Tiny Tips For Survival: "Don't Die In The Woods

Don’t Die In The Woods – It’ll Ruin Your Day!

Tiny Tips For Survival
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Tiny Tips For Survival #1
When stowing gear in your pack, begin with the lightest things such as your sleeping bag at the bottom. Work upward adding heavier items as you go, so the heaviest are at the top. This way the bulk of the weight is high and forward, close to your shoulders. You will be far more comfortable this way, especially when you are walking long distances.

Tiny Tips For Survival #2
Never take your car keys into the woods with you. Lock all your keys except the one for the car door in the trunk. Jam this one under a tire - you choose which tire - and cover it with a small rock (this is an old cavers' trick). Think about it: if you returned from a 20 mile hike and discovered you had lost your car keys, just where would you start looking!?

Tiny Tips For Survival #3
There is one and only one effective first aid treatment for burns and that is cold water. If possible, immerse the burned area in cold water and leave it for a minimum of two hours. This is easy, of course, if you are hiking or camping near a stream. If you are not near a stream, your water bottle will have to do. For minor burns there is a tendency to use the cold water for just a few minutes and get back to what you were doing. Do not be tempted; be patient and keep up the treatment for the full two hours.

Never treat any burn with ointments, oils, Vaseline, butter, lard, bear grease, margarine or anything else. When most of the pain is gone after treatment with cold water, keep the affected area clean and dry, and allow plenty of air to circulate. If the skin is blistered - this indicates a second degree burn - after removing from the water, cover lightly with a sterile dressing from your first aid kit. Never, under any circumstances, lance and drain burn blisters.

A minor burn - first degree, no blistering - will be reduced to insignificance. I'm told that treating a potential second degree burn this way can reduce it to first degree. (For third degree burns - where the flesh is actually charred, when help is nearby, best practice is not to immerse in water, simply to cover lightly with a sterile dressing until professional medical attention can be rendered. Deep in the woods and far from help, I would use the water for a third degree burn also.)

Tiny Tips For Survival #4
In a serious emergency, that spare pair of Ragg socks you carry in your pack (see Tips For Survival #12 - Survival Footwear - The Old Ones are the Best) makes a great set of mittens. This is under the assumption, of course, that you always carry a spare pair of both silk liners and Ragg socks in you pack - and why not?.

Tiny Tips For Survival #5
If your feet are cold, put on your hat.

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Tiny Tips For Survival #6
Keep your water bottles full all the time. By this I mean, even if you've just had one little sip from just one of your bottles, and they were both full, a half-mile ago, if you pass a spring or safe stream, top up the one you have just used.

This tip won't necessarily save your life, but if it's a hot day and you have a few miles to go to trail end, one more little drink would be nice (the one you could have had if you had followed my advice in the paragraph above).

Tiny Tips For Survival #7
Before you go out for any trip, short or long, day or overnight, check your waterproof matches. Take one out of your waterproof match container, strike it and light something with it. Be certain it works. Now replace the one you have just used so your container is full.

I usually do this when I have returned from a trip, while I am cleaning, repairing and storing my gear, and again just before I go out (this is a tip I picked up when I used to go caving, when my match container - along with everything else was sometimes fully submerged in water.)

Tiny Tips For Survival #8
The fields and forests can yield an abundance of survival food throughout the year for those who know where to look. But you must know what you to look for. Some plants that are safe and nutritious closely resemble others that are toxic. And there are other plants that may, for example, have a safe and tasty root, but a deadly poisonous leaf - or vice versa.

To be safe, you must learn from the experts. An important element of your survival training has to do with identifying the plants that will keep you alive in an emergency. Sign up for an outdoor survival course run by somebody who knows intimately the fauna of the area in which you plan to trek.

Tiny Tips For Survival #9
You pack your sleeping bag in a stuff sack when going into the woods. If your backpack is one of those with a separate bottom compartment, you can save some (more) weight by leaving the stuff sack at home. Just stuff your sleeping bag into the compartment on its own. Every little bit helps.

Tiny Tips For Survival #10
Here is a handy, all-purpose camping soap for your hair, body, clothes and dishes: Find a squeeze bottle of a convenient size with a nice, tight, dependable flip-cap or tilt-cap (we don't want anything leaking in our pack, do we!?). Fill the bottle to about 1/3 with the highest quality concentrated dish washing liquid you can find (this must be top-shelf product, the cheap stuff won't do). Fill the rest of the bottle with high quality, very mild, concentrated liquid shampoo - also a top-shelf product.

You may have to experiment with the proportions for soap and shampoo, particularly if you have problem hair or sensitive skin (my first test was 50-50 and it dried my hair terribly). A little goes a long way, so this helps keep the weight of your pack down. It works reasonably well even in cold water

Tiny Tips For Survival #11
See your tip here for all the world to read. Please email me at mary@tipsforsurvival.com. We invite your comments.

Here’s a tip for survival: Be a happy camper by not dying in the woods! Think ‘safety’ and behave safely.

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