How did terrain trap hikers?

[NormaR]

Welcome back Hikin' Jim. I've missed you!

[AlanK]

Hence the term, "terrain trap.". You can go in, but you can't get back out. Does that make any sense?

"Terrain trap" sounds much better than "roach motel."

[Hikin_Jim]

Hence the term, "terrain trap.". You can go in, but you can't get back out. Does that make any sense?

"Terrain trap" sounds much better than "roach motel."

But either way it's a sticky situation...

[Hikin_Jim]

Welcome back Hikin' Jim. I've missed you!

Hi, Norma, nice to be back. Time is ever so limited these days. I'm "working" from home today.

A certain young lady has been distracting me from the internet lately, but it's a good thing.

HJ

[NormaR]

Oh my! Hikin' Joyce is BEAUTIFUL! What a smile! How are her map reading skills coming along???

[bluerail]

really beautiful Jim

[Hikin_Jim]

Hi, Norma,

I can't really get her to focus on maps. She keeps insisting that a compass is for teething. What's a poor daddy to do?


Thanks, Steve, my wife and I feel really blessed. She's a really sweet girl and very "low maintenance" as far as babies go. And it sure is cute when her face lights up when I get home from work. She's such a heart melter.

HJ

[bluerail]

thanks for adding the photos Jim..put a huge smile on my face ! I remember the feeling when they give you those looks, nothing compares.

[Hikin_Jim]

thanks for adding the photos Jim..put a huge smile on my face ! I remember the feeling when they give you those looks, nothing compares.

Hi, Steve,

Never encourage a proud papa, he'll just post more. You can click on this one.



HJ

[eagle11772]

Hi, BB62,

Nick's explanation about sums it up, but perhaps connecting the explanation to the map would be helpful.

Take a look at this map of the area where they went missing.

Point "A" is the tram station. Brandon and Gina were probably with others playing in the snow somewhere around point "B" below the tram. Note that the contour lines on the map are spaced widely apart -- in other words the terrain is fairly flat. The report says they "found a stream and followed it down." In Long Valley, the obvious stream is of course Long Valley Creek. They probably continued down the creek, turned east and proceeded through point "C". Notice that the contour lines start changing around "C." As one proceeds to the right (east) on the map, the contours get closer together and closer together -- in other words the terrain becomes steeper. Look at how tightly spaced the contour lines become progressively at "D", "E", and "F". Inevitably, as one proceeds through increasingly steep terrain, one goes down something that one cannot easily get back up. The terrain is so steep that John Donovan, whose camp Brandon and Gina found, died when he slipped trying to get down a portion of it. If Brandon and Gina got into terrain steep enough to kill John Donovan, they got into steep terrain indeed -- terrain so steep that they couldn't easily get back out of it. Hence the term, "terrain trap". You can go in, but you can't get back out. Does that make any sense?

Hope that helps,

HJ

Thank you for posting this info ! I saw this story on "I Shouldn't Be Alive" a few years ago, and have always been intrigued by it. It was on tv again about an hour ago, and because of that I once again started doing a little research on the web about this case, and found this wonderful site. I was looking for the exact GPS coordinates that they were found at, and was interested in what path they took to get into the terrible fix they got themselves into.

I am REALLY INTO GPS, and have been for years, and NEVER leave home to go ANYWHERE, even the grocery store, without at least one GPS reciever (I have 3).

I moved from Long Island to southern Arizona last year. About 20 miles south of me is Picacho Peak State Park. It's a very weird-looking geologic feature, and is so weird-looking that people have flocked to it for hundreds, and perhaps thousands, of years. I tried hiking to the summit alone a few months ago, but didn't make it, and was forced to turn back as it was starting to scare me. I plan on attempting another hike to the summit in the spring when the weather gets warmer. Currently the temperature there can get into the single digits. But the next time, I will be DEFINITELY hiking it with a partner, and will take a shorter route, as I took the longest route on this previous failed attempt to reach the summit.

Micro-electronic technology today is so wonderful and inexpensive and potentially life-saving that NOBODY should be without as LEAST one GPS reciever whenever they leave their home. Whenever I leave my house, even to go to the grocery store, or run errands, or go to church 60 miles away, I NEVER leave my house without my celfone, at least one GPS receiver, and oftentimes 3 GPS recievers, and a Personal Locator Beacon which I keep in my car.

Because the technology seems almost-miraculous, and is inexpensive, and potentially life-saving, I do not believe ANYBODY, PARTICULARLY people who go hiking, camping, and do other things away from civilization, should leave home, or venture into the wilderness, without these devices.

I have lost ALL sympathy for people who get into trouble away from civilization IF they don't have these 3 life-saving devices.

Recently, a young father with his 2 sons, ages 10 and 8, died from exposure along with his 2 young sons, because he got lost and didn't bring the necessary clothing, nor these 3 devices which undoubtedly would have saved their lives. He gets NO sympathy from me. He was just plain STUPID.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/nationa ... -1.1240338

For anyone who posts here, if you do NOT always carry a celfone, a GPS receiver, and a PLB (Personal Locator Beacon) when you go hiking, camping, or venture into the wilderness for otehr things, please explain WHY you do not do so.

I think that when you check in with a ranger before ventureing into the wilderness, the ranger SHOULD REQUIRE YOU to have these 3 devices with you.