Some Helpful Desert Tips

“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change.” - Charles Darwin

So I've been running around the big desert place now for a number of years, and through it I have, or my many friends, have picked up a number of helpful tips that it's about time we share with you. Some of them are obvious, the others perhaps a bit crazy seeming, but most of them are pretty good.

Re: Drinks
- Minimize the messy horror that coffee pots (or worse french press pots) and grounds can be, use a single cup drip, fold up the filter with the grounds to dry during the day and then toss it into a burn barrel at night. It smells nice. (From Rachel Clein-Cunningham )

- Don't bring bottles and bottles of stuff to drink, instead bring Two or three non-disposable water bottles for un-water drinks, and bring a powder concentrate in a single large re-usable jar, and add in to your water (Wendi Thompson)

Re: Gear
- Take a lesson from the Tuareg of the Sahara, light layers of absorbent clothing IS good. Not so heavy as to cause overheating, but good for keeping the sun off you and absorbing sweat, which when even a minor breeze comes up, helps cool you off. Combined with staying hydrated, this works REALLY well.

- A great combination for Dust Storms, day or night, is a pair of Welding Goggles and a Shemagh.
I recommend these as part of my personal gear.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0017Z04SK
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001ELUYZ0
The welding goggles have removable tinting (Or you can even get the ones you can flip the tinted part up and still have protective goggles on, and the scarf protects your skin, hair and face in those sudden bursts of aerial Sandpaper.

- Bring your own first aid kit! Just because there might be Medical help around to bandage you up, doesn't mean you should rely on the resource when you could have taken care of yourself. For something like this, you don't need all of the usual stuff. An acidic wound cleaner such as Hydrogen Peroxide, band aids of various sizes, bandages, medical tape, bandage shears, an ace wrap or two, antibiotic cream, aloe cream, sunscreen!

Also, remember your meds! In the scramble to pack and get ready, you can often forget that tiny bottle of what you need to keep your heart running, or remain breathing. Remember you might be at a different altitude than usual and if you have any sort of respiratory condition this can cause a normally mild condition to aggravate.

Re: Partying
- We know, we know, you are there to have fun. How fun is it to be laying on a backboard, smashed out of your brain and getting IV needles shoved in you because we picked your dusty carcass off deep desert, dehydrated beyond belief? Not very. Booze is NOT hydration. If you drink the booze, drink twice as much water. You should be drinking the amount of water mentioned in the survival guide.

- It's also not your party. It's everyone's party. Be mindful of your activities and remember when YOU are trying to sleep, whether you want that neighbor you annoyed by blasting Dub Step into their RV/Tent at 4am in the morning, they may decide to return the favor.

- Have fun. If you don't have fun you are doing it wrong. If you are doing it wrong, ask someone who is doing it right how not to do it wrong. Do not however push your feeling of wrong onto those who are doing it right. If you are miserable, either ask how not to be or shut up and keep it to yourself.


There are probably tons more, but I wanted to get a couple of these out there real fast. Feel free to add comments to other nifty "tricks" to your own betterment and survival out there to share with others and I'll update the post accordingly.