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Mark Jenkins article on wilderness survival

Posted: June 1st, 2016, 6:14 pm
by Chase
Some good information for less experienced hikers to absorb; not a bad review for more experienced ones. I don't agree with all of it...

http://www.theguardian.com/travel/2016/ ... ng-camping

This part is good:
Being able to “read” contours on a map – what is a mountain, what is a valley; contour lines point upstream crossing creeks and point downhill crossing ridges – and recognize these features in the landscape around you is perhaps the most valuable skill, and not surprisingly, the biggest deficit among novice hikers

Re: Mark Jenkins article on wilderness survival

Posted: June 2nd, 2016, 7:17 am
by Koda
I dont agree with the walking downhill part, out here will most likely make your situation worse. It also goes against all the advice I've heard from SAR to stay put. I dont know about other regions but here in Oregon logging roads are built on ridgelines.
Except in canyon country, walking downhill, especially in forests and mountains, will often get you out. It won’t be easy, and it will involve considerable bushwhacking, but eventually you’ll hit a trail or old logging road.

Re: Mark Jenkins article on wilderness survival

Posted: June 2nd, 2016, 1:04 pm
by Bosterson
Koda wrote:I dont agree with the walking downhill part, out here will most likely make your situation worse. It also goes against all the advice I've heard from SAR to stay put. I dont know about other regions but here in Oregon logging roads are built on ridgelines.
Except in canyon country, walking downhill, especially in forests and mountains, will often get you out. It won’t be easy, and it will involve considerable bushwhacking, but eventually you’ll hit a trail or old logging road.
I would second that, at least in the Gorge. It'd be very easy to take yourself to the top of a cliff that was invisible from above, and I don't think I'd encourage people to try to continue downwards past obstacles that they may not be able to backtrack past. That'd make you more lost and harder to locate/rescue to boot.

Re: Mark Jenkins article on wilderness survival

Posted: June 2nd, 2016, 2:01 pm
by retired jerry
didn't that Asian guy walk down a stream in the Southern Coast range a few years ago and die?

He should have stayed put, like his family, that got rescued

Re: Mark Jenkins article on wilderness survival

Posted: June 2nd, 2016, 3:07 pm
by Koda
retired jerry wrote:didn't that Asian guy walk down a stream in the Southern Coast range a few years ago and die?
yes, the head downhill saying got him killed. If I recall... he was on a logging road and left the road to follow a stream downhill.

Just about every internet survival article mentions the old saying "follow water downhill it will lead to civilization". I dont think its true. In the coast range they build logging roads on ridge tops, I think its the same in most places in the cascades too. And Bosterson is very right about the gorge, you do not want to head downhill if your lost off trail.... in the gorge there is a basalt layer roughly at 1200' elev that is responsible for most of the famous waterfalls and cliffs in the gorge.

Where did that old folklore come from anyways?

Re: Mark Jenkins article on wilderness survival

Posted: June 2nd, 2016, 3:26 pm
by 5th
From the East Coast?

Re: Mark Jenkins article on wilderness survival

Posted: June 2nd, 2016, 4:48 pm
by Bosterson
Koda wrote: Just about every internet survival article mentions the old saying "follow water downhill it will lead to civilization".

...Where did that old folklore come from anyways?
It worked for Juliane Koepcke, but clearly the information predates her surviving a 10,000 ft freefall in an airline seat.
She waded through knee-high water downstream from her landing site, relying on the survival principle her father had taught her, that tracking downstream should eventually lead to civilization. The stream provided clean water and a natural path through the dense rainforest vegetation.

Re: Mark Jenkins article on wilderness survival

Posted: June 2nd, 2016, 6:18 pm
by Koda
Bosterson wrote:
Koda wrote: Just about every internet survival article mentions the old saying "follow water downhill it will lead to civilization".

...Where did that old folklore come from anyways?
It worked for Juliane Koepcke, but clearly the information predates her surviving a 10,000 ft freefall in an airline seat.
She waded through knee-high water downstream from her landing site, relying on the survival principle her father had taught her, that tracking downstream should eventually lead to civilization. The stream provided clean water and a natural path through the dense rainforest vegetation.
I’ve read that one before, that’s an amazing story I cant even begin to comprehend surviving such and event.

So there is some truth to the old adage to follow a stream downhill to find civilization, I don’t think its good advice for Oregon but now I’m thinking maybe its a scaling issue though, that is depending on the size of the area.... for example, if your lost in a huge expansive area obviously water will lead to civilization but that may or may not mean literally stay in the watercourse....
Im speculating.

Re: Mark Jenkins article on wilderness survival

Posted: June 3rd, 2016, 8:02 am
by Lurch
I would argue that while it's forested, the gorge is canyon country...

I'm also not sure what he's doing here, other than making a pretty picture of him not doing anything with a map and compass?

Image

Re: Mark Jenkins article on wilderness survival

Posted: June 10th, 2016, 6:43 pm
by Chip Down
Lots of weird advice there.
I did like this:
Get an alpine start. All things being equal, you should be hiking at daybreak. Everything is easier and safer with more time and more sunlight.
Yeah. I think that's huge. If you plan to be back at your car by 3:00 you've got a cushion if something goes wrong. The scariest close-call I've had was when I started out well past noon (which, of course, was just the first in a series of mistakes).
Admittedly, an early start can backfire if your early start just convinces you to take stupid risks, or tack on an extra side trip.