spots.

8. What about Cotton? Cotton is useless in winter time. It wicks water, but unlike polypropylene, cotton absorbs this moisture which then occupies previous dead air space. Not to mention when it gets wet. Have you tried to dry cotton outdoor in the winter? It turns into a stiff sheet of frozen fabric.

Checkout your summer and winter clothing needs at Amazon.com via my link below.

Picture of Death Valley from Johnson Canyon

Thank You for reading my blog and have safe outdoor adventures. Check out my other pages for more.

TO ALL OUR FRIENDS ACROSS NEVADA,

Thank You for braving the weather and taking your time to be ready to serve those in need of help through our Wilderness L.A.S.T. training program held at McKinney Tanks. I hope to see you at our next event.

Thank You to all the Instructors, the State of Nevada EMS, Nye County Emergency Services, Nye County Sheriffs and Nye County Search and Rescue; Without all of you this would not have been possible "that others may live"

Tags: Ultimate Survival Skills Guide, Preparedness, Wilderness Survival, Survival guides, Survival Priorities, Adventures in the outdoors, camping, hiking