Safety priorities differ from area to area. Books, pamplets, and websites are available for hiking safety in general. Our intent here is apply those principles specifically to the Black Hills Area, as outlined below:

For a general introduction to hiking and backpacking, we include a copy of the Forest Service brochure, "Backpacking," pictured to the right. It and our own pages, concentrating on the Black Hills, provide a fairly thorough review of hiking technique.

Additionally, Rick Curtis at Princeton University has a book with extensive online excerpts that are fairly thorough. That Backpacker's Field Manual goes into some depth not included above.

The reader may compare notes with other sources from our links pages. Questions about wilderness survival are addressed at two indexed sites that are based on the Army Survival Manual. They are not paramilitary-group home pages, though their appearance occasionally catches us off guard.

Wilderness Survival
Survival IQ

In these sources there are a few discrepancies in advice on controversial topics such as hiking alone, clothing, lightning safety, and so on. But if we practice the skills upon which they so often agree, we will be some of the safest hikers on the trail.

Numerous web sites attempt to offer expert advice. Any experienced hiker can set up a web site and style himself as a "Master Hiker." Our account here is not intended to be so authoritative. Thousands of miles in the wilderness have taught us that there are often several ways to adapt. Nature simply does not teach us that we must "never" wear cotton or "never" hike alone.

We gain useful perspectives from many web sites, but we recommend local offices of the Forest or Park Service for special concerns about hiking safety. We find those offices to be our most reliable sources. They have racks of literature and web services that are increasingly helpful.

Our intent here is to organize access to the best information and to supplement it with our own experience. A distant vacation planner is not likely to have immediate access to our bookstores and government offices. Our intent is to organize online what we can.

First Section: Distraction and a Balanced Perspective-->