Not so Easy

We've had a few comments about our recent post on bow-drill fire making. As many people have pointed out, that just one of the "standard practices" that aren't very reliable once you get out in the woods. So once you've spent days mastering making a fire that way, you might want to use whatever energy you have left to try to signal for help with a small mirror.

Yeah.

These actually work pretty well for signaling from one mountain top to another--because the bright flash of the mirror is much easier to see WHEN YOU KNOW WHERE TO LOOK FOR IT!

On the other hand, there are innumerable stories of people who tried to signal helicopters and other search parties with a mirror, and found that it simply wasn't a big enough flash to get anyone's attention.

Colin Fletcher, in his book "The Man Who Walked Through Time" tell of his deep frustration trying to do this. He also tried a bright red signal flag--also ineffective in the red rock canyons of the Grand Canyon.

A large blue tarp finally got Colin his food drop--and the rest of his book.