Lost Hikers Found near Saddle Junction after leaving Tram

[halhiker]

http://goo.gl/6EvY7

[cynthia23]

"a day hike to Long Valley"?? Think it must have been Round Valley.

Same old Desert Sun. No one there has ever been anywhere near the mountain. let alone up it. They might as well be writing about France.

Thanks for posting this, Hal. And glad to know my fellow San Franciscans are safe.

[Florian]

I bet they went south from Long Valley and up the old route to Hidden Divide. Then they got disoriented and went down the Willow Creek trail. I ran into a family half way to Willow Creek a couple years ago that thought they were heading back to the tram. I'm always amazed how unaware ppl are of their surroundings sometimes.

-Florian

[zippetydude]

Hi Cynthia. I loved your comments about the reporting. Made me laugh.

Hi Florian. I dunno, it might not be inattention that gets people lost. I find it surprisingly easy to lose my bearings when I'm new to an area even though I try to pick out landmarks and pay close attention to where I'm going. I don't start doing xc routes and really exploring until I'm very familiar with an area. Have you ever gone on a new trail, and on the way back thought, "I'm glad there's a trail! I don't remember this part at all!" ? Sounds like your analysis of how they got turned around is accurate.

z

[halhiker]

I bet they went south from Long Valley and up the old route to Hidden Divide. Then they got disoriented and went down the Willow Creek trail. I ran into a family half way to Willow Creek a couple years ago that thought they were heading back to the tram. I'm always amazed how unaware ppl are of their surroundings sometimes.

-Florian

I met a friend on the mountain years ago who was heading the wrong way in a whiteout. He asked me how I knew I was going the right way and I told him, "I have a compass".

Obviously, these people did not.

[RMRUpete]

The last two searches are posted on the RMRU web site. It is amazing how people get lost and that they are total unperpared, but happy outcome in the end.

[Hikin_Jim]

You RMRU guys have been really busy lately.

HJ

[cynthia23]

Whoa. That link is mighty interesting. That story of the rescue of the guy stuck in the Long Valley drainage is quite harrowing.

And speaking of .... did anyone else read the op-editorial in yesterdays (or maybe it was Sunday's) Desert Sun, written by a guy who hiked down Skyline on the 4th of July and nearly died? It was kind of jaw-dropping, on several fronts. I'm surprised nobody has posted it. Maybe somebody can, she hinted I would be interested to hear what others thought about it ...

[pdforeme]

http://www.mydesert.com/article/2012070 ... lenging-up

[Hikin_Jim]

Interesting article. At one point he describes himself as a "regular" hiker:

I'm a regular hiker and often bicycle more than 40 miles

Yet he also says:

A few folks even advised against this outing altogether, telling me downhill is harder than uphill. That didn't make sense

Food for thought: How does a "regular hiker" not know that really steep downhills can be very, very hard?

No disrespect intended to Mr. Eggert, but if you read the article, it's got "not a serious hiker" written all over it yet his self description is "I'm a regular hiker." I wonder if Mr. Eggert gives us some insight into the type of "hiker" that does Skyline when they have no business doing so. The key here is that Mr. Eggert thinks of himself as a regular hiker. I don't know Mr. Eggert, but he probably does hike regularly -- just not the kind of hikes that would really allow him to have an informed opinion about descending Skyline. I'm speculating a bit, but I wonder if there aren't a lot of people like Mr. Eggert out there, people who "hike regularly" while not really being serious hikers, people who feel confident about their hiking abilities.

I suspect that misplaced confidence from people who really don't have a basis from which to assess a Skyline hike may be the root of the problem. "I hike regularly, I'm confident and comfortable out on the trail, I don't struggle -- I mean how hard can it be? This is just a little more of what I do all the time."

HJ