Don’t let things go from bad to worse in the backcountry

In today’s newsletter, we are going to expand on our video tip from this week, we will be discussing the bad decision spiral. What prompted this week’s topic was an article about hikers who failed to bring head lamps or flashlights and then took a wrong turn. We call a situation like this a bad decision spiral, you can sometimes get away with a single mistake or bad decision, but when they start stacking up like this, things can turn serious pretty quickly! Luckily in this situation the hiker had cell service and was able to call for assistance. 

The real killer when things start to go wrong in the backcountry (and really anywhere in life) is when we let our emotions override our calm, rational brain. This is like pouring gasoline on a fire. This is where we get stories of people who get lost and start running wildly through the woods, even crossing a road or a trail because they have let their fear override their rational brain. 

So the first thing we need to do when we begin to get into the bad decision spiral is STOP and detach from the emotion of the situation. Take a deep breath, look around and then you can begin the process of solving the problems in front of you. 

There is an acronym to help remember a basic decision making process S.T.O.P.A. Which stands for Stop, Think, Observe, Plan, Act. 

The stop step is how we arrest the slide down the bad decision spiral. 

Here is the link to the article from Northeast Explorer if you are interested in reading more about this incident. 

If you have not joined our online class The Prepared Hiker System, you can learn more about leadership and decision making in the backcountry inside the program. 

Stay prepared and I’ll see you in the woods!