Carol Rhoades is Flight Nurse, Intermountain Life Flight, Salt Lake City, Utah.
Article Outline
It was 1991 and I had the wanderlust. I researched and visited several cities looking for my Eden. I told an acquaintance from Salt Lake City to show me the mountains, escort me to a bar, and take me shopping. We never made it past the mountains. I was sold before we even completed the drive up Little Cottonwood Canyon. The lure of the landscape is undeniable. To the outdoors type, Utah is like manna from heaven. There is easy access to trailheads for hiking, climbing, and off-road biking in the summer and snowshoeing, skiing, boarding, ice climbing, and snowmobiling in the winter. The song of the sirens draws in even those not accustomed to the backcountry (Figure 1).
It is less than a 15- to 30-minute drive to the trailheads of the Wasatch Range that defines the eastern border of Salt Lake City and only an hour drive to the Uinta Mountain Range where you can disappear for weeks on end, purposefully or not. There are 5 national parks in Utah, all within a half-day drive. The easy access to the trailheads belies the rugged and potentially dangerous nature of the terrain. The local Search and Rescue groups in Utah never lack for work or experience.
As a flight nurse for Life Flight with Intermountain Healthcare, our team has often assisted the Search and Rescue groups with rescues and recoveries. We have external load hoist capabilities and can access lost or injured victims in areas that may be dangerous or prolonged for ground evacuation. As both a frequenter of the backcountry and a medical responder to accidents incurred by fellow backcountry enthusiasts, I would like to extend some advice on how to enjoy the country and do so with some margin of safety. Although our flight team loves these transports out of the mountains, I guarantee you will not be so thrilled.
1.Be wary of men in groups. The vast majority of backcountry rescue is male. Boys, balance some estrogen in with your testosterone…take a girl. She will help keep you out of trouble. Ladies, trust your instinct. If it does not sound like a very good idea, it probably is not.
2.Be prepared for bad weather. I ALWAYS take a rain jacket. A beautiful bluebird morning can quickly deteriorate into a sloppy, cold, rainy afternoon. Do not trust the meteorologists. The weather that comes over the mountain ranges is very unpredictable.
3.Dress in layers. It is a lot colder at the top of the mountain than it is at the trailhead. Refer to #2 about unpredictable weather.
4.Take plenty of water. Seriously. We have rescued more than one “dehydrated, exhausted” hiker…cannot go another step. I would suggest at least a liter for a half-day hike. I take at least 2 liters; because sometimes you get out there and you decide that a half-day just is not going to be enough. There are also those unintentional detours that can add a couple hours on to you outing. If you have finished off two-thirds of your water, it is time to turn around.
5.Let someone know where you are going and when you plan to be back. Remember Aaron Ralston. My husband always tells me to take a knife.
6.Know where you are. Maps or a global positioning device (GPS) and extra batteries are good. Most of the trails have been hiked extensively. If you have to ask yourself if you are on a trail, you probably are not. It should be rather obvious. Backtrack to the last good, clear trail.
7.Know the capabilities of the weakest member of your group. See #4 about exhausted-cannot-take-another-step-my-feet-hurt-hikers. Being physically spent, dehydrated, and exhausted is not only miserable, it can be dangerous. Be nice to yourself and your hiking partners.
8.Wear good shoes. Blisters will ruin your day and make for a painful hike out. I do not care how good your shoes are, they are not good enough to hike up the sides of waterfalls.
9.It is harder to climb down than climb up. If bouldering up is a little questionable, bouldering back down is going to be scary at best. Falls are the most frequent reason why we are asked to respond to a medical emergency in the backcountry.
10.If you are going to be pushing daylight, take a headlamp or flashlight. See #9 above about falls and #6 about knowing where you are.
11.Take a cell phone, but do not depend on it. There are a lot of spots where you will not get service. It is nice to take friends that are capable of running up peaks where cell service is somewhat better. Cell phones have definitely saved quite a few people, so it is worth it to carry one.
12.Please do not provoke or bother the wildlife. Moose and elk are big animals and they do not like to be hand fed or petted. They will make this perfectly clear if need be, but best not to test this theory.
13.Murphy's Law will always hold true. The backcountry can be unforgiving. It is never completely safe nor do we want it to be. We should, however, always try to maintain a reasonable margin of safety. We should expect little things to go wrong every outing (eg, a water bottle leaks in your pack, a shoe lace breaks, another hiker needs assistance, etc). With a reasonable safety margin and some common sense, the little things remain little. Without that, the little things can lead easily to big problems. So, stay within your limits and those of your group. As things that can go wrong, do go wrong you will be prepared and capable enough to minimize the impact. Do not push the limit…see Rule #1 about males.
Please get out there and enjoy this beautiful country. We love to show it off. If you can, add a few days to your trip and visit the national parks. This part of the country is unique and for me, at least, this vast and beautiful landscape reconnects me to what is important and real and right about the world…all that in a few hours of hiking! Be prepared. Be safe. Happy hiking.
In place of Journal of Emergency Nursing Editor-in-Chief Renee Holleran's June editorial, Carol Rhoades is sharing her observations of Utah in recognition of this ENA Annual Conference issue. The Annual Conference is to be held in Salt Lake City, Utah, this year. Also, as a special tribute to the emergency nurse, a second guest editorial by David F. Baehren, MD, is featured in this issue.
PII: S0099-1767(07)00198-5
doi:10.1016/j.jen.2007.03.015
© 2007 Emergency Nurses Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
