Webfoot wrote:Lurch wrote:Our common mission types have changed dramatically over the last decade.
Interesting statement. Could you be more specific?
This is 100% my personal conjecture. Part of the comment above comes from an adaption/evolution of SAR practices, and part comes from subject behavior. With a rise in technology, (smart phones, GPS, etc) and the availability of moderately priced moderate quality equipment (rain gear, flashlights, etc) people have adapted how they recreate in the wilderness.
The average hunter, or mushroom picker for instance, is far more likely to pack a GPS or smart phone and be able to tag their vehicle/camp and return to it, moving their common mission from a 'misplaced hunter' who would have certain behavioral traits, to most likely injured, which would have others, and we would respond by adapting our search practices accordingly. These used to be common, and turn into long missions of gridding through wilderness. Over the past few years these have dwindled in frequency.
'Common' hikers push dramatically further into the wilderness, or on more and more challenging routes. I have no doubts that social media, and this site specifically have resulted in dozens of lost people, and probably hundreds who were temporarily lost but self rescued before SAR was initiated. I've personally seen pictures of Munra, Oneonta, and Tunnel falls, all being touted as 'must see spots in Oregon!,' each dangerous and challenging in their own way, and driving thousands of people into wilderness that has never been hit this hard. Historically, before the advent of digital cameras, and internet, those gems were largely shared by experienced hikers, to other experienced hikers, passing down the knowledge and experiences as they developed their skill levels.
Now people read a blog post, of someone 8 steps removed, with no fundamental understanding of the challenges, or risks involved in reaching those destinations, and some people, attempt to reach them without doing the foundational work that was common in the past.
Hasty searches are still common, they always will be, people are simply lost, or turned around in the maze of trails. More often than not lately, it's a result of confusing user-made trails sprinkled throughout the gorge, with the Foxgloves, the resurrection of Primrose, the clearing of Bridal Veil Plateau (aka "The lost world"), ROA, and multiple others that I'd rather not drive additional interest towards, that confuses people. In the rare happenstance they actually bring a map, those trails aren't on them, nor will they ever be in any meaningful way. When they have written instructions with them, they're commonly turn by turn directions that don't match reality. Signs change, are replaced, moved, or additional ones put up that are confusing for
us and nearly impossible to keep up on.
Most people, without wilderness navigation experience, tend to navigate as they drive. ie: take the second left, then turn right, stay straight, etc... That's great if you're in a city park, and ALL the trail junctions are accounted for, it's terrible when you're in the wilderness, and users start cutting their own, or inexperienced hikers mistake a deer path, or seasonal creek wash for a trail.
Subjects get restless, and decide to move, attempting to self rescue.
Usually these are people who have had family call, because they don't know that anyone is looking for them, but not always, sometimes they just get tired of waiting. Mission response and complexity unfolds at a seemingly exponential rate when they're not where they should be. We've had people exit the field
knowing there was an active search for them, get in their vehicle and drive away without notifying anyone. We've had people actively evade SAR teams, or try and walk past them without acknowledging who they are. If we are tapped at night, it's a general assumption that a subject will start moving at day-break, regardless of whether they know there's a mission searching for them, and we do our best to take advantage of the darkness and make up ground. As a result of all that though, we have to establish larger containment. We have adapted by attempting to shorten our response time even more, but that puts extremely high demands on unpaid volunteers. Most of the time those quick responses have minimal personnel, and can resolve the mission quickly. When they cannot (as mentioned above) we're a little behind the curve, and the SAR theory that was bypassed for speed and efficiency, has to get covered as quickly as possible to get back on track. We have custom maps, attempting to catalog and track as much information as possible so that
hopefully we can pinpoint a location just by talking to them. And our communications technology has simultaneously dramatically improved, and been handicapped.
I could ramble on this topic forever. I believe I
have rambled on here, multiple times, so I'll leave it there and hopefully we can continue a discussion, not just me ranting