It's easier than you might think to get "turned around" in the wilderness.

A little more than five years ago, a Phoenix woman, wearing just flip flops, a tank and shorts, walked up a slope in the White Mountains in search of higher ground for her cell phone. She became lost for three days before setting a signal fire that helped ignite the largest wildfire in Arizona history.

A better attention-getting device would have been a small signaling mirror, a staple in any emergency kit, says wilderness survival trainer Tony Nester of Flagstaff.

"This does not impact the environment," Nester said in a recent interview in the Coconino National Forest. "I'm not building a fire, I'm not building something that's going to endanger me or the searchers or the forest itself. Signal fires, especially here in the Southwest or the West, don't have a place, unless it's wintertime or it's been raining for a month. It's just too deadly, too devastating."

INEXPENSIVE, EFFECTIVE

A good signal mirror costs just $8 to $10 and carries a range of at least 30 miles, said Nester, who has trained governmental agencies, backpackers and actors since 1988. His classes include the two-day "knife-only" course.

The record for a rescue from a signal mirror is 105 miles, and the devices even work on cloudy days, Nester said. In the Sierra Mountains, a signal from 3 miles was observed on the night of a full moon.

Michigan native Nester, 42, provides a complete summary of precautions in his 2003 book, "Desert Survival."

Signaling is easy to learn, says Nester. First make a V with your index and middle fingers. With the signal mirror in your other hand, flash the reflection on to the palm of your opposite hand, just under the V. Slowly raise up the reflection on your palm so it goes up through the V of your fingers. A direct flash should follow.

Signals can be sent with almost anything that is shiny. CD-ROMs can reflect light, and a woman stranded atop a mountain at night once used the flash from her disposable camera to alert a rescue team.

The light from cell phones, lighters and illuminated wristwatches also have triggered night rescues.

Dangling soda cans and other shiny things from trees is another way to attract attention, Nester said.

WATER IS ESSENTIAL

Signaling is not the only essential for wilderness survival: Water also must be provided.

Nester's simple and light stash for a day hike includes at least two quarts of water, sunscreen, an emergency blanket with reflective material on one side, three forms of fire-making, sodium replacement items and a first aid kit.

To avoid severe heat distress, a person should restrict physical activity to the cooler hours, relax in the shade, stay off the hot ground, remain clothed to reduce water loss and keep hydrated.

"For every 30-40 minutes of hiking in the heat, I stop and drink some water and have a handful of salty snacks, peanuts or pretzels," Nester wrote in his book. "Some powdered electrolyte drinks are better than others, so read the label to check for sodium content."

Medical findings from the Grand Canyon demonstrate that day hikers need five to 12 days of living in the heat before setting out, Nester said.

One simple test for dehydration is checking the color of one's urine. The clearer and lighter, the better. Dark urine is associated with dehydration.

MENTAL TRAPS

Nester lists five mental traps that plague day hikers:

-- "I'm not going far from home. It's a familiar place."

-- "It's a state park near the city -- how could I get lost there?"

-- "I am an experienced hiker."

-- "My new SUV can handle anything."

-- "I have my cell phone. If there's trouble, I'll call for help."

Perhaps the most valuable asset for wilderness survival is a positive mental attitude.

"That literally is what makes or breaks survivors in the back country," Nester said. "You might have a traumatic injury, and on one of those bone-chilling nights, you're still able to say to yourself, 'I'm going to be here tomorrow. I don't care what happens tonight or how bad it gets. I'm going to be here.'<200A>"

Nester's closest brush with wilderness disaster occurred in Idaho in winter. A planned 30-day survival trip was interrupted on the ninth or 10th day by a snowstorm. A polar air mass also descended, plunging the temperature by 48 degrees.

The group's food had run out, no one had tents or sleeping bags, and the field director told them by radio that it was too dangerous to try to extricate them.

"He said, 'You guys have got to get out of there,'<200A>" Nester said. "We had to hike back the 8 miles we had covered the day before, on zero calories. As I was hiking back, on a windswept mesa that was totally monotonous white with no landmarks, I had this very bizarre feeling of a physical sensation of all the life energy withdrawing from my limbs and going to my center core, and I realized that my life was going to be extinguished if I didn't gut it out."

Continued Nester: "It was very organic physical sensation. Al left of me was a little beating white light and I knew that I had to keep it going. For the next eight miles, all I focused on was the boots of the person in front of me. It was like a trance: 'I can make it. I can make it.'"

As Nester notes, the right mental attitude along with a basic wilderness kit can improve the chances of survival for most folks who get turned around in the forest.

Daily Sun correspondent Todd Glasenapp can be reached at dtglasenapp@Route89.com.