Outdoor Safety in New York

Leave a route and return time with someone who is not on the trip. Carry an offline map, light, layers, first aid, extra food, and enough water.

DEC's day-hike list starts with at least 2 liters of water per person and a real light source. Keep the group together. Call 911 for an emergency; DEC Dispatch at 1-833-NYS-RANGERS handles lost, injured, or stranded people in the backcountry.

If you hear thunder, get inside a substantial building or a hard-topped vehicle. A pavilion, lean-to, tent, or lone tree is not safe lightning shelter.

Plan the exit before the storm reaches you. The National Weather Service says to wait 30 minutes after the last thunder before going back outside.

Check both the heat forecast and New York's AQI. Shorten or move the trip when the official advice says your group is at risk.

At AQI 101 to 150, sensitive groups should make activity shorter and less intense. At 151 to 200, everyone should reduce long or hard activity. At 201 or higher, avoid outdoor physical activity. Children, older adults, pregnant people, and people with heart or lung conditions can be affected sooner.

Dress for the water temperature, not the warm air. From November 1 through May 1, everyone underway in a pleasure boat under 21 feet must wear a secured life jacket.

That seasonal wear rule includes canoes, kayaks, rowboats, sailboats, and motorboats. Outside those dates, carry the required right-size life jacket and wear it whenever cold, wind, current, distance, or swimming ability raises the risk.

At State Parks, swim only in the marked area while a lifeguard is on duty. At an ocean or Great Lakes beach, ask the lifeguard about surf and rip currents before entering.

If a rip current catches you, stay calm, float if needed, and swim parallel to shore until free of the pull. Do not enter the water to rescue someone without flotation; alert the lifeguard or call 911 and throw something that floats.

Use repellent as labeled, stay near the center of clear trails, and check skin, hair, clothes, children, and pets when you come inside.

Shower within about 2 hours when you can. Remove an attached tick promptly with fine-tipped tweezers, pulling steadily upward. Do not burn, coat, or twist it. Watch for a growing rash, fever, or flu-like symptoms and contact a health care provider if symptoms appear.

Clear stream or lake water is not automatically safe to drink. Filter and disinfect it, or bring treated water. Keep people and pets out of discolored water or surface scum.

A harmful algal bloom can look like green dots, streaks, pea soup, spilled paint, or other odd color. Do not let a dog drink it or lick it from fur. A clean NYHABS map is useful, but visible scum is still a reason to stay out and report it.

Never feed or approach a bear. Keep food, trash, toiletries, and pet food secured, keep dogs leashed, and cook away from where you sleep.

Most trouble starts when a bear finds a human food reward or is surprised at close range. Stay together and alert, give the bear room, and use DEC's encounter guidance for the behavior you see instead of relying on one slogan for every encounter.

Ice thickness is not uniform. DEC's foot-travel guideline is at least 4 inches of new, clear ice, checked as you go; 2 inches or less means stay off.

Moving water, docks, springs, snow cover, old holes, warm spells, and shoreline gaps can weaken one area while another looks solid. Carry ice picks and do not treat tracks, parked machines, or other people as proof.

A fish can be legal to catch and still have separate health advice. Search the exact water, fish species, and the person who will eat it before keeping dinner.

New York gives different advice to the general population and to people who may become pregnant and children under 15. If the water is not listed, use the statewide, Adirondack, or Catskill baseline that applies.