Hopefully we will all follow the rules of common sense and good camping practices and avoid search and rescue missions for anyone in our camping groups. However, even with the best preparations and precautions, people sometimes get separated from their groups and have to be found. How can you keep from getting lost in the first place? What should YOU do if you are the one who is lost? What should you do to find someone who is lost?
Professional Search and Rescue Teams have extensive training and often have access to equipment unavailable to most of us (like helicopters and wide-area radio communications). Many times these teams consist of volunteers associated with the local sheriff's office. These are dedicated people who invest a significant amount of their own time and money to get the training and equipment to be able to be part of a Search and Rescue unit. When I looked into it, I discovered required personal equipment would cost about $4,000, not counting vehicles or animals. Search and Rescue teams often have access to various 4WD and OHV vehicles to facilitate their functions. Jeeps, ATVs, and UTVs are often equipped with 2-way radios and stretchers or other equipment for transporting injured parties.
Don't get lost in the first place. Following proper riding or hiking practices goes a long way toward not getting lost. Remember too that YOU are responsible for the person behind you when on the trail. Every time you turn onto a new trail you must make sure the person behind you makes the turn. Always keep an eye on the person in front of you so you know where they're going. And always keep track of where you've been and which way it is back to camp. If you're leading a group or just have family members to keep track of, stop now and then to make sure they know where they are and how to find their way back to camp from there. Try to keep up with the group. If, for any reason, you aren't able to keep up, let someone know so they have an opportunity to adjust the pace so you can keep up. Most people would rather move more slowly or plan regular rest periods than have to stop and go back to find someone who has fallen behind.
What if you do get lost or separated from your group? First of all, DON'T PANIC! Panicking is absolutely the worst possible thing you can do. When you realize you are not where you should be, STOP. Not only is that an essential initial action, it is a basic survival acronym for Stop, Think, Observe, and Plan. Stop as soon as you think you might be in trouble. If you keep moving you're likely to just be getting further and further from recognizable landmarks and potential rescuers and deeper in trouble. If you keep going you will just be getting further and further from where would be rescuers will be looking for you. Think about your situation. Think about what you know about where you are. Think about what you know about local landmarks. Think about what you need to do next. Are you in any immediate danger? If so, how can you protect yourself or get out of harm's way? Observe your surroundings. Is there any possible shelter nearby? Are there materials to make a shelter? Can you find firewood? Are there any open hilltops or tall trees nearby from which you might be able to locate your group or familiar landmarks? Are there sources of water and food? Plan your actions carefully. If you must move to avoid imminent danger, do so cautiously and carefully. Do not run! If you feel like running, hug a tree. If there are no trees around, wrap your arms around your body and hug yourself tightly. If you're on horseback, get off and hug your horse. OHVs are harder to hug but might suffice in an emergency. Of course if you have suitable companion, hug them! This will help you control the urge to run. Running will only get you more lost more quickly and quite possibly lead to injuries. A second common problem in an emergency situation is something called "negative panic". Instead of feeling like running, people sometimes freeze and are unable to do anything. If you find yourself in that situation, hugging therapy can also help you calm down and reconnect with reality and get you going. Examine your situation. Do you know the way back to camp? Or to a known destination? Can you backtrack to the last place you were with the group or certain of your location? If the answer to these questions is "no", then stay put! If you do KNOW (and not just THINK you know) the way back to camp or another known location, start making your way back methodically. Otherwise, continuing to move will just make it harder for anyone looking for you to find you. The only exception is you might want to climb a nearby tall tree or hill to see if you can get your bearings or locate the rest of your group. Make yourself easy to see. You don't want to stand out in the weather during any kind of storm nor do you want to bake in the hot sun, nor should you stand in the middle of a road or trail near a turn where you might be in harms way, but try to make yourself visible to potential searchers. If you have a whistle (and you should ALWAYS carry a whistle in remote activities), give three blasts on it every few minutes to aid searchers in locating you. If you don't have a whistle, bang two rocks together or pound on a hollow log. After dark, use a flashlight, light stick, or light a fire to assist searchers in finding you. A flashlight that automatically flashes SOS is a good option. Always signal in groups of three sounds or flashes at regular intervals. Such a pattern is unlikely in nature and is pretty universally recognized as a call for help. If you find yourself in bad or very hot weather, seek temporary shelter to protect yourself. In adverse weather conditions you could die of exposure in just a few hours. If you must move, try to maintain a view of the trail you were on so you can see and contact potential rescuers approaching before they pass you by.
Organizing a search party. If someone in your group is lost you will naturally want to go look for them. Running off without a plan is a really bad idea and may result in even more people getting lost or injured. You may have trouble controlling family members or friends of lost people who will be anxious to get going. Remain calm and let them know you know what you're doing and that they must all work together and follow a reasonable plan to ensure success. The LAST thing you need is end up with your search teams getting lost too! Make sure to send our searchers in groups of at least 2 or 3. Plan your search starting at last known location of the lost party. When sending out searchers, send them out with a specific scope of where and how long to search. Divide the search area according to the resources you have available. If you don't have enough people to cover all areas at once, prioritize the areas based on the most likely direction your lost companion would have gone. After completing the scope of one search area, teams should return to your base of operations to report and to be assigned another area to search. Agree upon a signal that will be used when you locate your quarry. Three whistles or three beeps of a horn or three shouts or gun shots are typical signals that can be used by lost persons to call for help and for search parties to alert each other when the find something. To avoid confusion you might want to use 5 as the number of signals that the party has been found. Limit each search by time as well as geographic area. Ensure that each search party has someone who knows the area well enough to prevent THEM from getting lost too. Typical search patterns include concentric circles or a grid based on the last known location of the lost party. Keeping an accurate record of which areas have been searched requires some effort but is critical in making sure you don't miss an area and don't waste time and resources checking the same places multiple times. Try to have at least one member of each team who is first aid trained in case your lost person is injured or someone in the search party gets injured.
Search and rescue gear. The kind of search and rescue gear you will need will depend on the terrain, climate, time of day, and type of activities you are involved in. For almost all search and rescue operations you will need whistles and flashlights. Two-way radios are very useful if you have them. Each search party should carry a first aid kit and have at least one person who is trained in first aid. Very often a person becomes separated from their group because of illness or injury -- or soon becomes sick or injured. Axes, hatchets, and machetes may be needed in thick brush. You may need additional equipment depending on the type of activities your lost party was involved in. For example, if they were on an ATV, UTV, or snowmobile you might need a tow rope to retrieve a stuck or disabled vehicle. Heavier vehicles like Jeeps and 4x4 trucks might also need a big jack or a winch to extricate a disabled vehicle -- or driver -- from unusual locations. You might need a stretcher or a "stokes" (rescue basket), or a backboard to move injured parties. Equestrian activities might require ropes or leads to catch and control escaped or frightened animals. Retrieving hikers or climbers in steep terrain will require ropes and possibly rappelling gear along with special ropes training. Attempting a rope rescue with proper knowledge of how to set things up and conduct the rescue safely will most likely end up in the rescuers needing to be rescued!
Professional search and rescue teams may be needed if you aren't able to locate your lost people within a reasonable amount of time. What is a reasonable amount of time? That depends on several factors, such as climate, weather, activities involved, and age and physical condition of the victims. Bad weather may hamper rescue operations but, ironically, may also require a faster response. Elderly or very young victims whose ability to take care of themselves in a survival situation adds urgency. Any known medical condition might accelerate the need for rapid recovery and professional help. Most search and rescue teams work through local law enforcement and many of them are volunteers who spend a considerable amount of their own time and money on special equipment and training. Part of the cost of a search and rescue operation might be passed on to you by the agency that operates the team. The advantage of these teams is, of course, their level of training and experience and the equipment they have available to support their operations. Usually they will be familiar with the area and will know the most likely places to find people as well as being able to quickly organize the most efficient searches. If someone is sick or injured, they usually have advanced medical training and good equipment and procedures for evacuation along with relationships with local emergency medical facilities to speed transport and treatment. If any victim may be sick or injured, is a high risk individual (due to age or medical condition), or weather conditions are life threatening, you should consider calling for help sooner rather than later. In these situations, time may be of the essence. Due to the remote locations of many our our RVing, OHVing, and camping destinations and the fact that it will take some time to call out, assemble, and transport the search and rescue team, you need to make that decision BEFORE it becomes urgent. Most search and rescue teams are not sitting around like a paid fire department waiting for an alarm to go off. Getting to someone in time may literally mean the difference between life and death. Getting the immediate aid of a sheriff's deputy or local ranger can expedite your own search and rescue efforts and they will be able to help you call in the formal search and rescue team when needed. Local experts will know what kinds of mistakes others have made and may have some thoughts that will assist you in finding your lost people as quickly as possible. Search and rescue teams often have many resources available to help them, including teams on foot, horseback, and ATVs, helicopters, and good radio communications. They usually have relationships with nearby emergency medical facilities to speed getting your victims appropriate care as quickly as possible. Most emergency services personnel would much rather respond to a false alarm and find the victim already safe than be called too late to do any good.
Modern technology can be a real boon to search and rescue missions. I was called out by our fire department about 2:00 AM one morning to help locate a missing person in the forest. Our county Search and Rescue team joined us and I was amazed that they were able to track the person's cell phone within about 100' of where they were to locate them. Interestingly enough, the GPS locator on the cell phone put them a long way away from where they told dispatch they thought they were!
An ounce of prevention is said to be worth a pound of cure. That is certainly good advice when it comes to search and rescue. Avoid the need for a search and rescue operation by making sure everyone in your group knows and follows the rules . Keep track of each other on the trail so if someone is injured or otherwise unable to stay with the group, it will be quickly discovered and you can find them before they become truly lost or left behind. Whenever you come to an intersection of a trail or leave a trail, each person is responsible to make sure the one behind them makes the turn, even if it means falling behind the rest of the group for a little while. Stop now and then to let everyone catch up and catch their breath -- and to test each person's perception of where they are and which way it is back to camp. Help them learn to identify local landmarks they can use of find their way.
Search on!
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