Tactical Trail Hiking
Wilderness Survival and Safety
If You’re Lost or Hurt
The Worst-Case Scenario
The rest of this presentation applies to the worst-case scenario, which is you being by yourself, either lost or injured or both. The assumption is you’ve decided to risk traveling alone, or through intentional or accidental circumstances became separated from your group.
Attempts at Communication Fail
There’s no cell phone coverage. Yelling just makes you hoarse. You tried blowing your whistle, but all you hear is echos in return.
A Navigation Nightmare
You’re completely turned around. Maybe you never took that Map/Compass/GPS class that was required. Or maybe you failed to pack your navigation tools on this trip.
You don’t recognize any landmarks, terrain features, or other indicators that give you an idea where you are. You’ve exhausted every possibility of finding your way out or returning back to where you came from.
Time is of the Essence
It’s going to get dark in a couple of hours.
The result is a true emergency. Key factors must be addressed, or your chance of survival will progressively decline.
Five Critical Steps
The Five Critical Steps are listed in the right column. They’re listed numerically because you generally want to progress through each step in logical order, one at a time.
Obviously, if the situation dictates that you jump around the list, by all means do so. Immediately jump to “Get Warm” if you’re cold and need to layer-up before you do anything else. Jump to “Signal for Help” if you hear a helicopter overhead. And so on…you get the point.
Next > Stay Calm
