Be Prepared for Hiking Season

Get ready for summertime and all the outdoor activities that come with the season. For many, this means hiking season. For all those weekenders out there who travel to high peaks or to those who trek the smaller mountains, hiking is a great release from the pressures of life, a great way to get in shape or stay in shape, and a great way to have fun with friends or family.
Hikers should know, however, that certain safety precautions and basic knowledge of general first aid are a good idea, even necessary. One type of issue to be aware of on the trail is traumatic injuries. These are common among hikers and trekkers, and are even a common cause of death for hikers. Trauma means injury due to an accident, such as fractures, bleeding, internal injuries, and head injury.

Trauma usually results from carelessness due to either distraction or tiredness. You might be excited to climb a huge boulder to get a better view of the valley below, and forget to watch your footing and fall, causing an injury. Or, you might scramble up a rocky cliff to get a picture and in your enthusiasm forget to stabilize your footing or watch for unstable footholds. Another way injuries occur is when hikers go off-trail. As a result of getting lost, or in order to make a shortcut, hikers will cut across trails and buchwhack. Going off trail might mean you are hiking on very steep terrain and it would be easy to slip and fall. It's also important to look up if you find yourself off trail and in a steep spot, to watch out for loose rocks that could fall on your head. Look for signs of recent rockfall across the trail, too, and be very careful until you are out of the area. Oh, and did we mention, don't linger in a spot where it's obvious there have been some rockfall incidents very recently.

At the end of the day, when you are more fatigued, you are more likely to make errors in judgement and get injured. Your legs are tired and just a tiny slip could cause a fall because your muscles are too slow and weak to compensate for lost footing. When you're tired, you can't control our muscles as well, so a little ankle twist on a rocky trial that might otherwise be no problem could mean an ankle injury late in the day. Your mind is also tired at the end of the day, so you forget to concentrate on the trail.
When a member of your hiking party is injured from a fall, other hikers will of course be concerned about him or her, and will try to help. It's important to keep in mind that everyone should still think about their own personal safety even during this traumatic event. After the initial shock of realizing someone has been injured, others should assess how they will get to the injured person, if he or she has fallen far. Make sure there are no more rockfalls if that is the source of the accident. Make sure the terrain is stable, if the hiker has gotten injured due to losing his footing on crumbling earth. Don't let more hikers get injured, is the bottom line.

Keeping these factors in mind: don't get distracted, and try and stay alert even when you're tired, you should be able to prevent most common injuries due to trauma. Stay alert and focused out there, and you'll be ready to hike next weekend as well.

Bambi is an expert at Islamorada, Marathon and Key West.