"Lost" hiker article from Phx magazine

[tibber]

I thot you all might enjoy this article. I rec'd an email on it from one of the Meet Up groups I belong to:

http://www.phoenixmag.com/travel/hiking ... 07/lost/1/

It's about Don Capron's adventure last December.

[BobP]

Good read... thanks for posting it.

[big_load]

I'm glad he made it OK. Crossings that deep and that cold are a serious risk, especially in flood water. He might have been better off to wait a day or two, even if he were low on food.

[azdesertfather]

Quoting an excerpt of this article:

He knocked out a three-hour, hand-over-hand scramble up 2,000 craggy feet to the top of a mountain ridge along Bull Basin Trail No. 270. But once atop the ridge, he lost the trail. “Either the switchbacks marked on the map did not exist and the map was wrong, or I simply could not locate them. I was determined to find out,” he says.

He had reached the turnaround time for his hike, and he did have those brownies to bake. But he refused to be beaten. “I didn’t want to admit defeat… it was the idea of giving up, the idea of quitting that I couldn’t stand,” he says.

So Capron continued on, losing daylight and losing confidence in his map.

He was more gutsy than me. When I am hiking alone and run out of trail, if I'm not totally confident with what I'm doing, then I start playing the "what if" scenarios like what he ended up actually enduring. I am then quick to swallow my pride, chicken out, and retrace my steps, even if it means calling it quits.

How many of you would tend to "push on" alone when you lose trail?

[azdesertfather]

BTW, thanks tibber for the article. Your link actually starts you out on page 2, though. To start at the beginning of the article, use this link:
http://www.phoenixmag.com/travel/hiking ... 907/lost/1

[joebartels]

How many of you would tend to "push on" alone when you lose trail?

Too many variables and not actually being in the situation to say.

I edited the link to page #1

[azbackpackr]

So, I don't know that area, but some of you may. Why did he lose the trail? Is it overgrown, do you think he missed a turn, etc??

[tibber]

I edited the link to page #1

Thanks, obviously I was reading page two when I posted the link.

I think this article points out many things including the value of knowing your limitations, not letting your ego get in the way and remember that you can always come back.... especially after considering the "what ifs" mentioned by dshillis.

Snakemarks and I are headed to Haunted Canyon this fall as I am sure many of you are so be safe out there. And for those of you who hike alone; be sure and let someone know where you are. Better yet, there are probably lots of people out there to hike with and it's generally a lot more fun than hiking alone.

[big_load]

How many of you would tend to "push on" alone when you lose trail?

It depends. I'll go cross-country if I'm certain of where I am, the route looks feasible on the map, and the landscape agrees. However, I have no qualms about backtracking. Backtracking will save your bacon like nothing else.

[dysfunction]

I noticed the fact that he ignored his self-imposed turn around time. That's a pretty hard and fast rule when I establish one, more so than going cross-country. I'm glad he and the dog made it out though. Great read.