Wilderness 101 by Maurice L. Phipps

Author:Maurice L. Phipps
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Falcon Guides
Published: 2022-07-02T00:00:00+00:00

Prevention Techniques

Again, do research on where you are going to check what to expect with regard to wildlife and either stay away from possible predators or have whatever protection you can get for where you are going. Always be “in the moment” in the wild outdoors, as you do share it with wild things.

Plants

As mentioned earlier, some plants can be problematic if touched and some if ingested. Recognizing both types is critical.

Plants Not to Touch

A common plant to encounter is the stinging nettle. The “sting” is caused by the plant injecting you with formic acid but is often relieved by rubbing it with some saliva on an often close-by dock leaf. Nettles are widespread in Europe, Asia, and North America. They can be boiled and used for tea or shampoo.

Urushiol is the oil from poison ivy, poison oak, sumac, and mango trees that affects many people with blisters on their skin. It can be severe. If it gets on your hands, it needs to be washed off before you start touching your face and other regions. Pet cats and dogs sometimes bring it home on their fur, and owners, unaware they have been stroking fur with the oil on it, then touch their faces, and voila, blisters. Some people are unaffected by the oil. These plants don’t grow in Europe but are common in North America, Taiwan, Japan, Korea, and Sakhalin, an island in Russia. Learning what these plants look like can help you avoid them. For example, poison ivy is a vine that can be hanging from trees or growing out of the ground. The leaves can be small or large. It generally doesn’t grow above 5,000 feet, but climate change may be affecting that. If any vines are on fire and you breathe in the smoke, it can affect your respiratory system, so don’t throw any vines on your campfire.

Some desert plants are protected by pines and razor-sharp thorns. The cholla cactus, for example, can leave broken thorns in you as you brush past it. Each thorn contains porcupine quill–like scales that are very difficult to remove from the skin. Another example is the cat’s claw acacia, which can grow as a tree or large shrub. It is sometimes called the “wait a bit” tree, as you wait to disengage yourself from the cat’s claw-like spines. These are but two examples of problem desert plants.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.