PSA Dont be these idiots...

Marbles

WKR
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May 16, 2020
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AK
Wow. I have been guilty of being unprepared, but I have admitted the error and turned around.
 

wesfromky

WKR
Joined
Nov 23, 2016
Messages
843
Location
KY
One of our local SAR teams deals with idiots pretty regularly.

Just follow their fb feed for a lot of "things you shouldn't do" https://www.facebook.com/WCSART/
"
Tuesday evening at 6:15 p.m., WCSART received a 911 call from a 43yr old female who was lost somewhere in the Red River Gorge. The subject could not initially indicate to dispatch what trailhead she had parked at or what trails she had taken, but advised that she drove in to catch the sunrise at 7:00 a.m. and had parked near a waterfall. She also stated she had “climbed up a mountain” to gain cell service to call for help. The hiker had become separated from her male companion and only had emergency service on her phone (meaning she was out of her carrier’s service area, and only able to make outgoing 911 calls). WCSART provided dispatch with a few questions to ask if the subject was able to call them back before her phone battery (which was at 10%) was depleted. A follow-up call was received, and with the additional information obtained, it was determined that her most probable location was on Rock Bridge Trail.

A hasty team was dispatched to clear Rock Bridge Trail. Her male companion was quickly located camping below Creation Falls. Their campsite had sustained some damage from the severe thunderstorms that had moved through the area earlier in the day. He was unaware that she was lost. As this area had now been cleared, the hasty team hiked back to the junction of Rock Bridge Trail and Swift Camp Creek Trail to begin clearing Swift Camp Creek Trail. A second hasty team was positioned to clear the user trail that leads to Turtle Back Arch and rendezvous with Hasty Team 1 at its intersection with Swift Camp Creek Trail.

As Hasty Team 1 began searching Swift Camp Creek Trail, some unusual tracks left by wheels were identified along the trail. The team knew these tracks were recent, as they had not been weathered by the earlier storm. After searching approximately 1/4 mile of Swift Camp Creek Trail, Hasty Team 1 encountered the female hiker who had heard the searchers calling for her. She had a small wheeled suitcase in tow. The team provided her with some water and then hiked her back to Rock Bridge Trail and on to her campsite.

In addition to this group’s campsite being illegal (within 300' of an official trail), it was also very dangerous. They were camped in the floodplain on a sandbar below Creation Falls. WCSART advised them of this, but the party refused to relocate. It is always a good idea to avoid camping in a flood plain, especially with more severe storms, heavy rain, and flooding in the forecast."
 
Joined
Dec 31, 2021
Messages
1,625
Location
Montana
Ignorant is one issue but how about "denial". You know- that could never happen to me. My first gps was triggered by one of those places that has limited ways in and out. I had been their a number of times but never in heavy fog. It's tough to navigate with no landmarks. I think I probed for two hours till I stumbled into a trail I had marked. You were cliffed out in all targets but two.
 

CorbLand

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Joined
Mar 16, 2016
Messages
6,563
A friend of a friend is on SAR for this area. They got a call for a kid that went on what he called a “spirit walk” and climbed one of the mountain faces. Got turned around and couldn’t find his way back so he called 911 who dispatched SAR. When they got to him, you could see the valley below from where he was at. That valley houses 100,000 people. The dude got lost but could see the ******* city and all he had to do was walk down.
 
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hh76

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Aug 2, 2021
Messages
232
It's one thing to be unprepared, I think we've all done it at some point, it a completely different story to do zero research into weather especially when they were planning on camping.


"Deep survival: who lives, who dies, and why" is a great read, and talks a little about how everyday hikes/trips can go south quickly. Made me think a little more about keeping some things in my pack at all times.
 
OP
S
Joined
May 26, 2022
Messages
303
It's one thing to be unprepared, I think we've all done it at some point, it a completely different story to do zero research into weather especially when they were planning on camping.


"Deep survival: who lives, who die, and why" is a great read, and talks a little about how everyday hikes/trips can go south quickly. Made me think a little more about keeping some things in my pack at all time.
I will have to check out that book. I never set foot in the woods unless I have gear to be able to spend the night. I dont like being in survival situations, I prefer 'Surprise Camping'
 

WCB

WKR
Joined
Jun 12, 2019
Messages
3,250
It's one thing to be unprepared, I think we've all done it at some point, it a completely different story to do zero research into weather especially when they were planning on camping.


"Deep survival: who lives, who dies, and why" is a great read, and talks a little about how everyday hikes/trips can go south quickly. Made me think a little more about keeping some things in my pack at all times.
I've been "unprepared" as in forgot underwear or extra socks....maybe shorted myself a day of food or left T.P. at home...never not had rain gear, food, water, shelter (tent with no rain fly is not shelter), map, compass, some way to charge a battery, or left my F'n brain at home like these people.
 

Poser

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Joined
Dec 27, 2013
Messages
5,033
Location
Durango CO
I was on my way out of the high country on Tuesday and exited a very popular alpine lake trail. Just as i started down, the wrath of God in the form of a thunderstorm unfolded, about 1:30 pm. There were families huddled under trees wearing t shirts and shorts, kids crying bloody murder etc. the trail was a river and the rocks were very slick. I had been in the backcountry for 5 days and was hellbent on pizza and beer, so I kept going, not even bothering to put on gaiters that close to the truck.

At one point, I got held up in a choke point of slick rocks waiting for a party of 11 (yes, eleven!) Texans coming up the trail. If there could have been a more stereotypical representation of unprepared, I couldn’t have staged it any better. One of the guys was wearing a Dallas cowboy jersey -that should tell you everything you need to know. “It’s only 2.5 miles to the lake, right?”

Lots of bad decisions were being made that day and it was hard to watch.
 

sneaky

"DADDY"
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Feb 1, 2014
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ID
A friend of a friend is on SAR for this area. They got a call for a kid that went on what he called a “spirit walk” and climbed one of the mountain faces. Got turned around and couldn’t find his way back so he called 911 who dispatched SAR. When they got to him, you could see the valley below from where he was at. That valley houses 100,000 people. The dude got lost but could see the ******* city and all he had to do was walk down.
That's the "spirit"

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk
 

hunt1up

WKR
Joined
Mar 2, 2012
Messages
1,613
Location
Central Illinois
A few years ago a buddy and me were hunting cow elk in the Medicine Bow in WY. We generally camp but on this trip we stayed in town and drove back and forth to hunt each day. It was early October and the weather was so-so. Nice some days, but there had been a little snow and wind mixed in amd temps were pretty cold. One morning we were about halfway up the mountain in the truck when I see something in my headlights. It was still well before sunrise. We pull up on this guy, prolly mid 60s. He's got a pack, trekking poles, headlamp, so some gear but not everything you'd need for a cold/wet 30 degree morning in the mountains. When we pulled up he was out of it, sort of able to talk but clearly exhausted and dehydated.

Turns out him and his wife had driven out from Wisconsin to do some hiking. They parked their car and hiked in, it started getting dark, and they realized they were lost. So instead of just hunkering down together for the night, he left his wife with one of the silver emergency blankets and a Snickers bar and started hiking. I forget the exact spot he started from but I know the area reasonably enough now and I recall he'd walked a long way, maybe 8-10 miles. The thing is, there's roads every few miles so he had to have crossed a few to get to the one we were on. I'm guessing since there wasn't many people camping up there at the time he just kept going until he bumped into someone. I hate walking through all that deadfall during the day, let alone at night while wet, tired, and dehyrated.

We gave him a ride back down the mountain to the highway where there was a gas station. It was going to open in an hour or so, so he said it was fine to leave him until the sun came up and they opened. We gave him water and a snack and wished him the best. We talked to some hunters later and I guess he got help that morning and search and rescue found his wife that day. It was quite the experience.
 
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