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.