Guest post: Learn to survive!
Originally a comment by James Garnett on Stay out of the oven.
I want to take just a quick moment to plug your local outdoors club, because they almost certainly offer inexpensive classes on hiking, backpacking, and more. If this father had taken such a course, he would not have made this mistake and his child would most likely be alive today. Here in the Pacific Northwest, the premier club is The Mountaineers. In Colorado it is the Colorado Mountain Club. I’m uncertain what is out east in the USA, but I’m aware that the Appalachian Mountain Club is active and has many offerings. There are multiple clubs doing the same in the UK, and across Europe, and I’m sure they exist in Australia and New Zealand, too. Often these classes consist of one or two evening lectures, followed by a fun weekend outing where you get to practice. Make friends, have fun, learn to survive! They will teach you a lot of things that are counter-intuitive, but which may save your life.
Also, take a First Aid course if you can. I am the membership coordinator for a unit of my local Search and Rescue group, so I’m constantly seeking out first aid offerings to alert our members who need to update their certifications. These courses take about a day, but you’ll not only learn to recognize things like heat stroke, but also how to effectively mitigate them. Here in the USA, the best First Aid courses are often offered through your local Fire Department, and they’re often free. Or you can pay big bucks to the Red Cross, but you’ll at least be able to take the class at your leisure, in that case.
James, that’s excellent advice. I strongly second that. NZ certainly has a plethora of tramping, walking, outdoors, and hunting organisations that can provide training, organised groups and advice. There’s also an excellent over-arching organisation – the Mountain Safety Council – which is a sort of umbrella organisation comprised of the whole outdoor sector including many Government organisations. They provide excellent resources.
Since I did my dissertation research outside in a Texas summer I had to be aware of things to keep from having problems. I always had plenty of water, and I rested under trees if I got too hot. I knew how to deal with it because I did my thesis research outside in an Oklahoma summer. The thesis site did not have trees except in rare spots and those it had didn’t cast much shade. Fortunately, t here was a large cave system with a number of openings, and the temperature stayed at about 52 most of the time.
People really need to know things about heat survival if they are going to be spending time outdoors. As the world warms, that becomes increasingly important.
In New York there’s the Adirondack Mountain Club with classes, workshops and outings in the Adirondacks and Catskills which draw participants from the Northeast and beyond. There is also NOLS (the National Outdoors Leadership School). Like the Mountaineers they publish books and offer classes. In my home Detroit/Ann Arbor area there’s SOLAR (School of Outdoor Leadership and Recreation). For canoeing, kayaking and paddle boarding there’s the American Canoe Association . While a national organization, ACA certified instructors and classes are available through outfitters and maybe local paddling clubs. Likewise, the UK, Canada and maybe some other Commonwealth countries have the British Canoe Union. Canada also has Paddle Canada. State and provincial Natural Resources/Parks, etc. departments/ministries also have educational programs including some geared to women (if they haven’t been captured by the TRAs).
(Getting really specialized, if you’re in Greenland there’s Qaanaat Katuffiat, the traditional Greenland qajaq (kayak) association dedicated to preserving traditional Inuit paddling and qajaq building. The US and Japan, and maybe a few other countries have approved chapters. Here it’s Qajaq USA. Take it from me, it’s a steep learning curve. I gave up after four years. There must be other equally arcane outdoors clubs.)
If you want arcane outdoor clubs, there’s the Coracle Society in the UK, and the Stafford Canoeing and Watersports Society holds coracle races. A USAian friend of mine, who was living in Birmingham at the time, went to Wales to build her own coracle from scratch, using traditional materials. Obviously I didn’t get to use it (I stayed in the shade under some trees), but she and my husband had great fun taking turns on a Birmingham boating lake one summer.
There are an enormous number of hiking clubs in the British Isles, and it’s such a shame that so many people fail to join one, and so get into trouble by thinking that going for a walk in the hills and mountains on a sunny day is a good idea.
Off-topic a bit, but speaking of men who think they know what they’re doing but who really don’t…
Is it just me or is RFK jr the dem’s Connor Roy?
Tigger: a coracle race sounds hilarious. I can’t imagine how you keep those things going in a roughly straight line, let alone at anything like speed. Granted, my amusement is based on ignorance, though we do have some coracle builders here.
Bruce, I believe that the speed is provided by the river; winning is, presumably, done by whoever uses their paddle most effectively to prevent spinning. But I agree, it sounds hilarious. So I looked up a video about it, and it didn’t disappoint.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3tacqYi0X8
John Reed – definitely not just you!