Lost and Alone
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Lost and Alone
Educational Goals
In the first day or two of a course, students need to be taught what to do if they become disoriented or lost around camp. Before students begin hiking without instructors, more detailed procedures for staying found need to be covered. Emphasis should be placed on maintaining composure, taking care of the group, preventing the situation from escalating, and being self-sufficient.
Key Points
Staying found in and around camp:
1. For each camp, establish landmarks or “handrails” that define the perimeter of the camp and where students can go and still be considered to be “in camp”
2. Emphasize the importance of the compass and whistle as well as the “ooh-aah” technique and when to use which one. Ooh AAh for general orientation and non-emergency. Whistle (set of three) for emergencies.
3. When leaving camp (such as for a short day hike):
a. Take a “life support pack”
b. Inform an instructor where you are going, when you plan to return, who is going, and why.
c. Pick out landmarks along the route such as streams, cliffs, forested areas, meadows, where the sun is etc.
d. Time the walk; it can be helpful to determine how long it will take to return.
If Disoriented or Lost Around Camp
1. Stay calm. Go to a high vantage point to get your bearings. Look, listen, and yell. Check for familiar landmarks. If landmarks can be identified, travel along them in the direction opposite the way you came. Listen for people talking.
2. If the person cannot determine their location, they should stay put. Search parties will be sent out after the missing person has not returned to camp when expected. Shouting or blowing a whistle may be helpful.
3. Find a comfortable place to spend the night well before dark. It is hard to choose a good site without light. It is drier under evergreen trees’ overhangs. It is warmer higher on hills and out of the wind.
4. For unplanned bivouacs, look for water to drink and ways to keep warm. Covering yourself with leaves or pine boughs helps create a pocket of warmth. Put on glasses or any other accessories that you happen to have that might cover more bare skin. Get a nap in early in the evening because you may not be able to sleep in the colder parts of the night.
5. If you wake up cold during the night, get up and run around in a small circle to get warm, then try to doze off quickly so you can get in a short nap before the cold wakes you again.
