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"Temporarily Directionally Challenged" !!!
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Kind of a different story, not lost but definitely stuck due to being "lost."
It's a longish one, but I'll keep it straight to the point. Scouting some old right-of-way for Exxon Mobile pipeline in the middle of the swamp. 3 or so hour airboat ride to "land" (land means some humps here and there with cypress knees and water ankle to knee high). Airboat drops us off and we start marching. Plan was that airboat circles around the island and waits for us. Weather turns foul and we abort the project and hustle to get out. We get to the other side and there's no airboat in sight. We get on the radio and he's panicking and tells us he's lost. Evidently he got off his airboat to take a bubblegum and then he thought he saw a deer so he tried tracking it and got lost. No cell service. Satellite phone not connecting, plus battery at 50% and dying fast trying to connect. 12V and power inverter and phone charger on the airboat . We have a few bottles of water, some jerky, and two flares. The three of us walk the bank both directions and can't find the boat, which means he went toward different land. He couldn't see the first flare we shot. Day turns to night, we have a fire and it's raining relentlessly on us. We're burning everything we can find, including some trash Styrofoam and plastic we found in the bayou. He tells us his battery life is at 5% and it's going to die soon. We use our last flare. Last we hear from him. Rain calms down and we're sitting next to the fire thinking about how we're going to get out. 3 hours on an airboat translates to a full day, if not more, of hiking through marsh and swimming down bayous. We decided we'd wait until sun up, and it was somewhere in the 2 or 3 am mark that we could hear from a distance his 350 fire up. Some time later we could see the lights of his airboat coming down the bayou. He picked us up, and we made the careful journey back to the landing. He probably never worked for Exxon again, and we completely rethought our SOP for similar projects.
It's a longish one, but I'll keep it straight to the point. Scouting some old right-of-way for Exxon Mobile pipeline in the middle of the swamp. 3 or so hour airboat ride to "land" (land means some humps here and there with cypress knees and water ankle to knee high). Airboat drops us off and we start marching. Plan was that airboat circles around the island and waits for us. Weather turns foul and we abort the project and hustle to get out. We get to the other side and there's no airboat in sight. We get on the radio and he's panicking and tells us he's lost. Evidently he got off his airboat to take a bubblegum and then he thought he saw a deer so he tried tracking it and got lost. No cell service. Satellite phone not connecting, plus battery at 50% and dying fast trying to connect. 12V and power inverter and phone charger on the airboat . We have a few bottles of water, some jerky, and two flares. The three of us walk the bank both directions and can't find the boat, which means he went toward different land. He couldn't see the first flare we shot. Day turns to night, we have a fire and it's raining relentlessly on us. We're burning everything we can find, including some trash Styrofoam and plastic we found in the bayou. He tells us his battery life is at 5% and it's going to die soon. We use our last flare. Last we hear from him. Rain calms down and we're sitting next to the fire thinking about how we're going to get out. 3 hours on an airboat translates to a full day, if not more, of hiking through marsh and swimming down bayous. We decided we'd wait until sun up, and it was somewhere in the 2 or 3 am mark that we could hear from a distance his 350 fire up. Some time later we could see the lights of his airboat coming down the bayou. He picked us up, and we made the careful journey back to the landing. He probably never worked for Exxon again, and we completely rethought our SOP for similar projects.
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Good thing it wasn't used as evidence against ya...
I write enough embarrassing posts w/o purposely telling about how I got lost on Ruckle Ridge or how our entire group of hunters got lost in the dark packing an elk out of West Birch Creek.
Or about how sometimes I can't find my car in the Walmart parking lot.
Or how I was heading north on 205 trying to pickup 84 going east and took the wrong exit/entrance... then wondered how come the setting sun was in my windshield.
Or about how sometimes I can't find my car in the Walmart parking lot.
Or how I was heading north on 205 trying to pickup 84 going east and took the wrong exit/entrance... then wondered how come the setting sun was in my windshield.
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Another 'lost' story - and on foot this time.
Bowhunting several years ago in the Ochocos and I get separated from my friend. Not a big deal as we would meet back up a camp later.
Well I am seeing a few deer, moving slowly, stopping, stalking etc and after a few hours I decided to make my way back to camp and this is where the 'lost' part begins.
I realize I had not been taking note of landmarks and was looking 'down' too much. I had wandered down into a large valley and couldn't see the treeline I roughly navigated my position by time and sun and headed back toward where I thought camp was and to move to higher ground.
Well the day is turning to afternoon and as I am coming over a hill I walk into a grassy meadow with a LOT of bulls (cattle) sunning themselves! Well I figured they were range stock which didn't mean I was particularly close to anything so I gave them space and walked out of their sight and around the meadow and back up the hill.
Anyway afternoon wearing on and I am no closer to camp nor do I recognize this area. Anyway I keep moving and pass through another meadow and see what look like a grove of alder trees. For some reason I 'glass' them and see what look like markings on them so I walk to them and see many initials carved with dates I can still make out - with some from the early 1900's.
Ok well I am not the first one to be here either so I continue on and finally admit to myself I AM lost and begin to plan for a night out but would continue for a while I still had light.
Well dang near dark and I come to a dirt road that appears to be heavily traveled being fairly flat and compacted so I decide to take a right which I knew was the direction of camp and continue to walk the road. At about a mile I come to another road with a fence line and I immediately recognized it as the road we were on Friday afternoon a couple days previously driving to camp so I felt confident in following it.
About 9 PM I see the spur road to the camp and a note laying in a folding camp chair under under a tree from my friend telling me to stay put as he was going to return every half hour or so until about 10 PM and if I was not back by then he was going to head into Prineville and notify the Sheriff Dept.
Well about a half hour later I hear a vehicle and its my friend pulling in and I load my stuff and off we go!
Later after reviewing my adventure on a map it appears I had passed camp by only maybe a few hundred yards during my initial return and continued past it.
Bowhunting several years ago in the Ochocos and I get separated from my friend. Not a big deal as we would meet back up a camp later.
Well I am seeing a few deer, moving slowly, stopping, stalking etc and after a few hours I decided to make my way back to camp and this is where the 'lost' part begins.
I realize I had not been taking note of landmarks and was looking 'down' too much. I had wandered down into a large valley and couldn't see the treeline I roughly navigated my position by time and sun and headed back toward where I thought camp was and to move to higher ground.
Well the day is turning to afternoon and as I am coming over a hill I walk into a grassy meadow with a LOT of bulls (cattle) sunning themselves! Well I figured they were range stock which didn't mean I was particularly close to anything so I gave them space and walked out of their sight and around the meadow and back up the hill.
Anyway afternoon wearing on and I am no closer to camp nor do I recognize this area. Anyway I keep moving and pass through another meadow and see what look like a grove of alder trees. For some reason I 'glass' them and see what look like markings on them so I walk to them and see many initials carved with dates I can still make out - with some from the early 1900's.
Ok well I am not the first one to be here either so I continue on and finally admit to myself I AM lost and begin to plan for a night out but would continue for a while I still had light.
Well dang near dark and I come to a dirt road that appears to be heavily traveled being fairly flat and compacted so I decide to take a right which I knew was the direction of camp and continue to walk the road. At about a mile I come to another road with a fence line and I immediately recognized it as the road we were on Friday afternoon a couple days previously driving to camp so I felt confident in following it.
About 9 PM I see the spur road to the camp and a note laying in a folding camp chair under under a tree from my friend telling me to stay put as he was going to return every half hour or so until about 10 PM and if I was not back by then he was going to head into Prineville and notify the Sheriff Dept.
Well about a half hour later I hear a vehicle and its my friend pulling in and I load my stuff and off we go!
Later after reviewing my adventure on a map it appears I had passed camp by only maybe a few hundred yards during my initial return and continued past it.
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I suspect most of us who go or used to go to large malls had some of those "where the hell did we park" times at those places. Used to have to remember to write down the row we were in. One night at work I totally forgot I had used Wife's car. I was walking up and down the employee parking, right past my car. Started to think someone had taken my beater car. I kept thinking who in the hell would steal that car. Then it hit me, car was in the shop and Wife's car was the one I had walked past multiple timesI write enough embarrassing posts w/o purposely telling about how I got lost on Ruckle Ridge or how our entire group of hunters got lost in the dark packing an elk out of West Birch Creek.
Or about how sometimes I can't find my car in the Walmart parking lot.
Or how I was heading north on 205 trying to pickup 84 going east and took the wrong exit/entrance... then wondered how come the setting sun was in my windshield.
I suspect most of us who go or used to go to large malls had some of those "where the hell did we park" times at those places. Used to have to remember to write down the row we were in. One night at work I totally forgot I had used Wife's car. I was walking up and down the employee parking, right past my car. Started to think someone had taken my beater car. I kept thinking who in the hell would steal that car. Then it hit me, car was in the shop and Wife's car was the one I had walked past multiple times
I know I need to write down the number of the aisle I park in... but never remember to do so. <sigh>
And I often wonder why the wife took or misplaced my stuff!!
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"I was never lost - but I was bewildered for three days once"
Daniel Boone
Daniel Boone
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Think I remember seeing that quote in my old Boy Scout Manual from 50 years ago...
There! Fixed it for ya...
OK...
When still a fairly new hunter, I went up to Ruckle Ridge outside of Elgin and north of Mt. Emily near Ruckle Junction with a friend to hunt elk. I had never been to that area. He drove up a road to where it ended and then I walked up a trail for aways and sat while the buddy who was familiar with the area went and tried to run some elk out to me... no joy.
A bit later, the buddy suggested I walk up to the top of the ridge and hunt along the ridgetop alone. Not coming with me to show me around. Told me to be careful towards the end because the ridge fans out a LOT.
Not wanting to seem like a woosie, I agree. I went up to the top, turned right and paralleled the road we came in on. Not that I could see the road tho. There was about 1' of snow. I ran across some elk tracks and fresh scat. Started following the tracks, went down a small decline and climbed down a tree trunk to get to the bottom. Followed those tracks for about 10minutes, maybe 20 or 30... I lost track of time.
After a bit I came across a set of boot prints following those tracks. But I continued on anyway, figuring that maybe the other hunter would spook elk to me. Another ten, 20, or 30 minutes went by.... more boot tracks... damn, now many hunters are following this bunch of elk... went down the same decline and tree trunk... uh oh!!!
(Ever have that adrenaline dump when suddenly your mind is totally blown???)
It was obvious that I had walked in a circle as the ridge fanned out and became less distinct. But which way is the road? How do I get out of here???
I had made the mistake of not taking a compass shot even tho I had one around my neck. I had thought that since I was on the ridge and had turned right, all I had to do was turn right and walk down the hill to get back to the road. But what to do now that I was on ground that wasn't very sloped and didn't know what direction I had been going since there was gloom and no sun that day. I usually use the sun as an informal guideline.
So I figured I needed to pick a compass heading (generally the Grande Ronde Valley is east of Ruckle Ridge) and stick to it. Every five minutes or so, I doubted I was heading in the right direction. But I made myself stick to it. After an hour or so, the sky cleared a bit and I could see a broad valley in front of me, with what looked like Mt. Harris in the distance. Not sure, but okay, head for the valley. Finally came across a road. Not sure which way is back to the pickup parked at the end of some road. Not sure what road I had come out on. Oh well, assuming we had gone west from the valley, I turned right and walked the road. Never had any traffic come along the road. Walked about 1 1/2 hours, doubting all the way, and finally reached the truck where my bud was waiting. I didn't tell him I had gotten lost.
Confidence out in the woods was permanently toast. Tho I hunted for many more years, I was never comfortable out by myself.
Moral of the story... take a compass shot before heading out!!!!!!!
California born... not a woodsman for sure!!!
When still a fairly new hunter, I went up to Ruckle Ridge outside of Elgin and north of Mt. Emily near Ruckle Junction with a friend to hunt elk. I had never been to that area. He drove up a road to where it ended and then I walked up a trail for aways and sat while the buddy who was familiar with the area went and tried to run some elk out to me... no joy.
A bit later, the buddy suggested I walk up to the top of the ridge and hunt along the ridgetop alone. Not coming with me to show me around.
Told me to be careful towards the end because the ridge fans out a LOT.Not wanting to seem like a woosie, I agree. I went up to the top, turned right and paralleled the road we came in on. Not that I could see the road tho. There was about 1' of snow. I ran across some elk tracks and fresh scat. Started following the tracks, went down a small decline and climbed down a tree trunk to get to the bottom. Followed those tracks for about 10minutes, maybe 20 or 30... I lost track of time.
After a bit I came across a set of boot prints following those tracks. But I continued on anyway, figuring that maybe the other hunter would spook elk to me. Another ten, 20, or 30 minutes went by.... more boot tracks... damn, now many hunters are following this bunch of elk... went down the same decline and tree trunk... uh oh!!!
(Ever have that adrenaline dump when suddenly your mind is totally blown???)
It was obvious that I had walked in a circle as the ridge fanned out and became less distinct. But which way is the road? How do I get out of here???
I had made the mistake of not taking a compass shot even tho I had one around my neck. I had thought that since I was on the ridge and had turned right, all I had to do was turn right and walk down the hill to get back to the road. But what to do now that I was on ground that wasn't very sloped and didn't know what direction I had been going since there was gloom and no sun that day. I usually use the sun as an informal guideline.
So I figured I needed to pick a compass heading (generally the Grande Ronde Valley is east of Ruckle Ridge) and stick to it. Every five minutes or so, I doubted I was heading in the right direction. But I made myself stick to it. After an hour or so, the sky cleared a bit and I could see a broad valley in front of me, with what looked like Mt. Harris in the distance. Not sure, but okay, head for the valley. Finally came across a road. Not sure which way is back to the pickup parked at the end of some road. Not sure what road I had come out on. Oh well, assuming we had gone west from the valley, I turned right and walked the road. Never had any traffic come along the road. Walked about 1 1/2 hours, doubting all the way, and finally reached the truck where my bud was waiting. I didn't tell him I had gotten lost.
Confidence out in the woods was permanently toast.
Tho I hunted for many more years, I was never comfortable out by myself.Moral of the story... take a compass shot before heading out!!!!!!!
California born... not a woodsman for sure!!!
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Confidence out in the woods was permanently toast.
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A roll of blaze orange surveyor tape is your friend in the woods!
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Great! Now everybody is gonna use that trick. I'll never get home...
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You can pretend that you are Theseus and tie some string to yer truck...and play it out as you go along...
Andy
Andy
You can pretend that you are Theseus and tie some string to yer truck...and play it out as you go along...
Andy
That's about my limit anymore...
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Just remember to change the sails on your truck before ya head back to town...You can pretend that you are Theseus and tie some string to yer truck...and play it out as you go along...
Andy
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I've never been lost, but I have seen the sun set in the north a few times.
Jeannie is, in her own words, "navigationally challenged." A couple of months after moving to our current house we were driving around the area garage-saleing. We'd been out for a couple of hours and see a sign so we turn down the street. As we are driving along Jeannie says this looks familiar. I wait for a couple of blocks and then point and say "that is our house on the right." Yes, we were on OUR street, which is only three blocks long, and she didn't know where she was. After twenty years in Portland the freeway system is still a mystery to her.
Jeannie is, in her own words, "navigationally challenged." A couple of months after moving to our current house we were driving around the area garage-saleing. We'd been out for a couple of hours and see a sign so we turn down the street. As we are driving along Jeannie says this looks familiar. I wait for a couple of blocks and then point and say "that is our house on the right." Yes, we were on OUR street, which is only three blocks long, and she didn't know where she was. After twenty years in Portland the freeway system is still a mystery to her.
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I never get lost...people always tell me where to go...
Its usually someplace warm and in a hand basket....
Andy
Yeah, but you are not supposed to tell everyone Andy.
I was wondering how on earth they got 'roads' and 'truck's to Riverton in 1838?
Not really lost, but that "Feeling". We were on the Dufer Valley RD which cuts off 35 on the East slops of Mt Hood looking for morels. I'd driven off road for a few hundred yards. We'd got out and hiked maybe 3/4 mile into the woods. The plan is usually to make a big half circle and end up back on the road we parked on. Then walk back to the car on the road. We got to the point where we should have been back to the road a 100 yards or so away from the car. I didn't find the road. Walking further to where the road should have been, didn't find the road. From where we were standing I knew the direction back to a strange looking tree. I had Wifey head in that direction with us calling MARCO---POLO repeatedly. She found that funky tree and I worked my way to her and the car was easy after that. I never did really figure were I was compared to the road. The point is, that feeling. That must be the feeling lost people get just before they panic. It was so unfamiliar to me, and damned uncomfortable. That's the only time I've ever experienced it.
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