Backcountry First Aid and Extended Care

Backcountry First Aid and Extended Care 4^th Ed by Buck Tilton has enough information to get a trained packer through almost any wilderness medical emergency - big and small. A packer without training, however, might not have enough medical knowledge to follow the detailed instructions.

This is not a text to teach you something. This is a tool to help adventurous souls stay safe in the wilderness. Tilton provides the information necessary to get through some very bad backcountry emergencies, but he's not speaking to inexperienced packers or rescuers. There's an assumption here that readers will have some training.

Illustrations are simple, but effective. The advice covers everything from how to manage an emergency to prescription medications that may help out in the wilderness. The book's compact size makes it perfect for a pocket or pack.

Tilton saved space any way he could. Chapters in the book do not start on a new page - instead they run together. There are no tabs or cutouts to help find your way to a specific page. after carrying the book around for several weeks in my pocket, I found that it became rather difficult to flip to the page I needed. There is an index on the back cover with conditions and injuries listed in alphabetical order, but getting to the right page may be very hard in cold or windy conditions.

The little guidebook is bound as a standard paperback, albeit small. It isn't very durable or water-resistant. I'm sure with a few trips to the backcountry, it will be time to replace your first aid handbook.

All in all, however, this little book does the job quite well, and it's easy to read. As long as you have some training in first aid, you should be able to use Backcountry First Aid and Extended Care 4^th Ed on your next packing trip without any problems.