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VIDEO: Lost!


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Home Forums Campfire Member Trip Reports VIDEO: Lost!

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  • #1284403
    Anson Herrington
    Member

    @arson

    Locale: Fishers IN

    I got lost on a day hike. The trail I was following ran out and I realized I had gotten onto a game trail. It was a minor setback to an otherwise lovely walk.

    No matter your skill level, when you find yourself in the woods alone and you don't know where you are……. it helps you find out what your made of real fast.

    Lost

    #1828741
    Michael Ray
    BPL Member

    @topshot

    Locale: Midwest

    Which trail were you on? Is it long enough to backpack?

    #1828984
    Buck Nelson
    BPL Member

    @colter

    Locale: Alaska

    But I do think that as experience and confidence grows getting "turned around" is no big deal if prepared. The fear of being lost can be more dangerous than being lost.

    I often hunt remote backcountry and spend the days following the lay of the land or game trails, animal tracks or just intuition. Commonly I discover I have no good idea of where I am. There are many ways to get "untangled" however. A GPS, a compass and map, or as often as not, just a compass.

    A specific example: before the days of the GPS, I had tracked a bull elk for hours and was dressing him out until late in the evening when a storm blew in. I found myself standing on a point of a ridge looking through the thickly falling snow into a darkening drainage that I simply did not recognize. Sure, I had maps, but couldn't see far enough to orient myself. So then what? Well, I knew there was an east-west paved road maybe three or four miles to the north. If I missed my pickup at the end of a logging road, which seemed likely, I knew I'd eventually hit that paved road. I simply couldn't miss it.

    It was getting to be a slog as the snow deepened but I wasn't worried. I had good clothing, a space blanket and fire-starting materials. As luck would have it, and it was primarily luck, I spotted a stump in the light of my headlamp and was pretty sure it was the edge of the clear-cut by my pickup. If I followed the highest ground north I'd find it. And that's what happened.

    So I wasn't panicking and it wasn't because of bravery but because of experience in finding my way out when disoriented, and confidence I had the basics I needed to survive if I had to spend the night out there by myself.

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