DIVERSIONS : When to Not Make a Fire : Before Your Trek, There Are Classes to Help You Get the Most Out of Hiking

Day 1: A gung-ho hiker sets out on a sunny afternoon for a jaunt in the San Gabriel Mountains. It gets dark and said hiker doesn’t show up for dinner. A concerned spouse calls the police. Hiker was last seen dressed in shorts and a T-shirt.

Day 2: TV cameras capture the sheepish, dehydrated figure of a hiker being brought back to civilization by a volunteer search and rescue team.

A happy, if somewhat embarrassing ending. But what if the situation becomes life-threatening? Worse yet, what if that hiker is you ?

There are a few things adults and children should know before taking on the mountain trails, things that might help hikers survive in the wilderness--at least until they find help or help finds them.

Christopher Nyerges, who teaches survival skills and leads wild food outings in and around the San Gabriels, offers a few basics to remember.

First, Nyerges says, learn to identify poison oak, which “grows all over” in the San Gabriel Mountains. You can’t eat it, warm yourself by it or flag down a helicopter with it--but wander into it or use it as a surrogate Serta--and what might have been a frustrating situation could soon become an agonizing one.

Second, take a moment to assess the situation.

“Don’t panic,” says Jon Inskeep, president of the Sierra Madre Search & Rescue Team. “Sit down, take a deep breath and look for landmarks . . . and try to remember how you got there.”

The San Gabriels might not be the highest mountains around but they are some of the most dangerous, because they are mostly made up of decomposed granite, says Inskeep, who is also head of the California Mountaineering Club and has climbed all over the world.

Nyerges, the author of several books about wild food sources, adds that food probably will be the least of a lost hiker’s concerns--at least early on. But his 3-hour wild food outings, held weekends and upon request, teach novices how to identify plants and utilize them, making everything from nutritious meals to toilet paper out of common plants and weeds.

Most of the uses, Nyerges says, are taken from the Gabrielino Indians, who inhabited this area more than 100 years ago. “We’re so used to going to the market for things,” Nyerges explains, “we lose touch with how we get things for our most basic needs.”

As he walks along the fields of the Arroyo Seco on a recent outing, Nyerges picks the leaves and fruits of common plants. The yellow-flowered mustard plant is particularly abundant in this area, and Nyerges notes that every variety of the mustard is edible.

At the end of the walk, Nyerges makes a salad and a beverage from the plants he’s collected in utensils he’s made from what nature provides. He also demonstrates along the way the uses of other plants, such as the mugwort. If you come in contact with poison oak, rubbing the green leaves of the mugwort on your skin will wipe off the poison oils. The dried leaves of the mugwort serve another purpose: Rolling the leaves up in his hands, Nyerges makes a “punk,” a tinder the Indians would use to carry fire.

He cleans his hands by picking a leaf of Buffalo Gourd, a big, course, triangular-shaped leaf that, when mixed with a little water, creates a thick green lather. He does the same with the tiny dried fruits of a mountain lilac bush. The soap also can be used as a shampoo, and for those who can’t get along without a conditioner, nature provides that too.

“The Indians used a yucca leaf for soap and a prickly pear cactus (peeled, of course) as a conditioner,” Nyerges says.

The most important thing to remember, whether gathering food or trying to find your way back to the trailhead, is to never, “under any circumstances,” leave a trail, Inskeep says. It’s especially dangerous at night, he adds, when temperatures drop and the darkness makes it too hazardous to navigate the web of trails.

“It’s a good idea not to travel at night, though nighttime is probably the best time for rescuers,” he says. Rescuers need the contrasting light on the ground to pick up tracks.

As for safety, Inskeep explains, “we’re pretty well trained; we respect these mountains more than the average person.”

If stranded on a cold night, digging a deep hole in the ground and lining it with grass and leaves will provide a warm shelter, a technique Nyerges and partner Barton Boehm teach on their daylong survival outings. Like Nyerges, the Search & Rescue Team also gives information-packed talks to clubs and youth groups on hiking safely in the mountains.

“I’m surprised,” Inskeep says, “that with the great number of people here and the proximity of the mountains, even more people don’t get in trouble.”

A compass is worthless, Nyerges and Inskeep agree, unless a hiker also has a map, and knows how to use both. But a knife will come in handy, Nyerges says, and he demonstrates how to make tools, utensils and even self-defense weapons. In the survival skills outing, he also demonstrates how to weave rope out of raw plant fiber.

Some handy things to take along, even on a day hike, include water, a whistle or mirror to signal for help and a jacket, in case the sun goes down before you do. (Matches can be too dangerous to use in the dry summer months.)

But the best advice to hikers, both men agree, is to be prepared. The people who get lost are usually the ones who are not .

“You should know something about the weather,” Inskeep says. “It will be a nice sunny day, but a storm will be moving in. People will hike up into the mountains, the weather closes in, and they can’t get out.”

Above all, Inskeep says, “never go alone.”

“Two stupid people together are a lot smarter than one genius. I don’t know why, but we almost never have to look for somebody who’s not alone. Someone will always say, ‘Let’s not go there, it’s too dangerous.”

For information about Nyerges’ wild - food ($10) or survival - skills ($85) outings, call (213) 255-9502. For information on the Search & Rescue Team, call (818) 790-5461.