Why Hikers Should Learn Wilderness Survival Skills
Hiking is an activity that entails relaxation as you go along the trail, seeing the sights, the plant life, and possibly even the occasional wildlife. But such places are usually not controlled completely by humans and instead left to its own devices. As such, it is a good idea to not pass up on learning survival skills for when you have to get up close and personal with nature.
For humans, wilderness survival skills are going to be your last resort that will bolster and increase your chances of survival when out in the wild, whether it’s in the jungle, forest, cave, desert, or any other environment devoid of human activity.
When a hiking trip goes sour…
Being an outdoor activity that allows one to be more in touch with nature, this naturally means that hikers are going to go out and about in places that may not be as close to societal areas. Most places such as national park are usually located in a place quite close to the city, although human interaction and presence in these areas is limited to preserve the locale. Though there are some hiking spots which are a little far from civilization.
And with such outdoor activities, this also comes with added risk of getting lost.
A sizeable amount of people find themselves lost in the woods per year. In the US alone, the number of people that are lost and require assistance is just above 4500.
I’m always careful, there’s no way I’ll get lost!
It’s good to always be prepared before heading out and to always be vigilant while on the hike, but even the best people slip up every once in a while. Getting lost isn’t simply just going out in the forest and being surrounded by trees without realizing where they were going in the first place. People getting lost can come from a multitude of factors. It can be one, or it can be a combination of these:
-People ignoring the trail and going wherever they want
-People hiking late afternoon or even night when vision is very poor
-People running from wild animals encountered in the trail and heading off-trail in a desperate attempt to get away
-People failing to do their proper research and taking the wrong paths and ending up somewhere else from their original intended direction
There are likely more, but these are just some common examples on the trail. We’re only human, and sometimes we get so into what we’re doing that we accidentally neglect precaution and safety, be it due to our natural curiosity to our environment, or a lapse in concentration and/or critical thinking causing us to take actions that we wouldn’t usually take.
In the case of a wild animal encounter, it can be just our instincts or even survival skills telling us what to do: After all, getting lost but managing to escape a rampaging animal means that you still have a chance to make it back alive. Losing a fight with a bear and getting your body ripped to shreds as a result means that you’re not even going to be coming back.
These things are unlikely to happen, especially when you’re well-prepared, but that doesn’t mean that they don’t happen at all. In this case, it’s always better to be prepared for when they do.
Where survival skills come into play
In the worst-case scenario where you get lost far from civilization, and you have no way to contact any help (or informed anyone of your intent to hike), then you’re going to be on your own until you manage to crawl back to civilization somehow. Here, your survival skills are going to be your best bet in making sure you keep breathing until you find appropriate help and will be what carries you back home to safety.
You’ll likely be using a lot of improvision to do things like craft a shelter out of branches, logs, and whatever resources you can find nearby. You may need to craft your own fishing rod to fish for your meals, while searching for edible plants, berries, and fruit. You may also have to resort to eating certain animals that you usually would not even consider eating, like earthworms or grubs.
However, one of the biggest challenges here is finding out which will benefit you, and which can kill you. There are fruits that appear appetizing on the outside, but when ingested, are actually toxic. There are some insects that seem edible but are actually impostors that are toxic instead.
You can’t rely on your gut feeling here, as you’ll be gambling your life on hoping that the giant grape-looking fruit you plucked is actually edible.
The only way to be sure of your actions in such a situation is through knowledge and experience: Read up and study on plants that you can eat, while taking note of ones that you should stay away from. This applies to animals as well.
Next, you can also read up on how to make a shelter and a fire. Depending on where you live, you may even be able to practice making a shelter without any tools to aid you. A shelter can be invaluable during a survival situation in which you stay for multiple nights.
Wrapping up
When people enjoy the great outdoors, they usually don’t take into account the safety measures and what they should do when contingencies happen, because of how low the rates of it happening to them are.
But low rates do not mean zero, and as such, people who don’t read up on even basic knowledge for survival skills find themselves with diminishing chances of survival when they do find themselves lost with no one to help and no skills or knowledge to count on.
And it’s not just hiking either. Camping, hunting, these types of activities have you get up close and personal with nature – sometimes, a little too close. If you’re going to prepare for a trip, then maybe you should throw in a bit of reading on what to do when the trip goes wrong. It may just save your life.