Cadettes
OUTDOORS
Cadette Trail Adventure Badge Activity
First Aid For Hiking And Trail
Learn about common trail injuries so that you’re prepared.
Activity Details
Time needed: 20–30 minutes
Materials needed:
- Comfortable clothes
- Comfortable shoes for a workout
Setup: Hiking and running are both excellent forms of exercise. Each provides cardiovascular and pulmonary benefits and works major muscle groups so that you improve your stamina, endurance, strength, and muscle tone. You use many of the same muscles for each activity, but at different intensities. A strong core is crucial for both.
Outdoor adventures may also lead to some injuries. If it’s cold, you could get frostbite. If it’s hot, you could get a heat stroke or become dehydrated. You can also sprain your ankle if the ground is uneven. You will learn about some common injuries and what you can do to avoid them and how you can treat them. Take this knowledge and apply it for your safety in your training plan.
Activity: Hiking comes with its share of injuries. Most are minor, if treated promptly. Imagine you are in the heart of a 100-mile wilderness, a three-day hike away from the closest town. Murphy’s Law says the chances of something going wrong are just about 100 percent. Maybe it’s not something to worry about? Maybe the diligent prep work before this hike has paid off. Maybe another 60 miles to town is painful, but not impossible.
Common Hiking Injuries
A common first thought when it comes to hiking injuries is how to prevent them. Nonetheless, unfortunate as they are, injuries are likely occurrences when hiking. It’s therefore important to not only know how to prevent or mitigate common ailments and accidents, but also how to treat them.
At least two people in your hiking party will need to know some basic first aid. You should have adequate supplies in your backpack that can tackle any eventuality. Knowledge of how to identify various injuries and conditions is also very important.
The most common hiking injuries are:
- Blisters
- Sprains
- Cuts
- Hypothermia
- Hyperthermia
- Dehydration
- Sunburn
- Bug bites
Let’s go through all the injuries below and identify the best ways to prevent and treat them.
BLISTERS
Prevention
Blisters are one of the most common hiking injuries and are caused by friction between your skin and ill-fitting socks and/or footwear.
To prevent blisters from forming, ensure your sock doesn’t slip up and down when you walk. Your hiking boots should fit tightly to prevent your foot from moving around or rubbing against the inside. However, they shouldn’t be too tight either, and should allow for a little extra wiggle room if you like putting on thicker socks, or two pairs, for winter hikes. Furthermore, your boots should be broken in at least somewhat before embarking on your journey. Nobody recommends picking up a new pair at your local outdoors store and immediately hitting the trail.
Keeping your feet dry is also important in preventing blisters. To this end, ensure that you have two or three spare pairs of socks so that you can change them if you happen to step in a bog hole. And it goes without saying, but make sure you have those spare pairs adequately waterproofed inside your pack as well.
How do I treat it?
If you do get a blister (it happens to the best of us), you may want to act quickly to prevent any unnecessary discomfort, and to stop the blister from getting any worse.
If you have a sterilized needle at hand, pop and drain the blister. Apply disinfectant and then wrap it up with a bandage to minimize the risk of infection. It’s unlikely that you will have a sterilized needle while you’re hiking. Don’t try to pop a blister with anything that is unsterilized as you will risk the wound getting infected. Instead, use a blister plaster or wrap it tightly with a bandage to avoid any further irritation through friction.
Everyone has their own preferred method of blister treatment, with some of these extra options doubling up as preventative measures as well. For example, many people also use moleskin, corn pads, medical tape, duct tape, wearing two pairs of socks at once, wearing woolen socks and using petroleum jelly. By the way, petroleum jelly is also very useful toward preventing and treating chafing while walking long distances. Finally, for certain routes, some hikers can easily get away with trail runners and sneakers. High-lacing hiking boots are inherently stiff and not always 100% necessary. Perhaps this is for the more experienced walker out there, but it is one way to have a more comfortable journey, in terms of preventing blisters and lightening the load on your feet.
Troop Leaders: The instructions for all badge steps are available free of charge in your Girl Scout Volunteer Toolkit.
Girl Scout Activity Zone activities have been adapted from existing Girl Scout programming.
Adapted from Step 2 of the Cadette Trail Adventure badge. Purchase the badge booklet to complete all requirements and earn the badge.
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