Monday, June 23, 2008

A Note on Survival

So after my recent death-defying camping adventure two weeks ago, this article on SF Gate: Sports bra saves US hiker in German Alps , instantly caught my eye this morning. Essentially, it tells the story of an injured hiker who tied her sports bra to a cable going down the mountain, which caught the attention of a lumberjack that came to her rescue. Personally, I thought her idea was genius! What red-blooded, rugged, outdoorsy man (or woman) who works in the wild, wouldn't come rescue a potentially topless damsel in distress? It's sort of like that assault tip. If you're getting assaulted, it's better to yell "FIRE!" than "HELP!" because more people will come out to look.

Anyway, this US hiker got me thinking about surviving in the wild. She's a marathon runner and had been stranded for a week. Apparently, the most important thing that contributed to her survival was the fact that she is in such good shape. On the other hand, I think it was the combination of her fitness and quick thinking that got her out of danger. It makes me ponder whether or not, I'd be as resourceful as her to survive. Sure, I've been training a bunch, but does that really put me above the "able to survive in the wild" threshold? Am I smart enough to find my way back to civilization? I'm casting this question out to the Internet. What do you guys think? Also, feel free to share your thoughts on if you think you'd survive and how.

P.S. If I were to send something down on the cable line, I would've sent an actual message with GPS coordinates (but that's just me). Noted, I probably wouldn't have pen or paper, but I would have tree bark to pound out tapa with and probably some sort of charcoal-ish rock.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Wait, how would you know your GPS coordinates?

I think you would totally survive getting stranded in the wild, because you're smart and resourceful.

I try not to end up so deep in the wild that I might get stranded, but I have survived pretty well lost deep in the urban jungle.

I do think I would do ok for a while just eating dandelion greens, and I tend to carry big bright pashminas, which I guess make pretty good signal flags...

Jennica Goo said...

Every time I've gone into the wild, I try to carry a handheld GPS system. But, if I didn't have that, then I'd stay close to the cable line that I sent the note down on. So, that my rescuers would only have to follow the cable line to find me.

ah yes..the urban jungle is a totally different ball game. I'm not sure if I'd survive that as well.