Woman survives fall from cliff and days in woods with broken leg

The details of her story are still coming out, but I think Pamela Salant may be one of the toughest or luckiest women alive.

The 28-year-old was hiking in Mount Hood National Forest when she fell off a 50-foot cliff, seriously injuring her back and breaking her leg in two places, CNN is reporting.

During the three days she waited for rescue, she tied off a deep cut on her leg with her own underwear, tried to eat a few insects, meditated to remain calm, and covered herself with moss for warmth, according to the report. Her boyfriend told CNN she was scared but "determined" to survive.

She is recovering in an Oregon hospital and is expected to share more details about her story next week.

"What it will really take to survive"

Thank you to one of my readers for directing me to this link!

The headline of this post was taken from an article written by Jacqueline Windh on the Guardian website. In the story, Windh - who appears to live on the west coast of Canada, based on the article - muses on the value of wilderness survival skills compared to being practically prepared for events like earthquakes or epidemics at home.

She makes quite a few good points. I am not going to rewrite her story so I suggest you go to the link to check it out.

As mentioned in a previous post, I did take a three-day survival-skills workshop recently through the P.I.N.E. Project run by the head of Sticks and Stones Wilderness School.

I agree that city residents need to focus on being prepared to weather serious events in their homes but wanted to say that learning about edible plants and how to build shelters out of forest debris is something everyone should try. Even if you can't imagine being stuck alone in the woods it is worth doing just for fun. I was covered in dirt and bits of leaves and had at least one tiny spider in my hair by the end and it was a blast.

I plan to write about the debris shelter for the paper some time this month.

Paper bears, snakes, spiders and quality time with my family

(A paper bear head my sister and brother made together and slapped on the window of my sleeping cabin with sound effects. We are all in our 30s.)

I am back from a week at the cottage, and after being exposed to more nature in six days than I have almost all year, I am still in a bit of shock. I promise to get back to skills soon enough but wanted to share some photos and a few stories first.

We didn't see any real-life bears - in my mind that is a good thing as we are hoping they have all moved in-land at this point - but my sister and brother were happy to create a fake bear head and try to scare the life out of me while I tried to take a mid-morning nap.

The head above was slapped onto the screen window of my sleeping cabin while they scratched the window with a branch. To their disappointment I was reading and facing the window at the time.

We also missed out on the regular presence of a metre-long fox snake we have dubbed Cleopatra, though she was nice enough to shed a skin for our dog to try to eat.

To make up for it, there were numerous sightings of a similarly sized water snake we named "Big Carl" in the channel we swim in. We believe Carl lives under the dock. Thankfully you can see his large head poking out of the water as he swims, at least most of the time.

One wee green garter snake on the rocks, dozens of little fish, several sleek brown animals we think are minks, dragonflies on the water, loons, deer flies  and a dive-bombing bird in my sister's cabin and the outdoor experience was complete. At least until we left the island and hit the marina. (CORRECTION: I had described the insects as black flies - they were deer flies - but my mother informed me the cottage is "thank heavens" black fly free)

 

 

Behold a photo of the largest spider I have ever seen outside of a wildlife exhibit.

If you look closely, the back of the spider (not sure if the male or female fufills this role) is covered in what we believe are eggs or about to be hatched babies. Dozens and dozens of babies. 

I can get pretty sick of concrete and cars, but the idea of waking up with this anywhere near my face (in my hair, my shoe or sleeping bag) does make me appreciate the city a bit more.

 

 

 

 

 

Instead of just leaving you with a case of the shivers, I will conclude with a shot of a postcard we have hanging in the main cabin. Once I get the name of the photographer, I plan to add it to the post. I may also have to ship everyone involved in its creation a case of beer.

Makes me happy every time I see it. Hope everyone is enjoying their summer and remembers not to feed the bears. Or do anything else to tick them off.