How To Survive

Experts give lots and lots of advice on how to survive if you are lost in the woods. Many experienced outdoorsy type people highly recommend carrying a compass and other items, just in case. But nowhere in the literature can I find any reference to the newest, most vital piece of survival gear available today.

The iPod.

The search leader said Pini Nou, 25, of Vancouver, Wash., was on his first outing and got separated from his mother, an experienced mushroom hunter. At nightfall, she called Benton County authorities for help.

Nou used his cell phone to describe the landscape to rescuers as best he could in the darkness, said Peggy Peirson, acting county emergency management coordinator. They finally located him after 1 a.m. Friday when a member of a search and rescue team saw the light from the iPod, she said.

Nou, lacking a flashlight, had been using the music device for light, Peirson said. She said the underbrush was so thick it took rescuers more than 20 minutes to reach Nou once they saw the glow.

And you thought they were just for music.