RegionSpecific Travel and Navigation
Arid Regions, Deserts, and Canyons
In these regions, the decision whether to move depends primarily on your
current supply of water and the likelihood of your finding it somewhere else.
If you don’t think you have enough water to complete the journey and are
not likely to find some on the way, you shouldn’t go at all, unless you have
no choice.
Anyone who has ever hopped their way across a scalding beach with
an ice cream cone in hand will understand that walking on desert sand—no
matter how good your footgear—is just as difficult. It’s best to stick to brushy
and grassy places where the ground is a bit firmer. Snakes and spiders also
seek grassy places, so you increase your risk of being bitten, but this is still
the best way to go. If there are no shrubby or grassy areas, travel on the hard
valley floor between dunes, not on top of them.
If you are unlucky enough to get caught in a desert sandstorm, stop
moving immediately or try to get to the leeside of a natural shelter. Mark your
direction of travel, sit or lie down in that direction, cover your head (especially
your mouth and nose) with a cloth, and wait until the storm abates.
When traveling through canyon country, you have to be extremely
cautious around slot canyons (narrow canyons with high walls), which
have seen the deaths of many unsuspecting travelers. The danger here
is flash flooding, which happens with little warning. Flash floods can rip
through slot canyons on perfectly calm, bluesky days, generally because
a major storm has occurred elsewhere and all the surface runoff is col
lecting in the canyon. The wall of water can be as high as 60 feet (18 m).
A strong breeze or a sound like thunder are signs that a flash flood is
approaching.
Boreal and Other Temperate Forests
The denseness of the trees often complicates travel in boreal and other
temperate forests by preventing the traveler from gaining a good long
distance view of the surroundings. Your skill with a compass will come
into play here, as you’ll need to take frequent bearings to make your way
out. You can also climb a tree to get a better view.
Survival Travel and Navigation (^) | 245