| Catch-all Discussions » On the topic of being lost in the woods - references » 7/17/2019 2:39 pm |
I don't have a book reference to share, but I do have a technique that some of you may already know. In substitution for a compass, if you have a real watch (I dislike calling them "analog" watches), you can use it to determine your bearings. Point the hour hand toward the sun. Midway between the twelve and the sun is (within reason) south. It works pretty well (in the northern hemisphere anyway).
If you are in a circumstance where you can't quite make the location of the sun, run a stick in the ground to see if you can get a shadow.
In the absence of the watch or the compass, you can improvise the technique if you have a reasonable feel for time of day, but.....well, your mileage may vary in that instance. If you have the watch, but it is 6pm....well, I like to think you can figure it out....
There are lots of ways to establish your bearings absent a compass, but the watch technique is so fast and simple and easy to remember that it stands out to me. If you haven't tried it before....well, I bet you just did sitting in front of your computer and thought to yourself "hey....that does point you in a pretty southy direction."
| Catch-all Discussions » Missing teens last seen on Western Uplands » 7/15/2019 11:31 am |
Great news. Hopefully some details are learned here that will provide a lesson to help others avoid a situation like this.
My son is in scouts. When they are camping they are (supposed to) have "the 10 essentials" on their person: First aid kit (usually a baggie with a couple items in it), flashlight, trail food, sunscreen, whistle, map/compass, rain gear, pocket knife, matches, water. (Whether or not all the boys actually have the stuff with them is a different matter). I would be curious to know what the girls had with them, how they used it, if they found alternate uses for items they had, etc. - there can be great lessons in that for everybody.
But for now we'll just go with the good news that the girls were found, hopefully in good shape.
| Trip Reports » May 2019: Kiosk to Birchcliffe Cabin - 4 Day Loop DAY 3 » 7/10/2019 4:39 pm |
WOW that was incredible. It has to be frustrating as all get out to have your progress grind to a halt like that, plus dumping the boat! Lots of scary things to go with that too - hypothermia obviously, losing gear potentially, not really knowing the depth of the water, and on a creek like that, how easy it would be to get a foot or a leg pinned between branches/logs, etc. That last one makes me shiver - glad you came out of it ok. Your video shows a pretty good example of maintaining a level head in an emergency situation - well done.
| Trip Planning » Booth's Lake with a 4-year-old - HELP! » 7/08/2019 12:56 pm |
I stayed on Booth a couple of years ago and paddled just about the whole thing to look around. Most of the sites looked pretty good to me, except one - which I had stayed on before, and that was #18. It is a very covered campsite, uphill in back almost immediately, facing a shoreline that is claustrophobiacally close if that's a word, which made it feel very dark. Just about all the other campsites had something going for them it looked like to me. Years ago I spotted moose between #2 and 3 by the way. The big island site in the west is one I liked, but there are some that have access to a big rocky overlook, others have beaches. McCarthy Creek is nearby, that's a nice day paddle, a bear swam across in front of my canoe there a couple years ago. So......yeah, ok, there's reason for concern with it being so booked, but I don't think there are many lousy campsites there.
| Trip Reports » Late June Opeongo Loop - Happy Isle, Lac La Muir, Hogan, Big Crow, Pro » 7/08/2019 9:19 am |
Opeongo has been off my list since about 1981. My "never again" moment was coming out of the eastern arm, when the plan was to wake up early to beat the wind. We woke up at 6am to waves crashing on the shore. Big ones. Whitecaps all over the lake. We should have been windbound but I guess some of the dads really needed to get to work the following day, so off we went into the most dangerous conditions I've ever paddled in. No canoes dumped which was a miracle, but we did scoop out some water. Three of us in the canoe, me in the stern. The other two could switch sides, but I had to paddle left side the entire way to maintain control. It took forever. When we finally made the access point, my bowman was shivering from the wind/water beating he had taken.
Taking a water taxi is the only way to go as far as I'm concerned, but honestly I'm too proud for that, which is a bit silly I know, so I just don't plan trips in that area...which is just as silly because there are some beautiful lakes in the central part of the park.
| Campgrounds and Front-country » Boil Water Advisories until further notice..... » 7/05/2019 10:49 pm |
Is there anything generally known about what is going on with this? This sounds different than the algae situation further east in the park, but to me a little stranger, because I would think this warning is about well water, and it seems odd to me that there would be a microbial problem with that. (although I'm as far from expert on that subject as you can get). Also, does that mean a water filter wouldn't be sufficient at these locations, that you'd actually have to boil the water?
