Volume 28, Number 4 - Wilderness Medical Society

Footprints for Kids
Taking Children
into the Wilderness:
Healthful or Harmful?
Debra Stoner, MD, FACEP, FAWM
Children develop a unique set of skills and maturity when exposed to
outdoor activities that challenge them. No one can argue the merits of
outdoor adventure but how often do we, as parents, think about the
risks involved and how prepared are we to cope with tragic outcomes?
Shirley and her fifteen-year-old daughter, Louisa, were returning
from an early spring hike in Mount Baker National Forest when they
decided to take a shortcut by sliding down a snowfield, something they
had done many times in the past. Using black plastic bags they rode
toboggan, style down the slope and right into an open unseen trench
that had formed in the snowfield. Plummeting into a world of rocks,
ice and water, they both required technical rope rescue and helicopter
evacuation. Shirley sustained several fractures and hypothermia.
Louisa, who assisted her mother, sustained hypothermia, minor cuts
and bruises.
A nine-year-old British girl was killed after falling out of a raft into fast
moving river water. She was participating in a family whitewater rafting
trip while on holiday in Turkey. It is unknown if she was wearing a
personal floatation device or helmet. Local experts stated the grade of
difficulty should have excluded children under the age of twelve.
Susan took her two-year-old son Luke and six-year-old daughter
Elora to visit a popular tourist site in the Cherokee National Forest in
southeast Tennessee. They were all attacked by a single black bear. Luke
was the first to be attacked and Susan, using rocks and sticks, fended
off the bear only to be dragged off herself. As bystanders rendered aid
to her mother and brother, the bear killed Elora, who apparently fled
during the commotion. Both Susan and Luke survived but required
surgery for serious injuries.
Despite having experience, using reputable services or being in a
populated area, parents and children sustained unintentional injuries
as a result of an outdoor adventure. The question is: “Would any of the
above parents have ventured out if they had known the outcome of the
day?” Probably not. None of us would knowingly put our children at
risk, but don’t we do this every time we expose them to the outdoors
where our ability to modify dangers is restricted due to the very austere