What problems should I pay attention to when hiking in the desert?

First, full preparation before departure.

Adventure is always associated with danger, but careful planning and careful preparation will minimize the risk, which is also the confidence of explorers to survive in difficulties.

1. Choice of adventure season

China's deserts are mostly distributed in the northwest, belonging to a dry climate zone, with large temperature difference between day and night, extremely hot in summer, with temperatures as high as 50 ~ 60 degrees Celsius, extremely cold in winter and as low as -20 ~ 30 degrees Celsius. There is little rainfall, and the annual rainfall in most areas is less than 250 mm; There is a lot of wind, especially in the tuyere area. The wind is coming, flying sand and stones. From Inner Mongolia to the desert of Xinjiang, there is seasonal gale in April every year, which often forms sandstorm flow. In view of these climatic characteristics, when choosing adventure tourism season, we should try to avoid hot summer and windy season, generally between September and March of the following year.

2. Formulate routes and strategies

When making the exploration route and tactics, we should first respect the objective facts and work out the exploration plan within our power while ensuring the safety of life.

Full self-help desert exploration

The principle of making this exploration plan is to make a limited exploration in the desert entirely by our own strength or collective cooperation. For example, in winter exploration in Taklimakan desert, the average temperature during the day is about-10 degrees. Generally, explorers live in the desert for no more than 7 days with all their equipment, food and water, and the marching distance is about 100 kilometers. Because this is a self-help desert expedition without backup, explorers should take all the equipment and supplies when they set off. On the first day, he carried a heavy load, which put forward a severe test for the explorer's physical strength and perseverance. According to the exploration itinerary, some food can be stored in the campsite in a planned way as a supply when he returns.

Cooperative desert exploration

Collaborative exploration can be divided into non-backup type and backup type. No backup means that after entering the desert, all the manpower and material resources in the rear are lost, and only with the cooperation of camel teams can we go deep into the sand sea. Most expeditions adopt this method. However, this exploration is also limited, because camels can't carry more than 200 kilograms in the desert. In winter, camels drink water every 7 ~ 10 days, and the water consumption at a time is about 100 kg. Therefore, the general exploration days should be controlled within 10 days, and the journey should be within 100 ~ 200 kilometers. Supporting desert exploration is suitable for long-distance desert crossing, which belongs to "coordinated operation of large corps" and costs a lot. For example, in the early 1990s, the Sino-Japanese and Sino-British joint expeditions crossed the Taklimakan Desert twice in this way. With the cooperation of the camel team, the small-scale crossing team crossed the east-west direction along the southern edge of Taklimakan Desert 100 km. Several reserve teams used hundreds of camels to start from the national highway on the southern edge of the desert and put materials into the deep desert 150 km.

Second, the sand sea March

1. Correctly judging the direction Walking in the vast desert, it is difficult to find a direction reference because of the open field of vision, and it is generally impossible for people to walk in a straight line. Therefore, judging the direction correctly in the desert March is the premise of desert exploration.

Determine the direction with an instrument

Using compass and map to mark the direction is a common method in early desert exploration. This method first needs to know its own position, calibrate the position and orientation of the target area according to the map, and then drive according to the direction indicated by the compass. Because it is impossible to travel in a straight line in the desert, it is necessary to constantly correct the position when using this method, otherwise it is difficult to achieve the predetermined goal. In the long-distance desert exploration and crossing, it is very difficult to reach the destination accurately or find precast supplies in the vast sand sea. At the end of 1980s, the popularity of personal satellite navigation system (GPS) among the people reduced the possibility of getting lost in the desert to a minimum. At present, almost all desert explorations use GPS navigation.

Use natural features to determine direction

(1) Use Polaris to determine the position. Polaris is a bright star in the sky due north. If you find Polaris at night, you will find true north. Polaris is the A star of Ursa minor, and Ursa major (mainly the Big Dipper) and Empress Fairy are located on both sides of Polaris. China is located in the northern hemisphere, and Polaris can be seen at night all year round.

Using the sun to determine the direction is the most reliable "compass". The sun moves from east to west and the shadow moves from west to east. For example, in the desert in western China, in the morning, the sun rises in the east, and the shadows of all objects fall to the west. At noon, the sun is due to the south and the shadow points to the north. In the afternoon, the sun is due to the west and the shadow points to the east. Uygur camel workers who have lived around the Taklimakan desert for generations have walked in the desert in this way and will never get lost. Of course, there are some more accurate methods to determine the direction, such as "immediate" method and watch judgment method, which are very useful in desert exploration (please refer to page 65 of "Outdoor Exploration" in 2002).

(3) The direction of sand dunes is an important factor to judge the wind direction. In the northwest of China, due to the prevailing northwest wind, sand dunes generally form southeast direction, and the northwest direction of sand dunes is windward, with small slope and hard sand. Southeast leeward, steep slope, soft sand. In addition, plants in the desert, such as willow, Haloxylon ammodendron and camel thorn, are inclined to the southeast. However, it should be noted here that the above are the general characteristics of desert areas. The wind direction in different areas is different, and the direction of sand dunes is also different. To make a correct judgment, we must master the meteorology and landform of the target area in advance.

2. Learn to walk in the desert

Choose a suitable pair of shoes

If you want to walk comfortably in the desert, you have to prepare a pair of suitable shoes. The sole is too soft, so it is uncomfortable to walk in the desert, and your feet will be uncomfortable after a long time. Sand shield (snow shield) is indispensable. Once sand is put into shoes, feet will soon wear out.

Learn to walk with two sticks.

Marching in the desert with heavy load and climbing over the soft sand dunes up and down puts great pressure on the knees, which is easy to cause injuries. Walking with crutches can reduce the pressure on the knees and save a lot of physical strength.

Don't be afraid to take detours.

The endless sand sea is not Ma Pingchuan. In the desert, you will meet many big sand dunes or sand mountains, so you must bypass them and avoid going straight through steep slopes. Avoid the soft sand on the leeward side and try to walk on the windward side and sand ridge, because the windward side is hard and hard by wind erosion, so it is easier and more labor-saving to walk on it; The leeward surface is mainly formed by aeolian deposits, which is relatively loose. Walking on it is deeper and more tiring. If there is a camel team, walking with camel's hoof can save a lot of physical strength. In desert exploration, it is very important to lead the way ahead, find the easy way, walk slowly and rest every hour 10 minutes. Generally, the team should not walk more than 20 kilometers in a straight line a day.

Stay at home during the day and go out at night to avoid high temperature.

In direct sunlight, even if you don't exercise, you consume three times as much water as in the shadow. In the Taklimakan Desert in Xinjiang, if you don't drink water and rest in a cool place in the hottest season, you can survive for about 3 days. If you walk in the daytime sunshine, you can only survive 1 ~ 2 days. Under special circumstances, we should also learn the method of "walking at night and staying at night". In addition, in the case of heat, water shortage, thirst and anxiety, don't be fooled by the illusion of a mirage.

Camping in the desert is still different from camping in other areas. Usually, we should pay attention to two points: first, the camp should be selected in a sheltered place to prevent quicksand from being buried, often on the flat ground in the sand dunes; Second, the camp can't be built near plants such as red willow and Hu Yangshu, because where there are plants, there are often some poisonous insects. For example, in the Taklimakan desert, there is a kind of "Tarim tick", which usually lives under the trees of red willow and Populus euphratica. This tick carries a virus. Once a person is bitten, it will often lead to a fatal disease (Tarim hemorrhagic fever) and die within ten hours.

In winter, there will be no strong winds, no poisonous insects that bite people, and the choice of camping sites is relatively random. Winter nights are very cold, even if you use a double-decker tent, there will be thick frost in the tent. There are many dead trees in the desert. In the coldest season, you can also build your own "fire kang", that is, dig a place, burn a fire on it, and then bury it with sand, so that people sleep on the hot sand. This method is very suitable for self-help extreme exploration, and explorers can reduce their weight without tents.

Third, deal with emergencies.

1. Looking for water in the desert, heat and drought are the biggest killers of explorers, and the victims of desert exploration are mostly due to lack of water and heatstroke. Once you get lost in the desert, you must ensure that you have enough clean water to get out of trouble, otherwise there is little hope of survival. In the desert, there is no water on the surface, so it is difficult to dig out water in most areas. But deserts are mostly basins, and there are also many seasonal rivers in them.

If dense reeds are found in the desert, it means that water can be dug more than one meter underground; If you see Achnatherum splendens, you can dig out water about two meters underground; If you see red willow and camel thorn, it means that there is groundwater when you dig 6 ~ 8 meters; If Populus euphratica forest is found, it means that there is groundwater 8 ~ 10 meters underground. 1990 In the winter, when the Japanese NHK broadcasting company expedition crossed the Taklimakan desert from the riverside township of the Kriya River, it adopted this method to solve the drinking water problem of nearly 100-peak camels. They walked for 28 days, dug water once on the way, dug a ditch 15 meters long and 5 meters deep, took camels down the mountain to drink water, and successfully crossed the desert for more than 300 kilometers without any backup, and finally reached the Tarim River on the northern edge of the desert.

In addition, if wet sand or bitter water is found in the desert, you can also dig a pit and cover it with transparent plastic sheets, thus making a simple solar distiller. The air and soil in the pit heat up rapidly, producing steam. When the water vapor reaches saturation, it will condense into water droplets inside the plastic sheet and drip into the container below, so that we can get valuable water. In this way, you can consume more than 1 liter of distilled fresh water every day. It is worth mentioning that most of the groundwater in the desert has high salt content, so people can't drink it directly (camels can drink it) and must treat it by distillation and other methods.

2. The movement of avoiding sandstorm and sandstorm has its inherent movement law. When encountering a sandstorm in the desert, you must first choose the escape direction by observing your eyesight. As long as you avoid the front of the wind, most of them can save the day. At the same time, don't go to the leeward slope of sand dunes, or you are in danger of being buried by sandstorms. The correct way is to lead the camel to the windward slope and then hide behind the camel.

There is a great temperature difference in the desert. Taking IO month, 1 1 month as an example, the surface temperature can reach 5OC during the day and drop below oc at night. In case of1October 1 1 OC cold current, therefore, desert exploration should be equipped with clothes in winter and summer, and the sun is shining in the desert during the day. The most unbearable skin burns will occur at the back of the neck, and your collar will be extremely painful when it rubs your neck. The easiest way is to wear a sun hat and press a white handkerchief on the back of the hat to block the strong sunlight.

Sunscreen is not suitable for use in the desert. The sand in the desert is completely different from the sand on the beach. It is very fine dust, and weak wind and light footsteps will raise. If you apply sunscreen, the dust will turn your skin into fine sandpaper.

A pair of desert boots that fit well is the most important. They must be high-waisted and soft. If they are new shoes, it is best to wear them in the city for two weeks before entering the desert, and then wear them in the desert.

It is best to have two pairs of sunglasses, one for normal use and the other for wind and sand prevention. You can use a motorcycle mirror or a ski mirror.

A big kettle, a simple talcum powder, a flashlight, a wide tape, a small round mirror, a plastic bag and other small items will bring you unexpected convenience in the desert. For example, you can rub talcum powder on the body parts that you often rub during exercise; A small round mirror is used to reflect signals during survival; Plastic bags are used to prevent dust.

Keep company with camels

It is dangerous to explore the desert alone, so desert exploration is a team behavior in most cases, so everyone should carry forward the team spirit, and only in this way can you appreciate the fun of desert exploration.

If you take the third road mentioned above, as one of them, you should learn to load and unload camels from camel workers as soon as possible. On average, each member will gather three humped camels. These camels must carry equipment, food, drinking water and their own feed into the desert. It takes about four people to work together to load and unload other camels, so loading and unloading camels every morning and evening is the most concentrated expression of team spirit. Take two camel workers and eight explorers for example. Hump camel takes about 3O, and it takes about 50 minutes after you are familiar with the operation method. This is the busiest and tense moment of your day.

Dig a well for water and cook.

The second concentrated expression of team spirit is digging wells after camping at night. If it is a desert exploration activity with a time of 10 day, it will take about three times to dig. These "well water" are for camels to drink. In places where plants grow in the desert, such as places where reeds and Populus euphratica grow more, water can generally be produced by digging to about 2.5 meters, which requires everyone to drill wells in turn. This work will take about 2-3 hours.

As for desert cooking, this is actually the happiest moment of your day. Everyone can show their abilities and finish a good meal together to repay their hard work.

Memorandum on drinking water

Water is an eternal theme in desert exploration. There are many theories about how to drink water in the desert. One of them is that you can drink it often, but only one sip at a time, which is the most beneficial method for the human body to absorb. But maybe people's physiological functions are different. During a 60-day expedition in the desert, the author learned a completely different drinking method from the above, that is, drinking water about four or seven times a day, of which drinking water 1-2 times is the supplement; Drink water when you leave in the morning until you can't drink any more. In this way, we traveled until noon without drinking water. Z drinks water after simple lunch at noon, but not as much as in the morning. In the afternoon, due to the high temperature, add a small amount of water once or twice; Drink more water when you eat at night.

1. Desert tourism should be carried out in summer and autumn, and there are many sandstorms in winter and spring, which are easy to get lost and endanger life.

Don't travel alone in the desert. Please take enough drinking water with you and establish a good relationship with camels. Camels are your most reliable friends in the desert.

3. If you encounter a sandstorm in the desert, don't go to the leeward slope of the sand dune, or you will be in danger of being suffocated or buried by the sandstorm. The correct way is to lead the camel to the windward slope and then hide behind the camel.

There is a great temperature difference between day and night in the desert. The sunshine during the day will make people's skin red and swollen, and the cold at night is like winter. So prepare summer clothes and winter clothes. In addition, after sunscreen is applied to the body, it will stick to sand and make the skin uncomfortable. It is best to wear a light-colored gown to resist ultraviolet rays, and sunscreen can be properly used on the face.

5. Desert adventure tourism is a collective activity, and collective labor is an important part of tourism. Tour guides, camel workers and tourists should unite sincerely and take care of the overall situation, so that tourism activities can be icing on the cake.

6. Don't forget that the desert is also a part of the earth. In the desert, we should also have a sense of environmental protection, try to take the garbage out of the desert, at least bury it on the spot, otherwise our future generations may see the desert one day when they open their doors.

7. When riding a camel, it is necessary to prevent the camel from falling off when standing up and lying down. At this time, you should hold the camel saddle or hump tightly. Don't go near the camel's hind feet and head at ordinary times, in case it kicks and sprays people with its mouth. Camels are docile, but they are very dangerous after being frightened. It is necessary to prevent sudden noise (such as sudden shouting) and harsh colors (such as suddenly opening colorful automatic umbrellas) from stimulating camels. Don't be nervous when riding a camel for a long time. Ride naturally according to the pace of the camel, adjust the sitting position at any time, and come down and walk for a while at the right time.