Q&A | Dr. Robert Scanlon on Surviving the Trail

Photo credit: Los Angeles Times

Q: What role has the outdoors played in your life, and how did that relationship influence the creation of Surviving the Trail?

A: Off trail life is hectic for many of us. Mine includes the responsibility and intensity of finding ways to reverse the real-time process of a dying person in front of me, being the physician that other doctors go to when their patients’ lives are in jeopardy and needing to focus on the task at hand while simultaneously bombarded by the needs of dozens of other sick patients. Mental gymnastics is a phrase I use to describe it. When I hit the trails it’s a stark departure from my work life. I can choose to think without interruption, or to remain thoughtless amongst the relatively quiet surroundings. As serene as the outdoors is, I am keenly aware that I am merely a visitor in an intrinsically dangerous place, and respect that enough to ready myself for what may come. Writing Surviving the Trail felt like a moral obligation to share what I know and do so that anyone can control their safe return home.

I feel calm and free when out in nature, so it has become my refuge.

Q: Was there a particular trail, wilderness experience, or moment outdoors that planted the seed for this book?

A: There was no specific experience or place that planted the seed, but as a physician I am more in tune with what happens to us when things go awry. I began becoming interested in Wilderness Medicine around 2006, more as a curiosity at first, but this grew into what would ultimately drive me toward writing this book. I read an article (A Dozen Ways to Die – Backpacker Mag 2008) which really raised my awareness of the repetitive ways amateur adventurers perish and require rescue. After this, I kept seeing the same themes on virtual repeat while scrolling through national headlines. I joined the Wilderness Medical Society and during their conferences lectures would cover treatment of these and other mishaps in the field and in the Emergency Department, but I became frustrated by the lack of outreach to the adventurer community on how to spare themselves from these circumstances.

Being on trail gives me a sense of what our ancestors experienced for hundreds of thousands of years.

Q: For you, what is it about being on the trail—physically and mentally—that strips life down to what truly matters?

A: Modern society has evolved way faster than our minds have had the chance to adapt to, providing constant stimulation from all angles, and when we leave that behind for the backcountry one realizes what little stimulation we were meant to experience.

Q: If Surviving the Trail were a trail itself, embodied by one, which would it be? Why?

A: Of the trails I have been on, the one trail that closely embodies the book would be Lawn Lake Trail in Rocky Mountain N.P... This trail courses parallel with a river, through both overlying canopy and open country, up countless switchbacks, passes a lake, has mountains in the distance, crosses water and a cliff along the way while delivering soul-crushing elevation gain. There is so much that we can learn, if we choose, from trekking on this route. All the skills that are described in the book can be utilized and mastered along the way.

Q: In Surviving the Trail, the natural world feels more like a teacher than a backdrop. What lessons has the wilderness taught you that modern life often obscures?

A: Modern life distracts us from knowing that the outdoors once used to be home for our predecessors and how they had to think to find their way around and survive. They looked at wildlife, plants and water sources very differently than we do, they used the sun and other visual cues to guide them. Nature will gladly exploit every

deficiency in readiness we arrive with, so it teaches hard lessons, which our ancestors needed to learn. They did not have the luxury of calling for rescue.

Q: How does time spent outdoors shape resilience differently than challenges faced in everyday, structured environments? In what ways has this informed your own medical expertise?

A: Traversing the unknown comes with many challenges, including unexpected weather, hunger, thirst, pain, never-ending uphills and coping with the realization that we’re not “almost there.” Meeting and exceeding them requires digging deeper to muster the fortitude to go past where we would have stopped in society. We cannot simply stop and move on with our day out there, so we have little choice but to forge ahead. Overcoming these challenges adds to our experience, making us more resilient and more capable of facing societal issues.

Q: Many outdoor experiences involve discomfort—weather, fatigue, fear. Why do you think discomfort is such a powerful catalyst for growth? How can preparing for discomfort help inspire that?

A: Marcus Aurelius taught about growth through discomfort, strength through adversity and that the pursuit of comfort dulls the spirit. All hurdles that we must pass in life, especially the difficult ones, teach us something about ourselves. They force hard looks inward, re-evaluation of our beliefs and cause change within ourselves. We evolve into stronger, more resilient people through hardship in general. The discomforts we experience in the outdoors are no exception.

Q: From your perspective, what does true survival on the trail require beyond gear and physical endurance?

A: True survival on trail requires the proper mindset. Survival to me means staying alive. In the scenario when someone is forced into a situation where they must stay alive, they must avoid panic. That leads to irrational decision-making and brings them further from their goal. Staying calm allows us to figure out what we need (shelter, fire, food) and what we can do to serve those needs. Surviving the Trail also begins with mindset – we become in tune with our will to live ahead of the adventure, figure out what knowns lie ahead (weather, hydration

needs, etc.) and come ready for them, while focused on the return to the trailhead as the primary objective – as opposed to the summit or vista point. The point of the book is survival through planning ahead of the hike and coming ready for the variables that will challenge our return to the trailhead and minimizing our chances of falling into a stay-alive scenario.

Q: How important is mental preparedness when facing uncertainty outdoors, and how do you cultivate that mindset?

A: As suggested above, cultivating the preparedness mindset comes through being in touch with our will to live. Mentally putting ourselves into the shoes of others who have had to endure the survival scenario helps, while asking ourselves important questions. How would I handle that? Would I have survived it? What things could have been done to avoid it? What can I do to make sure I don’t fall into that same trap? We must also realize that we cannot prepare for every possibility and have a plan for if the unexpected were to happen.

Q: Are there common mistakes or assumptions people make about outdoor survival that you wanted to challenge through this book?

A: This book approaches survival from a preparedness aspect. Most hikers do not want to find out how facile they are in a stay-alive scenario. We must admit that to ourselves and be willing to do the simple things it takes to make certain that we avoid it. The common mistakes are spontaneous hikes without pre-hike thoughts about what impact the specific elements will have on us and taking shortcuts in prep without acknowledging that the backcountry is an intrinsically dangerous place. Improper mindset is another misstep, with focus on the trophy (summit, etc.) instead of the return to the trailhead.

Q: Do you believe spending time in the outdoors deepens our responsibility to protect them? How does Surviving the Trail speak to that connection?

A: We explore the outdoors for many reasons, but we can all agree its beauty cannot be replicated by human hands. Nature has assembled itself in such a way that it defies belief. It takes humility on our part to realize that any alteration of nature by human hands only takes away from what everyone else appreciates about it. We enjoy it in its current form because others have not interfered with the integrity of that natural beauty, and hikers 100 years from now should benefit from our respect of nature today. Surviving the Trail does not specifically address

this but works off the notion of respecting nature’s darker side.

I hope that hikers will read this book and gain an appreciation of how to preserve themselves for their expected future and assure years of exploring to come, while knowing to preserve the outdoors for future hikers who have yet to be born to one day enjoy as we have.

To order Surviving the Trail, click the link below. To learn more, follow Dr. Robert Scanlon @dr_robscanlon