A close call and lessons learned

[drm]

I always say that the most important wilderness skill is to just be observant.

I also think that there have been plenty of studies and tests that show that when deprived of long-distance views, the great majority of people will walk in circles. There has been lots of discussion about this. Is it a right-brain/left-brain thing? Nobody knows. But it's known we do it. Walking in circles is the natural state of affairs for people in dense forests or heavy low overcast unless you know how to actively avoid doing it.

[romann]

Glad you found your way back safely! Thanks for sharing your experience, it's surprising how fast things can go wrong on a familiar hike.

I've done something similar a few weeks ago. Long story short, decided to go ahead through snow to make a loop ("still have enough daylight"), revisited the thought a few times later on but "brush was really bad and I don't want to go back this way"... "it will get easy soon if I just go ahead". Well, "soon" would have been at normal hiking speed, I ended up postholing for 4 hours at under 1 mph. When I hit snow-free ridge it was dark and off trail, and I was almost too exhausted to continue (got back to the car near midnight). I think when things gradually get worse it's hard to set a specific point to turn around. In my case, turning around even after 30-40 minutes of bad snow would be much smarter choice than to continue on a loop.

[Lurch]

Wow, I leave for a week and missed out on an awesome thread like this! Sorry for the long reply lots to catch up on Tons of great advice in here.

I knew activating the beacon would inconvenience a lot people so I held off.

Thank you for the post! For every missing person that turns into a SAR missions, there are probably dozens of stories similar to yours. Do NOT feel bad about invonveniencing us weird SAR people with your emergency. That statement right there is an extremely large part of the reason that no legitimate SAR team I know of is in favor of charging for rescue, we would much rather you make the call earlier rather than later. First of all, we train, a lot, as in multiple hundreds of hours a year, and people are always itching for a chance to use that training. Secondly, we're all volunteers, we know exactly what we're getting into, and what the demands of it are, so don't feel bad about giving a SAR groundpounder a chance to stretch their legs and do what they've trained so hard to be. It's our hobby, and we're extremely happy when we get to use those skills to help someone out.

I couldn’t believe where it showed my location, my sense of direction had been completely turned around.

EXTEREMLY common problem.. people tend to bend what they're seeing in front of them to what they think they should be seeing. Invariably working through their thought processes afterwards there is almost always a "why the hell did I do that? It doesn't even make sense..." point. Lack of situational awareness (easy to be passive about when you're on trail and think all is well) delays when they realize something bad has happened. Once that realization is made, there's an adrenaline dump while your body slips into 'condition red' or even grey and starts triggering your fight or flight response. Your body is reacting like you're in immediate physical danger while your brain is attempting to work out its confusion. That is the main reason for the Stop in the STOP acronym RobFromRedland posted below. Let the adrenaline dump subside, and gain clearer thoughts. It also gets you to sit down, breath, drink water, and assess your situation after you've calmed down

Of all the things I learned about hiking in the Marines, how to use a compass and how to use a compass with a map, have always proven to be the most important. However, carrying those items and not knowing how to use them doesn't work at all.

Indeed! You'd be surprise how many people either A: don't carry what many would consider essential equipment, or B: Have never actually used a piece of gear they carry, but expect to be able to act with proficiency while under emergency / crisis situations. It doesn't happen that way! If you're packing a map and compass (you should be) please know how to use them! and if you're intentionally traveling cross country, have a bugout bearing for your intended route. I've got a few instructional threads up in the navigation forum, and I'm always open to questions and discussion on nav!

as you walk along, think about returning to the trailhead. Look for landmarks. Like which ridge you just came up.

YES. Situational awareness is key to not getting lost, and/or getting yourself un-lost. Look behind you after passing landmarks so you see what it will look like on the return trip. Particularly trail junctions, creek crossings, etc. I've seen many people walk past a junction without even realizing they'd done it. Or couldn't recognize a piece of trail they'd just been on a few hours before. Whether you're on trail or not, I would recommend having a mental (or physical, nothing wrong with taking notes while you hike) trail log. Take note of trail junctions, bridges, crossings, washouts, skree slopes, anything that peaks your interest. Know roughly where you are along your intended route, and what you should expect to see coming up. That allows you to track your progress (even when the GPS isn't working) give you a rough timeline, and you have mental notes in case you need to retrace your steps.

Yes, give the rescuers a place to start the search by supplying family/friend with your plans and ETA.

In the gorge, we've had 4 searches over the last couple years where we weren't notified, or didn't have a place to start searching for days after they had gone missing. None of them have been happy endings. It's extremely difficult to search after that much time has gone by. The gorge is such a popular area that potentially hundreds of people have gone over the same route and destroyed any sort of clues left behind, or left thousands of their own that end up distracting search efforts. I'm not saying that the results of any of those missions would have been any different if we'de been able to start sooner, but limited information makes SAR difficult.

Accidentally spending the night in the woods and triggering SAR is always better than getting hurt.

We like searches, it's our hobby, some people play sports, some make art, we wait for other people to get lost

don't forget the STOP acronym - Stop, Think, Observe, Plan

Beat me to it! But it's definitely a good tool if you find yourself in that situation.

I also think that there have been plenty of studies and tests that show that when deprived of long-distance views, the great majority of people will walk in circles.

In flat, wooded area, or absent of any sort of realistic depth (white out) than yes, but around here I wouldn't say that's normal behavior for the average lost person. For one thing, we've got too many ridges, trying to walk in a circle while sidehilling is surprisingly difficult to do intentionally, let alone accidentally. What I will certainly agree with is that people by in large cannot walk in a straight line nearly as well as they think they can. Even attempting to backtrack a traveled route, with a GPS track in their hand, people make mistakes and skew reality to match their mental model, instead of trusting reality and their tools.

[Chip Down]

I was in the area today, so went to check it out. Partly because I was curious, and partly because I like a good routefinding challenge.

I believe the area where you lost the trail is close to the yellow question mark I imposed on Nick Eaton Ridge on the map below. If I'm way off, please let me know.

The ridge is pretty well defined, not tricky to follow. But what I found puzzling was that the trail doesn't always stay on crest. Even in clear non-brushy non-rocky spots, the trail sometimes wanders to the side. Also, it's a pretty faint trail, so in the snow-free patches it wasn't always easy to spot the trail. A hiker who isn't intimately familiar with this trail could easily wonder if they were in the wrong place. Heck, it could be easier if there was more snow. A few weeks ago, when it was 100% snow coverage, you'd just stick to ridgecrest without questioning it (and hopefully run into the trail below, or possibly run into Deadwood trail).

From the Casey Creek junction on Nick Eaton (a little over 4000') it took me about 20 minutes to get down to where the trail was almost entirely bare and easy to follow. If you had kept going, I think you would have been fine. I'm not saying you should have though; If I'm not quite sure what I'm doing, I almost always turn back.

Interesting experience to hike the trail and overlay my experience with yours. Glad I did that.

[MarkQ]

Yes that is about where I got lost. I think gravity and my intuition made me veer to the right coming down the ridge and missing the trail. Probably was actually a few hundred feet from the proper path. Thanks for checking it out.

[arieshiker]

Wow, I leave for a week and missed out on an awesome thread like this! Sorry for the long reply lots to catch up on Tons of great advice in here.

Wow, this is seriously one of the best articles I've read on the subject at hand, maybe ever. Might be worthy of passing on to the Portland (even Seattle?) newspapers or other websites for posting. The more people beyond OregonHikers who read this could eliminate a lot of misfortune over time.

Just sayin......

And a huge thank you to Lurch.

[FeeWolf86]

Thanks for sharing. My take away is by having the emergency beacon you were able to keep a clear enough head knowing you weren't totally sos. No shame experiencing the mistakes, that's how we learn! Hope you get back out there!

[Lurch]

And a huge thank you to Lurch.

No thanks to needed me I'm just one of many, and this is 100% self rescue.

If we can get people to be honest, and if people are willing to share, I think board would be an excellent source for working towards figuring out that elusive # of how many 'close calls' there really are, their causes, and why you (or family) didn't make the call.