Tactical Defense Staff

Why Most Trail Deaths Are Unprepared Hikers (Plus What to Do About It) Every year in the United States millions of Americans take to the wilderness for a quick nature hike. We are blessed in this country to have several million miles of prime trails for the walking, and many of them begin close to home. There is, however, an ugly side to nature hikes – the fatalities.You read that right… over the course of the average year, several hundred hikers die on our trails, national forests, and parks each year.Here are the leading causes: Dehydration Disorientation, getting lost Encounters with wild animals or snakes Encounters with homeless people and fugitives Hypothermia And the most shocking statistic of all… most of these fatalities occur less than 5 miles from the trailhead! Unbelievably, less than an hour into the hike, people die from lack of preparation. You’re probably asking yourself how this is even possible. Well, sometimes lack of preparedness will cause people to get into trou