Archive for September 2012

After too much delay, this post is a follow up to one that I wrote in early August (Part I) wherein I criticized a Bear Grylls video.  In it, Grylls, while “lost” at sea, gave himself an enema in order to stave off the effects of dehydration.  While what he did was technically correct, both biologically and medically, and he did mention that the source of his contaminated water was “freshwater,” it gave many viewers the impression that they could potentially hydrate themselves using a seawater enema. Since I must admit that I was even confused — after all, hydration enemas have, in fact, been successfully used in genuine survival situations at sea — I turned to Jake Griebe of SOWMAS for his professional opinion.  Jake is a paramedic and chief instructor at Wisconsin-based SOWMAS, a school which specializes in combining wilderness medicine and wilderness survival.  Jake is a great friend […]

You want to spend more time in the Great Outdoors but you are more than a little nervous at the prospect of sharing the forest with vicious animals who are waiting to eat you? Well, all I can say is … Dude, relax!  Trust me, you and your kids are not likely going to end up as an appetizer on the menu of a gastronomic bear (or, for that matter, any creature) the next time you decide to venture to the Laurel Highlands, Allegheny National Forest, or any of the other countless beautiful lands that this region has to offer.  Don’t believe me? … I’ve got the statistics to prove it! Collective Fear I have found that the fear of “wild animals” is one of the biggest ones that people have when considering the prospect of spending time in woods.  Which is unfortunate because, frankly, it is a fear based […]