[pct-l] RIP- Missing AT hiker Inchworm: "When you find my body..."

[Luce Cruz]

On Sat, May 28, 2016 at 1:13 PM, Paint YW <paintyourwagonhikes at gmail.com>
wrote:
>
>
> I wonder if she became mentally paralyzed by imagined fear, and could not
> break free from whatever comfort she took in staying in one place.
>

I could only speculate that she might have been following what is still
pretty good advice in most situations where you find yourself lost: STAY
PUT. Being truly lost is never good, and going deeper into difficult
territory is worse.

I read that the tree and brush cover was very thick. Hard to use terrain to
find yourself on a map if you can't see around you, even when an
experienced map and compass user.

I guess that $400 GPS unit I bought a year ago will be used more often when
I have to go dig a hole. It's an amazing piece of gear, and has worked very
well in canyons, under pretty thick cover, and even inside some buildings.
Most of the time the trail is obvious. The route back to it from my
improvised "comfort station" is where I am most likely to get lost it
seems., as one gets turned around quite a bit while taking care of personal
business.

Geraldine Largay died while taking part in what may have been her very
favorite activity. The rest of us should be so lucky! If we don't remember
the person that died, and learn from any mistakes they made, their death
was truly in vain.

I'll sign up for a map and compass class ASAP. I've taken three in as many
years, but a refresher course could only help.

It's strange comfort to hear that a missing person has been found. They
found the body of Stephen “Otter” Olshansky outside of Silver City, NM, too.

-- 
Luce Cruz