Missing hiker found alive after 6 days

Who the hell has the foresight to bring 4 liters of water, flares and a space blanket, but NO KNIFE! Ridiculous.
 
I have some experience in the area that this took place. It's very beautiful and unforgiving country.

I have been not been "lost" in Joshua Tree before, but I'll admit to being disoriented for a bit until I backtracked enough to be confident in my actual location.

I'm a strong believer in the "oh-shit" time limit.
That is what my wife and call it. That's when I tell her "if I'm not home or haven't called you by XXXX, there is something wrong. call 911." I leave her with a map and highlighted area I'll be in. Most my time is alone, so I take this safety net seriously. That sort of system would have saved this guy and his family bit of misery.

Glad he was found and OK.
 
Given the local weather conditions this week, he was more in danger of being killed in a flash flood than dying of thirst! We have had "monsoon" conditions all week, caused by a low pressure system off the coast that sucks up moist air from the south. There has been a lot of cloud cover (shade!) and thunderstorms. The uncharacteristic high humidity, was probably worse for him than the heat itself. This guy picked the right week to get lost!

Actually, pretty hard to get completely "lost" out there. If you walk 10 miles in any direction (ok, assuming you can walk), you will come to a major road. ( http://www.nps.gov/jotr/planyourvisit/upload/jotrmap.pdf ) And really dumb of him not to have filed a "flightplan" with his family. No doubt, he will sell his story for big $$$. Makes me wonder if the whole thing was staged???

FYI, Joshua Tree gets most of its moisture from summer thunderstorms that come out of the southeast monsoons, rather than winter rains that come out of the northwest (like the area further to the west).
 
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jackman2 said:
Who the hell has the foresight to bring 4 liters of water, flares and a space blanket, but NO KNIFE! Ridiculous.
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I don't know what areas you are familiar with, but in that location I doubt a classic "survival kit" or a knife would have been of much use. Nights are absolutely delightful, so no need for a fire for warmth. Signal mirror might be helpful, but he used the space blanket for that.

The big thing is water, and walk in some intelligent direction during the cool part of the day. Siesta in the shade during the hot part of the day (good use for that space blanket).
 
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The problem w/most folks who get into epic adventures like these (climbers specifically) don't have the classic backcountry skills/tools necessary to walk ten miles in the same direction. I'll bet most people who claim to have skills won't be able to nav 10 miles in a semi-straight direction.

I've taught land nav long enough and lead enough backpacking trips to see it first hand -even among prior military (not all were grunts and not all grunts mastered land nav.).
 
Umm.... Compass and map? GPS unit? SPOT? Ham radio? Seriously, for a solo day hike, why would you NOT carry some or all of those things?

I mean, don't get me wrong. I've certainly gone solo without everything that I mention above, except for the compass and a good map (never go anywhere without that). But technology has moved along since those days. Things have gotten lighter, more robust and more reliable. It's downright dangerous to head out without the map and compass (which I assume this guy had). It's silly to head out without at least some kind of GPS unit that you can use to re-orientate yourself if you get turned around.
 
My guess is maybe he got overheated and had some type of mental confusion or medical problems, that got him off the trail?

Seriously folks, the area he was in was not all that far from civilization, trails, roads, and campgrounds, so it wasn't like this was some real "wilderness" adventure that he was on. Find a wash and walk downhill (again, if you can walk), leaving lots of sign indicating where you went....and you will come to something fairly quickly. A few miles away, he could have been sipping a margarita by a swimming pool! I would get "lost" easier in downtown LA!
 
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Glad the guy is OK.

My own experience is this. I was mountain biking in Moab this past weekend. We did this epic 33 mile trail called the Whole Enchilada. The tour operators drop you off in the La Sal mountains and it is basically a downhill run to civilization. There was a stream that we crossed several times in the first 5 miles of trail after that it was dry.

Long story short we all (6 of us) ran out of water after about 5 hours on the trail with still about 5 miles to go before we reached a paved road. Getting lost was not a concern as the trails were well marked. But there was a constant threat of injury as the trail was really technical. Luckily we all made it down without anything more than a few scrapes.

The thought that did run through my mind though was "I'm carrying a decent psk, knife, can start a fire, sleep under my space blanket, but if one of us gets injured we will be there dry for at least 5-6 hours before we get another drink". I've only run out of water a few times in 20 years of biking and always in an arid climate and it is not a comforting feeling.
 
Hmmmm. It doesn't look like anyplace in the park that is more than 5-7 miles from a civilization.

jackman2 said:
Who the hell has the foresight to bring 4 liters of water, flares and a space blanket, but NO KNIFE! Ridiculous.
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In a lot of the southwest, I'd trade a knife for water.
 
nemoaz said:
Hmmmm. It doesn't look like anyplace in the park that is more than 5-7 miles from a civilization.
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Yea, doesn't look far looking from above on a map, but get deep in a canyon and things look different. Still, seems a kinda hard to get that lost in that area.
 
It is interesting that from Joshua Tree NP, you can easily see San Gorgonio peak (San Bernardino NF) just a few mile away, which is 11,500'. From what I could see from my house, San Gorgonio got a light dusting of snow yesterday and probably again today!

I love the desert too, but I can't figure out why anyone would go to the desert where it is 100+degrees most every day this time of year, when they could go instead to the mountains which would be a shorter drive, and have cool comfortable daytime temps of 60-70 degrees.
 
reconranger said:
I love the desert too, but I can't figure out why anyone would go to the desert where it is 100+degrees most every day this time of year, when they could go instead to the mountains which would be a shorter drive, and have cool comfortable daytime temps of 60-70 degrees.
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There are people in this world who just really, really love the desert. That's where they want to be and so that's where they go.

More power to them. :thumbup:

But do make sure you know how to handle the desert before you go.
 
reconranger said:
It is interesting that from Joshua Tree NP, you can easily see San Gorgonio peak (San Bernardino NF) just a few mile away, which is 11,500'. From what I could see from my house, San Gorgonio got a light dusting of snow yesterday and probably again today!

I love the desert too, but I can't figure out why anyone would go to the desert where it is 100+degrees most every day this time of year, when they could go instead to the mountains which would be a shorter drive, and have cool comfortable daytime temps of 60-70 degrees.
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It's my sneaking suspicion that this guy was a city boy who watched way too many survival themed shows judging by his kit, the amount of time he was out and the overall lack of good judgement showing disrespect to the desert. Evan Tanner died doing the same type of thing just two short years and Chris McCandless was actually on a well worn hunting trail when his fate jumped in and ruined his life. I am not making light of those guys, just making the point that overall people need to take Nav equipment, water, firestarters and a knife, snacks...the rest of the kit is just prefences.
 
There has occasionally been some weird stuff in Joshua. A few years back, a little girl and a man disapeared, both on the same day. Of course, the assumption was that the guy abducted the girl and beat it out of there. The man's family, denied that he would every do anything like that.

Years later, somebody turned up parts of a skull/jaw. My dad who is an oral pathologist, did the forensic odontology for the coroner's office (identification using the man's dental records). It was indeed him....and of course his family was very happy to clear his good name!

As I recall, they later found some bones that were traced to the little girl. Both were in widely seperated areas, so the fact that they both went missing on the same day, was just a freak coincidence. I don't think there was anything special about that day. Wasn't unusually hot, etc.

Just for the record, you would NEVER want to start a fire out there this time of year. Could easily start a brushfire that might burn for weeks. If you start a wildfire, you are liable for the cost of putting it out (could be millions!), whether it was intentional arson or not. Nights are beautiful anyway, so the fact that the "lost" guy had no matches was incidental. Even on a cold night this time of year, a space blaket would be perfectly adequate, so the guy got that one thing right.
 
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jackman2 said:
Who the hell has the foresight to bring 4 liters of water, flares and a space blanket, but NO KNIFE! Ridiculous.
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Surely for a day hike in the desert the 4 litres of water would be number 1 on the list of things to take, well above a knife. It doesn't seem particularly ridiculous to me. Of course I would have had a knife, but only because I always have a knife.
 
reconranger said:
Just for the record, you would NEVER want to start a fire out there this time of year. Could easily start a brushfire that might burn for weeks. If you start a wildfire, you are liable for the cost of putting it out (could be millions!), whether it was intentional arson or not. Nights are beautiful anyway, so the fact that the "lost" guy had no matches was incidental. Even on a cold night this time of year, a space blaket would be perfectly adequate, so the guy got that one thing right.
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I did a lot of hiking and backpacking in the area, and I would think VERY hard before starting a fire. "Never"? I am reluctant to use that word.

As for legal liability, see: "tried by twelve" within ten words of "buried by six."

What strikes me is this guy was lost a day and a half in such harsh conditions before he recognized he was in trouble: "He hiked for about a day and a half, descending almost 2,000 feet down the canyon, and then he ran out of food and water. At that point, he realized he was in some difficulty."
Well duh!
 
It's very hard to assess much about his decisions or thought process based on these reports -- lots of room for conjecture. Clearly, having navigation skills/tools would have improved things; not getting lost would have been even better. As it was, though, the equipment and knowledge he did have kept him alive. At the end of the day, that's what matters most.

In that environment, I'd gladly choose a gallon of water over a knife. Both would be better, of course.
 
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