Staying put when lost

[Bosterson]

Another example of why the best thing to do when lost is stay put.

We spent the first two nights inside the car huddled underneath layers of clothing to try to stay warm. On the third day we had very little food and water left. Queenie and I set out to search for more, leaving Nike in the car.

[...]

I later learned that a search for me had begun six days earlier, after my car [was] found.

She was "lost" for 9 days but would have been found on the day she left her car (day 3), had she stayed put. Without pressing injuries or other immediate threats (water can be rationed, food is not important), there was no reason to leave her car when it was on a road and people presumably were expecting her and would report her missing when she didn't show up. It's a good thing they found her, and this wasn't another "Death Valley Germans" type story.

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyl ... -nine-days

[Chip Down]

Well, yeah, but consider an extreme example: I'm 1 mile from the highway and nobody knows where I am. I get stuck in the snow. If I wait there, I'm just going to die.

The recurring motif in so many stories like this is: If you know with absolute certainty how to get back to civilization, and you know you can do it safely, go for it. If you're not completely sure, but you know your friends/family know your intended route, stay put.

Slightly off topic: One of the reasons I've never been completely hopelessly lost in the wilderness is this: When I start to feel uneasy and not sure where I'm at, I abandon my goal. My new goal is to get back to my last-known position, the last place where I was certain I was on route. The same strategy can, depending on circumstances, apply to trail hikers and drivers.

Queenie and I had lost so much weight that we looked like walking skeletons. Doctors couldn’t understand how I had survived nine days.

A little hyperbole there?

[retired jerry]

yeah, you only hear about the stories where someone did not stay put and there was a bad outcome

for the cases where the person walked back to their car, it's a non event

you have to use your best judgement

[Lurch]

Well, yeah, but consider an extreme example: I'm 1 mile from the highway and nobody knows where I am. I get stuck in the snow. If I wait there, I'm just going to die.

Apparently you're too young to remember James Kim... His family who stayed at the car survived, he did not.

[David.97005]

if in a hiking group of two or more, and get separated and 'lost', should stay put?

[Aimless]

if in a hiking group of two or more, and get separated and 'lost', should stay put?

I'd say it would be the ones who do not know where they are located relative to safety, where the place of safety might be the rest of the group, the vehicle, the trail, or the campsite. Furthermore, groups should talk about these situations of peril and have an agreed strategy that covers most contingencies.

[David.97005]

yeah, that situation came up for the four of us ast week off trail. not the separation/lost issue, but what would be our plan. good discussion, but didn't conclude any srategy on that day. probably group leadership training covers issues like this. didn't mean to sidetrack with a special case scenario

[Peder]

if in a hiking group of two or more, and get separated and 'lost', should stay put?

My take is to meet up where we last saw each other - i.e. when you realize that you lost contact with your companion(s), you go back to the last place where you were together and wait.

[David.97005]

that plan didn't enter our discussions , Peder, sounds excellent.

[drm]

This issue of not staying put is a common problem. I remember watching on TV a story of a lost guy where the SAR team searching him were about one day behind him for a week. He wouldn't stay put and they couldn't catch up for a week. It was a race and the guy who needed rescue was effectively racing away from his saviors. They did eventually catch up to him, and he was near death.

I think the problem is that not only is it really boring to stay put, all you can do hour after hour is think about the situation you're in. The combination of boredom and worry just become to much to sit still. And most of the time, lost people just aren't sure if they actually know the way out or not. Or if they are sure, they are wrong.