Soooooo.... how lost have you been?

[+srt4guy]

always a thought in the back of my mind and i think i'm ready for the day i drop the GPS in the middle of nowhere and break my only chance of finding the car.

[+beezerb]

Never lost just bewildered.

[+Bad_CRC]

Never lost just bewildered.

 

same here.

 

one cache we had to climb a difficult cliff, and then we continued to the top where another cache was about a mile away at the top of some bluffs.

 

well I didn't want to try to climb DOWN the cliff (much more difficult than going up) so we walked down a ravine trying to get back to the car, only we came to the edge of another 100 foot cliff in that ravine, so we had to climb back up there, then we walked along the top of the cliffs looking for a way down, and it was getting dark. Everywhere was more cliffs. I was getting pretty worried that we'd be stuck climbing down a cliff in the dark.

 

Eventually we did find a trail down.

[+halffast]

I have not been lost enough to panic but with all the people in my area needing the search and rescue lately I haave been reading up on outdoor survival skills just in case

[+TheAlabamaRambler]

I haven't been lost while geocaching (yet!) but I have been lost before.

 

Most recently when fishing at night a heavy fog set in and we couldn't find our way back to my house. I had been on that lake for forty years and knew every inch of shoreline - but in thick fog at night with literally 5' visibility - you couldn't see the other people in the boat, even; nothing looked familiar. Nothing gets your attention in a situation like that more than the sound of the opening-spillway warning horn at the dam! Man, that sounds close! How'd we get this close to the dam? Not wanting to learn the hard way how far we might be from that horn we spent a cold wet night on the bank. Dawn showed us to be less than half-mile from my house... and more than four miles from the dam!

 

Before that we broke our transmission when my wife hit the only tree stump within 100 miles while coyote hunting at night in the desert foothills of the Superstition Mountains outside Tempe AZ. We decided to walk home, only about fifteen miles judging by the glow of city lights on the horizon. We had gone maybe 100 yards when my better half sensibly suggested we just sleep in the back of our station wagon. Turned around and that station wagon was gone! How can a whole white station wagon disappear? Bummer. We gathered what little sticks and grass we could find to make a fire and spent a long cold night taking turns stoking the fire - every time one of would throw a handful of grass on the fire it would flare up, and the glowing eyes of the very coyotes we were there to kill would light up as they circled around us! Dawn showed us to be less than 100 feet from the car!

 

There have been other times, but the key is to remain composed.

 

Lost may get you a night on the ground, panic may get you killed!

Edited January 20, 2007 by TheAlabamaRambler

[Clan Riffster]

I think the most lost I've ever been was when I spent the night in the Ocala National Forest. This was right about the time when hand held GPS'rs were becoming available, and my wife insisted I buy one so I wouldn't get lost again. I think it was a Garmin GPS 12. I just called it "The Brick". Like Ed, I did spend some time lost in fog, but it was in my kayak on Mosquitto Lagoon. I was night fishing way out on the water, when some of the nastiest fog I've ever seen came rolling in. My GPSr was in my dry box, and I had long ago waypointed all my favorite launch points, so it was no worries.

[Neos2]

We haven't been really lost yet. Unsure of where we were for a moment or two, but not really quite lost yet.

 

But that reminds me of a story. My daughter was camping with my mother. She and my niece took a walk along one of the paths. The campground backs into a huge state forest. They followed the longest park trail all the way to a spot where a huge boulder had fallen over the trail, after that point, the trail was sketchy.

 

My niece "knew" they were close to the trail end (and to be honest, they were within a half a mile of it but they didn't really know that and other trails into the state forest branch off the trail they were on).

My daughter "knew" not to leave the trail (from my teaching that to her girl scout troop that I led). My daughter won the argument and they walked the entire trail back to camp.

 

Two rangers, my mother, and my brother met them near the trailhead. The ranger had already radioed for a search party with tracking dogs because at that point, the girls were only about 10 years old at the time and they had already been gone four hours. Two experienced adult hikers had gotten lost the week before in the same area when they left the trail and tried to bushwhack back to the end of the trail after the boulder.

 

My daughter was surprised by all the praise she got "just for" staying on the trail. I had a few words of wisdom (that I won't repeat here) for my brother and mother for letting two young girls go off on "the long trail" without an adult or even checking on the trail report. But I'm glad I took the time to drill that simple piece of advice into my daughter's scout troop.

 

Of course, there are plenty of opportunities to do off-trail hiking--I'm not suggesting that adults should always have to stay on a trail. I'm just saying that it doesn't hurt to make sure we teach our kids a things or three about what to do in similar situations.

[flyboyty]

Still trying to get lost... oh well.

[+nekom]

It's pretty hard to get lost here. Down = river.

[+Arrow One]

Im never lost cause all trails lead to where Im at!

[FlagFinder]

i got lost in minneapolis because i forgot to take a waypoint so i wandered about a mile away so i had to find my way back luckily i know how to get around from the IDS tower so i got back that teaches me

[+Green Thumb Trekers]

The only time I've really been lost was in the Rocky Mountains on a hiking trip. Set up camp and decided to look around for a while. With me was my 10 month old black lab. After wandering around for quite a while, I realized that an afternoon thunderstorm was approaching and we needed to head back down to the treeline. Despite being a seasoned hiker, I'd left my compass back at camp, and was having trouble figuring out which way to go (alas, this was prior to personal GPS units being available). While "down the mountain" seems like the most logical way to head, we'd climbed up and down several ridges and the way "down" was not obvious.

 

After wandering around for too long, I decided to go for a long shot: on the hike up, I'd been training my puppy to stay on the trail by giving him the command, "Trail!" He picked up on it right away and managed to stay on the path instead of veering off to sniff something every two feet. So when I couldn't find our way back to the trail, I gave my puppy the "Trail!" command. He looked around, sniffed 360 degrees, and headed off in the opposite direction I'd been going. Whenever I thought he was getting distracted, I'd give the "Trail!" command again and off we'd go.

 

30 minutes later, that wonderful puppy had located the trail! We got back to camp safely and he got to snuggle in the sleeping bag with me that night instead of sleeping on his blanket.

 

Whenever I wasn't sure about what direction to take on subsequent hikes, I'd always trust that black lab's nose and innate sense of direction. Now that he's dead, I feel lost most of the time.

[StonedCachers]

always a thought in the back of my mind and i think i'm ready for the day i drop the GPS in the middle of nowhere and break my only chance of finding the car.

 

Never been lost than god, been close a couple of times, but usualy I've got a good Idea where I'm going

[Team Macha]

I own a farm in SE Iowa and when I first bought it it was incredible easy to get lost. It seemed like every ditch and field looked the same. Well its been several years and now I can find my way around with my eyes closed, but it was scary at first. Now its frightening again because the DNR released mountain lions around my area to help control the deer populations so its scary to go out because I have seen one (shudder).

[+sarhound]

 

After wandering around for too long, I decided to go for a long shot: on the hike up, I'd been training my puppy to stay on the trail by giving him the command, "Trail!" He picked up on it right away and managed to stay on the path instead of veering off to sniff something every two feet.

 

30 minutes later, that wonderful puppy had located the trail!

 

 

I had a similar situation a couple of years ago; however, I was in a nature preserve close to my home that I hiked with my bloodhounds at least weekly, if not more often. I was out that day with my primary partner, K9 Miss Molly Maguire. I knew the preserve like the back of my hand, but I managed to get myself lost while hunting a geocache when a tree grabbed my glasses and ripped them off my head. I don't see very well without them. To top it all off, it was getting dark, the snags were everywhere, and I was in an area where I wasn't getting good GPSr reception. I had called Deputyhound to come get us; he arrived at dusk, listened for me blasting on my whistle, located us, and we did a search for my glasses. No luck, in spite of the fact that I had dropped my pack and flagged a triangular area with flagging tape, exactly where my glasses had gone missing.

 

After an hour, it was full dark, and I was bleeding, hot, tired, and not really very happy. Miss Molly was tired and wanted her dinner (we had been out for a couple of hours already, and now it was getting really late.) Deputyhound and I couldn't find the trail out, because we were in a heavily treed area. The GPSr was of no use by that point. Thank goodness I had taught Miss Molly the "take me home" command. She cast around for a minute, then hit the end of the lead. Deputyhound and I just concentrated on keeping the trees from slapping us in the face and trusted her nose. Within 5 minutes, she had found a small, well-travelled trail. Within 15 minutes, she had us back to the parking lot.

 

The next day, I checked the GPSr for the tracklog. I found that when it started picking up a signal again, it indicated that Miss Molly had taken the exact trail out that we had taken into the area. I can attest to the fact that it certainly didn't look the same, and we now use that incident to teach new team members just how easy it is to get confused on the trail. Add just a little stress to the situation, and it becomes easy to see how folks can get lost rather quickly.

 

Gotta love those bloodhound noses!

Edited January 22, 2007 by sarhound

[+JDandDD]

The worst case of being 'lost' occurred during a snow squall. These blow off the Great Lakes with little warning. We were geocaching in a moderately thick forest when the squall suddenly came in. It was snowing so hard that we had two inches on the ground in 30 minutes. The air was so heavy with snow and the ground so evenly white that it was difficult to see even a few feet. Visually it was impossible to tell direction and our footsteps had filled in so we couldn't follow those back.

 

Without the GPS we would have been very lost and in a very bad situation. However, just followed that dotted line (even though the snow covered the screen so fast I could barely keep it clear). It got us out. My wife also used her compas to keep us in roughly the correct direction when things got confused. That compass and GPS saved us.

 

This event is why our avatar is two people in falling snow.

 

JD

[+forthferalz]

I got into this game because I am afraid of getting lost (australia has a lot of wilderness, not much of this urban micro rubbish - stray from the path and you're history. We know an aussie who got very lost for 5-6 hours) Dog has also helped sniffed me out of a few trail errors I would have made otherwise. She goes through a frenzy of marking when we hit a new trail - doesn't trust the new fangled GPS! but yes we have still been a bit lost and annoyed on the easy trails because we got careless- it was only75 m to the car right? And we can see the probable cache site right? but look back downhill and teh dirt road had dissapeared. Guess who didn't mark the car or carry water etc.... gum trees are mighty hard to climb for a view! Luckily HIQ feral spotted the problem by standing on a fallen giant tree - we were short and standing in a ditch not 10 m from the elusive road which was at head height! oh and not just us lost on this cache either.

and now we always carry marking tape and water.

Edited January 22, 2007 by forthferalz

[+forthferalz]

Of course, there are plenty of opportunities to do off-trail hiking--I'm not suggesting that adults should always have to stay on a trail. I'm just saying that it doesn't hurt to make sure we teach our kids a things or three about what to do in similar situations.

Actually with kids on a long hike the temptation to split the group on a 'well defined' trail is strong but really bad idea. We were thinking of investing in those handheld radios - has anyone got any reccomendations for what to look for/avoid in a not too expensive unit we can also use in teh city?

[+olbluesguy]

Two guys up at my hunting camp were late getting back from an afternoon bow hunt so I headed down the dirt road hoping to hear them crashing thru the laurels because I knew they had no flashlight , and no moon.

I never laughed so hard in my life.

when I heard them comming I doused my light and just listened.

Crashing thru the brush all I could hear was cursing and complaining that they were running out of matches.

Every few minutes I would see the flames from the arrow feathers they would lite to get a fiew seconds of flame.

On a night that you literally could not see your hand in front of your face they walked parrelell to the road I was on no more than ten feet from the edge.

then I scared the Be-Jeepers out of them....I couldn't resist.

 

I learned my lesson up in Maine.....Stay put!

I was there when a search was going on North of the town of Dicky allong the Allagash.

The search leader told me they sometimes find the lost ones with their clothes shredded off from running in a panic thru the woods and all of their eqipment disguarded. sometimes falling off cliffs,or in holes.

so Im about staying put with a nice fire and a snooze under the stars.

[+mamid]

in a big park that has multiple caches including at least one multistage, my gf and I were lost. DH has DS for the day so that left me with DD, my friend and a bladder tapdancer trapsing through a mostly trailed woods with no bathroom open because it was too early in the season. We were so lost that even the GPSrs we had couldn't find north. I had to use my old girl scout trick of "which way does the moss grow?" to get us back on the trail.

 

Finally, I could stand the tapdancer no more and found a nice tree to use. Ahh... relief. Not as easy for girls as it is for guys. Worse when you can't really squat because your balance is lost and you suffer from fetal incontinance.

 

We had been so lost that we found 3 different hobbo camps and several caches that we didn't even really plan on, simply had the coords and looked when we were close enough. Does my gf go after the caches? Nope. The tree loving woman decided to stay at the edge of the trail with DD while prego me went in and bushwacked for them.

 

That was last year. D2 is now 3 months and is far easier to cache with. Most of the time.

[+mikeslomka]

I had some friends get lost coon hunting about 2 months back. There was 5 of them, and the guy that lived in the area just swore that he knew where the truck was. It was rainging hard and there was no moon.

 

They finally got all of the dogs coralled, and they had just decided that they were going to have to spend the night in the woods when one of the guys remembered that they dog that he had left in the truck still had his tracking collar on. They turned on the tracking collar and walked about 2 miles in the opposite direction. After a quick and scary swim across a river, they made it back with all of the dogs and all of the people ok.

 

I have never been that lost, when I get turned around, I just tell my dog to "load up". She starts back to the truck and I follow her. If she gets to far ahead, shr comes back and gets me.

[+Cpt.Blackbeard]

I had some friends get lost coon hunting about 2 months back. There was 5 of them, and the guy that lived in the area just swore that he knew where the truck was. It was rainging hard and there was no moon.

 

They finally got all of the dogs coralled, and they had just decided that they were going to have to spend the night in the woods when one of the guys remembered that they dog that he had left in the truck still had his tracking collar on. They turned on the tracking collar and walked about 2 miles in the opposite direction. After a quick and scary swim across a river, they made it back with all of the dogs and all of the people ok.

 

I have never been that lost, when I get turned around, I just tell my dog to "load up". She starts back to the truck and I follow her. If she gets to far ahead, shr comes back and gets me.

 

I'm curious, why did they swim across the river the first time? Because if they had to make a scary swim across the river to return to the truck, then they must have made a scary swim across the river when they were leaving the truck.

[+mikeslomka]

I asked the same thing actually. When they went across, it hadn't been raining and the river wasn't as high. They were able to cross at a natural dam. I guess the dogs swan across.

[+Cpt.Blackbeard]

I asked the same thing actually. When they went across, it hadn't been raining and the river wasn't as high. They were able to cross at a natural dam. I guess the dogs swan across.

 

Ah, OK, that makes sense, thanks for the explanation.

[+Danuw]

While on a canoeing trip in Northern Michigan with a large group. One member thought it would be fun to walk out in the woods for a short hike. Half of us went with him. Of course no one had a compass and there were no gps back then. After about a half hour the wise guy who took us out says, "Ok let's play a game". Everyone close their eyes and turn around three times after which we are all going to try to get back to the campsite. A couple hours later some of us found a dirt road, luckily turned the correct way and eventully ended back where we started. You don't have to go very far in thick cover or woods to completely get disoriented. Of course the leader of the group had a compass and knew how to use it, but didn't tell us till later. For a few brief moments it was very nerve wracking and a little scary, particularly when you knew you wern't gone that long. That's the trip everyone learned how to use and permanently attach the compass to themselves. Now the gps units do this all for you if you push the right buttons. But you still have to remember to take it with you

[+StarBrand]

Really lost - once while off in thick pine tree cover, cache was on a low rise with rocks on top and a bit of open space. I logged the cache, put it back, got up and looked around and I swear every direction down looked identical. I stood there for a minute staring around and then checked my GPS when I realized I forgot to mark my Jeep. A moment later I remembered the trackback feature and used a compass to point me off in the right direction. Just momentary but felt the panic rise deep within me. I learned to be a bit more careful since then and I pay more attion to my srroundings instead of staring at the GPS screen.

 

Another time, I struck off trail for a cache and had to divert around a very deep ravine. Lost sats for bit until I got to the ridge and got myself on track again. Not scary but glad I had a good sense of direction.