Planning for adventure travel can be exciting and intimidating.  Sometimes planning takes months, even years; other times, it takes just a few hours. The process, however, remains essentially the same, whether you’re prepping for a weekend backpacking trip or a long expedition.

Paddling the Columbia River

I plan the majority of adventures in my backyard, as I’m lucky enough to call the White Mountains home.  Even though I may have done a hike in the Whites many times before, it still requires a cursory check of the weather and trail conditions in order to properly prepare.  The time taken to plan a trip helps me build excitement and ultimately have a better time.  While you can never account for every detail (and why would you want to?), striking the perfect balance between preparation, spontaneity, and flexibility can lead to a perfectly executed adventure.

Adventure Travel: The Planning Process

Where to Wander

This is the fun part of trip planning.  Where does your mind go when it wanders?  Do you need a warm weather adventure to break up a cold northeastern winter?  Do you dream of carving perfect lines in an Alaskan snowfield?  Do you want to show a friend your favorite nearby hike?  There is freedom in making this choice, as you can go WHEREVER you want.  You don’t have to go to the trendiest spot on Instagram or follow any “50 places you must see before you die” lists – go where will make you the most happy and feel the most accomplished.

What goals do you want to achieve?  This varies from person to person.  For me, my travel goals are place oriented – I want to explore Banff National Park, or go trekking in Peru.  On the other hand, my husband’s goals are much more specific – he wants to climb Beckey-Chouinard in the Bugaboos and summit Alpamayo.  Traveling in groups requires more compromise than traveling solo; however, having a travel partner (or partners) will also drive you to take trips you never considered or thought possible.  Last summer, along with a group of incredible friends, I took a trip to Alberta and British Columbia.  The centerpiece of this adventure was a week of climbing in Bugaboo Provincial Park.

The drive in to the Bugaboos

While I always wanted to visit Banff, I hadn’t heard of the Bugaboos until one of our friends brought it up.  Immediately, I was entranced by the towering spires and beautiful scenery.  All it takes is some planning to make your travel dreams a reality.

Do Your Research

Become an expert on wherever you’re going.  Not only will it help you have a more enjoyable, less stressful trip, but it will also save you some trouble down the line.  What is the best season to visit your desired location?  Will you need any permits?  The research you do at home can give you more confidence in making spontaneous decisions and help keep you out of dangerous or potentially disappointing scenarios.  In doing research for the Bugaboos, I came across an interesting piece of information.  At the trailhead, which is miles back on a winding mountain road, you must wrap your car in chicken wire to prevent the local porcupines from chewing through your brake lines.

Preparing to keep some porcupines at bay!

Imagine arriving at your car after an exhausting week climbing in the backcountry, ready for a shower and a burger – only to find your brake lines severed by a hungry porcupine.  A little research goes a long way to ensure that you run into minimal roadblocks and understand what you’re getting yourself into.

Cars wrapped in chicken wire at the base of the Bugaboos

Beyond ensuring you have less issues, research also helps build excitement for the trip.  Looking into trip reports and reading guidebooks allows you to foster excitement about the trip to come.  While I was intimidated by the classic routes in the Bugaboos, I was able to research a number of routes within (or just beyond) my current climbing level.  This gave me motivation to train harder in preparation for the trip and gave me a realistic idea of what routes would put me in a dangerous situation.  While it’s important to put yourself out of your comfort-zone, research will ensure that you do so without taking on undue risk.

Pack Your Bags

As anyone who has ever traveled with me can confirm, I love my packing lists.  I write them out by hand and edit them in the weeks leading up to the trip.  I love traveling light, but hate being unprepared.  Drafting a packing list ahead of time helps me whittle down the list so that by the time we leave, only the essentials remain.

Snowy rock spires at the Bugaboos

In the Bugaboos, I knew we would be experiencing snow and cold temperatures, but I was leaving from a warm August in New England.  I drafted my first packing list after a winter hike in March when cold, blustery summits were still fresh in my mind.  Who knows if I would have remembered all of my winter layers and my Escape Pro Bivvy if I had waited until a 90⁰ summer day to pack my bag!

Hone Your Inner Fortune Teller

Wouldn’t it be nice if you could foresee and prevent all potential problems?  While this is unreasonable, there are a few things you can do to ensure preventable issues don’t arise.   I try to think through the entirety of my trip – is there anything I can do to prevent major issues?  The centerpiece of our Canada trip was Rock Climbing, and I knew we would be devastated if we weren’t able to do any climbing.

The beautiful, rocky Bugaboos

For this reason, we carried all of our essential rock climbing gear on the plane with us. (Note: after some research before doing this, we found out that TSA is only bothered by nut tools – keep that in your checked luggage).  While we got a thorough check when going through security (and our bags ended up safely meeting us in Calgary), it gave us piece of mind knowing that, if something were to go wrong and our bags didn’t end up joining us, we could still climb.  While you don’t always want to plan for “worst case scenario,” some preemptive problem solving can make your trip run smoothly.

Be Flexible

Hiking into the Bugaboos

A plan is only as good as its ability to change.  Just because something doesn’t end up working out the way you intended, doesn’t mean you can’t have a successful adventure.  During our Bugaboo trip, it seemed like our plans were foiled at every turn.  Due to a warm summer and forest fires, the glacier crossing necessary to access most of the classic routes was too dangerous to attempt.  On our approach to one of the accessible climbs, my partner sprained his ankle and needed to hike out.  (Though the hike out was made easier because of the C-Splint we included in our packing lists.)

Hiking out after a sprained ankle

As a result of the forest fires, the Provincial government began closing down all public lands, leaving us with limited options for adventures back in town.  Laid out like this, these factors seem like they could ruin a trip.  Due to our prior research, we had back up plans for our back up plans and ended up having a lovely time.  We didn’t let our disappointment at not reaching our intended climbs weigh on us (for too long), and enjoyed paddling the Columbia River, soaking in Radium Hot Springs, and hiking in Kootenay National Park.

When a plan goes awry, the only thing to do is maintain an optimistic attitude and remain flexible. You can plan all you want, but sometimes Mother Nature and unforeseen circumstances get the best of you.  All you can do is rely your knowledge, and adjust.

Although a lot goes into planning an adventure, the most important part is remembering why you’re taking the trip in the first place.  Whether you have a major goal in mind or want to soak in the beautiful scenery of a new place, make sure to enjoy the journey.  Time to start dreaming – safe travels!

About the Author

Chelsea Miller grew up hiking and skiing in the White Mountains, which have always held a special place in her heart. She started working at Tender Corporation in 2015 in order to make the Whites her home.  When she’s not hiking, rock climbing, or mountain biking throughout New England, you can find her day dreaming about her next big adventure.  Recently she’s traveled Thailand, Western Canada, and Germany and is looking forward to trips to SLC, Wyoming, and the UK.

We’re excited to partner with SheJumps in their efforts to get more women and girls involved in the outdoors and educated about outdoor safety. They used gear from Adventure^® Medical Kits and Survive Outdoors Longer^® at many of their events in 2017, including their Junior Ski Patrol. Check out this review to learn more about their mission, see photos from their events, and hear about their favorite gear! – Adventure^® Medical Kits

Getting Girls Outdoors

SheJumps is a non-profit whose mission is to increase the participation of women and girls in outdoor activities. We do that through helping women of all ages Jump In, Jump Up, and Jump Out. And what we mean by that is:

JUMP IN: Never-evers

We create activities and events that directly help those who might never otherwise have the chance to experience the benefits of challenging oneself in the outdoors.

JUMP UP: Already Active

We provide opportunities for women looking for a supportive community to try new things, get better at what they already do, and give back and share what they know and love.

JUMP OUT: Elite athletes who are positive female role models and are looking to give back through sharing their skills and stories

We are a voice for the up-and-coming athletes and a place to share with the community. These athletes have the opportunity to be directly involved in encouraging other women to take a ‘jump,’ with the goal of offering young girls real role models through story and action.

We believe in the Girafficorn- half giraffe, half unicorn, all magic. This mystical creature represents preserving and keeping your head held high above all chaos and drama while keeping your feet grounded. She’s there to remind us to follow our dreams in the outdoors and beyond… with the support of a hint of magic that helps us to lighten up and play along the journey.

Unique Initiatives to Help Get Girls Outdoors

SheJumps is unique in that our programs are designed to fulfill our promise to not only increase female participation in outdoor activities, but also to ensure that younger generations have the resources they need to get outside through adventure, education, and community building. We have:

Youth Initiatives: SheJumps’ Youth Initiatives are geared towards building life skills and empowering ownership and confidence through exposure to positive female role models, supportive communities, and the outdoors .

Outdoor Education: Our Outdoor Education programs focus on providing technical skills for all abilities and endeavors in the outdoors.

Get The Girls Out: Our ‘Get the Girls Out!’ Program focuses on connecting girls and women in our communities with inspiring and dedicated female outdoor enthusiasts.

Wild Skills: SheJumps’ Wild Skills youth events teach young girls the survival and technical skills they need for outdoor adventuring.

Community Initiatives: Our Community Initiatives are social events that focus on the SheJumps mission and team building.

Every single program looks at safety. We spend anywhere from 3 months to a year planning programs, depending on the program, so we are always preparing and looking to make sure we cover all of our bases.

She Jumps & Adventure^® Medical Kits: Teaching Outdoor Safety

Adventure^® Medical Kits is a good fit for SheJumps because we both have missions to encourage preparedness. The Adventure^® Medical Kits mission is to provide innovative, high quality first aid and preparedness products for work, home, and your next adventure. SheJumps is creating the same sort of preparedness in women for all adventure in life at home, at work, and in the outdoors. Both organizations have similar goals, and when they combine forces, the preparedness through education speaks volumes and brings confidence.

Product Review

Building Skills with Adventure^® Medical Kits and Survive Outdoors Longer^®

Some of our favorite products are the Survive Outdoors Longer^® Scout, the Ultralight/Watertight .5, and the Mountain Series Day Tripper.

These products are essential for our Wild Skills Program because SheJumps’ Wild Skills youth events teach young girls the survival and technical skills they need for outdoor adventuring. These skills can be applied in any season or region and include first aid, navigation, leave no trace, 10 essentials, shelter building, and more.

With the help of these different kits, we are able to introduce and encourage more girls to take on new and exciting challenges. The Wild Skills youth initiative is now in its 3rd year of providing outdoor education to girls ages 6-12 from across the country. In 2016, we hosted 5 events serving 222 girls with the help of 190 mentors. And every new opportunity to introduce young girls to a variety of skills and products to use with the skills only increases their confidence in the outdoors.

Easy to Use Medical Kits

Our favorite features of the products are the simplicity and ease of use. Each product comes in its own storage, allowing for everything to always stay more organized. It’s everything you need and nothing you don’t to be prepared. We work a lot with day trips, so that is mostly what we are working with, but having these kits for girls to look at and see and open up to discover what is in them and why is crucial to getting more people exposed to not only the product, but introducing them to how to use it properly.

Gear that Provides Peace of Mind

Our trips are easier knowing that we have the ease of mind from having all of our bases covered. You can never be too prepared for any event. I never travel without a first aid kit of some sort for any adventure – It could be a 30 minute stroll up a mountain in town or a full multi-day trip. I will always have something, because it is better to be prepared than not, and just to always avoid any issues.

Overall: Would You Recommend?

YES! It’s the same as the question before – everyone (and I mean everyone!) should have a first aid kit of sorts for every single adventure! There are no questions- just be prepared for the worst, and the best should typically happen.

This January, adventurer, biologist, and photographer Ross Exler will embark on the first ever human-powered solo-crossing of the African Great Lakes system in support of The Nature Conservancy. His journey will include approximately 1,000 miles of paddling across the lakes with 600 miles of biking between the lakes and will take him through remote parts of Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, and Uganda. We’re excited to support Ross as he seeks to raise awareness about the lakes and support conservation efforts. Below, Ross shared with us about his decision to make this journey and his plans for safety. – Adventure^® Medical Kits

For many years now, I’ve been driven to go out and explore wild places around the world. In 2015, I paddled an inflatable kayak 1,000 kilometers through the Ecuadorian and Peruvian Amazon, staying each night in small villages. When I hit the Amazon River, I had a small motorized canoe built, which I navigated a couple thousand more kilometers through Peru, Colombia, and Brazil. To date, I’ve spent about 2 years of my life traveling in Africa, mostly solo expeditions, and have visited dozens of wilderness areas in East and Southern Africa.

My next expedition, which will commence in January 2018, will be the first entirely human-powered, solo-crossing of the African Great Lakes system. I will attempt to paddle a kayak across Lake Malawi, Lake Tanganyika, and Lake Victoria, traveling between the lakes via bicycle and along with all of my equipment. The journey will be over 1,600 miles and will take me through remote parts of Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, and Uganda. I’ll be doing the trip alone, and every mile will be earned through the fair means of paddling or bicycling.

When I tell people about this expedition, they usually ask me one of two questions:

1. What are the African Great Lakes?
2. How do you stay safe?

I find that first question to be rather tragic, serving as further motivation for my trip, while the second question certainly deserves considerable thought. I’ll try to briefly answer both.

What are the African Great Lakes?

I was first introduced to the African Great Lakes when I worked in a college lab studying several species of fish from Lake Tanganyika. I soon found out that these lakes have some amazing distinctions: Lake Tanganyika is the longest lake in the world, the second deepest (over 4,800 feet deep), and the second largest lake in the world by volume. Lake Victoria is the largest tropical lake in the world by surface area, and the second largest overall. Lake Malawi is the fourth largest freshwater lake in the world by volume. Altogether, the lakes comprise nearly 25% of the world’s unfrozen freshwater.

Further, the lakes are remarkably important for biodiversity. They contain thousands of species of fish, with as much as 10% of the world’s species of fish living in these three lakes alone. By some estimates, Lake Malawi holds the largest number of fish species of any lake in the world. Additionally, the shores of Lake Tanganyika include the Mahale Mountains and Gombe Stream, both known for their populations of chimpanzees.

Unfortunately, the lakes are under threat due to overfishing, invasive species, climate change, and pollution inputs from deforestation and other human activities. These impacts are all contributing to ecological degradation of the lakes. One estimate suggests that over 200 species of cichlids found only in Lake Victoria have gone extinct in the past 30 years alone. These environmental issues also endanger the millions of people who live along the shores of these vast lakes.

After having visited the African Great Lakes region and completing my solo Amazon expedition, I came up with the idea of enchaining the three largest of the African Great Lakes by kayak and bicycle. As I planned the expedition, one of my goals was to team up with a conservation non-profit who works within the region, to help increase awareness.

That’s when I came across the work of The Nature Conservancy’s Tuungane Project, which operates along the Tanzanian section of Lake Tanganyika. The Tuungane Project brings a multidisciplinary approach to conservation and addressing the extreme poverty that is the underpinning of environmental degradation in the region. Their efforts include introducing fisheries education and management, terrestrial conservation, healthcare, and women’s health services and education, agricultural training, and other efforts to increase the quality of life and understanding on how human activities impact the very resources that the local people depend on for survival. Without the buy-in of local communities, efforts to conserve this incredible region will likely be unsuccessful.

How Do I Stay Safe?

The answer to this question is a fairly straight forward product of preparation and experience with regards to the different dangers and threats I am likely to face.

Animals & Weather

As someone with a background in biology and having spent a lot of time in the African bush, I’m well aware of the animals which may be present, their habitat preferences, and behaviors. Much like traveling in bear country, simple behaviors such as keeping a clean camp, traveling only during the day, avoiding likely habitats, knowing the behaviors of species (such as predatory or territorial), and maintaining constant vigilance can go a long way.

The lakes themselves are often referred to as inland seas, where storms and large waves can be a threat. So, I will rely on my years of experience on the water and travel prepared with the right equipment: an extremely seaworthy folding sea kayak and a securely fastened PFD.

Criminal

People can also be a threat to safety, but in my experience people are generally good and welcoming, and some common sense, vigilance, and interaction with local people should keep me safe. I’ve talked with local people and asked about crime and threats to safety, and their advice is generally good. On the whole, the areas that I am visiting are mostly populated with small rural villages, which are generally extremely safe. I will have to be more vigilant around larger towns or cities, or if someone points out a specific threat.

Diseases & Injuries

The final threat to my safety on this trip is wilderness health. This poses a unique challenge on my trip because I will be traveling alone in regions that suffer from endemic tropical disease and have little or no medical infrastructure. Similarly to other threats, a combination of education, preparation, and a having a plan in place can diminish or neutralize most of these health dangers.

First, it is important to understand the diseases that pose a health threat and understand transmission, recognizing symptoms, and treatment. Prevention of infection is the single most important thing that I can do. Before I leave home, I will identify all diseases for which there is an option for immunization or prophylaxis and make sure to diligently follow through. To prevent infection from ingested diseases, I will only drink verifiably treated water and only eat thoroughly cooked or reputably packaged food. I use UV and filter treatment for water, always have the ability to boil water as a backup, and generally cook my own food.

The main routes of transmission for parasites in the region where I will be traveling include exposure to contaminated water (Schistosoma) and being bitten by insects which carry diseases (Malaria and African Sleeping Sickness). To prevent this, I will take Malaria prophylaxis, insist on wearing clothes that are treated with insect repellent chemicals, such as permethrin, use insect repellents such as Ben’s 100 DEET and Natrapel Picaridin, and attempt to keep my skin covered as well as possible. To prevent exposure to Schistosoma, I shall avoid contact with the water, especially near shore and around villages and vegetation. It is advisable to know what types of areas have a higher density of the insects, and what part of the day they are active, and avoid both if possible.

If I do fall ill or am injured, it’s important to know how to deal with it and be prepared with the necessary medicine and medical supplies to do so. I recommend taking a Wilderness First Responder (WFR) course, and doing as much research as possible into first aid and tropical disease (or whatever diseases exist in the area where you are traveling). Another excellent resource that I always bring is a small wilderness medicine book, such as A Comprehensive Guide to Wilderness & Travel Medicine by Eric Weiss, MD. I always carry a full range of medications so that I have some ability to respond to illness in the field. I am also packing a well-equipped first aid kit, in this case an Adventure^® Medical Kits Mountain Series Guide Kit, which has supplies to cover situations including wound care, musculoskeletal injuries, cuts, bleeding, and over the counter medications.

Emergency Evacuation Plan

Finally, I utilize a satellite telephone and medical evacuation service in case of emergency. This service provides me with a final layer of protection, should the worst happen. I can call them and speak with a doctor who can talk me through diagnosis and treatment, and if necessary, they will extract me from the field and take me to a medical facility.

So, my advice to any adventurers or people of adventurous spirit is to seize the day and go out there, but make sure to be safe by going educated and going prepared

– Ross Exler

Picture Credits: Ross Exler Photography

Written by Wild Skills Director, Christy Pelland

On December 16, 2017, SheJumps Wild Skills hosted Junior Ski Patrol at Crystal Mountain a day camp where girls learned mountain safety and first aid while working with the strong women of the ski patrol community and SheJumps volunteers. Throughout the day, participants were taught a range of outdoor skills that are utilized by ski patrollers to keep the mountain safe. Topics included first aid, avalanche control, snow science, weather stations, toboggans, avalanche rescue techniques, avalanche dogs and much more. There was also plenty of snack breaks, high fives and unicorns delivering hot cocoa!

The day started at 9:30am with registration, meeting team members, filling our pockets with snacks (Thank you Clif Bar!) and making Junior Ski Patroller cards. Teams consisted of 8 participants, 3 SheJumps volunteers and 1 Crystal Mountain pro patroller.

At 10am, the teams headed to ski patrol headquarters located at the base of Crystal Mountain. We entered in through the ‘Ski Patrol Only’ entrance and cozied up in the patrol locker room for a briefing by ski patrol director, Kim Kircher. Kim talked about what ski patrol does, how they educate the community, the skier’s responsibility code and more. After a Q & A, teams toured the aid room and witnessed patrollers in action as a skier was cared for.

By 10:30am, Teams Blue & Orange were headed to the summit and Teams Purple & Green over to Campbell Basin. All teams started the morning station set with First Aid which was housed in tents provided by our generous partner, Big Agnes. Patrollers led demonstrations in prevention and care of injuries – role playing situations which included making splints and stopping bleeding. A big thank you to our program partner, Adventure^® Medical Kits for providing all the gear needed in order to create this part of the event. Also, for giving each participant a first aid kit & emergency blanket!

Next up, teams learned about snowmobiles, toboggans and why patrollers cache gear on the mountain. This station set included finding caches and learning how to load & maneuver the toboggans. Many girls I talked to said driving and riding in the toboggans was their favorite part of the day!

I bet you’d like to know the secret to pulling off successful youth events in the mountains? Well, get ready for it: UNICORNS DELIVERING HOT COCOA! That’s right, our team of 4 unicorn delivered piping hot cocoa complete with whipped cream & sprinkles to our 32 participants, 20 volunteers and 6 pro patrollers.

Lunch was included in this event and consisted of everyone’s favorite: PIZZA! Crystal Mountain recently installed a wood fire pizza oven in Campbell Basin Lodge and OH is it amazing! Our crew annihilated 12 large pizzas and 2 giant bowls of pasta before heading back out into the snow.

After lunch, each team was greeted by a unicorn carrying avalanche beacons, probes and shovels. The unicorns gave instructions about the Buried Treasure Hunt and patrollers lead the team in how to properly conduct a search. At SheJumps, we strongly believe in education and fun – our events blend both of these elements to make for the safest and most entertaining adventure possible. After tracking down the buried treasure each team uncovered their booty: a BCA beacon & box full of donut holes. Special thanks to Backcountry Access (BCA) for providing all the beacons, probes, shovels, slope meters and crystal cards for this event.

Once the girls had their fill of donuts, all teams hiked thru the trees into a secluded area of Campbell Basin. This was a challenge for some of the girls who have never done this level of side stepping and technical skiing/snowboarding. Yet all made it and were greeted by enthusiastic high fives. After all were settled into the snow, Kim Haft led a presentation on the avalanche dog program at Crystal Mountain sharing many interesting aspects about the dogs such as how they are trained and how the dogs like to spend their summer vacations.

Once Kim was done answering questions, we turned our attention to Christina Hale & Kala who were located on the slope above us. Everyone sat in silence as Kala charged across the hill searching out the scent. In seconds she’d found it and began frantically digging – pulling up the sweater that had been buried earlier that day. Christina loudly praised Kala as did the rest of us – it was quite the sight!

As we exited the area, we were treated to a stash of fresh pow!

The afternoon station sets included touring the weather stations and avalanche prevention. At the weather stations, teams learned how data is gathered and how to find & read weather reports. This station also included lessons on snow crystals and the science behind them.

The avalanche prevention set included seeing the different control routes at Crystal Mountain as well as stories of past avalanches. Teams discussed terrain assessment, the human factor and the importance of making good decisions.

There was a lot of information covered during this day but teams still found time to do a bit of free skiing – some even ran into unicorns!

At 3:30pm, all teams gathered for wrap up which included certificates for completing the day and a sweet swag bag filled with a watertight first aid kit from Adventure^® Medical Kits, SheJumps lip balm by EcoLips, and Clif bar notebook.

Our goal with SheJumps Wild Skills is to see girls learning, having fun and connecting in an encouraging environment with amazing instruction and support from female mentors. We want Wild Skills to be an experience they will remember, one that will spark a lifetime of passion for the outdoors and will remind them that they are capable of anything. Giving participants, young and old, the opportunity to learn skills in a fun yet challenging setting develops perseverance and fosters confidence. Thanks to all that helped make this program come to life!

This was the first event of it’s kind for Wild Skills and we’re looking forward to bringing it to other mountain communities this season including Big Sky, Sun Valley and Alta. If you’re interested in bringing Junior Ski Patrol to your local hill – contact Wild Skills Director, Christy Pelland cpelland@shejumps.org

Special thanks to our partners:

Crystal Mountain Resort

Crystal Mountain Ski Patrol

Clif Bar

BCA

Yukon Trading Company

Big Agnes

High fives to our photographers:

Ryan French

Blake Kremer

Big up to our videographer, Max Chesnut for capturing the magic!

Skier, climber, mother, and the first woman to climb Everest and Lhotse in a single 24-hour period, Hilaree O’Neill is an adventurer like no other! This spring, Hilaree accomplished her personal goal of climbing and skiing the “Peak of Evil,” a 21,165-foot mountain in the Indian Himalayas. Her team is the first party to ever complete a ski descent of the mountain. We asked Hilaree what the experience was like and how she prepared for the expedition. Here’s what she said: 

“From a Skier’s Perspective, Papsura Was Absolutely Perfect”

For most of my adult life, I have been a professional adventurer. Climbing, skiing, and generally clinging to the side of big mountains has always been my medium of choice. Often to access many of the places my passion leads, myself and my partners must be well versed in self-reliance. Expedition-style travel is especially tricky to plan for due to the length and remoteness of the undertaking.

Just this last May, I returned to a mountain that I had long been obsessed with in a very remote region of the Indian Himalayas. Along with two partners, I set out for a month-long journey to climb and ski Papsura Peak, aka the Peak of Evil. I had first seen the twin peaks of Papsura and Dharamsura back in 1999, on my very first expedition. From a skier’s perspective, Papsura, the taller of the two peaks, was absolutely perfect. This last May was my second attempt on the Peak of Evil and my 5^th expedition to this region of India.

Photo Credit: Jim Morrison

It was about a four day walk to get from the nearest village to the mountain’s basecamp at 14,000 ft. From there, it was another 8,000 ft and nearly two weeks of acclimatizing and route-finding to reach the summit.

So How Does One plan for Such a Trip?

One of the first, and most important, things to consider is your medical kit. There must be some balance between being your first and best source of medical treatment should something go wrong and packing a manageable weight and bulk, as well as the effectiveness and accessibility of your supplies.

This is where Adventure^® Medical Kits comes into the picture…

Prior to any expedition, I will take several different parts of my medical kits, pull everything out, and compile them into 2 to 3 different systems. In the case of our Papsura Expedition, I doubled down with Adventure^® Medical Kits Ultralight/Watertight Pro, as I knew we had porters to assist with our gear all the way to basecamp, and therefore we could have the relative luxury of a very extensive kit. From there, however, we were on our own.

Photo Credit: Chris Figenshau

At that point, we left behind the bigger medical resources at basecamp and brought individual smaller kits like the Ultralight/Watertight .7 that each of us carried all the way to our high camp. The experience I had in the area from my previous trips helped me know how to narrow down not only our supplies, equipment, but even our route to such an extent that we were able to laser focus on the objective at hand: a remote 3000ft, 50 plus degree face of snow and ice at high altitude.

When it came time for our summit push, we planned on paring our kits down even further to just one fist-sized medical kit, the Ultralight/Watertight .5, that would go in one of our packs as group medical supplies.

Of course, at each point along the climb we would further specialize what we carried with us based not only on size and weight, but also on being able to treat the most likely type of injuries, given our activities. For example, the trauma pack and the C-splint would make it all the way to high camp, while the burn pads, allergy meds, and bulk of the blister kit might get left at basecamp. The summit kit would include ibuprofen and other altitude meds augmented from the pharmacy at home, steri-strips, a single Survive Outdoors Longer^® Survival Blanket, plus maybe the trauma pack and tape. We would rely on our ice axes or ski poles to fill the need of a C-splint, and extra clothing to act as tourniquets or slings should there be a need.

Of course, it’s impossible to plan for everything so, again, it’s a balance, and the best case scenario is to never have to use any of it. Fortunately, the most use we got out of our medical kits were the ibuprofen, lots of blister stuff mostly for our porters, along with triple antibiotic and the occasional Easy Access Bandage^®!

On May 15th, We Went for It.

Photo Credit: Jim Morrison

Without a doubt, our trip to the summit proved to be one of the most intense and committing climbs I have ever done. For two weeks, we pushed hard every day until we felt we were ready to tackle the west face in single day push.

We arose in the darkness at 3am. We started the climb two hours later and moved continuously up the face for 9 hours before we finally reached the first reasonable spot to take off our packs and rest – this spot happened to be about 50 feet below the summit. After a long pause where we drank and ate and waited for the monsoonal clouds to lift, we finally tagged the summit and started our ski descent. While conditions were amazing for climbing, they were pretty rugged for skiing, and our descent took another 4 hours. All in all it was about a 20 hour day.

Photo Credit: Jim Morrison

By the time we crawled into our sleeping bags, we were exhausted – tapped both physically and mentally.  It took a few days of recovery for the enormity of our effort to be fully appreciated.  We were the first Americans to summit Papsura Peak and the first party to ever complete a ski descent of the mountain. More importantly though for me, I had stuck with my obsession and seen it through to the end!

Photo Credit: Chris Figenshau

About Hilaree O’Neill

The first woman to climb both Everest and Lhotse in a single 24-hour period, Hilaree O’Neill’s mountain adventures led Outside Magazine to name her one of the most adventurous women in the world of sports. For Hilaree, skiing is the gateway to possibility. She started skiing at age 3 at Steven’s Pass in the Cascade Mountains of Washington state. She took a leap of faith shortly after graduating from Colorado College and moved to Chamonix, France, where she was introduced to the world of big mountain skiing and climbing. From there, the place for Hilaree was anywhere she could cut turns on mountain slopes: volcanoes in the Kamchatka Peninsula of Russia, in Mongolia, India, Lebanon, and first descents of the tight couloirs of Baffin Island in the Canadian Arctic.

Between expeditions, Hilaree O’Neill spends her time as a mother, adventuring with her two sons. In addition, her writing has been published in National Geographic Adventure, National Geographic’s “The Call of Everest”, the Ski Journal, Outside Journal, and several other publications. Hilaree continues to travel the globe, always looking for new ski objectives and honest suffer-fests.

Canyon Country Youth Corps members rafting downriver to provide conservation work

The Colorado River Watershed begins high in the snowcapped Rocky Mountains, providing a vital water source for cities across the Southwestern United States from Las Vegas to Grand Junction to Los Angeles and San Diego. This watershed also provides vital water to California farmers in the “world’s breadbasket.”

Clogged Waterways & Lost Habitats

Invasive tamarisk and Russian olive trees have clogged these waterways, destroying native habitats, wasting an important water supply, and making recreational activities difficult. Adventure^® Medical Kits supports youth crews in removing these invasive species through their donation of medical and first aid kits to the Canyon Country Youth Corps.

Overgrowth and brush from invasive species have clogged the Colorado River Watershed

Restoration & Conservation Work

Canyon Country Youth Corps has been working with its partners on an intensive removal effort along the Dolores and Escalante Rivers for over the last five years. These two rivers have been chosen because they are major arteries into the Colorado River. If tamarisk and Russian olive are removed from these and other arteries, seeds will stop flowing into the Colorado River, thus protecting the larger watershed from the further spreading of these invasive trees.

Rafting down the river to reach areas that need clearing out

Removal efforts require Canyon County Youth Corps members to raft far into the remote backcountry on these rivers for up to 10 days at a time. When pulling together a work trip along these rivers, things can become challenging. Crews need to carry chainsaws, fuel, hand tools, and herbicides. Sections of these rivers are remote. The Canyon Country Youth Corps often uses horses to reach the Escalante River. The Dolores River goes from wild whitewater to a trickle within a few miles, making the rafting experience an adventure.

The breathtaking beauty of the Colorado River Watershed

At the beginning of a recent trip on the Dolores River, a scout raft was funneled into a boulder and three of its occupants were launched into the river. Luckily no one was hurt, but the crews were prepared if there had been an injury because of the medical kits they had from Adventure^® Medical Kits.

Camping along the river edge for the night

Conservation: A Team Effort

These important efforts to remove invasive species involve a number of different groups. The Tamarisk Coalition, Escalante River Watershed Partners, Dolores River Restoration Partnership, Western Colorado Conservation Corps, Southwest Conservation Corps, and public lands agencies from the affected states and federal government work together to complete this effort. Often, these trips require authorization from wildlife biologists or environmental clearance because crews go into sensitive areas with endangered birds or delicate ecosystems.

Big thanks to Adventure^® Medical Kits for their support of this work. They are helping make our waterways healthy and sustainable.

About Canyon Country Youth Corps

The 2017 Canyon Country Youth Corp crew

For over 30 years, Four Corners School of Outdoor Education has created learning experiences about the Colorado Plateau through programs like the Canyon Country Youth Corps. This program hires young adults to complete conservation and other service projects on public lands in order to support the health and accessibility of these lands.

Adventure^® Medical Kits is proud to have supported the work of Four Corners School’s for over 20 years.

Ever wonder what you’d do if a medical emergency happened while you were out in the wilderness? One of our employees recently took a course in Wilderness First Aid at SOLO Schools. She’s extremely excited to share what she learned! – Adventure^® Medical Kits

My dad and I after hiking up Mt. Lafayette

An avid hiker, I grew up scaling the White Mountains of NH with my father without injury (excluding your normal blisters and scrape). Though I lacked personal experience with first aid in the wild, I knew wilderness emergencies weren’t uncommon.

I remember the day my father came home from a hike and said he’d spent 20 minutes near the top of Mt. Lafayette helping a stranger descend only a few hundred feet of the trail. The stranger fell and shattered his kneecap on the rocks, making every step excruciating. Thankfully, they bumped into a rescue team on a practice climb that quickly became real, and my dad continued down alone.

My dad and I on top of Mt. Jackson

Since that day, I’d often wondered what I would do if faced with an injured hiker on the trail. Would I be able to offer any help at all? Miles from professional care surrounded by trees and mountains, I wasn’t equipped to be someone’s best chance at survival, and what if that someone was my dad?

This year, I was given the opportunity to attend a Wilderness First Aid (WFA) course at SOLO School of Wilderness Medicine. Walking onto the campus, I was unsure of what to expect out of the next two days. If nothing else, I was excited for the chance to learn a few first aid tips from wilderness experts. I learned much more than that.

Wilderness First Aid: Day 1

“Is anyone NOT ready?”

When you have five people about to attempt lifting an injured companion, you don’t ask “Is everyone ready?” You may not here the responding “no” over all of the “yes’s.” With a possible spinal complication, missing something and dropping your injured friend is not an option.

“Okay… one, two, three, lift!”

With one smooth motion, we lifted our patient from the cold ground to waist level, all without moving his spine. Surprised at our success, we froze for a moment, before the team leader (holding the patient’s head) followed up with, “Okay, we move on three!” We traversed the rough ground and safely placed our friend onto a foam pad. Thrilled at our success, we listened to feedback from our instructor and “injured” friend on how they felt our practice had gone.

Practicing making splints at a SOLO course. PC: SOLO Schools

We’d only met each other earlier that morning, but as we stood outside the main building in the afternoon sun, our group was already beginning to turn into a team, forged by a common desire to learn and to be prepared to help others. Like me, my fellow classmates were driven by this desire to take the WFA course at SOLO. None of us were disappointed.

In 2 Days, There’s a Lot You Can Learn

Over the course of those two days, I was immersed in an innovative, hands-on learning experience. I learned how to improvise splints out of coats and bandanas, immobilize a victim’s spine with backpacks and baseball caps, and treat wounds ranging from lacerations to serious burns with items like honey and rain jackets. We covered assessing both unconscious and conscious patients, including identifying and treating life threats, monitoring vital signs, maintaining a soothing presence, and making an evacuation plan.

Improvising a leg splint. PC: SOLO Schools

How often should you change burn dressings? How do you recognize potentially life-threatening infections? When should you be concerned about a spinal injury? What should you do in a lightning storm? What are the early signs of shock, and how can you treat it? These are only a handful of the questions we learned how to answer.

New Skills to the Test

Working as a team to practice assessing and caring for a patient. PC: SOLO Schools

Not only did we learn though – we also did. Hardly an hour of lecture would pass before our instructor had us outside practicing our new skills, with some of us acting as patients and some as caregivers. Outside, lifting companions, assessing broken bones, and applying pressure to stop major bleeds, our class of about 20 learned how to manage difficult patients, quickly assess scenes, and rule out spinal injuries.

Course Highlights

So out of this whirlwind weekend of knowledge and skill application, what did I enjoy most? This is gonna take a list:

• Our instructor. Seriously – she was awesome! An amazing resource for both professional medical knowledge and practical ideas for when situations actually occur. From improvisation techniques to a great sense of humor, I couldn’t have asked for a better teacher. And she encouraged questions!
• My classmates. I emerged out of that class with new friends who love the outdoors like I do, yet have a variety of experiences and backgrounds to speak out of. They asked relevant, insightful questions of our instructor that contributed to everyone’s learning. From a grade school teacher who leads the school’s hiking club to a wilderness first responder getting recertified, our differences and similarities worked together to make learning fun and effective.
• Learning what’s left to learn. Headed into the WFA course, I knew I didn’t know enough… but I didn’t know how much I could know! Now, I have a firm grasp of what wilderness emergencies I’m equipped to handle and which I’m not, and I’m excited about the possibility of furthering my knowledge with another SOLO course in the future.
• Packing recommendations. Ever wonder what you should be carrying for first aid supplies? Or have a first aid kit but only a vague idea how to use it? That’s part of what makes this course so great – throughout the day, we got tips from our instructor and each other on the most useful supplies to pack and when and how to use tools like an irrigation syringe, triangular bandage, tourniquet, and more.

Choosing to Be Prepared

Hiking down Mt. Washington

Whether you’re a trip leader or just an outdoor enthusiast looking to become more prepared, I highly recommend the WFA course at SOLO as a great starting point to build a foundation of first aid knowledge that could save your life, a friend’s, or a total strangers. If you own a first aid kit and haven’t taken the time to look through it, this course is a must for preparing you in how to use what’s inside. A bit of advice I learned from my course: first aid supplies are only as effective as the person carrying them.

About SOLO

The oldest continuously operating school of wilderness medicine in the world, SOLO offers wilderness medicine education on a variety levels for everyone from outdoor enthusiasts to trip leaders to trained professionals. The WFA course is a 16-hour course that provides a 2 year certification and covers the basics of backcountry medicine. On the other end of the spectrum, SOLO’s Wilderness Emergency Medical Technician (WEMT) course lasts a month, and participants who pass emerge with the national EMT certificate and thorough training in wilderness-specific medicine and long-term care. Courses can be attended on their campus in Conway, NH, or at off-site locations across the United States.

Ever wonder what you’d do if you found yourself in the wild without sufficient food and water? To survive, finding water has to be a top priority, but once you’ve found drinkable water, you’ll need to determine what’s safe to eat. We asked Paul Turner, an avid outdoor traveler with experience finding food in the wild, for some tips on identifying edible plants and avoiding poisonous ones. Not only did he send us some amazing information, but some fun recipes to try as well! – Adventure^® Medical Kits

Finding Food in the Wild

I had a chance to attend a short survival course in Brunei, a country filled with biodiverse rainforest. The course had me breaking a wild chicken’s neck and skinning a frog just to prepare whatever meals we can get in the forest. Of course, there are less gory ways to get food when you’re out in the wilderness.

You can impress your family and friends by finding the edible plants and preparing exotic meals. If not, it’s still a good knowledge to have just in case you’re lost in the forest and have finished your food supplies (I hope this never happens!). It’s important you know what plants are poisonous so you don’t end up harming yourself or your friends.

One bite from the Deathcap Mushroom can bring you to the underworld and it only takes one Belladonna leaf to make you so sick, you may wish you were dead. Additionally, just like some people are allergic to poison ivy while some are not, you may have an allergy or personal health concern that others may not have. For this reason, I urge you to adopt this mantra: If you’re not sure about a plant, don’t pick, cook, or eat it. 

Plants that Kill

Doll’s Eyes

Description: White berries taste sweet and act like a sedative, stopping the heart and causing a quick death.
Characteristics: This flower looks scary enough that you wouldn’t want to try it. It looks like a bunch of eyeballs connected with red branches.
Where to find it: Found on the eastern side of US and Canada. The flower blooms from late summer to early fall.

Angel’s Trumpets

Description: This pretty looking but deadly plant can cause heart failure, paralysis, and coma.
Characteristics: Its flowers looks like a bunch of dangling white, yellow, or pink bells.
Where to find it: Originally from South America, it is common now as a home-grown plant.

Strychnine Trees

Description: Bears green to orange fruit so toxic that 30 mg. can trigger convulsions and death.
Characteristics: The funnel-shaped flowers let off a rotten smell, and the orange berries are covered in a smooth and hard shell.
Where to find it: Found in southern Asia, India, Sri Lanka, and Australia.

English Yew

Description: It is safe for birds – they know which parts are poisonous – but just 50g could stop your heart.
Characteristics: These evergreen plants have needles, not leaves. Its berries have a seed sitting inside that is lethal.
Where to find it: Commonly found in churchyards in the UK.

Water Hemlock

Description: They are North America’s most poisonous plant, triggering seizures and death.
Characteristics: The green or white flowers are grouped together, looking like an umbrella.
Where to find it: Commonly found along streams and in wet meadows.

Wolfsbane

Description: Its poison is so virulent, indigenous people tipped their arrows in it when they hunted.
Characteristics: This plant has helmet-shaped flowers that come in white, pale greenish-white, pale greenish-yellow and purplish-blue colors.
Where to find it: Commonly found in the mountains.

Rosary Pea

Description: This climbing vine with red seeds is 75-times more powerful than Ricin.
Characteristics: The plant has a red pea with a black spot at one end that looks like a ladybug.
Where to find it: Commonly found in tropical areas around the world.

Belladonna Berries

Description: 10-to-20 Belladonna berries can kill an adult. It causes hallucinations and severe delirium.
Characteristics: They look similar to other berries but have white or purple flowers that are in the shape of a star.
Where to find it: Tropical areas in the US.

Castor Plant

Description: Their seeds contain Ricin. Eat four, and you’d better have a will.
Characteristics: The plants have fluffy red flowers and star-shaped leaves.
Where to find it: Spread across tropical regions and also commonly homegrown as ornamental plants.

Edible Plants

Salmon Berries

Description: They look like over-sized raspberries that are yellow, orange, or red when ripe.
Characteristics: The easiest way to spot them is to find the bright pink flower on their plants.
How to eat it: Give them a good squeeze to create a refreshing juice. Save a portion, drop in some pectin, and make Salmon Berry Jellies.
Nutrient value: High manganese contents with plenty of Vitamin C and K.
Taste: The taste can vary from bland to sweet.
Where to find it: Found in open forest areas along the Pacific Coast from California to Alaska.

Cattails

Description: They’re very distinct looking with willowy, long stems and fuzzy, elongated heads.
Characteristics: White stem bottoms are delicious eating; use the heads as campfire tinder.
How to eat it: Fry, chop for a salad or show off your campfire baking skills by making prehistoric bread using this recipe.
Nutrient value: Includes vitamin K, magnesium, fiber, iron, and vitamin B6.
Taste: Cattail eaters say it tastes like bitter cucumber.
Where to find it: Around the circumference of water-based wetlands.

Dandelions

Description: Dandelions grow wild in clusters, covering fields each spring.
Characteristics: Look for bright yellow flowers and willowy stems.
How to eat it: Eat the entire dandelion: roots, leaves, stems, and flowers. Use a cast iron pan to make dandelion greens with garlic.
Nutrient value: Vitamins A and C, plus lots of beta carotene.
Taste: They taste bitter raw, but are delicious when cooked.
Where to find it: Once spring arrives, they’re everywhere!

Lamb’s Quarters

Description: This plant looks nothing like lambs, but it pairs well with chops.
Characteristics: Broad leaves resemble and taste like spinach and are best picked before flowers appear.
How to eat it: Add leaves to your salad or chop up young shoots and add them to stew. Camping with vegans? Make a pot of Chole Saag.
Nutrient value: Packed with protein, vitamin A, calcium, phosphorus, and potassium, but keep your portion size down if you’re prone to kidney stones.
Taste: In the same ballpark as spinach, chard, kale, and collards.
Where to find it: Fields, forests, gardens, and near rivers and streams.

Wild Onions

Description: Resembles chives, ramps, and garlic. Look for scallion-like shoots poking out of the ground. NOTE: Death Camas are wild onion’s dangerous doppelganger. If the plant does not smell like onion, do not eat it.
Characteristics: Wild onions add flavor to foods, and eating them can also reduce blood pressure and lower blood sugar.
How to eat it: Wash and chop for salads, stews, soups, and chili or make this breakfast treat: Cook a cup of washed, peeled, and chopped wild onions in a cup of stock until liquid is absorbed. Stir in 6 eggs, salt, and pepper then scramble.
Nutrient value: Get a big boost of vitamin C, plus other vitamins and minerals.
Taste: Delicious. If you never met an onion you couldn’t eat, wild onions may be the best forest find of all.
Where to find it: Fields and forest floors, especially in cool weather. Always sniff before you pick. If you don’t detect an onion or garlic odor, it’s not an authentic wild onion, so don’t harvest it.

Pine Trees

Description: There are 100+ types of pine trees on Earth – most have edible bark and needles.
Characteristics: Needles grow in clusters, often exclusively at treetops.
How to eat it: You can eat pine nuts, simmer needles in water to make tea, and boil or pan fry white inner bark. NOTE: Don’t consume any part of these pine species: Ponderosa, Lodgepole, Juniper, Monterey Cypress, or Western Yellow.
Nutrient value: Pine is rich in vitamins A and C.
Taste: Bark tastes “pine-like,” but when cooked, it assumes the flavors of recipe ingredients. Try making Crispy Pine Bark by slicing bark into thin chips and frying them.
Where to find it: Pines grow on every continent.

Clover

Description: Found throughout the world, clover is a tiny, vivid green plant that grows in thick clusters.
Characteristics: Clover leaves have distinctive trefoil leaflets, but lucky ones have 4 rather than 3. If you find a 4-leaf clover you may want to save it for luck rather than cook it! Flowers are red or white.
How to eat it: Clover tastes better boiled or sautéed than raw. Eat the young flowers of either color, but not the aging brown ones.
Nutrient value: According to Denmark’s Department of Forage Crops, white clover has more minerals and proteins than grass.
Taste: Clover can taste bitter if eaten raw but if you cook it, it’s delicious. Use the youngest leaves – particularly if you brew clover tea with honey to soothe a sore throat.
Where to find it: Just about every open area that’s covered with grass.

Plantain

Description: This broad-leaf weed grows wild just about everywhere. You can eat the stalks and the leaves. Harvest in the spring for best taste.
Characteristics: Considered by  to be one of the 5 healthiest backyard plants on the planet, look for rippled, green leaves, tall stems and flowers. Don’t confuse this weed with the tree that bears banana-like fruit.
How to eat it: Plantain is delicious pan fried in olive oil – especially if leaves are young and tender. If stalks are less than 4 inches high, they’ll be tastier. When preparing, the tough, fibrous stems are at the bottom and tender parts on top.
Nutrient value: Like dandelions, this weed is packed with vitamins and minerals. Place a leaf on a burn, insect bite, or wound if you find yourself in need of first aid.
Taste: Called “the poor-man’s fiddlehead,” plantain tastes like asparagus, though leaves can assume flavorings of other ingredients when cooked.
Where to find it: One plant expert calls this weed “as ubiquitous in the city as broken glass,” but it’s equally prevalent in rural fields and forest floors.

Bloom Where You’re Planted

These 8 specimens of edible plants are just the tip of the iceberg, as there are so many more plants you can pick and eat while camping. I haven’t even touched on the subject of mushrooms! Be careful to correctly identify plants, and you’ll stay safe, enjoy new taste sensations, and become even more comfortable every time you camp.

About the Author

Paul Turner is a certified instructor trained in tying various knots and has conducted high rope courses for kids. He is also the man behind TakeOutdoors.com, which provides insights of camping and gear guides for the outdoor enthusiasts. Follow him on Facebook and Pinterest.

^{Sources
Angel Trumpets by Asit K. Ghosh under Creative Commons License
Rosary Pea by Homer Edward Price under Creative Commons License}

We asked a wilderness guide for tips from his experience on how to be medically prepared for trips into the wilderness. He provided us with great questions to ask yourself before you choose a first aid kit for a multi-day adventure, as well as insight into his personal process. – Adventure^® Medical Kits

Have you covered the other basics (food, shelter, survival)?

As I get organized to lead a group into the wilderness, being prepared fills my mind as a top priority. Once I have my bases covered on the topics of shelter, food, and clothing, I consider the smaller items that can easily get overlooked. These items cover the topics of safety and comfort and include things like lighting, cleanliness, evacuation (typically a satellite communication device), and first aid. I don’t need to bring a survival kit on my multi-day foray into the wilderness, since my tent, sleeping bag/pad, clothing, food and camp kitchen are the greatest survival kit of all times. I do, however, need to bring a medical kit.

Does your medical kit have supplies to treat common injuries?

Those who enjoy the wilderness need to have some lessons in first aid and a reliable medical kit, as the best way to know what to bring as far as first aid material goes is to first be educated in how to address a variety of medical situations in the backcountry. This will help you identify what items you need, but you also need to understand what your highest priority medical items are based on the most likely injuries to occur.

The best medical kit is the one that can manage the most common injuries that occur in the woods and mountains. Having spent thousands of days in the wilderness over two decades and having been a full time guide for the past 7 years, I have found the following issues to be the most common ones that occur and need treatment:

• Blisters
• Cuts
• Scrapes
• Burns
• Knee/ankle injuries

To manage most of these issues, keeping them clean and dressed can be the difference between a nuisance and a major infection. A medical kit needs to be fully stocked with alcohol prep pads, sanitizing wipes, gauze pads of various sizes, and a syringe for irrigating cuts. Along with these, adhesive bandages of various sizes, as well as athletic tape, need to be included to dress a skin deep medical issue.

The Easy Care First Aid Organization System found in Adventure Medical Kits features injury-specific compartments with clear labels.

Can you find the first aid supplies you need quickly?

One thing that is often overlooked in medical kits is the layout. If someone is being treated, efficiency is important. To be efficient, the kit needs to have everything labeled and organized. When you head out there and review the details of your medical kit, or if you are purchasing a new one, make sure it meets the following criteria:

• Has adequate amounts of high quality material, appropriate for your trip
• Is organized and labeled
• Contains a booklet for reviewing proper treatments
• Is made of durable material
• Is not too heavy

In an ideal world, we go out there into the backcountry many times and never touch our medical kits. In the event that we do need it though, it needs to be the right thing, so don’t hold back when preparing or purchasing this crucial wilderness item.

About the Author

Daniel Laggner has been a full-time guide and wilderness survival instructor for 7 seasons and has over 20 years experience in outdoor sports and the outdoor industry. He has conducted several long-term expeditions, spending weeks in the remote wilderness of the Colorado Rockies, Sierra Nevada, and northern Patagonia. He is currently Lead Guide and Co-owner of Treks and Tracks.

Hiking is a pleasurable pastime and a good way to stay healthy and happy, as it presents ample opportunity to get sunshine, fresh air, and exercise. However, the exertion makes you susceptible to dehydration, which can make a hike less enjoyable and even dangerous.

Staying hydrated is especially important for senior hikers because, on an average, older adults have 10% less fluid in their bodies than younger adults. In addition, seniors also experience a diminished sense of thirst that leads to a reduced fluid intake, making them more susceptible to dehydration. But young or old, each and every hiker needs to stay hydrated before, during, and after a hike in order to be safe.

1. Drink Water before Hitting the Trail

Before embarking on the hike, you should drink one or two cups of water. Your body only begins to feels thirsty when the water level is already low, meaning you shouldn’t wait for the body’s “thirsty” signal before drinking. Instead, keep your water level from dropping in the first place by hydrating pre-hike. Developing habits for long-term hydration in your life will help you be at your fittest and healthiest before going on a hike.

2. Steer Clear of Caffeinated Drinks & Alcohol Prior to a Hike

Planning to hit the trail in the morning? Opt for water instead of soda the night before. A hiker should refrain from or at least limit drinking caffeinated drinks like coffee or cola before a hike, as this can increase your fluid loss.

Avoid caffeinated beverages like coffee before a hike

Consuming alcoholic drinks prior to hiking should be absolutely avoided, as they significantly contribute to dehydration. These drinks are also not great drinks to bring on a hike, as they won’t hydrate you properly and may dehydrate you.

3. Carry Food & Water (& Make Them Easily Accessible)

Any person going on a hiking trip should carry ample food and water. Water keeps you hydrated, while food is the body’s main source of fuel and salts (electrolytes) – you need both to prevent dehydration. Individually wrapped snacks, energy bars, dried food, and bottled water are typically sufficient for a person embarking on a day hike, unless the trip involves meal times. Remember to balance your food intake with fluid consumption to avoid becoming severely ill and dangerously debilitated.

Whether you use a bottle or a bladder, make sure you’re drinking regularly 

For longer, more strenuous hikes, you may also want to pack electrolyte tablets. Sweating causes you to lose electrolytes, which can make hiking more difficult. Adding electrolyte tablets or a sports drink to your pack is an easy way to stay at the top of your game.

Of course, packing water or food alone won’t keep you hydrated and healthy – you have to consume it. Maybe hydration comes naturally to you and you’ll remember to drink, but if you find yourself regularly forgetting, here’s a few ideas that might help:

• Use a bladder – if you use canteens or bottled water and find yourself forgetting to stop and grab a drink, using a bladder lets you drink on the move with water always easily accessible.
• Prefer bottles? Pick your pack with care – if you prefer bottles or canteens to a bladder, make sure the hiking pack you use lets you easily reach your water. Some packs have forward-facing pockets that make it easier to pull your bottle out than the traditional side pocket.
• Keep a few snacks stashed where you can reach them – the hip pocket of your pack is a great place.

4. Drink Water before Feeling Thirsty

You shouldn’t wait until you’re thirsty to drink water, because that means you’re already dehydrated and not performing at the top of your game. You should replenish fluids and electrolytes by drinking one half to one quart of water every hour you’re hiking. You may need to drink more depending upon the temperature and the intensity of the hike.

Hiking in warmer environments increases your water intake needs

For variety, consider alternating between plain water and a sports drink with electrolytes. This will retain fluids, maintain energy, balance electrolyte levels, and thus make hiking more enjoyable.

5. Stay Hydrated after Hiking

Don’t stop drinking when you stop hiking. You should continue to intake fluids even after completing the hike to replenish water and electrolyte loss. Since thirst always underestimates your body’s fluid needs, drink more than you think is necessary.

If Dehydration Strikes

Prevention is always the best treatment, but if you or someone in your party does become seriously dehydrated, make sure you have the first aid supplies and knowledge you need to treat them. Oral rehydration salts are a lightweight addition to your first aid kit that are proven to help your body absorb and retain fluids more effectively. If you’re headed on an extended adventure, adding these to your pack could make a huge difference.

Stay Hydrated & Get Hiking!

A hike, when done correctly and safely, has many medical benefits such as reducing the risk of diabetes, colon or breast cancer, osteoporosis, and heart attacks, as well as decreasing disability risk and increasing overall physical function. More than that though, hiking gives us a sense of adventure and a rush of adrenalin from being amidst nature and discovering new places, all of which is wonderful for mental well-being. To hike successfully and get optimal benefits, though, make sure you stay adequately hydrated to prevent dehydration.