Backpacking trip mishap from this summer

If you've been searching for the best source of information and stimulating discussion related to Spring/Summer/Fall backpacking, hiking and camping in the Sierra Nevada...look no further!
User avatar
longri
Topix Fanatic
Posts: 1082
Joined: Mon Aug 13, 2012 9:13 am
Experience: N/A

Re: Backpacking trip mishap from this summer

Post by longri »

Nice shot of North Peak, by the way.
User avatar
SirBC
Topix Regular
Posts: 216
Joined: Fri Jun 20, 2014 6:30 pm
Experience: Level 3 Backpacker
Location: SF Peninsula

Re: Backpacking trip mishap from this summer

Post by SirBC »

A hiker on the AT became disoriented after going off-trail for a daytime bathroom break a couple of years ago. She ended up hiking in the wrong direction in some very dense woods and ultimately became so lost that she was not able to find her way back to the trail. She tragically did not survive after having spent nearly a month lost in the woods.

I started using a Suunto Traverse watch with GPS this year. I will setup a POI for my campsite in the watch when I setup camp and the watch has a "find back" feature that will guide you back to the POI if needed. I can't say I've used it for that yet but I do use it for marking POI's when I'm scouting photography locations and it has come in very handy when I thought I knew exactly where that one particular rock in the stream was, but really didn't :)

The watch also has a "flashlight" mode and I now wear it when I sleep so if I ever do get turned around during a nighttime bathroom break I can find my way back to my tent. However, after reading some of the above comments I'm embarrassed to admit just how close to my tent I will take care of business on a cold night...
-------------
Dave | flickr
User avatar
fishwrong
Topix Regular
Posts: 118
Joined: Fri Oct 22, 2010 9:14 pm
Experience: N/A

Re: Backpacking trip mishap from this summer

Post by fishwrong »

Thanks for the post. Very good insight on how stuff can happen to anyone, even the experienced and prepared.

Fortunately, I haven't been lost in the woods, but I've experienced a similar feeling. One training excersize in fire academy is an obstacle course for exiting a collapsed building. The premise is simple, put on gear including mask and tank, and bellly crawl out of a building. When you go in, pick a direction (right or left) and follow walls through the building. To get out you reverse and go the other way. Very simple concept. The trick is there is a screen on your mask, and some form of loud noise is going.

The sensation of loosing sight and hearing was totally unexpected, and panic is a very real feeling. Consciously you know the plan, know you're in a safe place, but the sensation of not being able to see or hear, knowing you have a limited air-supply and imagining what it would be like to be trapped is profound, and was completely shocking to me.

I can only imagine this person's experience was similar. I read a lot of topics about how folks were dumb for getting lost, and how simple it should have been to get back, but untill you experience it you have no idea. Excellent topic and case study in how to swallow pride and handle panic.

Thanks for sharing.
User avatar
Jimr
Forums Moderator
Forums Moderator
Posts: 2175
Joined: Fri Jul 31, 2009 2:14 pm
Experience: Level 4 Explorer
Location: Torrance

Re: Backpacking trip mishap from this summer

Post by Jimr »

Having your light source at camp instead of with you is the direction I was thinking. Similar to what Russ said, but that can be a pain with tent mates. Putting your light on a rock pointing in your intended direction of travel would be helpful. I have one of those Luci blow up lanterns I bring with me. That would be ideal to hang outside the tent or on a rock or limb at camp as a beacon home.

It was very courageous of Anne to have this story posted. I, for one, know how therapeutic it can be to "not be a secret" and this village is a good place for just such therapy.
If you don't know where you're going, then any path will get you there.
User avatar
Cloudy
Topix Regular
Posts: 125
Joined: Tue Dec 05, 2006 11:08 am
Experience: Level 3 Backpacker
Location: Central California

Re: Backpacking trip mishap from this summer

Post by Cloudy »

Thank you for that story. Being lost is a salutary and humbling lesson that i think everyone should experience once. I ALWAYS carry a flashlight at night for just that reason but I also do not wander too far to relieve myself. The idea about the tent light by rlown is excellent (unless your partner is sleeping). I have been completely lost in broad daylight once before without any survival gear and the feeling is truly scary and not something that I would care to repeat. I can become disoriented occasionally now and then but I am never without my pack or at least something to help me in case the "L" word (Lost...) rears its ugly head again. I am happy that things turned out well for Anne and that she could relate her story. There is no shame in that - only happy endings :-)
User avatar
rlown
Topix Docent
Posts: 8225
Joined: Thu Oct 25, 2007 5:00 pm
Experience: Level 4 Explorer
Location: Wilton, CA

Re: Backpacking trip mishap from this summer

Post by rlown »

tent partner never sleeps. Moved to Boston. He was outside in his cold weather gear. Altitude got him. The light is a good thing.. do what you have to do to be safe.
User avatar
WarrenFork
Topix Acquainted
Posts: 89
Joined: Thu Apr 23, 2015 1:55 pm
Experience: N/A

Re: Backpacking trip mishap from this summer

Post by WarrenFork »

AlmostThere wrote: The Coast Guard doesn't come inland to participate in hiker searches.
This would come as news to the two hikers and five rescue workers looking for them who were located and extracted from the 5000-foot level of Mt Adams in central Washington by a Coast Guard SAR crew based at the mouth of the Columbia River. The incident was one of several inland hiker SAR operations depicted in the Weather Channel's Coast Guard: Cape Disappointment series, and those were from just one CG station in the space of a few months.

Actually the Coast Guard often lends a hand to sheriff's departments and other agencies involved in non-marine SAR. A Google search for coast + guard + hiker + rescue yields half a million results.
User avatar
kpeter
Topix Fanatic
Posts: 1449
Joined: Mon Jan 04, 2010 1:11 pm
Experience: Level 3 Backpacker

Re: Backpacking trip mishap from this summer

Post by kpeter »

I have gotten disoriented at night, but I always carry a flashlight and have never had a problem getting back to the tent. It is even easier now with my Big Agnes that has reflector thread woven into all the cording--it practically glows when hit with the flashlight beam.

I've had another serious episode of disorientation though, and it has affected how I behave when putting down my pack. My habit has been to put my pack down after arriving in the approximate area where I want to camp and then exploring unburdened, coming back to the pack once I really know where I am going to set up. I developed that habit when packing with groups, but continued it when packing solo. It feels wonderful to take the pack off, and psychologically it is demoralizing to haul it all over on a wild goose chase.

One trip, after I arrived at Many Island Lake in N. Yosemite, I put my pack down about a hundred feet from the shore, and began looking around for a good campsite. I was very tired and that probably affected my judgment. After finding a good campsite, I returned to move my pack. Except it was not where I thought it should be. There was still a couple of hours of daylight left, but I searched and could not find my pack. I retraced my steps, I searched in a grid, I tried everything for about 45 minutes. As those 45 minutes ticked away I begin to wonder how cold it would be that night and whether I could survive the night without a tent, bag, or additional clothes. Then I began to wonder how long it would take me without a pack to get all the way back to my car. The paranoia and fear were really setting in. The SPOT was in the pack. The flashlight was in the pack. I had a walking stick and virtually nothing else. My Go-Lite pack is grey and black and blends in well with granite, and that northern end of Many Island is mostly granite. I thought I had left it on a small ridge but apparently not.

Well, I found it--stumbled into it actually. Given that there was not an infinite amount of area it could be in, I suppose it was inevitable that I would find it. But during those 45 minutes it did not feel inevitable at all.

Since then, I do not take my pack off and leave it behind unless I can put it on a very obvious landmark--usually right next to a lakeshore or stream crossing. I've never had that problem again. I also now try to be conscious that my decision making is not at its best at the end of a long and tiring day, and more caution is needed when slipping the pack.
User avatar
AlmostThere
Topix Addict
Posts: 2724
Joined: Wed Jun 24, 2009 4:38 pm
Experience: Level 4 Explorer

Re: Backpacking trip mishap from this summer

Post by AlmostThere »

WarrenFork wrote:
AlmostThere wrote: The Coast Guard doesn't come inland to participate in hiker searches.
This would come as news to the two hikers and five rescue workers looking for them who were located and extracted from the 5000-foot level of Mt Adams in central Washington by a Coast Guard SAR crew based at the mouth of the Columbia River. The incident was one of several inland hiker SAR operations depicted in the Weather Channel's Coast Guard: Cape Disappointment series, and those were from just one CG station in the space of a few months.

Actually the Coast Guard often lends a hand to sheriff's departments and other agencies involved in non-marine SAR. A Google search for coast + guard + hiker + rescue yields half a million results.
They never helped my team at all. Nor in any of the mutual aids I've been in across the state -- never saw them at the conferences or statewide trainings either. You learn something every day, obviously. Seriously doubt tho that their own website would host stats for all the inland rescues....
User avatar
Jimr
Forums Moderator
Forums Moderator
Posts: 2175
Joined: Fri Jul 31, 2009 2:14 pm
Experience: Level 4 Explorer
Location: Torrance

Re: Backpacking trip mishap from this summer

Post by Jimr »

I don't want to turn this into a SAR resource discussion, but the involvement of CG is possibly a resource availability decision.
If you don't know where you're going, then any path will get you there.
Post Reply

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Bing [Bot], Google [Bot], sekihiker and 11 guests