Outdoor survival training essential

This is the first of a multi-part series on outdoor survival.

A television commercial illustrates the anxiety experienced by a mother who can't find her daughter.

The mother is watching the child play on a slide when another mother distracts her for just a few seconds. She looks away from her child, answers a question then looks back at the slide. The child is gone; out of sight ... The anxiety factor is high and will remain so until the child is found.

Another scenario: A young couple with two children, ages 7 and 8, are camping at the Swan Lake Campground, a few miles south of Republic.

The weather is beautiful, the fire has allowed the family several hours of quality time as they enjoy evening and morning campfires together, the air is clean and crisp and the food is delicious, as food always tastes better when cooked on a camp stove at the campsite.

A short hike is planned on the third morning of the trip, a hike around the lake on the mile and a half Swan Lake trail. The group begins the hike with mom and dad identifying plants and birds coming into view.

One portion of the trail takes the hikers away from the lake for a couple of hundred yards, where the lake is not visible. This group of four enter mountain meadow. The children run ahead, smelling flowers and looking for animal track.

The kids near the far edge of the meadow, which puts them about 100 yards from their parents. The father yells, trying to stop the youngsters before they enter the timber. One child stops and turns around, but the other didn't hear the warning and continues on, planning a surprise for the rest by hiding and then jumping out of the brush when the group passes.

The parents hurry up the trail and link up with the one child, but the second is out of sight and can't be found. The anxiety is high in this case also, but the child has never been on this trail before or even in such a thickly forested area.

The wind has increased speed and even though the parents call until they are hoarse, the hidden child didn't hear his name being called. Worse, when the child finally tries to find the trail again, he begins walking in the wrong direction. He hurries up, as he is a bit anxious at this point, too. His actions take him deeper and deeper into the woods.

Everyone, children and adults, should be prepared in case they become lost while enjoying the mountains. Preparedness means talking about what to do if a person becomes lost and having the necessary items to survive.

Those hours around the campfire should include discussions about outdoor survival and preventing getting lost in the first place. For example: The children should never have been allowed to move so far ahead of the parents. Keep them close, within talking distance, not yelling distance.

All persons should have a whistle with them when at the campsite and on hikes. Adults and children are included in this suggestion, because adults become lost, too, especially those who are not experienced campers.

Becoming lost within a few yards of a campsite is not unprecedented. An adult spies a huckleberry bush and picks a handful of berries, uses a spare shirt to hold  more as she continues to pick, following the huckleberries deeper and deeper into the forest, until she can't find her was back to the campsite.

If an adult can lose their way so simply, think about how easy a child could become lost.

The whistle is easier on the voice than yelling. Plus the whistle can be heard for a longer distance than the human voice. A simple demonstration will educate those in doubt of the efficiency, effectiveness and value of a whistle.

Position two people 25 yards from a group. Have one of the two yell and the other blow the whistle. Both should be easily heard at this distance. Next have the two walk another 25 yards from the group. They are now 50 yards away. Again, have one yell and the other blow the whistle.

Continue this exercise, 25 yards more distance each time, until it becomes evident the whistle is heard from a longer distance than yelling.

A side wind becomes a large factor in the distance a whistle or yelling can be heard. Plus, blowing a whistle takes less energy than yelling. Just ask a parent who is trying to find a seemingly lost child, no matter if the event takes place at a city playground or mountain campground.

Next week: More survival suggestions.