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  1. #101

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    I would have probably thought that was an option, however having hiked that section in June, the trail up to Spaulding Mtn and then up Sugarloaf is some of the most dense and rough terrain I have ever seen. If you wander off the trail it is so thick and rocky you can hardly keep moving at all. I honestly would think that heading down the slope and looking for a stream or creek would be the best bet. Having said that, I cannot imagine bushwacking in that section. There were times in ME, where I would literally hike for 3-4 hours and not see one spot anywhere that I thought I could pitch my one person tent. Maine shocked me with how tough the terrain, and the trail is.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Coffee View Post
    In fairness, a very large number of thru hikers aren't skilled in backcountry off trail travel. In fact, probably the majority. Definitely including me - I don't know much about off trail travel. Her major mistake was going too far off the AT to relieve herself and then she couldn't find the trail. That modesty cost her life.
    I hope that what happened to Inchworm motivates more hikers to learn basic land navigation skills. "Everyone else is doing it" doesn't mean that you should go unprepared!

    One advantage of being a fairly seasoned bushwhacko is that I'm not given to panic when I find that I've lost a trail. It just means that the hike has turned into an off-trail trip. It also means that I've outgrown the advice of "stay put and wait for rescue", which is fine for eleven-year-old boy scouts who are a few hundred yards from a campground and who will be missed within the hour, not so fine for grownups on multi-day solo trips. Self-rescue is the best kind of rescue.
    I always know where I am. I'm right here.

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    It's all in the book, due out next summer. Hope it helps you understand how/what happened-- and others to survive if they get lost. Cheers, D. Dauphinee

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    You're right, Tipi W...some of the Navy SERE searchers did stay in the woods. There's so much more to the story than what was written; I hope you like the book. Out next summer, it is a homage to Inchworm while offering lessons to those of us without backcountry skills. Cheers! D. Dauphinee

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    Quote Originally Posted by HooKooDooKu View Post
    If a gravel road leads to civilization, then it also leads away. So even if she had returned to the gravel road, nothing says she would have gone the right way to get back to the AT.
    A road always goes somewhere. Nobody troubles to build a road that doesn't have a destination at the other end. If you're lost, and you come to a road, pick a direction and start walking. If the destination is just the patch that someone's logged, you'll know you've hit the end, backtrack and the town is the other way. If you have a map (and if you don't have one, why are you Out There?) maybe you can even figure out what road it is and where it goes, but you at least have a broad, flat, marked way back to civilization.

    Quote Originally Posted by HooKooDooKu View Post
    It makes sense that once you know you're lost, don't keep wandering about, sit tight and wait for help to come to you.


    If you haven't even rudimentary skills to become unlost - maybe. It's fine advice for eleven-year-old Boy Scouts, as I said above. Otherwise, "downhill goes to water, downstream goes to a road, a road goes to a town" is pretty much always true in the East, and will generally get you out within a day or so. Make that a couple or three days if you're deep in backcountry in the Adirondacks, the Whites, or the Unorganized Territory. And if you're in country like that, have enough skills that you can detour around the occasional waterfall when you're following the stream.

    In any case: learn and practice enough bushwhacking that you at least will continue to be clear-headed after you've lost a trail, and you'll be way ahead of the game.

    And yes, I have lost a trail (a seldom-traveled one, very intermittently blazed) before, and followed a stream that brought me out to a Nordic ski resort. The caretaker said that they got lost hikers all the time because all the drainages funneled their way (and the experienced hikers all know about following a stream out). Note that I phrased that, "lost the trail." I knew where I was. I didn't know where the trail was. Where I was hiking doesn't get very many inexperienced hikers - the country is pretty forbidding, and none of the big-name trails go there. It's gorgeous, but the newbies seem to know they don't belong there.
    I always know where I am. I'm right here.

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    So right, EB, I try to convey that in the book.-Dee

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    Bingo! (This is Dee Dauphineee...the author of the book.) But there's a lot more interesting stuff in it. But...Bingo!

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    Hey shelb, This is Dee (author of the book). I've heard of those tokens; do you have a photo of it, or could you snap a pic please? I'd love to see one. email: [email protected]

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    Bingo Suzzz, You more than most should enjoy the book (out next season). You bring up most of the points that made me agree (reluctantly) to write this book. (I was under contract for a novel which I had to break when I agreed to Gerry's story.) I think and hope you will approve of it if you read it. It is very difficult to write, but I hope that it will endear even more people to such a wonderful woman- and offer lessons for future hikers.--Dee Dauphinee "Piscatore"

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    Oh, and here's a little tip. When I leave the trail to do my business or to stealth-camp, I set my compass to the direction that I walked. (Put the south end of the needle in the house and it points the way back.) I also, because I'm stupid, wrap the lanyard around the compass in the direction that I left the trail. If I turned right off the trail, I need to turn right when I get back.

    I got in this habit after one morning when I packed up and realized that I had no clue which side of the trail my campsite was on. I bushwhacked up to a col that I knew the trail went through, but that was about 3/4 of a mile in beech whips and young hemlocks. Not really pleasant when you think that I was only sixty yards from the trail the whole way up. I even tried intentionally zigzagging, but apparently never zigged far enough actually to reach the trail until I was at my aiming point. It's even possible that I crossed it a few times. The blazing was intermittent, and when I registered, the book showed only four other names for the previous month. The photos show one of the sections where at least the paint was fairly fresh, but it surely felt like bushwhacking from blaze to blaze.


    I always know where I am. I'm right here.

  12. #112

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    Quote Originally Posted by piscatore View Post
    Bingo Suzzz, You more than most should enjoy the book (out next season). You bring up most of the points that made me agree (reluctantly) to write this book. (I was under contract for a novel which I had to break when I agreed to Gerry's story.) I think and hope you will approve of it if you read it. It is very difficult to write, but I hope that it will endear even more people to such a wonderful woman- and offer lessons for future hikers.--Dee Dauphinee "Piscatore"
    Thanks for joining the discussion, Dee. Was your book written with cooperation from her family?
    Teej

    "[ATers] represent three percent of our use and about twenty percent of our effort," retired Baxter Park Director Jensen Bissell.

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    Some family and friends-- but George wanted to not be involved...surely he still morns, and I respect that, so I've left him alone. Didn't want to put him in an uncomfortable position. The best sources were her best friends, from childhood on up. Very giving people. The Gerry parts are very respectful and written with admiration- but much of the book is about the S&R communities, the Navy, and "lost person behavior." Cheers--

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    AVENZA!! for cell phones.

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    Quote Originally Posted by D2maine View Post
    never said to not use a map or even recommended a compass so not sure of the argument, just letting you know its not nearly as bad out there as this thread makes it seem.

    No worries.

    I've read enough hiker journals to know it is entirely possible to hike the AT using nothing but the blazes. After hearing of and reading about dozens of lost hikers plus prior training, i just can't force myself to go out there without map/compass.

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    Good point, C...covered in the book: the Navy searchers, the wardens, and some of the volunteers were using three different types of maps, with differing datums!

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    Quote Originally Posted by TJ aka Teej View Post
    Thanks for joining the discussion, Dee. Was your book written with cooperation from her family?
    I would be interested in knowing if the Maine Warden Service cooperated — and if those directly involved in coordinating the search were willing to go on the record after you reached out to them.

    Also interested if you quoted any of the speculative posts here on Whiteblaze going on at the time.

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    First off I want to state that any comment I make is in no way intended to be offensive to the deceased as there's some really...ummmm to be frank, just plain mean comments in some of the posts on this thread. There's better ways to state one's opinion than to become derogatory.

    Quote Originally Posted by Lone Wolf View Post
    and nobody carries paper maps any more. very foolish not to. very foolish to count on electronics
    Yes this ^

    I feel super old school whipping my paper map out to see where I'm at, but then I remember that if doodoo hits the fan that map may be the key to getting me out of there. It's always a good idea to have a map and periodically keeping up with one's location on the map. I've seen way too much reliance on only electronic devices and/or the AT guides (primarily AWOL's, which has no maps).
    AT: 2007-2019 (45 sections)
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    Quote Originally Posted by Berserker View Post
    I feel super old school whipping my paper map out to see where I'm at, but then I remember that if doodoo hits the fan that map may be the key to getting me out of there. It's always a good idea to have a map and periodically keeping up with one's location on the map. I've seen way too much reliance on only electronic devices and/or the AT guides (primarily AWOL's, which has no maps).
    Equally important is the level of "situational awareness" that keeps track of "the ground generally falls off to the south around here, there's a stream west of the trail that crosses a highway a couple of miles south," or whatever the escape route is. With experience, a quick glance at a map is enough to keep that much in memory, so that even if the wind rips the map out of your hands, you still have an exit plan.

    And I'll underline, "no disrespect to Inchworm." I think that likely the best way to respect her memory is to try to keep others from meeting the same horrific end.
    I always know where I am. I'm right here.

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    Hi, rickb--The Maine Warden Service has been great. Interviews, emails, ride-alongs...very helpful. It still stings for them, though. I have spoken with a few of the volunteers, but I've focused mostly on the professionals and the few volunteers who were at least in the vicinity. Having worked in SAR for years, I pretty much know their mindset. The Navy guys and a retired ME game warden (who now runs K9's) got the closest to Gerry. I have a few quotes from White Blaze that were discussed with Inchworm's sister but haven't used them yet. Probably will next chapter.--Cheers. Dee

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