From: damouth@wrc.xerox.com (David E. Damouth)
Newsgroups: rec.backcountry
Subject: Re: If You get Lost
Date: 16 Apr 92 19:22:56 GMT
Reply-To: damouth@wrc.xerox.com
Organization: Xerox Webster Research Center

In article 9422@vice.ICO.TEK.COM, hall@vice.ICO.TEK.COM (Hal Lillywhite) writes:
>It is not at all uncommon for someone to get lost, then
>after a night's sleep get themselves straightened out and find the
>way back.  

I can confirm that statement from personal experience.  One day last
summer, we had spent the better part of a day trying to portage a few
miles to a small lake through dense forest in northern Ontario,
following a sporadically and informally blazed portage trail.  As
evening approached, we recognized that the supposed trail was leading
nowhere, perhaps created by a hunter the preceding autumn.  We also
recognized that after hours of following a twisting path through the
forest with no major topographic features, at an unknown speed because
of frequent stops to search for marks, we couldn't locate ourselves on
the map to better than plus or minus a couple of miles.  I was carrying
pack and canoe totaling over 100 pounds, so that bushwhacking through
forest was slow and difficult.  An all-day drizzle had hurt both
visibility and morale.  The lake we had come from was also relatively
small, so that following a compass bearing back to it was unlikely to
succeed, even without the handicaps of the canoe, the unknown present
position, and the intervening swamps.  We backtracked to a water source
we had noted earlier, pitched the tent, built a fire to cook and dry
out, and tried to relax.

A good meal and a good night's sleep, and probably some subconscious
analysis during the night, made the whole world look different the next
morning.  After breakfast, we packed up, started walking, and readily
found the clues that had been missed in several hours of searching
through dense forest the previous evening.  While alert and rested in
the morning, we were much better able to make an informed estimate of
our map position, backtrack properly, and locate the nearly invisible
trail blazes which had eluded us the previous evening.

By noon, we were back to a known point.  We had lost a lot of energy
and about 36 hours off our travel plan, causing us to abort much of the
loop we had planned.  But we were able to enjoy the remaining couple of
days and return on time.  In retrospect, it was an interesting and
informative adventure.

We recognized, after we were thoroughly lost, that no one knew where we
were. Our car would eventually have been located at our starting point,
but we had covered at least twenty miles through several small lakes
and unmarked portages before getting lost.  The plausible search area
was something like 500 square miles!  We hadn't left an intended trip
itinerary, because we were exploring an undocumented route and we
expected to deviate from our initial guesses depending on what we
found. We wouldn't be missed at home for a week, and no one would get
seriously alarmed for several days after that.  Under such
circumstances, staying put and waiting for help is not a useful
strategy.
 
On the positive side, we had adequate maps, compasses, clothing, food,
etc.  We were never in physical danger, and (barring accidental injury)
we wouldn't have been in danger for at least a week, probably two
weeks. On the negative side, we allowed our expectation that a trail
would lead to our destination to lower our guard.  As a result, it took
us far longer than it should have to recognize that we were lost.  In
this kind of terrain, we should have been much more careful about
estimating distances, noting compass readings and landmarks, and
maintaining a track and a position estimate on the map.

Another lesson:  an informally and unskillfully blazed trail can be a
one-way street.  Marks that seemed obvious going in were almost
impossible to find coming out.

---
/Dave
David E. Damouth
Xerox Webster Research Center
damouth@wrc.xerox.com
Newsgroups: rec.backcountry