The hiker and the compass
Here is a terribly sad story:
An Appalachian Trail hiker whose remains were discovered last year survived at least 26 days after getting lost, kept a journal of her ordeal and ultimately resigned herself to the idea she was going to die and it could be years before her remains were located, according to investigatory documents…
“When you find my body, please call my husband George – and my daughter Kerry,” Largay, who was 66 years old, wrote in a page that was torn out of her journal. “It will be the greatest kindness for them to know that I am dead where you found me – no matter how many years from now.”…
[Geraldine] Largay, who went by the nickname Inchworm, got lost after leaving the trail on July 22, 2013, to relieve herself and set up her final camp the next day, wardens said. Her texts to her husband warning that she’d become lost were never delivered but were retrieved from her phone after her body was found.
I don’t recall this story from 2013, although it has a local New England angle because Largay got lost in Maine and a huge and lengthy search was mounted, to no avail. Until her body and journal were found, no one knew the cause of her disappearance or whether she had met with foul play.
If you read many of the comments to that article or others on the same topic, as I did, you’ll see that interspersed with the notes of sympathy and prayer are ones that question her judgment. How could she have gotten so badly lost that way? Why did she continue to hike alone after a friend she had started out with bailed?
The second question is probably more easily answered: lots of hikers hike alone, and Largay had hiked many times before (although I couldn’t discover whether she’d ever hiked alone before). As far as the first question goes, a great many people mentioned that in the heavily-wooded east if you go off the trail even a little way it’s very easy to get hopelessly lost unless you have the tools to get unlost. So I noticed in the comments sections that there were a lot of hikers asking why Largay hadn’t carried a compass, a very basic directional tool that could have helped her get out of the terrible mess she was in.
That seemed an excellent question, and I wondered whether she in fact had taken along a compass and if there had been some problem with using it. It took me a while to locate any information on that, but I struck pay dirt here:
Also in the report – testimony from friends and family including Largay’s husband George, and Jane Lee – her best friend who was initially supposed to hike with Largay, but was called away for a family emergency.
Lee told wardens that Largay had a poor sense of direction, and she wasn’t sure she even knew how to use a compass.
What does this mean? Largay was a very experienced hiker. I am not one, to say the least, so my question for all of you out there who might be experienced is: is it not standard to carry a compass? It’s small and easy to use, right? Would a compass not make it a relatively simple matter to get out of a situation such as Largay unfortunately found herself in? And if a person doesn’t carry one, why would that person choose not to do so? My tentative theory is that many of us have grown so reliant on things like cell phones to get us out of a jam that many of the older, more obvious, and simpler things are being neglected.
RIP.
It can be small and can be easy to use. If you know how to use it and, more importantly, carry a map to use it with.
Hence:
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“If you are out there without a map, and you don’t know where you are, but you know that there is a road, trail, stream, river or something long and big you can’t miss if you go in the right direction. And you know in what direction you must go to get there, at least approximately what direction.
Then all you need to do, is to turn the compass housing, so that the direction you want to go in, is where the direction of travel-arrow meets the housing. And follow the above steps.
But why isn’t this sufficient? It is not very accurate. You are going in the right direction, and you won’t go around in circles, but you’re very lucky if you hit a small spot this way. And that’s why I’m not talking about declination here. And because that is something connected with the use of maps. But if you have a mental image of the map and know what it is, do think about it. But I think you won’t be able to be so accurate so the declination won’t make a difference.
If you are taking a long hike in unfamiliar terrain, you should always carry a good map that covers the terrain. Especially if you are leaving the trail. It is in this interaction between the map and a compass, that the compass becomes really valuable. And that is dealt with in lesson 2.”
Most experienced backpackers carry (and know how to use) what is known as “The 10 Essentials”, which consists of:
Map
Compass (optionally supplemented with a GPS receiver)
Sunglasses and sunscreen
Extra clothing
Headlamp (or flashlight)
First-aid supplies
Firestarter
Matches
Knife
Extra food
If Ms. Largay had been carrying these items, and was proficient in their use, odds are she would be alive. Her’s is a tragic, and all to common, tale.
If you can’t use a compass, you need to learn how before venturing out alone. Also, how to read a map of the area that you take with you. Remember, a GPS is “better” only while the batteries last. Terminal overconfidence, or terminal stupidity? Regardless of why, Terminal.
I read the story this morning as a news item and my heart went out to that dear woman. Several years ago I was deer hunting here in Texas along a creek on a 600 acre plot of land where I had hunted for years. It was a cloudy, misty day, no sun in the sky for orientation, and within about 50 yards of a trail I was totally turned around and lost. The good thing is that I did find my way back to the creek which I followed and came out on a field that I recognized and I was over a half a mile from the spot I thought I should be coming out. It can happen fast and without a compass a person can become totally screwed up.
I did have a compass, in the glove box of my truck, and thank goodness I was on a small section of land with roads around me in every direction. I had also been through survival training in the Army years ago and knew the basic rules about what to do when you get lost. The first thing is sit down and calm down and then if you move, you move with purpose from landmark to landmark, etc.
For all you jerks commenting on the story making judgement of our lost hiker, shame on you. No matter the circumstances that occurred to put her into the situation she was an adventurous woman doing an activity she loved and she did her best. I love her spirit and bravery that shows on the notes she put on paper for her loved ones.
Her death beats the hell out of dying from a heart attack, sitting on a sofa, watching TV, eating cookies and ice cream. May we all be so lucky.
Yes, that’s true. As death goes it was a good death.
I once got lost in an arboretum. It’s surprisingly easy to lose your bearings, especially if as in this case it’s the end of the day and you’re tired and hungry.
I am an expert hiker, and I always have a map and compass. In the Sierras, I have always been able to determine exactly where I was, because I could see 2 mountains or features who’s identity was known and could be located on the map. A thick forest would prevent this, and so would nondescript rolling hill type terrain. I once got good and lost in the later-desribed environment, but the compass is still useful to prevent hiking in circles trying to get out.
Without trying to be a smart ass, I guess you would have to ask her to know; because it makes absolutely no sense at all.
It is for hunters who have any sense or sense of responsibility for themselves at all. But as the Texan says, stuff happens.
You never know what the problem is with some people. I had been harping on compass use for years at the deer camp – which is not in the real wilderness, though it is some miles beyond the power grid. And because it is all virtually identical hardwood covered moraines and because it is sometimes cloudy, it is easy to get turned around even in a mile section or less.
After having to drive out at 9 pm in order to search out a cousin’s lost son, only to find him striding west along a valley bottom in the pitch black far north and west of where he would have run into any roads or fence lines, I decided to enforce my rule.
Confronting a cousin in front of the cabin one morning as he was about to go out I asked him is he had a compass. “No”, he admitted he didn’t have one or lost it or something, and besides he was just going to stalk alongside the access trail.
I got him a compass and put it in his hand. “Now you have one, so you will at least know which way is north; and if you stay east of the cabin and on that side of the trail, all you have to do is follow it north to the cabin trail if you get turned around.”
“Ok” he said. He then opened the cover and looking at it kept pivoting left and right as if puzzled.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“It doesn’t seem to work” he said, looking at the card. “This letter says north but the needle keeps swing in that direction.”
This was a relatively intelligent, I thought, amiable 40 year old American male.
I have also, lacking a compass gotten turned around, in the hills, on a drizzly August afternoon and nearly panicked myself.
After heading in one direction for about 40 minutes, like Texan, more or less, I walked into a grassy valley that I could not believe was there. Seriously worried I retraced my steps and going in the opposite direction found the cabin road.
What I didn’t realize was that I had walked out into a familiar meadow from an odd angle, and that the main fire trail through the big valley in front of the property, ran through it just out of obvious sight.
I was 50 yards from the trail through the weeds, and 200 from the property main entrance, and had no idea where I was.
Cell phones always have clocks.
So the transit of the Sun ought to have been a no-brainer to spot after a single day.
Additionally, one might think that she’d merely walk down hill towards a stream — even a dried out stream bed.
She’d be out of the woods within days.
“For all you jerks commenting on the story making judgement of our lost hiker, shame on you. No matter the circumstances that occurred to put her into the situation she was an adventurous woman doing an activity she loved and she did her best.”
Getting lost in a wilderness area can even happen to experienced hikers. However, to undertake such a hobby when one knows one has a “poor sense of direction” and without compensating for that in any way is foolish. Those who comment on that are not “jerks”; that they note the obvious does not belittle the woman’s death.
So she left he trail to relieve herself knowing that she had a poor sense of direction; Theseus was able to navigate the Labyrinth just with Ar
. . . Ariadne’s ball of thread.
Again this doesn’t diminish the woman’s death, but it speaks to common sense in such an undertaking.
I grew up hiking in The Rockies, hiking 101 is to find a stream, and follow it down, or to find a road and follow it. One would be able to determine east and west within a short period of time by seeing where the sun rose and set. I see people go into The Rockies woefully unprepared all the time. It’s a very dangerous thing to do. You should always have matches/lighter, a knife, waters, and enough food to last a day or two (granola mix, candy bars, energy bars, etc…). I could preach on this topic endlessly, but I’ll quit.
A compass might not have helped if she was so disoriented she didn’t know the direction to the trail from her position.
The new story says she guessed in a text that she was north of the trail, but if she was wrong, she could have set off south accurately with the help of a compass and gone deeper into no-man’s land.
* news story
Given her failed attempt to use a cell phone, might have been worth it for her to buy/rent a satellite phone in case of emergency.
“Her death beats the hell out of…”. ” as deaths go, itnwas a good death”. Lmao….whatever. I’d much rather die eating ice cream than being in the woods by myself, hopelessly lost, realizing you’re gonna die and die from starvation and exposure. Yeah, a real lovely way of dying.
I once got lost in Macy’s when I stopped paying attention to my mom. Sure was scary
I’ve done a lot of hiking, camping, and fieldwork. If the terrain is heavily timbered and flat, it’s easy to get a little bit lost, even with both compass and map.
If you take away the trees and add some topography, things get better.
If you take away map and compass, things can get much worse. Still, direction can be determined by sun and shadow; and distance can be determined by counting paces.
It sounds as if this poor lady had done a lot of trail walking, but didn’t really know how to live outdoors. Unfortunately, there are many people like that, but even thoughtless hiking is pretty safe. I’d guess that this was more a case of bad luck than bad judgement.
DNW:
“I was 50 yards from the trail through the weeds, and 200 from the property main entrance, and had no idea where I was.”
Basic Training. Field training exercise. Night. Woods. Patrol base, the kind that gets overrun by VC in Vietnam War movies.
My battle buddy and I had reported to the platoon sergeant (a drill sergeant) about something. We got lost in the dark returning to our position and found ourselves outside of the perimeter. We stumbled back to the perimeter at an M60 position. I thought, looking at the barrel of the M60 pointed at me, that if this had been real, I could have been torn apart by that M60 for my dumb mistake.
The news story doesn’t say whether she got lost in the day or at night, but it’s easy to lose your bearing in the woods.
“Largay was a very experienced hiker”? What the H does that mean? That she was good at putting one foot forward, then the other?
“Very experienced” but never learned from those experiences that bad stuff just happens, like stepping into an unseen hole and fracturing a tibia (which, except for fracture, happened to me while solo woodcock hunting three years ago)? I was darn lucky, and knew it. The choice was between looking down at the ground versus looking ahead and up for a wild flush. We have rattlers and cottonmouths also…
Experience in wilderness should remind the experienced of their perpetual vulnerability to chance events, which they all know.
She was in Maine, and she left the trail in order to pee? Afraid someone would see her? The hiker density there is <1 per mile, and if she'd just stopped and periodically yelled "Help" she'd have been found. Sounds to me like she kept on blundering further into the bush instead.
There are lessons to be learned from the regretted errors of others. RIP.
Neo: What does this mean? Largay was a very experienced hiker. I am not one, to say the least, so my question for all of you out there who might be experienced is: is it not standard to carry a compass? It’s small and easy to use, right? Would a compass not make it a relatively simple matter to get out of a situation such as Largay unfortunately found herself in?
I used to live near Bear Mountain and went hiking in New Paltz (and free climbing when i was younger)
First… people think they are “experienced” when they do a lot of something, but a lot of something at a certain level does not grant you experience at a higher level. just cause you can climb up a rock face thats 10 feet high, doesnt mean you can make it to the top of one 80 feet high (with no ropes).
it SHOULD be standard to carry a compass, but a huge amoung of people dont, and they think they are experienced because they have gone on long hikes and were able to follow (animal) trails, or remember how to get back. this also is easier if where your hiking may cross other things like roads or you can see things.
the game becomes VERY different once your in another kind of location in which real experience counts more than this “i did a lot” kind of experience.
i used to hike around in the Pine Barrens of NJ… depending on where you are, you could really get in trouble as its a flat land with very little that makes it look different… you can get lost, people do every year, and its hard to find them.
the other thing is that absent a compass and course correction, we walk in a large circle. a left over from our hunter gatherer days. ie. if you start walking and you think your walking in a straight line, your most likely going to walk in a large circle and be back where you were when you started that way. (as people usually walk, turn, walk… then they decide to walk straight, so they come back to the same wrong place after a long long walk)
this is how we used to have territory… and didnt need to know the land before we could take it. Greenland and vikings used this to pare land. you could own as much land as you coudl walk in a day.
anyway… a compass is nice, but a compass and lack of knowing how to use them, and their pitfalls can get you in as much trouble as not havingt one. even on the ocean.
in most areas where hikers go, they have tons of trails. New Paltz has painted trees with tiny colored squares, follow the color, and you walk trails of different difficulty. but people still get lost as they dont go to a point, look for the next point and go to that and so on. they go, they pass, they then look, and then get lost.
a compass is helpful, but only if you know where you are in relation to other things. and if she was experienced in the right way, she A) would have a compass AND a map, and have a small bag with matches, a bit of wax, etc.. basically a kit.. today, you can even buy rescue devices that are solar powered and would strobe and more for cheap. radio devices with short wave is also good if you have it.
the point is really experienced people respect the dange of nature and understand that its NOT SAFE.. and they prepare. people who have done it a lot do the opposite. no, i walked a lot, i can remember, etc… at what point do you discover your memory is weaker than it was years ago? when you wander, it all starts to look the same, and you find that you dont have enough water, a weapon (knife), you dont know how to survive for a long long time, you have not paid attention to where you went instead of ejoying the walk, and on and on.
happens all the time… in fact, hundreds die every year in similar ways.
one of the saddest was a group of scouts that went out to the desert, they got lost, and eventually were able to hike to a place where they were discovered. the interesting and sad part was that near the end of it, they were dehydrated, exhausted, and had used up their energy reserves without resting or having snak bars.
one kid, decided to run up a hill, and scout… the others stayed down… he ran up, he ran down, they were found, he died. the run up the hill took the last bit of energy the body needed and that was that, his energy stalled and he died. the others lived, and they were THAT close to it..
also, if your a real hiker and experienced YOU DONT HIKE OR SWIM ALONE. so i doubt she was as experienced as they say, at least in a meaninful way. ie, knows what they are doing vs doing it wrong a lot and saying i am good at it.
while the US is one of the safest countries on the planet… (amazingly so compared to the tropics), its still an issue. you have black bears, mountain lions… heck, we were sitting at our picnic in ny just above westchester, and a timber rattle snake went between our legs and to the other side of the deck… and it was a bbq at a house near a state park!
depending on where you are there are quite a few types of rattle snakes, there are cotten mouths, coral snakes, and lastly, water moccasins. you can have an alergic reaction to insects or even plants you nver crossed before.
twisting an ankle can kill you if you cant walk out the ten miles you walked in on a broken leg or such. a cut can make you slowly bleed to death… temperatures drop at night and you can lose body heat (especially if you allow yourself to get wet).
and as far as a compas goes, you better hope your map has corrections, because the actual use of a compass requires you correcting for local magnetic deviations. this is more common on nautical maps… why? because these magnetic feilds change and can cause your compass to go off in an area till you move out of it!!! so even a compass isnt that great if you dont know this, and correct for it.
you ALSO, should file a hiking plan at the local office. that is, if i did go out alone, which i shouldnt do.. i would plan where i wanted to end up, not wander around, and i would stop off at the rangers office on my way, and give them a copy… ie. if something happens they at least have a plan and an idea where i was.
but i have bene out in the woods for over a month on end with nothing but knife and such… its not that hard in many places, but in others its hard to last a few days. knowing the tricks and carrying a few things can make all the difference.
the WORST part of this story? she could have bought a GPS hiking machine for under 100 dollars… for 100 dollars you can buy premade hikers kits that give you everything you need to live…you can get a cheaper one for $30 that has 175 items. bandages, sutures, compass, endless matches, flashlight, etc.
With the SPOT Gen3 Satellite GPS Messenger, you can reach emergency responders, check-in with family or friends, share GPS coordinates and track your adventures, all at the push of a button
how much? $111
its one thing to die because something ate you, you fell, got injured, etc.. its another thing to die cause you didnt prepare, and wandered around when you could have spent cheap money and easily had no problem.
the smallest handheld emergency beacon received FCC approval and went on sale in the US. Just bigger than a Swiss Army Knife, the RescueMe is a good option for backwoods hikers and explorers who want to lighten their packs and require a last-resort hot-button for getting out of a deadly situation. Made by UK-based Ocean Signal and sold in the US by Louisiana-based Datrex, the device contains a GPS receiver and a radio transceiver, which sends your location to an international satellite network overhead
http://www.datrex.com/index/catalogdetail/pdt_id/1049
a bit pricey at 300… but then again… most people who hike are not welfare queens… (and there are cheaper versions too)
30% smaller by volume
Easily fits into almost any lifejacket
Retractable Antenna
7 Year Battery Life
7 year warranty
High brightness strobe light >One candela
66 channel GPS receiver
if you keep it for 7 years of hiking its about 40-50 a year amortized.
Anyone hiking in the woods. especially the deep woods, should have a mechanical compass AND an electronic GPS system (Garmin etc.), and a geological map of the area. Of course if you have no natural sense of direction it’s even more important to carry these things. A companion is also essential.
Anyone planing on doing any hiking should take some orienteering courses to learn how to navigate using simple tools.
This is similar to folks who go hiking on the Iraq, Iran border or headhunter country in the tropics. You are asking for trouble. Don’t do it.
It is extremely easy to lose your bearings in a forest. If you are tempted for any reason to leave the trail, you should always check in which direction you are leaving the trail with a compass- that way you can reset which direction you need to go to recross the trail. Also, off the trail, you need to recheck your direction every few minutes- it is quite easy to start in one direction and end up going in another within less than 100 yards in a forest, or even in a clearing!
The most important item to have when you get lost & the object of a search party is a WHISTLE !!!!
Long distance hiking alone presents unique challenges. The Appalachian Trail is approximately 2,200 miles long with more than 510,000 feet of elevation gain, and is usually hiked in five months or so. Hiking six days a week (1 day a week to resupply with food and fuel), that is approximately 17 miles and more than 4,000 feet of elevation gain on average every day. For more than 20 weeks! The footpath varies from soft forest floor to rugged and rocky, the weather from freezing rain and snow to hot and humid. In short, it is a physically demanding undertaking. In my opinion, far easier for a 20 something than a 66 year old. Just eating enough calories to sustain this level of exertion can be a challenge.
As long as you stay on the trail and don’t take a wrong turn at a trail junction, the trail for the most part does the navigation for you, and so in the monotony of pounding out the miles, and in a state of potential physical stress, its all too easy to lose track of where you are during the day and whether the trail is going N, S, E or W on that section, as it winds its way from Georgia to Maine. In the thick forest of the Appalachian Trail, landmarks are often difficult to see, or make sense of. Often, there is no need to consult the map, relying instead on one of the trail guides to identify important waypoints along the narrow little ribbon of trail amongst the thousands, no, hundreds of thousands of wilderness acres around you. Add in the routine of putting one foot in front of another, day after day, and you can easily be lulled into a false sense of security when you step off the trail, as you must several times a day when nature calls.
Solo hiking of course adds an additional dimension, as does having a poor sense of direction. These are the risks the solo long distance hiker accepts. That she accepted. Mostly, almost always, things turn out OK. Perhaps this was the three hundredth time she stepped off the trail on this hike. A routine matter. I imagine she had no expectation there would be a problem this time.
I celebrate her adventurous spirit and pray that she will rest in peace.
Sad story.
Not sure why anyone would think that is a good death.
Here in California, there are multiple stories every year of people lost, or falling down a steep incline/cliff. This year, more than one person slipped to their death, or serious injury, on icy trails within relatively few miles of LA. Why were they hiking on icy trails? Obviously, what seems benign can turn deadly pretty quickly if you aren’t ready for it.
My first thought was Appalachian trail equals ridge line, so keep going down hill. Must have been more complicated than that.
During my first trip to Colombia, I went to Puracé National Park. I climbed Mount Puracé, which is is about 15,000 feet, in a group of ~6 tourists. The climb up is not difficult. The way down was foggy, and I lost sight of the group. I made it back to the base camp, but have to count myself lucky, as only one side of the mountain has a road. Had I made a wrong turn, I might have never come out. No, I didn’t have a compass.
I later did a five day hike in the Andes in Peru with a rudimentary map. There weren’t any ambiguous forks in the path, fortunately.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purac%C3%A9_National_Natural_Park
Harold:
Topographical map. Geological maps aren’t what you want to have as first choice. They have lots of colors (rock “formations, “and funny symbols (faults, folds, etc.) but may be hard to find to find the contours, water and cultural features. The United States Geological Survey is the primary source of topographic maps in the USA.
OM
The United States Geological Survey is the primary source of topographic maps in the USA.
Agreed. When I was 13, a friend and I took a 5 day canoe trip in the Adirondacks. The USGS maps we took along were very useful.
Two things:
First, this case sounds just like the beginning of Stephen King’s short novel “The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon”. His story starts with a young girl on a simple day hike with her family who leaves the trail to relieve herself and then can’t find the trail again. I am not a major Stephen King fan but this story deals very well with an ancient, basic human fear: that of getting lost in the woods…and then gradually realizing that something is stalking you.
Second, I have been, briefly, on the Appalachian Trail. I was taken out there by my Dad; who walked the whole length of the Trail when he was in his sixties (about twenty years ago). This sort of thing is my Dad’s idea of fun. I was visiting him for his 85th birthday and since where he lives (in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia) is close to the Trail he wanted to show it to me. What surprised me was how little “trail” there was to the Appalachian Trail. I had had the vague idea that it was something like the footpath one would encounter in a State park near a city: 4 to 6 foot wide, gravelled and graded. What I found was a barely visible trace through thick forest. Most of the way I could reach out and touch the trees on either side of the trail. Sightlines were minimal. There was next to no chance to see landmarks. The footing was chancy at best. After a few minutes I paid very careful attention to where I was putting my feet. Based on my brief experience with the Trail, I think anyone walking it alone is being very, very reckless.
Seconding MollyNH’s great advice. Can’t imagine a knowledgeable hiker out in wilderness without a whistle.
Even if you never expect to get lost,
I know for a fact that parts of the trail–through Virginia–are prime bear habitat. When in deep woods not a bad idea to toot your whistle periodically, so you don’t startle one; or worst case Mama and cub. I didn’t always do it, but sometimes when I really felt spooky, I would.
“Experienced” hiker here. Yes, I ALWAYS carry a compass, even if going on a trail that I have been on dozens of times before. You never truly know what the weather might do and it is easy to get lost if you wander off the trail (as you should do when “nature” calls)
I don’t know much about this poor woman; but, I can tell you I have seen over the years a lot, and I mean A LOT, of careless hikers. Folks who think that “hiking” is just a walk in the woods. Folks who carry NO water, attempt to walk in flip-flops, etc. (One time I gave away my “left-over” water to a young father who hiked about 2 and a half hours to camp overnight near a pond on the mountain with his 2 young sons – he didn’t bring much water because he just thought he could use the water from the pond; but, said he didn’t expect it to be so “bad looking.” Had he been an adult by himself, and uninjured, I would have thought “tough, plan better next time.” But, I was worried about his two young kids; so, I gave him about a liter or so of the water I had left in my canteen. I would have liked to keep it for myself; but, I knew that I would be off the mountain in just 2 hours – thirsty, but, ok; God only knows how those kids might survive without water overnight.)
Numerous times, on my way down the mountain I have met “day trippers” just starting out – at 6:00 in the evening for a 2-hour trip (at least) to the top of the mountain. I have always tried to gently point out that they will be coming down in the dark for a couple of hours – not a smart thing to do. It never fails to amaze me that when I ask them what time did they started out, they cannot answer – they have no idea when they left their car! (based upon my time from the trail head I would guess they might have been hiking for 20-30 minutes?!)
And, yes, Neo, there are those who think that they can just use their “new fangled” gadgets and be ok. Nope, batteries die folks. Satellite connections break. But, a waterproof map and an old-fashioned compass are trusty stand-bys.
However, all that being said, that this woman survived for 26 days does say something about her skills and experience being better than the average person’s. But, at the same time it is terrible and was possibly preventable. Without being there, yea, it is easy to be a Monday-morning quarterback and say what she could’ve, should’ve, and what we would’ve done. But, only she and God knows – and what a terrible anguish she must have felt leaving those words!
I just hope that at 66 *I* am able and willing to hike and still enjoy it!
1. That part of Maine is rugged and heavily forested. It would not be that hard to get lost, if one strayed from the trail. Also, it’s not well known, but the U.S. Navy has a small base there, in what is known as Black Nubble Mountain, or Redington Township, in Maine. That site, dating from the 1960s, is still currently used for SERE training for the Navy pilots.
2. There is not much out there–hardly any population, and very few roads.. Only an exceptionally fit person, who was well-supplied (and had a compass) could have a chance of walking out of there by himself. And, for the history buffs, Benedict Arnold’s expedition to Quebec in 1775 was to the east of that area. And back then, Arnold ended up with only 600 men in Quebec, out of the 1100 who had started off with him, with their journey being twice as long as they had anticipated.
With smartphone photos, it is a lot easier just to make landmarks for yourself. Especially if you got a blade that can cut through the smaller branches.
An auto mini map maker app would be even better. Most of it is to establish a base camp immediately once you realize you have no idea where things are now.
It’s easy to mistake one field of trees for another, when they all look alike and are blocking the normal landmarks like mountains and oceans and rivers.
A compass gives objective directions, but an automapper and artificially created landmarks allows you to “reset” your exploration and get back to zero. That allows exploration in all cardinal directions that are physically accessible. Makes it more likely you can get back on the trail. If you can’t get back on the trail, then a compass would be useful to finding the nearest landmark or open area that you can orientate to or escape to. Like a road.
Many thanks for an extremely informative discussion. I am an older woman not likely to go off hiking alone; however, I live near the Rockies. People have died here when their car ran off a road and down in a ditch where they couldn’t be seen. Many of your suggestions could have saved them. Even if they were trapped by their seatbelt, they would have had food and water and A WHISTLE for when the battery ran down. And a KNIFE.
Important to put those supplies on the FRONT seat.
Thanks again.
It depends on the terrain.
I hiked a lot when I was younger, barely used a compass. However, I was constantly using the topographic map.
Why? It was a range of mountains not heavily timbered, so you oriented yourself using the peaks and the landmarks. Even when I carried a compass, I didn’t use it.
HOWEVER, that can change, for example:
– You’re in a flat area, no landmarks. Here you can use the sun, though.
– You’re a in a heavily forested area.
– It’s night. Hiking during the night it’s amazing, but you can’t see any landmark. You can use the stars, that case.
Of course, if it’s cloudy, no stars. Heavily cloudy, neither sun.
That case you need to keep your direction right, and a compass is necessary. If the terrain is heavily rugged (or it’s heavily covered by schrubs) you can’t go straightforward, and the compass won’t be that useful.
If you’re really screwed and have no idea where you are, just go down down down and follow any river. Sooner or later you will find some houses.
I hitchhiked up and down the Oregon coast all summer when I was 17, in the company of a friend, someone who rarely spoke (because he’d taken so much LSD and this changed him forever). We sometimes went deep into the woods and camped out for days, with minimal supplies. I know that at one point I didn’t eat for a week. But I was in very good shape, an athlete, and cannot remember ever being worried. I always, since I was a fairly young child, seemed to have a good sense of direction, and often wandered off from campsites for hours at a time without ever feeling or becoming lost.
I know this sounds like boasting, but the experience of being “lost” is simply alien to me. I could always retrace my route without difficulty, if that seemed the best or most interesting option.
miklos. That’s a gift few have.
I learned from my father, and later from the Army, to look back to see the view behind you. You may be coming back that way and going one way through terrain doesn’t mean in the slightest that you’ll recognize it looking at it from the reverse side. Elementary patrolling.
If lost at night, don’t move. You’ll break something, fall into a hole or streambed. Only the brightest moonlight is useful. You’ll go in circles, can’t see any landmarks.
Maps are only useful if you know where you are to begin with.
Unless you are ON a well-marked trail, your primary task is to keep track of where you are.
Do NOT ask a rural person for directions. “Turn right where the old Johnson place used to be. Half a mile before you come to the river. Right there. Can’t miss it.”
There’s an old piece of advice that you should blaze a trail by notching trees, leaving the white wood showing through the bark. It makes keeping orientated in the dark easier since, once your eyes adjust, you can see the white. Problem is, coming back. As you go, you notch the, say, east side of the trees as you go west. Coming back, you’re looking at the west side. No joy there. But possibly the searchers can find you starting where you did.
We can orient by the sun, or the stars. If the weather clouds up, that’s IMPORTANT. There’s not much orientation when the world is lit by dim, indirect lighting with no shadows. So when the weather clouds up, you have a new problem to address.
John F. MacMichael:
“I had had the vague idea that it was something like the footpath one would encounter in a State park near a city: 4 to 6 foot wide, gravelled and graded. What I found was a barely visible trace through thick forest.”
Good point. She could have recovered the trail but missed it in the brush. Or she could have found and followed what looked like the trail, but was something else, and it misled her further.
Surviving on her own for about a month in the hottest part of summer staring with what had to be at most a week of food stretched out and a day or two of water is admirable.
* starting with
Arizona hiker dies after being stung by 1,000 bees
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2016/05/26/hiker-dies-bees-attack-arizona/85009394/
It is the nature of risk that one cant eliminate it if one is alive, and often people raise their risk (being alone) or lower their risk (being with others), but never eliminate their risk (other than by imagination ignoring it or pretending it doesnt exist or not being aware of it)
this applies to hiking, finance, waking up in the morning, etc…
Seven hikers’ descent into doom at Zion National Park
In September 1961, four teenage Boy Scouts and their scoutmaster were killed while exploring slot canyons in the nearby Narrows section of Zion. In 1997, 11 hikers died about 100 miles east, near Page, Ariz., when a storm flooded a canyon.
“Maybe 20 years ago, there were 20 climbers at one time in Zion National Park on a given day and 20 canyoneers,” said Bo Beck, a longtime search-and-rescue volunteer with the National Park Service. “Now, on a given day, there are 400 canyoneers and the same 20 climbers.”
a lot of people EVERY YEAR… die… and not just because they are newbs who ignored warnings or such… sometimes, thats how it rolls when you do something risky.
a lot of people EVERY YEAR… die… and not just because they are newbs who ignored warnings or such… sometimes, thats how it rolls when you do something risky.
When my son turned 21, my wife and i took him to indonesia… and we went in country. One of the trips we decided to take was to hike across the caldera (the hard way not the round way), past the temple, and up the Volcano rim next to the cinder cone…
we had to get up at 4am, hired people to take us, and were as prepared as we can be. I informed my son that this was his last chance to bow out and that its ok if he did, no one would think anytning.
i said this was a live and active volcano, and can do anything any time.. it doesnt even have to do much to kill us, just a burp of sulfer dioxide from the opening, and we would suffocate before we got very far, with the gas turning into sulfuric acid in our lungs.
he is much like me even though he thinks not. The adventure was on. long hike, and the point? to get therer before the sun rose, throw flowers into the volcano, and watch the sun rised between two other volcanos a long way away.
(i am sending neo a picture this morning of that)
Two years before us.. it burped, threw up ash and such, and several tourists ended up dead. [Mount Bromo erupted in 2004. That eruptive episode led to the death of two people who had been hit by rocks from the explosion]
Mount Bromo s an active volcano and part of the Tengger massif, in East Java, Indonesia. At 2,329 metres (7,641 ft) it is not the highest peak of the massif, but is the most well known. Mount Bromo sits in the middle of a vast plain called the “Sea of Sand”
within a year or two after we did our hike:
Bromo started to erupt ash on Friday 26 November 2010
here is an image from online
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ec/Mount_Bromo_panorama.jpg/1456px-Mount_Bromo_panorama.jpg
the jeep tour goes to the big hill in the background
the cinder cone is in the center, the open hole to the left is the volcanoes active area. if you look carefully there is a tiny building (Temple) below the cinder cone, and to the left a bit. its a small dot. on the hole in to the left of the cinder cone there appears to be a kind of slot. that slot has a stair case which one climbs up… and up.. and up… and up.. very long… when one is finished, one is right on the edge of the hole
there is a tiny fence there… but its easy to fall in
its even easier to fall out as the area to stand on is less than 2 feet wide in places and tourists act like idiots… so i am amazed we did not see someone fall and bouce down the hill to their death.
if you look at the image you notice that this stuff sits in a depression, thats the caldera…
Years ago I hiked into the Grand Canyon on vacation and the elevation gain hiking out was about 5000 feet. Took me 8 hours to walk out and I drank all 2 gallons of water in my canteens. Ran out of water about a mile from the top. It was an exhausting hike and when I reached the top my legs were like rubber. Today my advice is to ride the mules into the canyon, don’t walk. If you deciede to hike, take 3 gallons of water. You will not drink much going in but you will drink it all coming out.
This is why I don’t believe in the theory of evolution – I believe in the theory of devolution.
Just read the story myself. Tragic, yes. Preventable, likely yes as well. A good, large-scale topographic map, and knowledge of how to use it, is key, although thick woods can make this far more difficult. I belonged to an orienteering team in college back in the ’70s (long before GPS), and, with practice, I could generally follow the course, even in heavy brush, just by terrain association. Not always, though, and I did have to reset a few times by following the panic azimuth on my compass to a major terrain feature (usually a linear one, like a hardball road), figuring out exactly where I was, and starting again. But if there’s no major terrain feature in the area, like appears to have been the case here, and the person is already confused, then it can get dangerous pretty fast. It looks like she might not have stayed put, the usual advice on what to do when lost, until the search had already ended.
waltj:
“It looks like she might not have stayed put, the usual advice on what to do when lost, until the search had already ended.”
A ‘bread crumb’ trail might have helped. If her risk/reward calculation was to find her presumably short way back to the trail, a cautious alternative is, starting the moment she realized she was lost, conspicuously mark the spot with an item that’s identifiable as hers – say, a note tied to a tree at eye level – and periodically repeat in the hope that even if she’s moving farther from the trail, a searcher will find a ‘bread crumb’ and pick up her trail.
A sobering aspect of the story is how little cushion there was for her. Largay wasn’t found despite that her location was known the morning of her disappearance, she was reported missing by her husband the next day, her nickname ‘Inchworm’ was due to her slow pace, which should have helped shrink the search area, and a search was mounted within a day, at most 2 days, of her disappearance. Yet she still disappeared from a wrong turn close to the trail.
Obviously there are serious hikers or even climbers here. I’m not one. But I do have an additional comment on apparent human heedlessness. Something I may be repeating.
Was at Baxter some years ago with a kid sister celebrating her graduation – engineering , med school, I don’t recall which.
She wanted to walk the trail up Katahdin – a hiking trail reportedly enjoyed by Victorian era types who took picnic baskets or something.
Started out fine, even though it was an overcast and drizzly damp day. At some point I noticed the incline was remarkably steep. Looking back it occurs to me that if I fell back over that boulder slope, I would not stop for a long long while. “This is an effen hiking trail?” I asked myself.
We get to this one location and it requires climbing steel rings to get to a path that goes along a cliff face. There is a kind of guide rail between the cliff wall and eternity, but that is all, and it is drizzling, and I am wearing leather boating mocs and feel like I am on ice. The kid sister ( a high school tennis and volley ball type letterman or woman) is hanging from an iron loop and trying to get her legs up on a ledge, as her tennis shoes keep slipping off it in the damp. There are a couple of characters who pass by our way in reverse, one looking like some 60 year old weather beaten granola cruncher and the other like a an autistic teen who should be in therapy. How he could even see through those glasses he was wearing I couldn’t feature.
Eventually we take another route and pass by a cliff which protrudes into space as a large down-sloping rock over a valley with what I took to be woods and farms. Now I suppose in dry weather there would be enough friction to keep your ass from sliding off into space as you edged toward the brink, but there were two guys who seemed to be some kind of couple sitting on what was probably a 10 to 15 degree down curving rock slope, and dangling their legs over the edge into space.
I tried to work my way around to see if it was a false edge, but as far as I could tell it was straight to the bottom from there.
If so, then talk about pissing your life away for a cheap thrill.
Or maybe, I just don’t get their equation. Some people are afraid of guns and motorcycles they tell me. But that, seems rather, very, different.
Maybe one of you can explain.
Ok that is it. Leaving the office. Have a good holiday
The following is a personal anecdote however I hope it may benefit some of you reading this.
I’m a land surveyor, so I typically have much more sophisticated and accurate navigation equipment on my person, by an order of magnitude, whenever I go off the beaten path, than your average hiker. While I never had the benefit of Military grade navigation or E&E survival training, I rely on my background of Boy Scouts, a hardy rural up-bringing and professional experience to bring me safely, and productively, through any wilderness experience. Mostly my work footprint occupies the eastern States.
In the late ’90s I found myself facing a list of jobsites running from Albuquerque NM, down to El Paso and out west to Silver City AZ, and in the process of planning out my work route (no google earth back then remember), while consulting my paper Rand McNally, late’90s me noticed there were several squigglies running almost direct from Albuquerque to Silver City and thought “Score … direct route…time saved…etc” JACKPOT I thought. At this point I’m sure some western readers may be rolling their eyes or stareing in wonder at my eastern ignorance.
As I was loading up my 2 door sedan rental that morning, for the trek to Silver City AZ from Albuquerque NM, over said vague paper squigglies, I spied a UPS driver making a local delivery .. he didn’t seem TOO busy …. maybe … maybe I should run my planned route past a local driver that is familiar with local conditions … Oh … well he is working after all … maybe he wouldn’t appreciate being quizzed while he’s working … he does have a job to do after all …. Oh what the heck, it’s early in the morning and I’ll be polite.
OMG…
Long story short, because this UPS driver was both hilarious and helpful at the same time … he sounded like he was a direct transplant from the surfing beaches of California …. “dude”…every other word… he pain-staikingly explained to me that “Dude… that road goes through the mountains ….”
Me: blank stare, not comprehending ….”
UPS: Dude … it’s April …
Me: Yes, yes it is …
UPS: …. You’re driving that sedan ….
Me: Yup
UPS … Dude …
UPS: … *exasperated sigh* … Ok so … one thing you may not know dude … is that it’s normal here to have a late April blizzard that’ll drop 2-4 FEET of snow on these mountain passes …
Me?: *Nodding like I knew what he was talking about* …. I didn’t …
UPS: Combine that with, there is almost zero road maintenance on your squiggly … a tree may have blown down back in January that blocks the road …. dude … it’s still blocking that road in April …
Me: …
SO … I am alive today because I randomly quizzed a UPS driver in 1998.
See above to absorb how self confident I am.
My take aways from my own experience are these:
Mother Nature is not cruel or even angry …. she is utterly indifferent to your condition, whatever that may be, and that condition is entirely of your making, whatever it may be.
Where wilderness trekking is concerned; no amount of planning and prep. is pedantic, ever.
This site was an eye opener for me:
http://www.otherhand.org/home-page/search-and-rescue/
@DNW
I remember, years ago, hiking in a popular cave, no climbing, after some hours we got to the end. And just before the way out there was a wet slippery slope full of mud. No ropes.
It took me 30 minutes to go through. I felt like Sisifo trying to go up that slope, and for a while I thought I had to make all the way back.
MollyNH
Pictures taken the morning of her disappearance show what appears to be a whistle on the shoulder strap of her pack. She had a compass and a GPS with the ability to send an emergency message. Unfortunately, she did not have these last two with her that day.
I can verify that it is easy to lose site of a trail even though one may be within a few feet of it. Likewise anything left in the woods that you plan to come back to, like a backpack, is gone forever. And if there is anything spookier than a forest at night I have not seen it.
I have some ideas above survival if one is lost in the woods that maybe some readers can critique:
1) Don’t panic; our bodies are made for survival in the bush, not the suburbs or city. The bush is really our natural habitat.
2) Walk downhill or try to once it is clear that regaining a trail is no longer an economic option. The goal of downhill walking is to find a water source. Once that is found it can be followed to civilization. One can survive weeks without food, three days without water.
3) Once hunger enough one can eat bugs, aka North Korean cuisine.
4) Women hikers should leave the trails at night or carry firearms.
Bill Bryson’s A Walk in the Woods is an entertaining and informative narrative about hiking the entire Appalachian Trail. I recommend it often. He has a way with words that appeals to me.
Neo, thanks so much for this moving posting, even though it is so sad.
And thanks to all the commenters, with what sounds to this non-hiker (except for the most timid of forays) like very good advice.
I”ve been hiking in the Smokies, the Blue Ridge, and around Lincoln, NH. Each time we were assured that the bears had not yet awoken from their winter snooze.
The paths, marked out on maps with signage as to the trail heads, could have been killers.
There are roots, rocks, wet and slippery leaves.
There are inclines and, not even worrying about falling off over a cliff, a lot of troubles.
In normal walking, we presume the next step as we take this one. If the next step turns out to be a bad idea, we have a problem because we can’t stop.
The mountain hiking I refer to required each step to be a completed action. Then you figure the next one. You step to a stable position, check out the next place you’ll put your foot, and step again.
Between slipping on leaves, losing your balance while one foot is between a couple of rocks, and various other contingencies, you could easily bust something.
One trail, near Blowing Rock, NC, was so bad that I was telling my wife at every third step to be careful. One step at a time. Rain on the leaves, wet leaves on smooth rocks.
I usually figure I could carry my wife at least some distance if necessary, but there I could hardly have gotten her up on my back. Walking with her would have lasted about one minute before I biffed it. And even a mule couldn’t have made that trail–mules are frequently used for rescue at the Grand Canyon–and we’d have been screwed.
Helicopter? Big, big old growth trees overhead.
And these were the good trails, the recommended trails.
You have to know what you’re doing and you have to be prepared.
First thing to do when you figure out you’re lost is to STOP. There are three hundred and sixty degrees to choose from and three hundred and fifty-nine of them are wrong.
The second thing to do is preserve your mobility. If you’re lost, going someplace is secondary. You don’t have to.
At one point at Benning, during land navigation exercises, my partner and I took turns going fifty meters ahead and, covered by brush, defiles, whatever, throwing our helmet into the air as an indication of where we were. The other, the guy with the compass would yell, “LEFT” “MORE LEFT”. Sort of like the transit guys. That’s how we kept on our azimuth after detouring around obstacles. Obviously, it’s not an option for a singleton.
Topo maps and compasses are nice, and you can get really pleased with yourself when you do a couple of back azimuths from landmarks. That’s presuming you can see them.
First thing….STOP. Second, if you’ve never done yoga or meditation, start. Calm down. Keep in mind that 95% of your immediate choices will put you in worse condition than you are right then. Don’t go haring out into the countryside.
Give the searchers a break.
Many studies have shown that men and women have different methods of navigation. Men tend to use a form of dead reckoning while women are more reliant on landmarks.
Problem is, coming back.
That’s why I think a strong blade that can chop trees down or split open branches for wood, can be very useful. Mark your own landmarks.
Better if it was a fire camp site as well, since that provides utility when it is good and can be used to signal people.