Lost in a Big World
More Articles Related to BlogIt can happen to anyone. One moment your moving along minding your own business and thinking your own thoughts and then the next moment it suddenly hits you. Your lost.
Being lost in civilization is certainly a hassle but usually is no big deal. You keep on walking or driving or riding until you find some easily identifiable road or building or what have you. You can ask the locals some questions and get back on the right track. The way has been marked, paved, mapped, and streamlined for you. You can travel long distances relatively easily and you can even hunker down for a spell in a nice warm hotel and grab a bite to eat at the nearest store or restaurant.
Finding yourself lost in the wilderness is an altogether different matter. There is no corner 7-11 to stock up on provisions, no Motel 8 with a roof and fresh linens, no friendly local who can point you on your way. When you are lost in the wilderness you are alone. You are exposed to the changing weather, to cold, wet, heat, wind, thirst, and hunger. You often have fear and doubt to contend with, perhaps even injury or exhaustion. To get through this have to rely on yourself, your training and knowledge, and the survival equipment have with you.
The question arises. When you are lost should you stay put or should you try to find your way out? Most people try to find their way out. Most make it, some do not. The ones who don't we usually hear about in newspapers and on television. The reporters have a field day and we get our entertainment. Certainly it is one way to gain a fleeting measure of fame but I would not recommend it.
The successful survivor is an odds maker of the finest kind. He understands the likelihood of his choices of action leading to a positive conclusions. He devises plans and weighs them all to come up with the best approach. The person most likely to survive only takes on sure bets. To make the 99.99% life vs death bet is a fools bet. The active wilderness survivor has to make thousands of related decisions in his lifetime, if one in a thousand leads to serious consequences you can see the 99.99% bet can only lead to eventual tragedy.
Attempting to make your way out of the wilderness when lost can be a difficult undertaking. As mentioned earlier in this article, in civilization the way is usually well marked, paved, mapped, streamlined, and there are people to help you. Or if you are away from areas of population you may be on a dirt road or trail, its way cleared of obstacles and obviously heading somewhere.
Being lost in the wilderness isn't like that at all. Even maps, if you are fortunate enough to have them, will not show all the obstacles you may have to navigate while trying to get out. Unbridged rivers and streams can be deadly serious obstacles to getting from point a to point b. Swamps and lakes of in determinant size must be waded through or bypassed. There are often cliffs or long sections exposed to the sun or with lack of drinkable water. In forested areas blow downs and thick undergrowth can literally slow progress to a crawl. Traveling through this maze of obstacles can lead to exhaustion, injury, or getting yourself even more lost. You may even travel outside the bounds of where potential rescuers will be searching for you.
When you are lost in the wilderness you are lost in a big world. Break it down into a more manageable size by reading Lost in the Wilderness.
You are welcome to share this Survival Topic with others. I only request that you use a short blurb (not the entire survival content) and this code to
link to the origional:
