In addition to owning and operating an Expedition Toy and Game Store, I have had the good fortune to be involved with a wilderness search and rescue team off and on since 2001. At a recent training I was reminded of a simple step that parents can take to proactively help a search and rescue team in the dreaded event that a child does become lost while hiking, camping, etc. It takes less than five minutes and will probably cost you less than five cents. What is it? Create and maintain an imprint of your child’s hiking boots.
How To Create an Imprint of Your Child’s Hiking Boots
Cut a twelve inch by twelve inch piece of aluminum foil. Place this onto a soft surface, such as carpet. Now, have your child put their hiking boots on and step onto the foil so that the sole of their boot leaves an impression. You now have a copy of your child’s boot print.
The aluminum foil method is one way to do it. You can get the same effect by tracking pencil lead on paper, using a photocopier, tracing the boot sole with a crayon, or just drawing the boot. The key thing is that you create a copy of the sole of the shoe or boot that can be accessed in an emergency.
Note: a hat tip to Melynda over at Yourwildchild.com for the idea of snapping a picture with your cell phone. This way you always have it in your pocket or easily accessible.
Why Hiking Families Should Create a Copy of their Kids Boot Prints
When somebody gets lost, search teams will begin working to define a search area. Larger search areas generally require more time and resources to search. Because of this, it is always advantageous to reduce the size of a search area. Sometimes the size of a search area can be reduced when clues, such as footprints, indicate a direction of travel.
In an ideal situation, search teams will have two things: a good set of footprints and a high degree of confidence that the footprints belong to the missing person. You can proactively help with the second part by creating and maintaining an accurate record of your child’s boot print.
Odds are you will never need this information. However, by being able to produce it if it’s ever needed, you will be providing search teams with a very valuable piece of information.
