Being Lost
by Buck Tilton, MS, WEMT

In the simplest terms, survival means owning the knowledge and skills to stay alive.
Do you know what to do?

When you become lost, separated from your companions or sustain injury, your health and even your life could be threatened. Stack the odds in your favor. Begin with the basics:

1. Shelter
   
2. Warmth
   
3. Water
   
4. Signaling devices
5. Food
   

What distinguishes the “unprepared” from the “prepared”?
Do not go into the backcountry thinking, “BEING LOST IS SOMETHING THAT WILL NEVER HAPPEN TO ME.”

• Tell someone you trust where you are going and what is a realistic time for your return BEFORE you leave for the backcountry. Make sure they know whom to contact (and when) to initiate a search-and-rescue operation. Valuable time can be saved if the right person is contacted immediately.
  
  
• Carry more food and clothing than you think you will need. Prepare for the worst possible conditions ever known for your chosen geographic area at your chosen time of year.
  
  
• Learn how to use a map and compass and carry them at all times.
  
  
• If you become disoriented, recognize that you have a problem. SIT DOWN and evaluate your circumstances as calmly as possible. Panic is your greatest enemy. Take an inventory of what you have with you and mentally retrace your steps. You will probably realize your situation is not as critical as it seemed at first.
  
  
• It is no shame to be lost. Once you realize you are, stay in the immediate vicinity. Do not wander. This will likely take you out of the area in which rescuers will search.
  
  
• Without shelter, your chance of surviving an unexpected night out is minimal. Loss of body heat is the primary killer of someone lost and exposed to the elements. Get out of the wind. If there is nothing else available, bury yourself in leaves, pine needles or other forest debris. In snow, dig down to the bottom of a sheltering tree or burrow a hole, preferably in a depression out of the wind, just big enough for your body. The smaller a shelter, the more easily it is heated by your body. Insulate yourself from the ground as much as possible.
  
  
• If possible, start a fire. Learn what natural materials will work best for fires in your area of travel. Fires are a heat-giving, light-giving and psychological comfort-giving companion to the lost. In an emergency, a big fire may substitute for shelter.
  
  
• Find water. Your body will suffer first from exposure and second from lack of water. Your minimum intake of water should be between three and four quarts each day.
  
  
• If you decide you’re really lost the next morning, signal your position. Bright fires at night and smoky fires during the day may alert searchers. Sets of three signals are a universal appeal for help: three fires, three blasts on a whistle, three shots from a gun, three flashes from a signal mirror. If a clearing is nearby, indicate your position to air searchers by building the largest arrow possible out of whatever is available pointing to your location. Stamp out an arrow in the snow. Brightly-colored outdoor clothing and gear make very visible markers when laid on the ground or hung from a tree.
  
  
• If you run out of food, don’t eat unless you can positively identify nutritional wild edibles; the chance of eating something unhealthy is high. Remember, it takes three to five days before hunger becomes a real problem, and much longer for it to become a life-threatening problem.
  
  
• Especially on day trips, pack and carry a lightweight survival kit with you at all times. Practice using the items in the kit before you need them.