Are you F@#$*!g kidding me!?

It’s a beautiful day, you’ve decided last minute you’re going to go for a hike in a new area you’ve never been to before. You grab some water and snacks for what you think will be a couple hour loop. After all you’ve look it up online and everyone says it’s not that hard. In your haste, you decide you don’t need your typical gear for such an easy hike.

On your way out the door maybe you say to your significant other “I going hiking for a couple hours. See you later.” That’s the only thing you say to them before you get to the trailhead. At some point on your hike, you take a path you think is part of the trail, but is been a while since you’ve seen any trail markers. While trying retrace your steps, you stumble on a rock, branch, uneven ground and have now severely sprained your ankle.

SHIT!!! I’m lost and injured! What do I do now? What can I do? Let’s hope this never happens but if it does, with a little preparation before you go out you can have a better outcome.

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THE EMERGENCY PLAN

What you should have in place is your ICE aka In Case of Emergency plan. What is it? What does it consist of? Why should I have one?

Your ICE plan is a plan you have in place just in case something happens to you while your away from home. Hell, even when at home you can still become incapacitated and may need someone else to call for help.

As my favorite survival instructor, Creek Stewart, says “It’s not IF, but WHEN.” You should have a plan in place because WHEN you get lost or injured someone can call for help if you’re unable to yourself. And besides it’s good practice. If nothing happens and you arrive home safe, you’ve lost nothing.

So what the heck should be in my Emergency plan? Well it should include at least the basic important information that a search and rescue team might need to find you in the event of an emergency. It would be a good idea to have your destination, a recent picture of yourself, and emergency contact.

My personal emergency plan includes the following:

• Scent BagCloth scent item
  • Form of picture ID
  • Emergency contact info
  • Emergency medical info
• Whistle
• Bright colored cloth
• At least 2 people who know your plans and itinerary
• Map of the area I’m going to be in

The scent bag should consist of a picture ID of yourself, your medical information, and a scent item. Your picture ID could be an old driver license or a picture with your name, address, and Date Of Birth written on the back. Remember your picture should be as recent as possible and all your contact info should be up to date.

As for medical information, yes it’s personal, but you want it there so the SAR team knows that your taking X,Y,Z meds and have A,B,C conditions so they can best aid you if it’s medical emergency or to avoid a medical emergency because your allergic to a medicine they’re giving you.

Your scent item should be any item, particularly those made of cloth, that can capture and hold your personal unique scent ID. The reason this is important is IF the initial search can’t locate you visually, they can call in tracking dogs who NEED that scent to lock onto so they might be able to locate your person and get you back to safety.

It’s worth noting and should go without saying, your scent bag should be placed somewhere where it can easily be accessible without having to break into your vehicle if you’re locking it. Of course if you don’t lock your vehicle, then you could put it out on a seat or the dashboard, but mark it as being for emergency or your scent/ID bag. Also, I didn’t do this but will in the future… Your scent item should be in a separate bag in your ICE bag to keep it separate from your other information. You want to make sure that you’re the only/last one to touch it. If you don’t do this, you risk throwing off the scent dogs.

Why do you need a whistle? Well your voice will only carry so far and when yell for help long enough, you’ll end up loosing your voice for a while. A whistle carry’s further and takes far less effort. Which means you can call for help longer until you can hear people close enough to hear your voice.

So what’s the deal with a bright colored cloth? I’m glad you asked. You see the bright colored cloth SHOULD BE in contrasting or non natural colors to the environment you’re planning on being in. This is so you can hang it on a branch that’s eye level within a few feet of where you are. You ARE purposely trying to draw attention to your area. If you can’t get up to hang it on a branch, you can wave it in you hand above your head or if you can reach a stick that’s long enough, tie it to that. No matter how you do it, your objective is draw attention to yourself. It’s not a color that blends in and it’s not moving in a way something in nature would, if someone is close enough to hear you,

You absolutely should let a couple of trusted people know your emergency plan before you leave for your trip. What information should they have? Well if you’re hiking/camping they should know:

• the number for the local ranger
• where your vehicle will be located
• where your scent bag is located
• your PCP and their number
• duration of your planned trip
• when you expect to be back
• You’re planned driving route
• If hiking, the trails you plan to be on
• You’re destination

This way if you haven’t checked in with them by the set upon date and time, they know something is wrong and can get help out to you sooner than later.

You should also carry a map and compass as part of your on person ICE plan. The map should a topographic map covering the area you’re going to be in. While just about any magnetic compass will do the job, I highly suggest a military style lentatic compass. But it’s not enough to just have them on you. You HAVE to know how to use them as well. Knowing how to find your location on a map of your lost is invaluable. Not only that if your able to, providing a rough location to a SAR team if you’re injured and able to call for rescue could be the difference between life and death.

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In Conclusion

What can we gleam from all this? Well we should all have an emergency plan in place before we head out into the the jungle, concrete or otherwise. Never and I mean NEVER think it won’t happen to you. The second you do, it probably will.

I know most of us won’t, but even that quick little walk around the neighborhood should have something in place. I know it seems ridiculous to make an itinerary every time you walk the dog or go to the mailbox. I know I don’t always have a detailed itinerary for shopping trips, getting the mail, walking the dogs, etc. But I do use some, all, or none of my emergency plan depending on where I’m going, who I’m with, and the perceived risk. And without question, if I’m on a solo trip, the full plan is in place. As a backup to the people I tell, I shoot off an email to the local ranger letting them know where I’m going, how long, my vehicle info, where my ICE bag will be located, etc.

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