"Experienced" Backpacker Lost for 3 1/2 weeks

[Ben]

Either there's more to the story, or she wasn't that experienced. She sounds almost like those NW mushroom hunters from a month or so back. Even with zero navigation skills, a GPS would have gotten her back, and minimum navigational skills / awareness should have led her to intersect a road. They mention a history of mental illness. I'm almost wondering if it was a conscious decision on her part?

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/03/09/missing-hiker-found-with-cat-in-new-mexico-forest/

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

lost 25 pounds and cat still made it?  she really is a cat lover

[charby]

Who takes a cat backpacking?

[TommyGunn]

"Her cat was in better shape than she was," said Marc Levesque, New Mexico State Police Search and Rescue incident commander. "Her cat was also hunting. (Page) ran out of food a while back."

Her cat was obviously better prepared than she was!   Plus, apparantly the cat had no history of mental problems.

[Hawkmoon]

Who takes a cat backpacking?

Who goes backpacking with a bag of pretzels for supplies?

[Ben]

Who goes backpacking with a bag of pretzels for supplies?

I'm trying to figure out if she was actually "backpacking". The article seems to indicate it was more of a day hike, yet she had a sleeping bag with her.

[TommyGunn]

Guys, the article stated she had a history of mental problems.  Trying to apply logic is likely to prove a fruitless task; she herself might not know why she did everything she did.

[Hawkmoon]

Even with zero navigation skills, a GPS would have gotten her back, and minimum navigational skills / awareness should have led her to intersect a road.  

Ya know, this isn't the first time comments such as this have been made, but they don't reflect reality. Such comments are, in fact, a form of intellectual/technological snobbery.

It's easy to say, "A GPS would have gotten her out," but (and I'm sure this will be a shock to some people) not everyone owns a GPS or knows how to use one. I don't own one, I've never felt a need for one, and I wouldn't know how to use one if you handed it to me. It's remotely possible that if I were to head from my east coast home for a week or three of back country hiking in a western state I might buy a GPS and learn how to use it, but to go for a one- or two-mile day hike a few miles from home? Not a chance. I have a compass and I still remember how to use it. (The pointy thing goes east, right?) I also like maps, especially USGS topo maps. I DO know how to use those. But I probably wouldn't take a topo map on a day hike near home, either, unless I was going to unfamiliar territory and planning to go off the established trails.

Many years ago I did get separated from the established trail in a national park. The trail was crossing exposed rock on a mountain, and winter storms had apparently knocked out some of the cairns. Once I got to a point where it was obvious I had lost the trail (and couldn't see the last cairn I had passed, so I couldn't go back), I checked my map, figured where the trail probably should be, and bushwhacked my way uphill until I cut the trail again. So you are correct that some minimal awareness and navigational ability should have gotten her out, but I wonder if she had any awareness at all.

Given where the article says she was found, it sounds like she didn't even make an attempt to hike out -- which probably made it easier to find her since if she had hiked in the wrong direction she had plenty of time to get WAY farther into the wilderness and off the trail.

I agree with te SAR guy, though. Somebody (starting with two forest rangers who saw the vehicle and didn't bother to report it even after it sat there for WEEKS) really dropped the ball on this one.

[MillCreek]

Well, it sounds like a scenic way to lose 25 pounds.  Maybe I should try it. 

[Ben]

Ya know, this isn't the first time comments such as this have been made, but they don't reflect reality. Such comments are, in fact, a form of intellectual/technological snobbery.

My point was that even if you don't want to learn how to use a map and compass, you could just get a GPS, and as long as the technology didn't fail you (dead batts, etc.) you could find your way out. If you don't want a GPS, and don't want to learn to read a map, even a cheap compass can maybe get you out if you have the foresight to say, "Hmm, I'm walking out of site of my car (or the road, or whatever) -- maybe I should take a bearing on some distant object so I can reverse my course". Certainly that wouldn't work well in a heavily wooded area, but it's better than walking blindly.

As has been pointed out, much of this may be due to her mental problems. I'm mostly referring to what a semi-prudent person might think to do. But if someone decides they don't want to acquire and learn to use either a GPS, or basic map and compass skills, they kind of get what they have coming. If you don't like technology, take the time to learn map and compass. If you don't want to take the time to learn map and compass, spring for a GPS and spend the 15 minutes it will take you to follow the "quick start guide" in the manual for "go to waypoint". There are choices, both good and bad.

[Boomhauer]

Keep in mind that the news media probably completely got facts wrong, too.

We find that the people with the outdoor stickers all over the back of the car bragging about where they've been and what they've supposedly done (it's a mobile "I love me wall") are the ones who often get into trouble and have to be taken out. They get way overconfident and do really, really stupid things.

[Jocassee]

Well, it sounds like a scenic way to lose 25 pounds.  Maybe I should try it. 

This

and

Keep in mind that the news media probably completely got facts wrong, too.

We find that the people with the outdoor stickers all over the back of the car bragging about where they've been and what they've supposedly done (it's a mobile "I love me wall")

This

[vaskidmark]

Another Forest Service agent noticed the car on Feb. 25 but didn't contact state police until 10 days later. Members of the Grant County Search and Rescue and other crews began the search for Page on Tuesday after her family notified state police that Page's car had been found at a campground.

That, and the towing of the vehicle later on.

 

While I know that many "lost hiker" situations do not seem to have a completely logical explanation, this one just seems to have a lot more "hmm" moments that the run of the mill story.

As for everybody who pipes up with "If they just had a GPS/compas&map/some vague idea of where things were around them" - if I had a penny for every time someone said that about someone who misplaced themselves in the wild I'd be obscenely wealthy.  Expecting even "experienced" folks to treat a [supposedly] caual outing as a formal expedition is just never going to be in the cards.  Even Cody Lunden tells stories about when he walked to the 7-11 without his pocket survival kit in his pocket!

stay safe.

[Boomhauer]

this one just seems to have a lot more "hmm" moments that the run of the mill story.

we had one case of a woman who faked being lost. She was reported missing and supposedly lost for 8 days. What it was is she (being married) was shacked up with a boyfriend for several days and when she learned there was a huge, active hunt on for her she went to the search area and was "found" by a team. For somebody who was "lost in the woods" for 8 days, she sure was in good shape- clean clothes, freshly bathed, not hungry, etc.

[grislyatoms]

The Gila N.F. is pretty rough, and water is scarce.

She had water and shelter. Her vehicle was at the trailhead.

Can't find fault with staying put under those conditions. Initially, anyway.

The other elements of the story   and  

Excellent lesson in "let someone know where you are going and when you plan to be back".

[Unisaw]

Cat...the 11th essential.

[41magsnub]

Excellent lesson in "let someone know where you are going and when you plan to be back".

She probably told the cat.

[Boomhauer]

Excellent lesson in "let someone know where you are going and when you plan to be back".

Way too many people haven't figured this out yet. Much like the people who wander out into the woods and expect their cell phones to save them...in an area with no cell phone coverage.

[gunsmith]

the cat was probably piling tasty mice at her feet and angry she wasn't making a stir fry.
I almost always carry some kind of lighter in case I stray off the beaten path, a fire always attracts attention.

[lupinus]

Way too many people haven't figured this out yet. Much like the people who wander out into the woods and expect their cell phones to save them...in an area with no cell phone coverage.

Yeah...wife didn't like that 

[griz]

Even with zero navigation skills, a GPS would have gotten her back, and minimum navigational skills / awareness should have led her to intersect a road.

A GPS is a tool that takes some experience to understand.  I know hunters that have declared them useless because they didn't turn them on until they needed to know where they were, thus they didn't know which direction the truck was in.  Even geocachers, who use the GPS to find a box in the wilderness, have issues finding there way back to their vehicle because they didn't mark it's location.  They can follow their trail back on the screen, but it's not easy.

I agree that a bit of awareness and navagational skill could get her to a road, but skill comes with experience, and maybe her "experience" was staying on the trail. 

[vaskidmark]

Buddy of mine has several bookshelves full of survival guides, handbooks, how-to books and possibly the best GOOD/GTFH/bugout system ever containerized.  But he actually does not know how to start a fire without first drowning the charcoal with fluid, let alone how to take a sight line when inside the arboreal forest.  He's never actually opened up his bag(s), laid out the gear, and practiced using any of it.

I'm betting that there are tons more folks like him than there are those who have winnowed stuff out of or into their kits based on actually trying to use it somewhere that is not the backyard.  I'm even willing to bet there are more that have never tried to use the gear than there are those who at least played with it in the backyard.

I admit that in my advanced years "roughing it" has come to be defined as room service closing down after 11 PM, but based on prior experience and accumulated knowledge I'm fairly confident I could (assuming I had my meds with me) survive getting stranded on the road for between 3 and 5 days.  Without meds I'll start having problems after 48 hours, whicjh is why if I know I am going to be gone overnight I pack a week's worth just in case.  And although I do not use it as often as I probably should, I have the equipment, as long as the battery holds out, to send out an SOS and tell people where, within two tenths of a mile, where to come get me.

stay safe.

[CNYCacher]

Ya know, this isn't the first time comments such as this have been made, but they don't reflect reality. Such comments are, in fact, a form of intellectual/technological snobbery.

So, a GPS would NOT have lead her out?

[Harold Tuttle]

how much weed & peyote was left?

[wmenorr67]

how much weed & peyote was left?

If the cat was still alive there probably wasn't much to start with.