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See also
Edible
Berries and fruits
Non
Edible Berries Poisonous
Berries and fruits
Food
Sources
Meat
Plants as food
Edible Plants
"How to Make A
Crawdad trap "
Making Fire
Obtaining Water
Making
Soap Sleeping
Arrangements Using
a signal mirror Making
rope Make a compass
First aid
Making
a spear thrower
Making a primitive Shelter
Shelters
-Manmade material
Surviving
a Hurricane
Stranded in your car
Part of our SURVIVAL
series
All too often, and especially in the winter months, we hear
about people that got off the beaten track and wound up stranded in their
vehicle. Unfortunately it often involves families with young children and the
consequences are often serious. This portion of our survival section will
attempt to give you the knowledge of what to do, should you ever find yourself in
this situation and will focus primarily on frigid winter situations. We
encourage you to read thru all of our survival topics because you just never
know when you might need to put the information contained in these pages to
good use. Use
the links on the top of this page and any of the other pages that you are
directed to.
This probably goes without saying, but the best thing to do
is to not become a victim in the first place. Sure we know no-one ever plans to
be one, but did they plan to not become stranded. So how do we do this?
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Plan out your trip in advance and than give a copy of your
travel plan to some responsible person. with whom you will check in with from time
to time. Preferably email it to someone who is at your destination as they
will be anticipating your arrival |
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Choose the appropriate vehicle and make sure that it is
mechanically sound and equipped with the proper tires for any anticipated
terrain, a strong battery, fresh antifreeze and even tire chains. |
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Always have an Automotive
Survival Kit on board and at least one warm blanket or sleeping bag. |
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Drive according to the conditions. Slow down and give
yourself plenty of space between vehicles. |
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Patience. Road rage can jeopardize your trip. |
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In bad weather stick to heavily traveled routes where
possible. |
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If you change from your plan, call and notify the person you
gave your travel plan to. |
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A cell phone has saved many people and you should always
have one and the appropriate car charger adapter when traveling. Virtually
all modern cell phone have a GPS chip in them that is active anytime the
phone is turned in. This will allow authorities to pinpoint your location,
providing: someone has your number to give to the authorities, you have a
tower signal and you can keep your phone charged. . In
remote areas you may want to also take a set of 2 way radios ( make sure
they have a minimum range of 5 miles (Cobra is a good choice). These
can be monitored by a search party on the channel that you specified on your
travel plan. |
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Make a mental note of civilization when traveling on rural
roads, in case you need to walk out to one of them (only as a last resort). |
So what if you do get stranded in a
desolate location with little chance of being rescued for several days?
Winter - frigid - heavy snow
See the car? Imagine this from a distance of 1/4 miles.
Feel reassured that you will get out of it. Confidence goes a
long way to overcoming obstacles
Assess your situation:
Are you merely at a loss for traction? If this is the case, clear out the snow from in front of your tires and
spread kitty litter or sand which you should be carrying with you, under and in front of the traction tires (the ones that
spin when you give it the gas). This would be a great time for
snow chains. Follow the manufacturers instructions for installing them. Perhaps
you don't have chains. Put everyone and everything back in the
car, cause once you get going you are not going to stop or come back. Move as
much weight as possible (suitcases, people etc. ) towards the traction tires.
You may want to consider letting out a little air from your tires to give it
more surface contact, but this will mean that you will have to drive and corner
much slower once you do get going so it is not generally recommended; that is
unless you have the 12 volt inflator as recommended in the
automotive survival kit. If your vehicle has
4X4 capabilities now is time to employ this feature.
Ease on the gas until the tires grip on the litter and you should begin to move, then
gradually increase your speed to a safe and manageable speed and do not stop
until you are in the clear.
Your speed must be great enough to overcome the resistance from the snow but not
such that you are flying out of control.
Sometimes, especially if you are going uphill or into uncharted territory and
the conditions are unfavorable, it is
best to get turned around and go back the way you came. This way you
can drive in your old tracks and not have to fight so much snow resistance, providing it is not a divided highway. The problem with turning around on a snow
covered road is that it is easy to get of the road and into the ditch.
If you are snowed in and can't get moving then your situation is a
bit more dire.
Remember someone will eventually report you missing, but given the
weather conditions and the number of calls the officials get, it may be sometime
before they can mount a meaningful search. Accept that you may be there for a
while maybe even several day, a week or longer. You need to concentrate on 2
things; staying hydrated and keeping you body temperature up.
The more liquid you have in your body the better you will be able to metabolize
any food energy or fat deposits. Use what water you have and bring in snow to
melt for additional water. Do not eat snow as it will bring down your body's
core temperature and deplete your food energy and cause hypothermia. Melt the
snow by using the heat from your breath or if you are starting the engine
periodically (Which you should do only after clearing the snow from behind the
exhaust) focus the heater vent onto the gathered snow. You can place snow in a
plastic bag (Ziploc) and place it next to you body as well. This will make you
cold but not affect your core temperature as drastically as eating it. Be sure
to move it from one location to another from time to time and avoid the lower
back (because of the kidneys) and the region just above where your thigh joins
your abdomen. Hopefully you will taken
the recommendations in our automotive survival kit
and are carrying a
dual fuel single burner camp stove
that can run for many hours on one tank of fuel and can burn unleaded gasoline. With this you can not
only melt snow but you can serve a hot drink even if nothing more than hot water,
which will go a long way to warming the inner core.
Keeping warm is a whole other concern.
You need to take this seriously because
if you become to cold you will become disabled and not able to take the steps
necessary to remedy the situation. You can't run the engine (That is assuming
that you are not stranded for mechanical reasons) enough to keep you warm. This
is because of a number of reasons such as running out of fuel, but the greatest
reason is carbon monoxide poisoning. Especially if your car is buried in the snow the
exhaust will have a difficult time venting out and some of it will leak back into
the car. This will induce a pleasant sleepy feeling and eventually death. The
engine can be run but only periodically to keep the battery charged and to warm
a severely cold person before hypothermia sets in, but you must make sure that
the exhaust can clear the back end of the car and just because you cleaned it
out once it doesn't mean that it is still clear. Check it before starting the
engine, and no, it will not just melt it away, it can in fact create dry ice in
severely cold weather. It is necessary to leave the window cracked
on each side to keep the oxygen replenished, if not it could have the same
results as carbon monoxide poisoning.
The preferred way to stay warm is to eat, snuggle and wrap
up. By snuggling we mean everyone in contact with everyone else and then wrap the
blankets around the entire group that is assuming that there is more than one
person. No blankets, shame on you, you will have to make do. Carpet off the
floor, news papers stuffed in your clothing, the liner of the inside of the
roof, sandwiched between the back and the bottom of the back seat. Don't attempt
to light a fire inside as you will asphyxiate and most materials in a vehicles
give off toxic fumes. This goes for using the aforementioned camp stove. If you
really can't bring yourself to go outside and fire up the stove, perhaps because
of the wind, then you will have to make the judgment call to open the
window on the leeside (the side the wind is not coming from) of the
vehicle and to significantly crack open the window on the windward side
(the side the wind is coming from). But again, do not attempt to warm the
interior of the car with a camp stove, only use it to make water, cook or warm
objects or even regenerate a hand warmer pack such as a "Reheater" (this
is an amazing reusable hand warmer).
Beside the air for breathing you will want to stop all drafts and even insulate
the vehicle by heaping snow around and on top of if. Here is the catch 22. The more snow that is covering your
vehicle the more insulated it will be but the harder it is for rescuers to spot.
Leave the snow on it and tie a colorful object (Red long load flag or shopping
bag) on your antenna which hopefully is still poking out of the snow. If the
temperatures aren't so severe that you do not need the snow insulation, then
scrape off the roof of the car so aerial search may discover you. These steps
need to be maintained and do not assume that if you did it once that that is
good enough.
Caution: Leave you car only when absolutely necessary, as exposure
to outside temperatures and winds will rob you of your thermal reserves. Leaving
to go for help is not always the best idea. Being outside truly puts you at the
mercy of the elements. Sure it is only natural to want to do everything that you
can for your loved ones but is may be best to stay there and take care of them
rather than being the gladiator type of hero and losing your life and possibly
putting them in even more serious danger as of a result of your absence. If
splitting up or if you are alone and decide to leave, then leave a note spelling
out the direction you intend to travel. This will make it easier for rescuers to
find you or your body. Sorry but hiking out in winter weather is extremely
dangerous. Cannibalize your vehicle using the wires, straps, foam, Upholstery
etc. If you have a carrier on top of your car this makes a nice toboggan to
carry supplies on and will give you a form of shelter. Several other thing will
look like a good sled body but items can either be too big or create drag
friction as you pull it. Tou can always use the vinyl upholstery off a seat as a
sled.
Doing your part
A search party can pass just a short distance away and never see you. You
must do your part to be rescued. Display a distress signal. A flag, stomp out an
SOS, light a smoky fire (tires, green vegetation) leave your cell
phone on. If you have the emergency orange smoke kit or flares consider using
them when you have determined that it is a likely time for searchers to be
looking for you or when an airplane is passing somewhere overhead.
It is best to stay with your vehicle
If possible, however if you
ran off the road and the vehicle is badly damaged and missing windows or has
doors that won't close then you should try to patch them up. Hopefully you have
duct tape in your survival kit. While we don't recommend ever leaving you
vehicle but if you must, then hopefully you have studied our
Survival and
Primitive Shelter
Section because if you know what you are doing you can survive.
Remember to leave a note telling where you are going to be.
Stranded in a
Desert:
After looking at the previous section (stranded
in frigid weather) you might think that the desert would be a a piece of
cake, WRONG. Being in the desert is like standing behind a jet during take off.
Hot and dehydrating. It is amazing how often you need water and how much of it.
Shade is an absolute necessity during the day as is a covering during the night.
It can be as hot as 115 degrees in the shade and hot enough to cook an egg in
the sun. Your eyes are not unlike the consistency of an egg. But the nights
should be cool right. WRONG again, it can actually cold, near the freezing
temperature. Crazy but extremely dangerous. Again it is best to stay with your
vehicle for a number of reason. It can provide shade, it is easier for rescuers
to find, it will give you shelter in the night, and hopefully you put about 5
gallons of water in your trunk before you set out.
The most common reason to be stranded in the desert is a result
of mechanical failure, such as over heating. Perhaps when the vehicle has had a
chance to cool off you will be able to replenish the coolant in the radiator by
using your emergency supplies that you are hopefully carrying but if not then
use your drinking water only if there is no leak in the system and or wait until
the temperature drops in the evening. Remember adding coolant to the reservoir
will only work if you add it while vehicle is hot and cooling down, this is the
process that it uses to draw water from the reservoir back into the radiator
core. The best way is to wait until it has thoroughly cooled and then remove the
radiator cap and pour it directly into the radiator. BUT before you do any of
this determine what caused it to overheat in the first place. If you were
already low on coolant due to neglect then this would be a possibility or if you
were horsing around and trying to make like a BAJA buggy then this also could
cause overheating without indicating a leak. However such activity could cause a
leak, look for signs of a leak, Steam blowing out or a wet spot where it
shouldn't be. If so then you could use you duct tape or JB Weld to stop
the leak. Another common cause of overheating would be extremely high
temperatures outside or a stuck thermostat. For a stuck thermostat you will need
to follow the top hose from your radiator back to the engine and then remove the
thermostat housing and then remove the defective thermostat. This might not be a
bad idea to do any how as it increase the flow of coolant thru the engine, but
will need to be replaced for cold weather driving.
Of course off-roading in the desert can leave you stranded with
little chance of being found unless you frequent the particular area and your
friends will know where to look. Assuming that your vehicle is mechanically
sound and you are stuck in the sand then you have one of the most difficult
thing to overcome. Not all sand is the same, and hopefully the patch that you
are stuck in is small and isolated. First you must determine whether there
is a good chance that you will be abele to extract you vehicle for the given
amount of energy and water you have or whether it is best to let it be and wait
to be rescued. The latter choice will give you longer to live but again you need
to weight the possibility if being found. Of course if you are not more that 2
miles from civilization then your best choice may be to wait for evening and
hike out. Just making it out to a traveled road isn't good enough. People do
generally not stop for people hitchhiking out in the middle of the desert.
To get a vehicle unstuck from the sand it is best to have sand
mats or some thing (e.g.. Flat rocks but not clothes as they just ball up) to
perform the same process. Place this under the tires for traction. Let a
little air out of the drive tires to in crease the amount of tire in contact
with the ground and if your vehicle has 4X4 capabilities now is time to employ
this feature. Remove piled up sand in front of and behind the tires or if you
have sunk down then dig out under the vehicle where it might create drag. Make
your return to natural ground level very gradual. Attempt to drive forward
without spinning you tires Most vehicle have a differential that allows
one tire to go faster the other (useful when cornering). Unfortunately this also
allows one tire to spin and the other to remain still. To avoid spinning one
tire apply a little of the emergency brake, only if the brake is connected to
the drive wheels. Hopefully you should be able to pull out from where you were
stuck and if so keep going until you reach solid ground then you can go back and
pick up you mats or whatever. If you weren't able to just drive out than you may
have to rock back and forth by shifting from forward to reverse and visa versa
just when the motion in one direction stops and the vehicles begins to rebound
back in the opposite direction. Continue doing this until you have manage to
pack down a rut of several feet. Check under the vehicle to make sure that you
haven't sunk down enough to be dragging your under carriage. If so then clear it
out. All of tjis must be done without spinning you tires or you will have to
start all over again. Once you have packed down a long enough start then attempt
to go all the way but not if you start spinning and digging in. You may have to
do this many times before you get out. Keep your cool. Being frustrated at this
point will just aggravate the situation. If you are going to hike out then it
must be when it is cool. Forget schedules and deadline cause if you have
somewhere you need to be you could wind up lying dead and this just the wrong
kind of deadline. See our entire section on
survival as the many tip there in will help you but pay particular
interest to the section on Water and
Primitive
Shelters and Sand Shelters
for the comments on desert survival in these sections
Surviving with you vehicle.
Outside in the shade (or an improvised tarp) of your vehicle will be
cooler than inside even with all the doors and windows open. Get out of the sun
and wind. You do want air passing over you but not a wind, this will just
dehydrate you even quicker. Move very little except to shift position, lay down
if possible as the body uses less energy in this mode. Instruct children to sit
still and explain the gravity of the situation to them. Save all activity until
after the sun has gone over the horizon but while there is still some daylight.
Do not lay on the bare ground as the residual heat in it will try to cook you.
However you can find some coolness in the rock that haven't been heated by the
sun for the first few hours of the day. Do not touch the metal on your car, you
could be burned.
Replenishing your body moisture
Determine how long you are likely to be stranded, given the location and the
precaution you took such as leaving a travel plan with someone. Calculate how
much water consumption for each intended day and how much for each person.
Nursing mother will need a bit more than others while on the other overweight
people have a bit more stored water and food energy so they should be willing to
sacrifice a 4th of there portion, and older people because of the
diminished metabolism need slightly less, but in all fairness everyone will have
to agree to it.. Complex sure, but this way everyone should get out and
not just the ones that an equal portion plan most favors. Never wait until you
are feeble from the lack of water as damage will have already set in and even
after drinking you will still be feeble.When it comes to drinking it is best to
drink your allotted water in larger quantities and not just sipping. Why
you say. Because just drinking a little at a time does nothing to bring down
your inner core temperature and just leaves you hot which causes the water to
rush to your skin's surface in an attempt to evaporate and cool you that way,
nor does it do anything towards keeping your toxins flushed out of your system.
If you are not drinking enough to urinate (save this) then you are not taking in
enough liquid. Now on to drinking you urine. If you are making urine now is not
the time to be drinking it. However if you wait, then the urea converts to
ammonia and that is not good for you. The best thing is to make a simple bag
still and convert the urine back into water. See
Water. Scout the surrounding area for
possible sources of moisture. Again see Water.
Doing your part
A search party can pass just a short distance away and never see you. You
must do your part to be rescued. Display a distress signal. A flag, stomp out an
SOS in the sand, light a smoky fire (tires, green vegetation) leave you cell
phone on. If you have the emergency orange smoke kit or flares consider using
them when you have determined that it is a likely time for searchers to be
looking for you or when an airplane is passing somewhere overhead.
Automotive Survival Gear
you should
have in your trunk:
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A set of jumper cables, a full size spare tire and
equipment to change a flat tire - consider carrying a tire repair plug kit
and a 12 Volt tire inflator - works off the cigarette lighter, to
re-inflate a flat or low tire. |
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Always carry your basic fluids such as coolant, oil, tranny
fluid and brake fluid. A small tool kit with the basics to is a must. Additional tools that may help: a shovel, a come along or
winch, road flares, a flash light with a low energy consuming LED
flasher (consider a crank style flashlight as a back up), a orange
smoke signal kit or a flare gun ,(available at any boating supply house, a "long load"
plastic red flag (available at your local lumber yard), duct tape, JB Weld,
an al purpose tool (Leatherman or similar) and a bag of kitty
litter. |
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You should also keep on hand, snacks such as granola bars,
hard candy, Jerky sticks, lots of purified water, specialty foods (baby),
feminine products
and medications. Remember that foods and medicines expire and should be
rotated with fresh material and the older consumed in the course of day to
day living (generally every 3 months along with your vehicles oil change).
Cups and eating utensil add a bit of civilization in dire times. |
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Always, but even more so for winter traveling, carry an
extra-layers of clothing, gloves, hand-warmers, hat and coat and warm
blankets (enough for everyone). |
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A First Aid kit that is supplemented with known medical
needs for the family, extra large gauzes (a feminine napkin works when
nothing else is available), and super glue (used in place of stitches). |
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A great item to carry would be a
single burner
Duel Fuel camp stove (not
to be used inside a vehicle) which can use either automotive unleaded
gas or camping fuel-white gas; (less than 50
bucks) this way you can prepare a hot meal or beverage or even to melt snow
for drinking water. For this to be
useful you would also need to carry at least one aluminum cooking pot.
Wal-Mart carries a large aluminum Cup for $2.98 that hold about 1 liter and
can serve as a small lightweight pot. Even if you don't take a stove, take
some emergency candles and a pocket lighter, for both warmth and comfort in
the darks. Be sure to always melt some snow or purify water so your
candles are doing double duty. In an extreme emergency you can use some wire
from your
Use the
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