Kings Mountain Trail is a popular hiking and camping area above the town of Woodside, California.
It’s about 900 wooded acres and contains areas of heavy forest, and steep ravines.
Ava C. and her family went to Kings Mountain for a camping trip.
While there, five-year-old Ava got lost.
The family called 911 when they were unable to find her as the sun went down.
Park rangers and members of the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Department responded to the scene to look for the missing child.
More than 75 people searched for Ava during the night, including a California Highway Patrol helicopter.
Around midnight, a pilot wearing night vision goggles spotted a tiny light source on the ground.
The light source was in an area thick with trees and down a steep gorge about a mile from where the family was camping.
The helicopter pilot directed searchers on the ground to the light source.
Thankfully, when the little girl got lost, she was wearing a glow stick necklace.
When searchers found Ava, she was scared and cold, but physically okay.
Search and rescue officials credited the glow stick for helping them bring a happy ending to the story.
Now, you may think of glow sticks as a kids’ toy.
They’re generally overlooked as an effective tool for a survival situation.
But there are several reasons why a glow stick could be a lifesaver during a disaster.
Benefits of a glow stick for survival:
The most obvious benefit of a glow stick during a disaster is that it serves as a light source without requiring electricity, batteries, or any type of fuel.
They can be a great backup source when flashlights fail.
Simply snap and shake the glow stick and you have instant light.
Another benefit of glow sticks is that they are safe. They have no heat, flame, or spark.
Glow sticks don’t get hot and aren’t made of flammable materials, and they don’t produce heat, flame, or spark.
In addition, glow sticks are waterproof and weatherproof. They will work in rain, snow, and even underwater.
Glow sticks can be completely submerged, which makes them work well in hurricanes, and floods.
They can also be used to mark trails, signal rescuers, and make it easy to spot everyone in your group at night.
Plus, they are safe for kids and pets to be around.
Even better, a quality glow stick can have a shelf life of 3-5 years, and you don’t have to worry about changing the batteries or making sure they still work.
Drawbacks to glow sticks:
One of the biggest drawbacks to glow sticks during a disaster is that they have limited usage hours.
Depending on the glow stick it will last between 8-12 hours, and once you activate the glow stick it will work until it’s dead.
There is no turning it on and off when you need it, so it won’t work for long-term scenarios.
Since you can’t turn a glow stick on and off it could be bad for a tactical situation.
If you need to operate in complete darkness you would need to ditch the glow stick.
Another concern is that glow sticks provide a soft, low light output – not a bright focused beam of light.
So, it may not be powerful enough when perfect visibility is needed.
And while glow sticks work in all weather conditions, extreme cold can make them perform poorly.
Plus, they won’t last as long in cold weather.
And you can’t refuel a glow stick like you can other lights, so once it goes out, it’s trash.
Which means, if you needed to use a lot of glow sticks you would have a lot of waste to deal with.
Bottom line is that glow sticks are a great addition to your survival gear.
You shouldn’t depend on them as a primary source of light, but they are a worthwhile backup option.
I would consider the Cyalume brand glow sticks, also known as ChemLights.
This is a trusted brand with better quality than the cheap glow sticks found at party supply stores.