Hiker Hell.

Ever wonder what can happen to the average hiker? Wander over to Hiker Hell a blog given to the mistakes and mis-adventures of hikers around the world. See what can happen when Mother Nature does walk up and go "Tag, you're it!" Some are tragic in their ending others border on the comic like two hikers who had to buy cell phone minutes to finish their rescue call.

Closer to home I do find an outrageous number of people doing the foolish. June 1986: Temperatures are normally between 106F and 111F. One Saturday 3 (one in the car) people drove five miles down an more or less improved dirt road through the Wind Electric Generating facility where I was Director of Operations and out into the desert to be found by Security Chief Robert (white shirt) where they were wandering around half naked, drinking beer and buried in the sand. We assumed they were looking for the settling ponds belonging to the local water agency and drove in the wrong way, a common mistake. The ponds were a popular place to swim, windsurf, sail and play and as a result a lot of other rescues took place in the same general area due to people trying to get to the ponds through various wrong way entrances. Per SOP Robert called me on the radio interrupting my Saturday and I responded with a pick-up truck suitable for the task of yanking them out. During the rescue operation an unusually contrite group of people quietly stood by while the Porsche was pulled free and set back on the road. It was at that point Robert walked up gave me three business cards. These people were the CEO, VP and GM of the wind park, my employers. They had never been out to visit their investment and had decided on a whim to drive out from Thousand Oaks, CA (150+ miles) for a visit unannounced. The moral to this story? Even smart people do stupid things.

Somethng Stupid

Found New Years Eve 2005 with a broken front end.

I do things even I say don't do, like going into the desert alone. Last week it was a drive out to the Eagle Mining district to look for a few geocaches. My side trip was at the last second, in fact I didn't even know I was going until I turned off the main road onto a dirt track. Out of two-way radio and cell phone range and about 6 miles out into the basin to play. Click for map then zoom in to explore.

I drove as far as a wash I couldn't cross and sat there thinking. What if something went wrong and my car broke down or dug in. Nobody knew where I was and that meant walking out in 104F temps. Doing a six mile easy to moderate hike in the day (the road back) is not too bad, if you are accustomed to it. I've done much harder hikes in higher temps as a both a guide and a tribal ranger. Properly dressed with a couple of liters of water the smooth track to the main road would have taken about a 2 hours to walk. However when you consider the time of day better to wait until 5pm or so to avoid the heat of the day and direct exposure to the sun.

The question is how prepared was I? Despite the fact I had 6 liters of water, a fully equipped 5-day pack along with a jacket and hat, not well enough. Driving into the basin I was wearing a T-shirt, sandals and shorts. A walk out would call for protection, changing into long pants, heavy safari shirt and hiking boots. At least I had the boots. Fortunately Lexus makes a reliable little SUV even if it is 10 years old and the trip was made in air conditioned comfort. [He lies, the windows were open] :)

Yet I did something stupid. Why? I don't know it was just a whim and even though nothing went wrong it could have. The Lexus RX300 isn't my Jeep. It doesn't have any self rescue tools, no shovels, ropes or hi-lift jacks. It is an All-Wheel Drive street SUV with no lo-range gears. So driving into trouble doesn't necessarily mean you can drive out like the Jeep can with it's monstrous power and wall climbing drive train. Proper equipment also means a proper vehicle.

My point is we all tend to do dumb things. You just have to realize you are doing them and hope that you are prepared for them when things really do go wrong and even more that you are prepared for the consequences.

In the above photo this touron was found deep in a canyon 50 miles from rescue with a broken front end. We already had a Ford Bronco in tow and informed him we would call the park rangers when we could. That call was made 3 hours later. I eventually found out his rescue took another 6 hours after that call. Note that your rental car insurance does not cover this kind of tomfoolery. Off road tow charges in Calif are $125.00 per hour plus a drop fee.