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By Brooks A. Mick, M.D.
Dec. 8, 2006 The tragic story of the Kim family and their death of Mr. Kim when they became lost and stuck in heavy snow inspired my writing of this piece. Survival in the wilderness is, in most cases, not that difficult. There are few necessities in the short term, and few survival situations extend into the long term. First priority: Shelter. The Kims did well in using their stranded automobile as shelter. It is almost always better to stay with your auto and use it to protect from the elements. The auto itself is excellent protection from wind. One could insulate the auto even more by piling pine boughs or leafy branches over the car, even burying it in natural materials. If you have gasoline and are running the engine from time to time, be sure to leave the exhaust pipe clear and leave enough air circulation to avoid carbon monoxide poisoning. Keep a downwind window open a little. Don't go to sleep in a running automobile. If the auto is out of gasoline, then you can insulate it even more by stuffing pine boughs or needles or leaves or even loose snow under the car. You can insulate your clothing also with raw materials. Stuff the space between your jacket and your shirt with pine needles or dry leaves, for example. You can stuff your pants legs too. Sure, it might be itchy, but would you rather be itchy or frozen? If Mr. Kim had insulated himself with raw materials at hand, he might have been able to walk out of the wilderness. If you have some newspapers or magazines, these can be crumbled and stuffed into clothing. A few layers on the inside of a shoe or boot can make a considerable difference in foot comfort in cold weather. Cover your head. An old rule, and a good one, is "when your feet are cold, put on a hat." You are losing most of your heat through your head. Even if you have nothing but a bandana or a scarf, wrap up your head as best you can. Second priority: Water. If there is snow around, melt it before drinking. Otherwise it will lower your body temperature too much, contributing to hypothermia. You can melt it by the heat of your auto engine, you can put it in a dark container, insulate the bottom, and put it in the sun, or you can use heat from a fire. Third priority: Fire. It's best to carry a couple butane lighters even if you don't smoke. If you don't have lighters or matches, you will have to study Boy Scout or Indian methods of lighting fires, and those are beyond the scope of this piece. Pack the butane lighters. It’s much easier. And practice lighting some campfires in the back yard. You won’t find dry wood on the ground. Look for dead branches still on trees. Splurge. Buy a Boy Scout manual and pack it in your survival gear if you are not an expert camper. If you are an expert, you don’t need to read this anyway. Fourth priority: Food. Keep a few granola bars or other snacks in the glove compartment or in a small survival bag in the trunk. If you are stuck for a long time and these run out, look for easy food sources close by. Oak trees provide acorns. White and pin oak acorns are mild enough to eat raw. Other acorns will have to be mashed and the tannic acid leached out by changes of water before they are tolerable. Most grasses can be chewed and the tough fiber spit out. Grass seeds are nutritious for the most part. Avoid black or purple seeds, which may indicate infestation with a poisonous fungus. Pine trees have good in the cones. Pine nuts are a gourmet treat, you know. And you can get vitamin C by boiling pine needles, and the tea thus made isn't half bad, especially if you are lucky enough to have a little sugar. Perhaps in your survival bag in the trunk you could take a plastic baggie and toss in some of the little sugar packets you get at restaurants or drive-throughs. Handy, life-saving items are not necessarily expensive. One can find aluminized mylar "blankets" that cost a dollar or so and are compressed into a package about the size of two packs of cigarettes, and these reflect body heat back and are amazingly effective when wrapped around the body, and they are waterproof and will shed the rain if stretched over your head like a poncho. Note that in hot weather such as a desert environment, they are also extremely effective in reflecting back the sun and providing cool shade underneath. It is easier to pitch these if you have 20 feet of parachute cord in your survival bag. If not, you can use shoelaces, the draw string of swim shorts or sweat suits, or other cordage. Fifth priority: Signalling. Stomp words or crosses or arrows into the snow, pointing toward your vehicle. Break off a car mirror and use it to flash sunlight into the direction of a helicopter or airplane or snowmobile or any other possible rescuer. The back of a CD makes a reasonable reflector, for that matter. Find anything shiny. Burning a smoky fire or burning an auto tire to make smoke may catch the eye of a searcher. Tying a red or orange or yellow scarf to the top of the auto antenna might be the key to being found. Lastly, try to avoid getting stranded in the first place. Check the weather before setting out. Make sure you have enough gasoline. Know how to read a map. The Kims were trying to follow a map and simply became lost in a maze of backwoods roads. Think and plan for survival. The situation can go from bad to worse in a hurry. ------------ About the author Brooks A. Mick: Physician, still practicing medicine but retired from the US Army. Write just for the fun of it, but working on novel in the vein of Tom Clancy's politico-military genre. Email: brooks15@cox.net Comment on this article here! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com and are not allowed to be posted on other websites. 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