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Echo-Sigma Saves a Life (or three)
Posted by Jack Nouri on 25th Jan 2016
Every year Nick goes on a camping trip with his buddies. It's your usual type of affair for guys in their 20's, find an empty spot, pitch a tent and crack open the brews. After a night of tall tails, roaring fires and clear skies you pack it in and head back to real life. Next year they repeat the process with a whole new set of stories and experiences.
Nick's friend handled the supply side but he decided that he should bring his Echo-Sigma Get Home Bag with him just in case:
| "Prepping for camping trips actually got me interested in Get Home Bags as I figured whatever I forgot to pack (or whatever I didn’t realized I needed to pack), the Get Home Bag would help supplement my supplies." -Nick |
This year they decided that they wanted to go a bit deeper off of the beaten path. They wanted to steer clear of the family friendly campgrounds so that they could howl at the moon if they so desired. So they set off on a full on hike down some known trails, detoured down this path and that with everything they needed for a simple overnight trip.
| "We found a path off of the main trail that lead us around some rocks and through some brush that we turned into the perfect camp site. We managed to get a nice strong fire going and spent the remaining hours of the evening drinking beer and heavily going through our food supply until we all passed out for the night." |
So far so good. The next morning they broke camp, did some sightseeing with a plan to get back to their cars by 4pm. It turns out that finding their way back to their cars was more challenging than they thought. 4pm passed. 5pm passed. Finally by 5:30 their situation began dawning on them.
| "It was as if none of us wanted to say anything although we all knew there was a chance we were lost. We decided to trudge through following the leader until the sun went down and that’s when everyone started to lose tempers. Arguments and insults and everything short of fists were flying back and forth between us." |
With darkness falling they made the well reasoned decision to make camp and spend another night in the wild. They correctly decided that wandering around in the dark would only get them more lost and risk injury which would compound their situation. One thing that made the decision easier was their safety net, Nicks Echo-Sigma Get Home Bag.
| "This is when I was grateful that I decided to pack my Get Home Bag. I had some emergency food and water in my bag that provided nutriment for the group. I had some extra flashlights and tools to help put up the tent and prepare the campsite. I even had a backup supply of matches just in case we lost fire. This was a very unexpected moment and we had every right to panic, but for some reason everyone was calm because we all knew if things did go south we had each other and we had these extra supplies to pull us through." |
This is a key component to survival when things go wrong. Having the right gear when you're in a bad situation can be the difference between keeping your head and making the right decision or panicking because you have extremely limited options. You'll find time and again, people who compound their problems in emergency situations by making bad decisions due to panic.
Sometimes, just having an emergency kit can prevent a setback or inconvenience from even becoming an emergency.
The next day, they were lucky enough to find other hikers that were able to guide them back to civilization safely.
| "I hope my story educates others that it is always important to be prepared and there is no prepared like being Echo-Sigma prepared!" |
We can't thank Nick enough for thinking ahead for his trip and then sharing his experience with us.
-- Jack
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