Survival
I
101: Avoid
the deadly
‘vacation
mindset’
By Allen Macartney
ALLEN
MACARTNEY
S IT FEASIBLE to be on vacation in a tiny touristoriented park, get lost, and need rescue?
It happens every year in North Carolina’s Jockey
Ridge State Park. Covering an area less than two
square kilometres, and hemmed in between the
ocean on one side and a highway on the other,
rescuers are called out more than 20 times a year
looking for lost hikers there. People park their car,
and head out on the trails. Soon they get completely
turned around: darkness is coming, panic sets in,
they start to hurry or even run. Many are found
crying and injured.
How could anyone get lost on a postage stampsized park?
“When they get out of their car, it’s as if they stop
thinking,” says the warden. “I call it a vacation
mindset.” And it happens everywhere. It’s rampant
close to home in Algonquin Park.
Each year scores of people overload their canoes
with camping gear (even barbecues!) and paddle
down Algonquin’s Smoke Lake for a weekend
adventure. Sometimes you can see them zigzagging
down the middle of this long lake, right into the
teeth of an approaching storm. Low, black clouds
scud overhead, and thunder echoes over the hills.
Yet the paddlers seem oblivious to the imminent
danger as they bash through huge waves. They’re on
vacation. Somehow, their survival instincts have
totally shut down.
Often those with just a bit of experience set off
with great self-assurance into the forest, feeling as if
they’re masters of the universe. Though this overconfident attitude might work fine in downtown
Ottawa or Montreal, it fails completely the further
you go into the wilds. In nature, you can find yourself
quickly out of your element without even knowing it,
believing you are perfectly safe.
"Each year scores of people overload their canoes with
camping gear ...and paddle down the middle of a lake
oblivous and right into the teeth of an approaching storm..."
From the cradle to the grave we’re conditioned to
the fact – and it is a fact – that most of the time
we’re totally secure. We don’t have to second-guess
or be super-alert to manage perfectly well. Life is
controlled, predictable and under control. We can
leave work, shift our brains into neutral, drive home
and arrive in our driveway without even recalling
the trip. It’s happened to us all.
Hollywood reinforces this assumption of safety
and control by presenting heroes in ever-more
10 | OTTAWAOUTDOORS
violent movies, and living through impossible
perils – even thriving.
In nature, those assumptions can get you killed.
When Mount St. Helens blew up, despite
repeated warnings, scores of people went deep
into danger zones, just to watch. They ignored
primal alarm bells – if there were any – ringing in
their heads, ignored police advice, brought
coolers, rolled out picnic blankets and ate
sandwiches in the very shadow of the valley of
death.
Several years ago tourists in Thailand were seen
videotaping – instead of fleeing – the enormous,
foaming tsunami as it sped towards their beach.
They didn’t want to miss it, the amazing changing
colours, the raw power of nature. And they didn’t,
and nature didn’t miss them.
Thousands of years ago humans were very wary
beings constantly alert for approaching threats.
Survival was tenuous. Life often ended violently.
Today, “survival of the fittest” no longer rules
our lives. Totally oblivious, we can wander deep
into danger zones without a care in the world.
Twenty percent of deaths in the Grand Canyon
Park occur when people are either taking
photographs or posing for one. Often they’re
standing right beside a warning sign: “Danger!
Exposed cliff!” Taking one confident step closer
to the precipice for a better picture, they drop
their guard, not understanding that this is no
familiar, artificially controlled environment.
It’s quite possible to avoid this vacation mindset
in the outdoors, and it won’t ruin your fun.
Stay keenly aware of your surroundings. You’ll
actually enjoy your walk more, staying connected
with the world around you. Keep a day pack with
essentials, just in case. Expect the best, but plan
for a bit of trouble.
Several years ago I paddled all alone to the
Arctic Circle – 1,300 kilometres through the
Yukon and Alaskan wilderness. Often I felt
joyously overwhelmed by the utter silence and
beauty, but I refused to completely relax. Wild
animals surrounded me in the forest, and
every one of them was on edge, sniffing the
wind for danger, alert to approaching threats.
That’s how nature operates. So I forced myself
too, to stay constantly alert – my guard never
dropped for long.
Adopt a vacation mindset in deep forest or
wilderness at your peril. Eventually your luck can
run out. Φ
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