How not to die in the woods

Summer and time spent outdoors goes hand-in-hand.

Adam Laurie recently spoke to The Current about life as a Chilliwack Search and Rescue member. (Find that story here.) We also asked Laurie for tips on how to stay safe while exploring the great outdoors.

Today, we hear from the expert outdoorsman about how to prepare and stay safe while enjoying nature.

FVC: What is the most common misconception that you found about people preparing to venture into the woods?

Adam Laurie: A common misconception would be people thinking that they’re prepared. I think what people really need to understand when you’re going to go out—and especially around the Chilliwack area or a lot of places around the Fraser Valley—you can go from a very urbanized setting of being in Chilliwack and you can be in very technical backcountry remote terrain in a very short amount of time. And most people think, ‘Oh, it’s nice outside, I just need runners, I’m going to go for this quick hike on this trail,’ not knowing that they can get into some very technical terrain very quickly.

It’s just about being prepared and thinking about what [are] some of the worst things that can happen. The weather is a perfect example. As you know, living in the Fraser Valley, you just wait five minutes, the weather will change. And that can change people’s experience pretty quickly.

FVC: What should people do to prepare?

Laurie: A couple of the big things—and I’ll plug BC AdventureSmart: [it’s] a fantastic resource. They’ll list what they call essentials for going out and hiking, which is a small survival kit, and just some extra things to be able to [help yourself] if you were to get lost, if you were to get potentially injured and have to be rescued.

The other one is doing a trip plan. And I can’t attest to the importance of doing a trip plan, telling somebody that you’re going, where you’re going or what your trip plan is, and having an emergency contact.

FVC: Should preparation change depending on the location?

Laurie: Absolutely. One thing that I’ve always taught with a lot of people is: the more remote you’re going, the longer it’s going to be for anybody to be able to get out there to assist you. So what you need to be able to understand is: I might need to be sustainable if I get lost or injured in this area—instead of just an eight-hour period, I might need to be prepared for a 48-hour period, because that’s how long it's going to take for people to get out here.

FVC: ​​Is it ever safe to go in the woods alone?

Laurie: Absolutely. I’m not going to say that it’s not. I think that doing solo activities is super healthy. But what people need to understand is your risk acceptance has to be a bit different. You’re not going to go do a technical adventure on your own. But there’s a lot of lower risk activities that you can do on your own. But the big part of all that is doing a trip plan and having that information shared with others and having that emergency contact.

FVC: What should hikers know about finding and drinking water on the trail? Is that safe to do?

Laurie: It is safe. But what I mean by safe is people will also need to be prepared a little bit. There’s a lot of different animals, bacteria and everything else that happens into our water systems, regardless of where you are and some of that’s [caused] by humans as well.

The best thing that people can do is purchase a small, portable water filter. There’s many different companies that provide them. Whether you do something as simple as a LifeStraw, you can get other ones that would connect to different Nalgene bottles, as an example, and then you can filter your own water.

Most outdoor areas you’re going to find different streams, lakes; that kind of stuff will definitely be around. You want to try to stay a bit away from stagnant water sources, and look for stuff that is actually still flowing. If you’re going to go on hiking trails, doing what we call gathering some data, which is just doing some research on the trail, finding out where those water resources are, and then going: ‘How much water do I need to pack with me?’ And then: ‘What’s my ability to actually gather some water from those areas?’

FVC: If someone does find themselves in trouble, what are the steps that an individual or group should take?

Laurie: Stay where they are. The biggest one. One of the reasons why AdventureSmart calls it ‘hug-a-tree’ is because we want people to sit there and hug a tree. If they had a trip plan, said when they were going to, passed that information on to someone else, it’s so much easier for search and rescue to start to localize. Where do they park their vehicle? What trail are they on? ‘Let’s access that trail, let’s start to look for them.’ If they keep moving around, that’s where it gets really challenging.

FVC: On the flip side, if someone is notified that their loved one is in danger, what does that person do?

Laurie: That person would typically phone the RCMP right away or the local police department, and let them know that someone is overdue, that they were out hiking or if they’re injured. What happens is that information gets passed on to whatever resource is required and that resource would end up contacting Emergency Management of BC, which is responsible typically for tasking all of your SAR agencies.

FVC: From your experience in Chilliwack, was there a trail or an area that you most often got called to?

Laurie: No, I would say it's a big variety. When the Chilliwack River Valley has so many hikes, it kind of goes in different storms, I would say. So for right now, this time of year [The Current spoke to Laurie in late April], you’re going to get a lot of your calls on trails that are going to be the lower-lying trails that are snow free. At the midpoint of summer, that’s when you’re going to get up more into your alpine-type areas and those lower ones you’re not going to see as many people.

FVC: Is there anything else, advice that you would share on the topic?

Laurie: As a whole, for people going out, be prepared. I know it sounds simple, but just take five minutes. Think about what are some of the worst things that are going to happen while we’re doing our adventure and are we prepared to deal with those things? And then what would happen if something were to happen when we’re out there? Does anybody know where we are? Does anybody know where we’re going to be? What is our plan? As a SAR volunteer for as many years as I’ve done it, even now, when my wife and I go for a hike, we always have our plan. We communicate that plan to other people and we have an emergency time that we’re going to be back and if we’re not then who to call.

This interview has been lightly edited for clarity and concision.