Come Back Alive

By Al Pearce

Desert Magazine
May 1968

This article has only one purpose–to keep you alive. Survival specialists have a long list of persons who have died needlessly in the desert; persons who thought that just because they spent many weekends playing beneath a burning sun, they didn't have any problems.

Two years ago, a man died a scant 100 yards from water; he was a desert prospector. Last summer, two women were found dead about one mile from their automobile; they, too, had spent "lots of time on the desert." About four years ago, a man was found dead with a half canteen of water lying by his side. Why? Because he, like nearly everyone else, thought that preserving water would preserve his life.

This is not true.

And that is the thesis of this article. There are too many fallacies that need correcting. Too many persons have died because of popular beliefs, formulated by some outdated movie or by fiction writers who didn't have the faintest idea what they were talking about.

For example, you may as well be without water while sipping it gradually. Trying to preserve it as long as possible does your body no good whatsoever. To illustrate the truth of this theory, pour a quart of water into a pan and bring it to a boil. After it is boiling, add a few drops of water frequently. You'll notice that it makes little difference in the evaporation process. However, pour in half of a canteen full, and the boiling and de-evaporation process is immediately retarded; therefore, appreciably lengthening the time it would take the pan to boil dry.

The body is much like the pan of water; it comes when the water has boiled away. The difference is not how people have believed for years how you can stretch your water, but instead how wisely you use it.

Think of your body as an automobile and water as the gasoline it takes to keep the motor running. So many gallons are good for so many miles. The same maximum is valid regarding the body; so much water is good for so many miles.

If you remember nothing else, this one thing will contribute more to saving your life than anything else. "Your body is like an automobile. When it is running, it burns much more fuel than when it is only idling."

According to Naval experts, if you start walking in the daytime heat, your body is good for about 10 miles for every gallon of water you drink. If you walk at night, the same gallon will take you 20 miles. With no walking at all, one gallon of water will keep you alive for about two days, assuming the body is in average physical condition.

What all this boils down to, don't walk unless you know where you are going and unless you know you have enough water to make it.

Let's say, for example, that you became stranded in the middle of the area shown in the above photo. If you know which direction to walk towards safety, you'll need at least two gallons of water to make it. The odds of guessing the right direction to safety are about three to ten. If you have two gallons of water and are sure of your directions, you have no problem. But if you don't have two gallons of water and are not sure of your direction–you're dead if you start walking.

The next logical question is, of course, "What if I don't have enough water, and what if I don't know which direction to travel?"

This one question brings home the importance of always telling someone where you plan to go and what time you expect to return. That's the reason all airlines travel on flight planes. They are due at such and such a place at a given time, and if they are not, search parties are immediately organized.

You're a lot easier to find if someone knows where you are. And this brings up another important fact to always remember: an automobile, a tent, a big "X" in the sand is a lot easier to spot from the air than is a body lying in the shade of a small mesquite.

Let's examine the problem as seen by Naval survival experts. Instead of an airplane crash, however, let's say that you were having one heck of a good time. You're chasing butterflies or something else.

A couple of hours pass happily, and suddenly you decide it's time to go back to where you started. You look about you and become shocked by the knowledge that you don't know where you are, much less the direction of your starting point.

You look around you and see nothing but a few desert plants, a few rocks, and a whole bunch of sand. The bright yellow sun is beating on your forehead with all the fury at its command. Off in the distance, you can see a myriad of heatwaves bouncing off the desert floor.

At this very moment, you'll begin to make a decision that will either kill you or save your life. The thinking process gets all loused up by panic, and you're subject to do a million and one things that simple logic would vote against.

The thing to do is sit down, light a cigarette and relax, momentarily forgetting your predicament. If you're worried about the cigarette causing cancer – good. Think about this for a while. It is the least of your problems at this particular moment, and if it keeps your mind occupied, so much the better–I might add that I've never heard of anyone dying of cancer while perishing from thirst. This doesn't mean it has never happened, but no one has ever complained.

The point is: Get your mind off your problem until you're sure you can analyze it rationally.

Think of the pan of water, think of the automobile, and then inventory your "fuel" supply. Chances are you have only one canteen, which is not enough to take you more than a couple of miles.

If your water supply is limited, you'd better start thinking of other means of survival. The canteen of water, plus the water you have in your body, is good for about two days if you remain calm, collected, and do not waste yourself.

This means simply that you have a minimum of two days for someone to find you. This compares to only a couple of hours if you grow impatient and set out to find someone.

Now that this has been settled take a look around you. Find a shady spot, off the desert sand if possible. It can be as much as 30 degrees cooler one foot off the ground.

Inventory the plants around you. Many of these contain moisture. Stay in the shade until the sun begins to set, and then start cutting into these plants until you find one that has more moisture than the others. If they give off a milky, oozy substance, don't, under any circumstances, make use of them. Move on to other plants.

If you find a good plant, and there are quite a few in the desert, fill your canteen and drink all of the water you can hold. Then gather as much of the plants as possible for two signal fires. One for tonight and one for tomorrow afternoon if you are still not rescued.

When darkness sets in, you may as well try to get some sleep. This should not be too difficult, knowing that by now someone is looking for you. At least they should be if you told them where you are going and when you expect to return.

If you still haven't been found the next morning, you should start drinking water as you need it, remembering that the only way to conserve it is to control your sweating.

Do not remove any clothing. Clothing helps to control sweating by not letting perspiration evaporate so fast. Do not lie on the ground, even in the shade. If possible, sit a few inches above the ground. If you have to move, move slowly. An Arabian does not survive in the desert, he lives there, and you never see him get in a great big hurry. Some people think he might be lazy, but he isn't. He is living the way the desert makes him live.

By following the above advice, all you're doing is staying alive until someone finds you. This is really all you can do under the circumstances. By noon, if you still haven't been found, your problems are beginning to multiply by leaps and bounds, and your chances of survival are being reduced dangerously.

But still, the one basic factor must prevail. How far can you get on the water you have. Just like an automobile, you are not going a food further until you have the "fuel" to take you.

Obviously, however, if you haven't been found by this time, you strayed further than you thought, and finding you isn't going to be easy. So, with the idea in mind that your water is the most precious possession you have, think carefully before making your next move.

You can light your second signal fire with a minimum effort. There is not much need to do this before noon unless you have a lot of fuel and like to watch fires. Search parties are sometimes painfully slow in organizing, and chances are authorities were not called until late the evening before. When the sun came up, they were only beginning to prepare for the search.

By noon they should be close enough to see smoke from a fire. But, remember, if you are not immediately found, still have approximately 24 hours–assuming you found no water-bearing plants, your only problem is hunger, and you can go several days without food. If you're like a lot of us, it might be good for you.

I have been on numerous search parties conducted by Southern California Sheriff's Departments, and experience tells me that the person who stays put when he realizes he is lost is usually found within 48 hours. Rescue units are usually quite proficient. The person, who dies, is the person who decides to walk out and starts off in the wrong direction. This only puts him further and further away from rescue. I've also gone through the Naval Survival School at Warner Hot Springs, and, believe me, these people have survival down to a science. And, they, too, caution against trying to walk very far on the desert.

Let's take another common situation: You run out of gas or get stuck on a lonely abandoned road. Basically, the situation has not changed one iota, except that a large automobile is larger to spot than a small person.

Several persons have died because of the mistake of trying to dig out a car stuck in the sand and not having enough water to keep the body from dehydrating. The same warnings hold true here, "You have to have water if you're going to move."

Don't drink radiator water. If your situation becomes desperate, you might pour this water on your clothing to retard the evaporation process, but don't drink it under any circumstances. Don't drink urine either; it's just like saltwater.

If you're stuck, you can attempt to dig your way out after dark when it is cooler. If you're out of gas, relax. In either case, it won't hurt to leave your lights on. They can be spotted from a distance.

Now a few words about finding water. In many parts of the desert, water can be found only a few feet beneath the surface. Always dig on the concave side of a streambed. This is where most of the water flows. If it's a dry lake, dig near the center, this was probably the last part to dry up. Do not waste your energy by digging more than three or four feet. If you haven't found moisture in this distance, the odds are that you won't.

I've already mentioned, nearly all desert plants have some degree of moisture. The roots are usually the best bet in the average plant. A cactus holds water in its prickly arms.

Next to a water shortage, the sun is your most dangerous enemy. It can kill you a lot quicker than you may suspect or at least render you helpless. The sun can cause three types of heat collapse:

Heat Cramps. You become flushed, sweat profusely, and get cramps in your legs or stomach muscles. If you're alone, take all the water you have and find a shady spot if at all possible. Take salt if you have it.

Heat Exhaustion. Symptoms are much the same as in heat cramps, except that the skin becomes cold to the touch. The person may even shiver. To combat this, lie flat on your back, cover up as much as possible, and again, take salt if available.

Heat Stroke. This, of course, is the deadliest. Heatstroke can come on suddenly with little if any, warning. All sweating stops, there is a severe headache, and pulse starts beating fast and strong. Unconsciousness may result.

When stricken with heatstroke, there is little you can do for yourself. If possible, lie down flat on your back off the ground in the shade. If you have plenty of water–and you should have, or else you shouldn't have been walking in the sun in the first place–pour it on your clothing. Do not take stimulants.

According to the Navy, the above advice has saved the lives of hundreds of servicemen. The failure to follow this advice has cost many lives.

In closing one of the lectures at the survival school, a commander had this to say, "If you're lost, think of it as an unplanned leave, a holiday, and always remember that those stupid bosses you've always complained about are not now trying to tell you what to do. You are on your own."

If this is not enough to make you happy, think about all the weight you are losing and how much fun it will be to put it back on as soon as you are rescued.