Peak hiking season is also peak season for twisted ankles, dehydration and the kind of rookie mistakes that turn a fun day out into a rescue operation. Explore Magazine's "Live the Adventure" podcast tackles the problem in episode 57 with Dr. Rob Scanlon, an intensive care physician who has seen what happens when trail preparation goes wrong — and who spends his free time on the trails himself.

Scanlon is the author of "Surviving the Trail: Five Essential Skills to Prepare Every Hiker for Adventure's Most Common Perils." What makes the book interesting is its focus: rather than walking readers through emergency response after something has already gone badly, it concentrates on prevention. The idea is that most trail incidents are avoidable long before you lace up your boots — through fitness, planning, gear choices and honest self-assessment.

The book is built around real-world case studies, which gives it more punch than a dry checklist. Each chapter breaks down situations that have actually happened to hikers, then extracts the skills that would have kept them out of trouble. It's deliberately written for newcomers, so you don't need mountaineering experience to follow it — just a plan to head out on a day hike or longer trek.

The five-skills framing is the practical takeaway here. Instead of vague advice like "be careful," Scanlon organises preparation into concrete, learnable competencies that apply whether you're on a forest path in British Columbia or a ridge walk in the Rockies. For anyone who has ever wondered whether that ache in their knee is normal or whether they packed enough water, an emergency doctor's perspective on what actually lands people in trouble is worth an hour of listening.

The episode fits into Explore's broader push to get people outdoors safely — the same series recently covered a national movement to get all Canadians outside together and a technical apparel collaboration with Northern Sun, on sale until September 30, 2026. The full podcast catalogue is free on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts and YouTube.

For holiday planners, the timing is useful. Late summer is when casual hikers — the ones most likely to skip training or underestimate a route — hit the trails in the biggest numbers. A prevention-first mindset, backed by an author who deals with the consequences professionally, is a cheap insurance policy for your next walking trip.