[pct-l] Sierra Solo

[Edward Anderson]

Good Morning to you Steeleye,
 
Let me be the Devil's advocate for this response. I aim this to those who are so weight-conscious and so resistant to bringing along high-tech stuff - who rely on just luck, theit trail experience, a loud whistle, and a signal mirror. (Of course, I brought both of those, in addition to my SPOT, and for my 2011 PCT ride, also a GPS with Halfmiles way points.) 
 
How about this situation? You have been solo hiking a PCT Section for miles. It is late in the day and you have not seen anyone since morning. Now you realize that you have somehow lost the trail - intersections are not always marked. You decide to turn back and trip on a root and are unlucky to fall off the trail and down a very steep slope, ending in a 10' drop-off and onto a ledge. You have landed hard and have broken bones and are bleeding from several cuts and abrasions. You are losing blood at a dangerous rate. You can't climb back up. You are alone and get out your loud whistle and your mirror. You blow the whistle three times - repeatedly, with no rescue. It is getting dark and cold. Since there is no sun any more the mirror is useless.You do your best to stop the blood flow.  No one is near enough to hear your whistles - you have wandered too far off the trail - and, if there are some hikers on your Section they might have already camped
 for the night. You realize that you are in serious trouble and wish you had had the GPS along and used it to not get lost. You especially wish that you had a SPOT to call for a helicopter rescue. You are in real trouble - - - . You die.
 
Now, I can recall reading of a couple of PCT tragedy, both resulting in avoidable death of the hikers. One, an experienced, but overly confident and foolish hiker named Donovan who had decided to hike through the snow near Mt San Jaciento - when others declined to do that. Poor judgment. He got lost and died. He had no way to call for help. Too far away from anyone to hear a whistle. A couple, who were also lost, chanced to find his body about a year later. The other, also an experienced hiker, fell off the trail in the Big Bear area. I don't remember if he survived the fall or had a way to signal if he did. He died.
 
The trail is unforgiving. Expect the unexpected. If you do get lost and are in trouble and use your whistle you will be very lucky if the person who hears it is an ex-U.S. Marine.
 
Hike safe,
MendoRider-Hiker
  

________________________________
 From: CHUCK CHELIN <steeleye at wildblue.net>
To: Palomino <palomino.pct at gmail.com> 
Cc: PCT-L <pct-l at backcountry.net> 
Sent: Sunday, April 22, 2012 7:14 AM
Subject: Re: [pct-l] Sierra Solo
  
Good morning,

I second Palomino’s comments about *Angles in the Wilderness*.  At the ’07
ALDHA-West Gathering at Sierra Pines Amy was the keynote speaker.
http://www.aldhawest.org/gather2007.html

To me Amy’s story is not about disaster; rather it's a cautionary tale of
how an experienced person, doing substantially everything right, can get
into – and eventually out of -- a bad situation.

The take-away for me is this:  Every time I get into an uber-lite mood and
begin pitching gear from my already-meager list, I pick up my small – but
incredibly loud and shrill – athletic whistle, and after remembering Amy, I
put it back where it belongs in my belt pouch.

Steel-Eye

-Hiking the Pct since before it was the PCT – 1965

http://www.trailjournals.com/steel-eye
http://www.trailjournals.com/SteelEye09/

On Sun, Apr 22, 2012 at 6:47 AM, Palomino <palomino.pct at gmail.com> wrote:

> I'm a pokey older solo hiker. Ultra careful. Risk avoider. Open-minded to
> change, but hesitant to rely on electronics. So far, I have never had to
> discover what I would do if seriously injured.
>
> I'm reading *Angels in the Wilderness* by Amy Racina. On a solo loop hike
> in the Sierras in 2003 (partly on the PCT/JMT), she lost the trail down to
> Tehipite Valley, fell 60 feet, broke a hip and both legs, survived four
> nights and days, dragging her busted up self down a stream drainage to a
> trail, got miraculously saved by fellow hikers. Very interesting
> descriptions of her thought processes. Strongly recommended reading...I
> give it five SPOT markers!
>
> Palomino
> Jim Ostdick
> San Juan Bautista, CA
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