Re: Disaster trail stories
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Great stuff here John!? Amazing how a cold, wet, tired, panicked?mind can react.? I'm reminded of Theodore Solomons' many troubles due to overreacting in snowstorms rather than (as Muir advised), just holing up and waiting out the storm. Having a 911 option just escalates the number of folk involved in bad decisions. One thing I like about the InReach vs the Spot is you can actually communicate with rescuers and let them know what's happening and what the nature of the problem is. With the Spot they must always assume the worst.
Ethan
"When you see a new trail, or a footprint you do not know, follow it to the point of knowing."? - Uncheedah
On Thu, Apr 13, 2023 at 5:11?PM John Ladd < johnladd@...> wrote: [Edited Message Follows]
EDITED 4/13/23 5:11 pm
Since we have all made mistakes, I don't think it is disrespectful to identify the mistakes here and to learn from them
Lost hiker story - use an Incognito browser to open it if you aren't a SF Chronicle subscriber
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I'd say this is the key passage of the SF Chron article:
"... he fell off the trail and slid perhaps two to three body lengths down a steep grade. He could have attempted to scramble back up the loose rock, but opted for what seemed like an easier tack. He angled along the steep face and walked parallel with the trail, thinking he could intersect it."
And therefore the key lesson of this story:
Even with a well-travelled trail, it is really, really dangerous to try to angle back to your trail after you'd lost it. For example, the JMT is heavily travelled but if you happened to be dead reckoning back, you might well cross it at a place where yo don't see it (e.g., granite). So you think the trail is still ahead of you when it is now actually behind you.
This is an even bigger mistake on a trail that comes in and out of visibility, as was the case here
So, for me, the key lesson here is>
There is noting wrong about losing a trail via a fall or just a wrong turn. Happens all the time.
You do make a mistake if you don't promptly return to your last known point where you were, for sure, on the trail. Even if you have to cut back a substantial distance.?
Never, never try to intersect a trail that you strayed from. Admit your mistake, turn around, and retrace your steps.
Prior thread on this:?/g/JMT/topic/85831842#75052
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John Curran Ladd
San Francisco, CA?
415-648-9279
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