Falcon Guides’s new ebook, “Surviving the Path,” taught our affiliate editor how you can survive higher. On this overview, she explains what she discovered.
(Picture: Emma Veidt)
Revealed September 24, 2025 11:32AM
Though fairly uncommon, unintentional demise is a tragic chance on mountain climbing trails. Between 2014 and 2019, the Nationwide Park Service reported 1,080 unintentional fatalities, ensuing from unintended drownings, falls, hypothermia, thermal burns, and extra. That’s a small share of hikers total, however to stop including to it, it’s vital to know the dangers of outside recreation. Too typically at Backpacker can we cowl tales about hikers all all through the nation who drowned, died of hypothermia, or perished on account of warmth exhaustion.
Arming your self with know-how is the easiest way to confidently go into the backcountry with out concern. There are literally thousands of books on the market on the subject, however many are outdated and extra are extraordinarily dry. Nonetheless, Surviving the Path: 5 Important Expertise To Put together Each Hiker For Journey’s Most Widespread Perils, revealed earlier this month by Falcon Guides, breaks down widespread backcountry risks in an easy-to-follow, relatable means. The writer, Dr. Robert Scanlon, is a board-certified pulmonary drugs and significant care doctor with over 20 years of follow, but the ebook isn’t saturated with medical jargon. He writes in a means that the typical hiker can perceive.
Dr. Scanlon’s mantra is, “preparation is the final word survival ability.” As hinted within the ebook’s title, he emphasizes the 5 expertise that each hiker ought to grasp to sort out the most typical risks outside: Hydration Technique, Climate and Managing Physique Temperature, Crossing Waterways, Consciousness Of Heights and the Danger Of Falling, and Land Navigation. Every part makes use of real-life examples, vital visible references, and scientific explanations that I (a non-scientist who as soon as bought a C+ in chemistry) can really perceive. Right here’s a peek inside.
Talent 1: Hydration Technique
A typical survival axiom is “drink 1 liter of water for each 5 miles on the path.” That guideline, nevertheless, is short-sighted. What if it’s humid? What when you’re a sluggish hiker? What if the terrain is steep? These components—and extra—play into how a lot water you’ll want on path. Dr. Scanlon created a chart that outlines how a lot water it’s best to eat per hour on the path based mostly on tempo, terrain, forecasted temperature, and humidity. Seems that, relying on these circumstances, your fluid wants might vary from 16 ounces to 40 ounces per hour. I’ve grown reliant on the 5 miles per liter ratio, however now I’ll contemplate all of the variables when packing for a hike.
Talent 2: Climate and Managing Physique Temperature
They are saying there are three studying kinds: visible, auditory, and kinesthetic. I say there’s a fourth: studying by examples. Dr. Scanlon humanizes complicated matters by citing eventualities the place he himself had to make use of survival expertise in a real-life incident. These anecdotes have been particularly salient within the climate and physique temperature part of the ebook.
Right here, Dr. Scanlon particulars what it was wish to develop an early case of average hypothermia on account of monsoon-like rains on Kilimanjaro, plus how he layered his garments to stop it on his summit push in windy, near-freezing temps. We’re studying from somebody who has definitely been there in Surviving The Path.
Talent 3: Crossing Waterways
Regardless that I’m a Backpacker editor, I contemplate myself common at water crossings. Most of my backpacking happens in southern California, the place we’re fortunate simply to get a dependable puddle to filter water throughout the summer time. It’s been some time since I’ve wanted to truly ford a stream.
On this chapter, it was as if Dr. Scanlon was one step forward of me the entire time. Any “what if” I might consider whereas imagining crossing speeding water, he addressed in a hypothetical situation, explaining how you can keep away from or survive it. Due to this, Surviving The Path quelled a few of my anxieties about backpacking in wetter landscapes. He even included useful assets to analysis present water depth ranges, which is one thing that each hiker ought to do earlier than hitting the path.
Talent 4: Consciousness Of Heights and the Danger Of Falling
On a rooty, rocky path, minor journeys and falls are widespread occurrences. Many of the ensuing scrapes require minor TLC, however giant falls—reminiscent of slipping off cliffsides or overlooks—are one of many extra widespread causes of deaths within the backcountry, based on Dr. Scanlon. They account for 20 p.c of nationwide parks deaths and are extra widespread in parks with sheer dropoffs like Grand Canyon and Yosemite.
He addresses widespread danger components (do you know that those that have interaction in dangerous conduct are more likely to be male, over 21 years outdated, and touring in a gaggle?) plus, with sections like “The Deadly Selfie,” he additionally addresses dangers which are distinctive to the trendy period. For the medically curious, this part additionally explains how fast deceleration, reminiscent of touchdown after a major fall, causes inner whiplash that fatally damages bones and essential organs. Though medical information like that aren’t essentially going to be the issues that save me in a pinch, I really feel smarter and higher off as a hiker figuring out them.
Talent 5: Land Navigation
In relation to data retention, map and compass expertise are the toughest for me. Years in the past, I discovered every little thing. Now, due to a reliance on digital maps, I might not belief my capacity to recall how you can regulate for declination, definitely not in a panicked survival state of affairs.
It’s straightforward to imagine that these expertise belong in a crypt with different pre-GPS relics. However, batteries die, indicators might be spotty, and on-line maps generally don’t have the identical topographic element as paper ones. So it’s essential for all hikers to discover ways to handle each navigation strategies, and this ebook is a superb technique to begin. Dr. Scanlon takes his time on this part, the longest within the ebook by far, for clear step-by-step directions (with footage) that define all of these simply perishable compass methods. This consists of accounting for the distinction between magnetic north and true north, discovering your location on a map, and a few habits that Dr. Scanlon personally makes use of to hone these expertise.
