Re: Hiking emergencies

"One thing I learned the hard way-always carry a light in unfamiliar territory-even on a short day hike. If I know exactly where I am in a local park, no big deal-I know how far it is back to the car; but in a new place, it is too easy to go too far and wind up picking your way back in dwindling twilight. Once was enough for me."

Tom this reminds me of a time back in high school, MANY years ago. I was cross country skiing with a friend on some trails we had skied on several times before and so we knew the area somewhat, but not intimately. Around dusk we got back to where we thought the car should be, but no car was there. Of course we had nothing with us except for car keys and ski wax, let alone a light of any variety or any sort of survival gear. Somehow in the fading light we must have missed a short spur trail that ran back to the parking lot; without knowing we were actually starting to ski the loop a second time away from our car. My friend played a hunch and luckily he guessed right and we stumbled upon our car after just a few minutes of walking around in ever increasing darkness.

Life threatening issues aside, it would have been quite embarassing to have gotten lost and in need of a rescue in a very small geographic area. That said, these weird things happen and people do get mixed up and get lost even when they should not. The incident scared me a bit and needless to say I now carry a bit more kit with me than I did in those days.