caramel
Member
How scary to be lost in the snow.
Tell a story about a time you got lost
- Thread starter caramel
- Start date
Mr. Ed
Be what you is not what you what you aināt
- Location
- Central NY
againstthegrain
Senior Member
- Location
- Sun Valley, ID
Well btwn hunting, skiing, and working in the mountains, canyons, and fields all over the western US I have never been lost, just "turned around" many, many times. lol
I do I have 2 stories though of others being "turned around" though.
2 friends out elk hunting in early October in the mountains near Lowman, ID got "turned around" in the headwaters of a couple drainages and ended up walking down into the wrong drainage. They overnighted on the Deadwood River on a large flat rock in the river w 2 fires burning all night for warmth. They had a couple pocket knives and a can of Vienna sausages btwn them and no water. One was a smoker so they had a lighter. The next morning they hiked back up out the drainage and we found them on the road walking back to their truck. They were pretty thirsty and hungry, but otherwise fine.
The next one is a work story and I'm a little embarrassed by. We we laying out timber sales on an island called Zarembo near Wrangell AK on the inside passage for you cruisers. Everyday we'd be w a partner to do our work which involved walking or flying in a helicopter to a roadless location. Our function was to lay out roads, measure area, and slope shapes. For the most part it was essentially surveying.
We had a crew of 6, so 3 (2) person teams. One of our crew was very inexperienced both out of Wyoming were the forests are sporadic and thin. The rainforest w 2-300" of precip and a mild climate that is the Tongass National Forest has huge trees and w continuous cover so there were very few openings in the tree canopy. We used aerial photographs to navigate. One day in August I drew this inexperienced person that got upset that she was always following the other person around the woods and taking direction when we are all technically equal in rank and pay.
We worked 8 (10hr) days on and 6 days off. Monday and Friday always included packing up in town or packing up in our camp to boat or fly back to town/camp. This person wasn't very strong, had few skills, and was generally slower than chit. Work production w her no matter whom her partner was, was only 60% of what the other groups produced. The woods were thick w black flies and mosquitos so standing still was not fun. Every lunch we made a smokey fire so we could eat in peace.
So I get her on a "Friday" which was a shortened day in the woods. We complete as much work as possible and she decided she was going to lead us back to the truck. She asked me which direction was the truck parked and I said "south", which it was. She pulls out her compass heads out at 180 degrees, but fails to take into account the declination of - 30 degrees, so she should have actually gone on a bearing of 150 degrees. That failure to know that declination adjustment showed just how little she knew about the job and we'd been doing this since May.
I split up from her and walked on my own back to the truck using game trails, and kinda wandering using using the small openings and terrain to find the easiest but not the most direct path. The truck was parked on a road at the highest point in elevation in a 10 year old timber sale. Needless to say she shows up 2 hours late, completely disheveled, sweating like a pig, and very angry. The crew boss and others come find me and obviously they're angry because of the delay this is causing in packing up to go back to town. She never took the lead again any day the rest of that season with any partner.
I should have not allowed her to become lost, but sometimes people have to learn where the limits of their abilities are the hard way.
I do I have 2 stories though of others being "turned around" though.
2 friends out elk hunting in early October in the mountains near Lowman, ID got "turned around" in the headwaters of a couple drainages and ended up walking down into the wrong drainage. They overnighted on the Deadwood River on a large flat rock in the river w 2 fires burning all night for warmth. They had a couple pocket knives and a can of Vienna sausages btwn them and no water. One was a smoker so they had a lighter. The next morning they hiked back up out the drainage and we found them on the road walking back to their truck. They were pretty thirsty and hungry, but otherwise fine.
The next one is a work story and I'm a little embarrassed by. We we laying out timber sales on an island called Zarembo near Wrangell AK on the inside passage for you cruisers. Everyday we'd be w a partner to do our work which involved walking or flying in a helicopter to a roadless location. Our function was to lay out roads, measure area, and slope shapes. For the most part it was essentially surveying.
We had a crew of 6, so 3 (2) person teams. One of our crew was very inexperienced both out of Wyoming were the forests are sporadic and thin. The rainforest w 2-300" of precip and a mild climate that is the Tongass National Forest has huge trees and w continuous cover so there were very few openings in the tree canopy. We used aerial photographs to navigate. One day in August I drew this inexperienced person that got upset that she was always following the other person around the woods and taking direction when we are all technically equal in rank and pay.
We worked 8 (10hr) days on and 6 days off. Monday and Friday always included packing up in town or packing up in our camp to boat or fly back to town/camp. This person wasn't very strong, had few skills, and was generally slower than chit. Work production w her no matter whom her partner was, was only 60% of what the other groups produced. The woods were thick w black flies and mosquitos so standing still was not fun. Every lunch we made a smokey fire so we could eat in peace.
So I get her on a "Friday" which was a shortened day in the woods. We complete as much work as possible and she decided she was going to lead us back to the truck. She asked me which direction was the truck parked and I said "south", which it was. She pulls out her compass heads out at 180 degrees, but fails to take into account the declination of - 30 degrees, so she should have actually gone on a bearing of 150 degrees. That failure to know that declination adjustment showed just how little she knew about the job and we'd been doing this since May.
I split up from her and walked on my own back to the truck using game trails, and kinda wandering using using the small openings and terrain to find the easiest but not the most direct path. The truck was parked on a road at the highest point in elevation in a 10 year old timber sale. Needless to say she shows up 2 hours late, completely disheveled, sweating like a pig, and very angry. The crew boss and others come find me and obviously they're angry because of the delay this is causing in packing up to go back to town. She never took the lead again any day the rest of that season with any partner.
I should have not allowed her to become lost, but sometimes people have to learn where the limits of their abilities are the hard way.
Teacher Terry
Well-known Member
Before GPS I could have written a book about getting lost . I have no sense of direction. It was always hard when we moved to a new town. All my husbands had a good sense of direction and would write out how to get places. Thatās one reason now that Iām single that I only take tours otherwise I would spend the entire vacation lost.
. I have no sense of direction. It was always hard when we moved to a new town. All my husbands had a good sense of direction and would write out how to get places. Thatās one reason now that Iām single that I only take tours otherwise I would spend the entire vacation lost.
Widow of Vietnam Vet
Member
- Location
- Cohocton NY
I got lost about 34 years ago, when I was still new to the rural environment. I had made a wrong turn off, on a beautiful day, but way before I had a cell phone. I collect maps but sure never brought a county map with me ( I do now)--I passed through corn fields on both sides of the road, and many beef cows and milkers and many ups and downs on steep wooded hills.
But I didn't see a single person , except some farmers on tractors in the distance.
Finally , after almost 45 minutes of trying to find someone to help me, I found a small village with a Post office and went in and asked the postmaster where I was. I apologized for the stupid question but she laughed and said it happens a lot.
I was only about 8 miles from my home!
What a relief ,but this was a beautiful experience for me , and many people really do not know how utterly beautiful New York State is.
But I didn't see a single person , except some farmers on tractors in the distance.
Finally , after almost 45 minutes of trying to find someone to help me, I found a small village with a Post office and went in and asked the postmaster where I was. I apologized for the stupid question but she laughed and said it happens a lot.
I was only about 8 miles from my home!
What a relief ,but this was a beautiful experience for me , and many people really do not know how utterly beautiful New York State is.
Teacher Terry
Well-known Member
Widow, I lived in upstate New York for 2 years and itās really beautiful.
john19485
Member
We went out to this one place one night to set up an ambush, there were eight of us, we set up the ambush, I set out craymores, and we stated to wait, they came in slow , then all heck broke lose, when they hit the craymores it was a very large group more than we could handle, we tried backing up, and calling in air support, but the weather was real bad that night, after we had three people killed the Vietnamease LT. told me the best we could do was to brake up into two small groups and run like heck, to try and make it to the LZ, we started running .
But there was just too many of them, we could not make it to the LZ, the two other Vietnamease, I was with decided to get up from our hiding place, as soon as they lifted their heads they were shot , I crawled out of there and started running, I could not get my bearing, I had lost my compass, I stayed lost for two weeks, in the meantime , some of the others had made it back to camp and reported me dead, the service went to my house and told my mother, I found my way back to camp in to weeks , and they went back to my Mother , and told her I had been found, Long time ago.
But there was just too many of them, we could not make it to the LZ, the two other Vietnamease, I was with decided to get up from our hiding place, as soon as they lifted their heads they were shot , I crawled out of there and started running, I could not get my bearing, I had lost my compass, I stayed lost for two weeks, in the meantime , some of the others had made it back to camp and reported me dead, the service went to my house and told my mother, I found my way back to camp in to weeks , and they went back to my Mother , and told her I had been found, Long time ago.
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PeppermintPatty
š¢. š³. š¢
- Location
- Canada
I was about 7 or 8 years old shopping at a mall with my mom and dad. Iām not sure how I lost them but I did. After a while of me walking around aimlessly two store workers asked if I was lost. They took me to a place where they could speak to everyone in the mall. Within a few minutes my parents came and got me. I was scared.