Good reason to always carry a kit in the woods

MrCoffee

MrCoffee

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Feb 17, 2007
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By LORNA COLQUHOUN
The Union Leader
updated 1:17 a.m. ET, Wed., Oct. 8, 2008
LINCOLN - More than two dozen people spent much of the night yesterday carrying an injured hiker off a remote mountain peak in the Pemigewasset Wilderness.

Dorothy Blanchard, 69, of Newcastle, Maine, injured her knee late Monday afternoon while bushwhacking her way to the 3,684-foot trail-less summit of Mount Huntington.

Blanchard is an accomplished hiker, said Fish and Game Lt. Todd Bogardus. She had made the summit of the 100 highest peaks in New England, he said, and was working on bagging the top 100 peaks in New Hampshire when she began heading down Mount Huntington.

"Upon her descent she became injured and her hiking companion hiked over two hours out to the trailhead to get assistance," he said.

Members of Pemigewasset Valley Search and Rescue were called out around 7 p.m. and had the task of first trying to find her, since she had been bushwhacking.

"Her exact location was not known, but her companion did have good woods knowledge and utilized map and compass, which put us in the right area," Bogardus said.

The first team of rescuers found her off the Hancock Notch trail and were able to carry her out by litter to the Kancamagus Highway, reaching the road about 3 a.m.

Blanchard was well prepared for the day hike she had planned, Bogardus said. She was taken for treatment to Speare Hospital in Plymouth.

Two hikers who needed help to get back to a trailhead Saturday night were not so prepared, Bogardus said.

Searchers were called out Saturday night to look for Nan Yang, 30, of Boxborough, Mass., and Christine Hou, 35, of Arlington, Mass., after they ran out of light while coming down Flume Slide trail in Franconia Notch.

They had been hiking with five other companions, but decided to go ahead of the rest of the group to reach the trailhead first, according to Bogardus.

When darkness fell, they were without flashlights or other gear and lost the trail. They used a cell phone to call 911 for assistance, he said.

Two volunteers from Pemi Valley Search and Rescue hiked up the Liberty Springs trail and found the two women. While other searchers were preparing to look for the pair, their five companions, who were prepared with lights and gear, came out on the trailhead.

"These two hikers failed to stay together with their group and also failed to carry appropriate gear, such as a simple flashlight," Bogardus said, warning those heading into the woods or onto the trails this time of year to be aware that the daylight is growing shorter, the trails are littered with leaves to make following the trails a harder and treacherous, as well as winter conditions being experienced at the higher elevations
 
Too many people rely on a cell phone as a survival kit. One of these days, the folly of this is going to appear on some newspaper's front page.

Doc
 
How did they expect someone to find them, without even a flashlight to signal with?
"We're here, where all the trees are, on a hillside!"
 
MANY areas where I have hiked in PA have no cellphone service. If you depended on that technology . . . . .
 
I just don't get it. I guess that's the call of the sheeple, "HELP!". Hello one of those 99 cent fake photons could have let them self rescue. I guess it's easier to let someone else to rescue you . Save you the headache of preparing and let's you concentrate on the perfect outfit for the day,lol.

Here's an idea, sell all your gear for beer, strippers...whatever you may like, use SAR and such as your kit! Think of all the money you'll save on gear! But, use some of that money for a good life insurance policy, your better half will appreciate it ;)
 
Esav Benyamin said:
How did they expect someone to find them, without even a flashlight to signal with?
"We're here, where all the trees are, on a hillside!"
Click to expand...
They could hit two hard rocks together. Carries for miles. Or two pieces of hardwood. But the folks who go sans flashlight (or whistle or fire-making kit) usually don't think of expedient alternatives. Knowledge may be confined to a narrow specialty, but stuuuuuupid is typically more general. :o
 
DOC-CANADA said:
Too many people rely on a cell phone as a survival kit. One of these days, the folly of this is going to appear on some newspaper's front page.

Doc
Click to expand...

Never ceases to amaze me. In this part of the country you don't have to get vey far away from civilization for cell phones to stop working.

I guess other people's stupidity just keeps us busy. We have had two call outs already this week. Both ended well at least.
 
If it weren't for a lot of life-saving volunteers, there would be A LOT more dead strollers out there.

I can almost understand people who show up at a nice lodge, good food, comfortable beds, feeling they are still "in" civilization. They go for a "walk" and think it's like the park near their town hall.

But what's with people loaded with technical climbing gear getting caught on a mountain in an "unexpected" storm. What happened to Fossett, did his luck run out, or his overconfidence take over? I won't go for a walk half a mile from home without a high-energy snack with me because I am diabetic, and I don't need to go hypoglycemic -- and have to call for help on my cellphone. :rolleyes:
 
Wouldn't you be ashamed of yourself for being so ill-prepared? I'd rather chill in the woods all night than have to be rescued because I didn't bring a flashlight.
 
I'd be so ashamed I wouldn't want to be found. I see news reports and stuff online about this happening more frequently and still it just shocks the crap outta me.
 
Too many people take the Pemmi for granted. Although it's a wilderness area (and so named 'Pemigewasset Wilderness Area,') it's actually quite small, bordered on three sides by large, well-traveled roads, and usually filled with lots of hikers in summer and X-C skiers in winter. Looking at a road map, the Pemmi seems 'friendly,' rather than 'deep dark scary woods.' From almost any point in the Pemmi you can reach a road in less than 5 hours of walking.... assuming you can walk, have light, and know which way to go. If I remember correctly, Thoreau Falls is about the furthest in one can get, and from there I walked out to the trail head in just a few hours. For the most part, the walking/trail finding is easy as 95% of the trails are old railroad beds, most with the ties removed. Wide, gentle grades, and well marked... IF you can see the signs. On the other hand, it's just a few miles (but hard traveling,) from Thoreau Falls to the summit of Mt. Washington, where until recently, the highest wind velocity on record were recorded (213mph) and some of the most severe weather in the world. It's not uncommon to have snow in July! (Any of you older folks from that area remember the chains that they used to have to hold the roofs on the old summit buildings?) Too many people go into these areas thinking they are going on a stroll in the park, and go in completely unprepared. The ease of access by car to the trails makes people think that they don't need to think. If you go into the woods, you gotta think. Hell, if you go anywhere you have to think!!!!

Stitchawl
 
We have the same kind of ill prepared folks hit the trails here in the northwest as well. Often with tragic results. I never have figured out what is so difficult for these folks to spend an extra hour or two before a trip to make sure that they are properly prepared. If the items are left in a dedicated kit then all that is needed is to grab it and go.
 
Many people already know how to prepare a kit for traveling under circumstances of need: a diaper bag. There are even specially built backpacks, with a foldout diaper changing pad, room for bottles and toys and even a water bottle for mom. Also, people who travel frequently on business have a kit made up, or in their head to be put together in minutes.
 
Flume slide trail is no joke, either. I've been on plenty of trails that were smooth enough to stumble down in the dark and not get too lost or hurt yourself. Flume is not one of them - steep, rocky, narrow, and plenty of opportunities to follow a likely "side trail" that dead-ends and gets you turned around. I have stumbled down a few trails in that neighborhood with a keychain LED though.
 
Tohatchi NM said:
Flume slide trail is no joke, either. I've been on plenty of trails that were smooth enough to stumble down in the dark and not get too lost or hurt yourself. Flume is not one of them - steep, rocky, narrow, and plenty of opportunities to follow a likely "side trail" that dead-ends and gets you turned around. I have stumbled down a few trails in that neighborhood with a keychain LED though.
Click to expand...

I hear that! Lots of the trails on the Cog railway side are nasty at best. The shortest, the Ammonoosic (Sp?) Revine trail can be a killer even in the best of conditions, but it's so short that lots of people use it to get up top without thinking they need emergency gear, climb up wearing cotton shorts and t-shirts with nothing else with them, and wind up at the Lake-of-the-Clouds hut freezing in the middle of summer!

Quite a few years ago, before they did an update to the White Moutnain Guide book, a friend and I got caught above timberline mid-way between Mt. Washington and Mt. Adams on a day hike as a very bad storm showed up on the horizon.

The closest trail to us to get us below treeline was the "Six Husbands Trail" and all the guide book said was 'steep and difficult.' We learned why it was called the Six Husbands trail on the way down; we had to rope our gear down through several sections and even tie ourselves in to get down safely. We were only half way down when the storm made it too dark to see the trail (rock?) clearly without lights. If we didn't have them, we would have been SOL! Latter editions of the guide book added "... only take this trail going UP. Too dangerous to try to go down!" But we had plenty of lights, good waterproof clothes, and got into the trees just as the worst of the storm hit. Another minute and we had a tarp strung up and were brewing up a pot of tea!

Stitchawl
 
Ya'll should see the crap that goes on in YuppieVille here (vancouver BC). People go hiking on the North Shore mountains with NOTHING but their trendy yoga wear, their cellphone and their bottle of yuppie water and their i-This or i-That. Then they get lost or caught in sudden weather changes and call for help on their cell phones.

there is this prevailing attitude that because the mountains are a 10 minute drive from the busy downtown, that its like a walk in the park.

God Save the SAR Techs from these idiots.
 
Glad to see I wasnt the only one that believes that people should carry the correct gear anytime they venture out. I have always believed it is my responsibility to "self rescue" or at least have the proper gear to sit tight until I can be rescued (I.E. Injury prevents self rescue). Not even to mention the skills.

Stitchawl I didnt realize you were local to me, NH. :)
 
MrCoffee said:
I have always believed it is my responsibility to "self rescue" or at least have the proper gear to sit tight until I can be rescued (I.E. Injury prevents self rescue).
Click to expand...

Injury doesn't even always prevent self-rescue.

I had been wandering around an isolated wooded area, and was about as far back from the roads as I could be when my foot snapped off. My prosthetic foot. I crawled out to the road, to the rental/propane company, where a couple of guys helped me over the fence and one of them drove me home.

Stay calm, think about where you are and what you need, and set out in the right direction.
 
Esav Benyamin said:
Injury doesn't even always prevent self-rescue.

I had been wandering around an isolated wooded area, and was about as far back from the roads as I could be when my foot snapped off. My prosthetic foot. I crawled out to the road, to the rental/propane company, where a couple of guys helped me over the fence and one of them drove me home.

Stay calm, think about where you are and what you need, and set out in the right direction.
Click to expand...


I agree completely. I was more trying to say that we are responsibile to self rescue, provided the actual injury doesn't prevent it.

But of course, using common sense (as you did) and not sitting around thinking that you are entitled to be rescued, not panicing are all critical.
 
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