Two Appalachian Trail news items of interest this week:

Mike Caetano of Pensacola, FL is hoping to become the oldest person to thru-hike the Appalachian Trail and he’s already on his way into the record books. The 86-year-old man started his hike this spring and hopes to complete the journey in November. Caetano is planning a “flip-flop” hike where he’ll skip some southern sections of the trail this summer and will return to them in the fall to complete the hike. This is not Caetano’s first time on the trail as he’s “section-hiked” the entire Appalachian trail in the past. The current record holder, 81-year-old Lee Barry, completed his thru-hike in 2004. We’ll try to keep you posted on Caetano’s progress as we hear more…

A legally blind hiker was rescued after becoming lost on the Appalachian Trail last week where he spent 6 days alone in Amherst County, VA. Ken Knight became separated from his group while hiking on the trail and it took rescuers three days of searching to locate the man (he wasn’t reported missing until three days after he disappeared). After lighting a signal fire that turned into a 2-acre brush fire, Knight was found by rescuers mostly unharmed.

Knight says he’ll consider hiking with a satellite beacon or a cell phone next time but points out that the most important things hikers should bring along are survival skills. Technology can fail he says and survival skills may be the only thing that keep you alive until help arrives. Amen to that.

As an engineering student I was always taught that failure is much more instructive than success and I think the same is true in the outdoors. When a hiker gets lost that’s really a navigation failure and it’s a great time to reflect on outdoor knowledge and awareness. I wrote about my experience being lost and how it taught me about my own stubborness but also confirmed some things I learned as a Boy Scout like following a stream to safety.

Anyway, this week a teenager in New Hampshire got lost while hiking alone on Mt. Washington. The teen did a lot of things right (he is, after all, an Eagle Scout) but he also made some critical mistakes we can all learn from.

1. Never hike alone. This is probably the biggest lesson this teen learned but I’m still not sure he gets it (after his rescue he said “I would never hike alone again in snow conditions“). I suggest not hiking alone in any conditions because you never know what might happen (weather, injuries, etc.).
2. Head down to safety. After a couple days on the mountain the teenager decided to hike up the mountain to get help but the rescuers were looking for him at lower elevations. Following water downstream is a good strategy as is getting out of cold/windy conditions at higher elevations.
3. Don’t take shortcuts. This is where I got into trouble during my own “lost experience” and it’s a pretty easy trap to fall into. Stay on the trail because it makes it easier for rescuers to find you plus the conditions on the trail are generally better than off trail.

In the end we’re glad the teen made it back safely - hopefully his story can teach us a few lessons about staying safe on the trail.

I’m one of those people who rarely get lost. I have a fairly innate sense of direction and whether I’m hiking, biking, driving, or running, I usually have a GPS with me plotting my course. Perhaps it’s my confidence in my ability to navigate that got me into trouble during a hike two summers ago along the Appalachian Trail at Siler Bald (Nantahala National Forest, NC) in the summer of 2007.

My wife and I decided to take a short hike (2 miles or so) up the AT with our dog Jackson to the top of Siler Bald before lunchtime. We had been completely rained out on a backpacking trip the previous day and ended up spending the night in a motel in Franklin so we were anxious to get back on the trail. The hike up was beautiful and along the way we passed families with small children and dogs - the perfect day for a hike. The views from the bald were incredible and after hanging out for a bit we decided to descend to a picnic lunch.

I had a basic GPS with me and a topographic map of the area and noticed there was a trail shelter just off a spur trail on the way down. On the map it appeared there was an old forest road or perhaps a trail that led from the shelter to the car and, not being one to walk the same trail twice, I decided we should go back via the shelter to switch things up a bit. The descent to the shelter was steeper than the trail we walked up but we made it there quickly and poked around a bit before finishing the hike.

If you’ve ever been camping on the AT you know the area around a shelter is usually riddled with dozens of “rat trails” created by folks looking for water, a place to dispose of “waste,” or out of the way spots to pitch a tent. This shelter was no exception and so we had a hard time finding the right trail back to the car. After going down a couple dead-end trails we finally hit upon what we thought was the trail. According to the GPS we were less than half a mile from our car and I figured even if we had to bushwack our way back we would be there in less than 15 minutes.

As we walked down the old trail/road bed the sapplings started becoming thicker and eventually the trail disappeared altogether. Now at this point we had two options: turn around and head back up the mountain to rejoin the AT or continue through the woods using the GPS as a guide. Being the man that I am, I decided on the second option and we walked further into the forest.

You may be imagining a lovely jaunt through the woods at this point but I can tell you it was not lovely at all. The forest undergrowth seemed to be entirely made up of thorn bushes and briars and we had to carefully pick every step along the way. At this point I was worried we were really lost but I didn’t let on to my wife (though the dog probably knew ). I heard a small stream in the distance and I asked my wife and our dog to stay put for a moment while I scouted the other side of the stream but the brush and undergrowth was even thicker on the other side so I came up with a new plan: follow the stream down to the paved road.

Following a stream is classic survival advice because the thinking is that a stream will eventually lead to a river which will eventually lead to civilization. In this case we were thousands of feet above sea level and I’m pretty sure we could follow this stream for weeks without ever getting to a river. Anyway, I still had my sense of direction and I knew Wayah Rd. was to our north, though I didn’t know how far.

We followed the stream for a couple hundred yards or so until the stream turned into a slick, rock-strewn and rhododendron-covered trickle of a waterfall. We slowly picked our way down the rocks and tried to stick to the sides of the waterfall where we could cling to roots and bushes. At this point Jackson was having the hardest time because he’s not good at walking slowly and picking his lines. I tried to slow him down but he just wanted to run down the hill so I let him go, crashing through bushes and scrambling over rocks until he reached a relatively flat spot.

After about an hour my wife and I finally made it to the dog and realized we had made it to the paved road! I snapped the photo at the top of this post to show where we had come from and we quickly hiked up the road about a half mile or so to our car. It had taken us about 2 hours to travel a quarter to half mile and we were both famished when we finally got to our picnic lunch.

For me the lesson here is that even with a map and a GPS you can get lost, especially if you’re stubborn and unwilling to retrace your steps. Having a good sense of direction can sometimes get you into trouble but as long as you stay calm you’ll make it through in the end. The feeling of being lost is not a good one but I’m glad for the experience every once in a while to get the adrenaline flowing!

A woman missing in the Pisgah National Forest since Sunday walked out of the forest safely on her own after about 24 hours in the wild. The UNC-Asheville student had been hiking alone Sunday afternoon and when she didn’t return that evening her roommate alerted authorities who mounted a seach and rescue effort. In so many of these cases we hear about the things hikers do wrong when they get lost in the woods but it turns out Lindsey Pfundstein actually made the right choices:

• She left a note with a roommate saying where she went and when she’d return. Lindsey ended up changing her plans a bit but rescuers were still able to find her vehicle quickly and were searching in the general area where she was lost.
• Lindsey brought along water and food. Many hikers skip the water and food, especially if they’re only planning on a short trek but in an emergency this can be a lifesaver.
• At night Lindsey found shelter and stopped moving around. Nighttime can be disorienting and oftentimes lost hikers will become even more lost trying to navigate at night. Lindsey also found an Adirondack (3-sided) shelter and covered herself with leaves to stay warm. Bear Grylls would have been proud
• She didn’t panic - at least that’s the feeling I got from reading the article. When Lindsey walked out of the woods she spoke with a reporter who asked, “Are you searching?” she replied “No, I I think I’m the one they’re looking for.” Such a calm response is pretty amazing considering what she went through. A positive mental attitude is probably the most important thing to bring to the outdoors.

We’re glad this story had such a happy ending. Hopefully others will take this as a lesson on hiking safety and what to do when lost outdoors…