Murphy's Law and Every Day Carry

There are two assumptions that most people base their day to day lives upon when they leave the familiar comfort and security of home.

The first assumption is that nothing is going to happen to compromise their ability to make the return trip to the security of their familiar home base. The second assumption is that … if something does happen to limit their ability to make the return trip … someone will answer a call from their cellular phone and come to their rescue so they can get back to the security of their familiar home base.

Fortunately, that first assumption usually works out most of the time and that second assumption usually works out when the first assumption doesn’t.

But what happens when the first assumption is wrong and the second assumption follows on the heels of the first assumption? To put it simply … we are on our own to fend for ourselves with the tools and resources that we have with us.

Personally, and especially when it comes to spending unplugged time outdoors in natural environments, I prefer to go about with the assumption that Murphy is right. “Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong.” Being mindful of this law has a way of keeping me focused. It causes me to pay attention and practice situational awareness. It makes me always constantly consider what I need to have on my person and with me in the event some contrary scenario presents itself.

I think there are two immediate concerns to take into consideration where every day carry is concerned.  The first is geographical concerns. The Far North bush is a far cry different from the boggy swamps of the Deep South. Mountainous country is different from desert country. The second is seasonal climatological concerns. Every geographical region has its particular seasonal nuances that require our personal attention.

Another concern has to do with distance. How far do I have to go to get to where I need to go? Can I walk the distance in a few hours? Is it going to take me a day or two? A week or three weeks? 

Distance will have a definite bearing upon what I want to have with me on any given day.

The basic gear essentials, and the skills requirements to effectively use the gear, are a fairly stable constant. These basics are transferable to any setting or scenario. Assorted environments and seasonal changes present variables that folks need to be mindful of. Particularly in regard to natural resources.

Natural resources, and the availability of natural resources, tend to change when environments change.  Available natural resources becomes a major concern, especially when we are traveling in areas that are different from the security of our familiar home base territory. It is always in a person’s best interest to invest time in expanding their personal knowledge base where geography, climate, and natural resources are concerned … especially when they are going to be traveling outside their normal comfort zone. 

I consider myself fortunate to have lived in three countries on two different continents over the years … one in Western Europe and two here. My here experience has involved traveling in a lot of States, living in eight of them, traveling in four Canadian Provinces, and living at 54 degrees North in Alberta, Canada. It has been quite an educational experience over the years … quite a hands-on collecting of a personal frame of reference of life at various longitudes, latitudes, and altitudes.

One of the things I’ve discover over these  years of personal experience is that every natural environment, regardless of where a pin marks it on the map, contains harsh realities that present challenges to physical survival. Some natural environments are harsher than others. All of them … any one of them … can and will eat your lunch unless you are prepared to utilize the best they have to offer and defend yourself against the worst they can throw at you.

It is a fact and one that has a lot of annual statistics to back it up. 

Sometime, somewhere, somebody.

People regularly encounter situations where their survival depends upon their ability to fend for themselves. Some are rescued by teams trained in search and rescue. Some are able to self-rescue. Some miserably die. A lot of miserable suffering, and possibly a miserable death, can be avoided with a little forethought, a few tools and gear, and a developed skills-knowledge base.

Search and rescue teams respond to calls thousands of times every year. A few, every year, involve spectacular news-making events. Things like plane crashes and skiers buried by avalanches. Most, though, are not high-profile media attention getters. 

There are some things that really stand out when going over accounts of search and rescue efforts.

·     *  Most search and rescue efforts do not originate on account of some accident, physical injury, or climatological crisis.

·     *  Most search and rescue efforts involve solo hikers.

·      * Most of the solo hikers that require search and rescue efforts are men victimized by their own macho-bravado.

·      * Most that require search and rescue efforts are in their predicament simply because they get lost and are woefully unprepared.

I found another stat too that I though was really humorous.

·      * Quite a number of the people located and rescued had a handheld G.P.S. device with them but did not know how to use it.