It's getting too hot to safely do Skyline now.

[Florian]

I think the rescue stories like the one Cy just posted bother me the most. A mile or so up a good trail and they need to call for help? Come on. Just stay on the trail and walk back down. The people that get to 6000' on Skyline, out of water and exhausted, yes, they really need a rescue.

-Fb

[Wildhorse]

The rescue story in the paper tells us that the lost hiker was a woman, 32 years old, from Los Angeles, separated from her boyfriend, and, by implication, that she either did not have a cell phone or else the battery was dead. (Apparently the writer believes we are able to assess the meaning of these facts based on common prejudices we may have.) Then the article appears to provide official instructions for hiking from the police: don’t hike when it is hot, drink a lot of water, be fit, wear bright colors, and carry a cell phone. Hiking is described as risky.

The article in the newspaper seems to be an attempt to put down the lost hiker and to moralize to the rest of us. The article may also be implying insultingly that this would not have happened if the woman had stayed with her man.

I wonder what really happened up there and why the man called the police. The woman seems to have done quite well for herself, coming down the social trail in the dark. I can imagine other stories instead of the one the journalist told. I can imagine other assessments of hiking.

Hiking is worth it, even if one gets lost. If one is not fit, it is a good way to become fit. It is good to wear clothing that blends with the colors of the land, to be part of the land. Even if one has a cell phone, it is a good idea to turn it off during the hike and bury it in one’s pack so that it does not distract from the experience of hiking in wilderness. The Los Angeles area is one of the greatest hiking areas in the country - so many mountains to climb, so close to home. Life is good at any age, if one can walk in the wilderness and be wild again, leaving civilization and its electronics, police and moralists behind, even if only for a little while.

[zippetydude]

Wow, pretty feisty there Wildhorse!

I read the article and didn't see the negative connotations that you saw. It seemed fairly sparse on information, but it didn't appear to put the woman down as far as I could see.

Now, if it implied that this wouldn't have happened if she had stayed with her man, I would agree. And I would also think that the same would be true for him, that if he should have stayed with his woman. To me, it is incomprehensible when I read about couples out in the wilderness who hike "together" on an unfamiliar trail and then separate because of different speeds or other such trivia. If you already know the trail well, or have arrived at camp and wander a little way away, that makes sense. But in a case like this, it's reasonable (and pretty much standard procedure) to stick together.

So, when you said you wonder what really happened up there...do you mean you think they got in a fight or something? It does seem odd that they "got separated" out there when there was really nothing to be gained as far as I can tell. I'm with Florian in that there was no need for a rescue call anyway. She made it down fine on her own, and it wasn't like she was missing all night or something. Strange story.

Sometimes there's no figuring people out. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKpQRjj_WbU

z

[Wildhorse]

I do wonder what happened up there. The separation could have been accidental or intentional. The moralizing from the police implies that the police, or the reporter, may have judged it avoidable or irresponsible. I don't look at it that way.

It may be the case that the reporter simply summarized a brief police report on the incident and spoke to a cop who moralized about it. The reporter may have not ever spoken to the hikers. The story is not complete.

One evening, my wife was about fifty feet ahead of me on a trail and turned off the trail for a moment for a stretching break. Lost in thought, I did not notice her leaving the trail. She thought I did, and she did not realize that I was going on ahead of her. A couple of minutes later I called out to her because I could not see her ahead of me. Hearing no answer, I assumed she must be further ahead than I thought. I began running to catch her. After some distance I figured that it was impossible that she was that far ahead of me, so I turned back looking for her off trail. Meanwhile she had returned to the trail and correctly assumed I was now ahead of her on the trail, but wondering why I did not stop when she did. So, we were united in a minute or so. I was not carrying a cell phone. She was. It did not matter.

We have been lost together many times in the wilderness. It goes with hiking off trail. We carry GPS devices, compasses and maps, and we pay attention to the landscape. Still, we get lost, until we find our way again. Sometimes, even in unfamiliar territory, we go up or down on a route by which it is not possible to return. We don't know how we will get out of the situation, until we do. It has always been fun to work our way out of this. We accept the risk. We don't call the police.

We have good friends who hike alone. They get lost sometimes. Sometimes they spend unexpected nights in wilderness.

Not everyone understands why some of us take these risks. With such risk comes much joy in life.

All of this makes a good life, in spite of what the moralists with printers, guns and badges say.

[cynthia23]

An evocative post, Wildhorse. As I said you raise important issues, and I do agree with you--to a point. What concerns me is when rescue personnel have to put their lives at risk for people who were really very thoughtless. I think it was last year that a rescuer died during a rescue in Arizona? These things do happen.

Sometimes, because we mostly live in a culture so removed from the wild, people head out onto the trails with what I'd almost call an 'amusement park' mentality--the unconscious idea that they're entering a space that has been designed for their entertainment, and so of course won't contain hidden dangers. I remember one time carelessly scrambling up a pile of rocks as if it were a jungle gym, then taking a moment to reflect that the pile was totally random and not human-designed, and I had no idea whether it was stable or not. I'm (very) glad to see people head out into wild places, but I do want them to take a moment to slow down and remember that the wilderness has not been 'sanitized for your protection' and it's up to us to take responsibility for our safety.

re: the woman recently 'rescued' off the North Lykken--sounds like the boyfriend panicked, but he probably thought" better safe than sorry." Frankly, if I disappeared on a trail, I'd rather have a boyfriend who worried about it, than one who coolly assumed it would all work out.

[Wildhorse]

I wonder if cell phones and the assurance of police rescues add to the problem. Perhaps people would be more careful if help were less accessible, or if it were harder to hire rescuers.

Studies have shown that people who wear helmets while riding bicycles are more likely to be hit by a car. Experts speculate that maybe drivers are less careful around someone who is wearing a helmet.

Studies have also shown that a person is more likely to suffer brain damage and death as a pedestrian than as a cyclist. Yet, newspaper articles almost always take care to note that a bicyclist was not wearing a helmet when struck by a car driver, even while the newspapers never mention the carelessness of pedestrians who don’t wear helmets. Of course, helmets do protect against injuries when a cyclist is traveling a low speed and just falls over. That is what they are designed to do. But they are not designed to prevent any injuries when the cyclist is struck by someone driving a car.

A friend constantly warns me of the danger of getting hit by a car while riding my bike. He was once hit as pedestrian. It has caused lasting harm. The driver never saw him in the middle of the street in the middle of the day. She just heard a thump and felt a little jolt. I wonder if the police report noted that he was not wearing bright clothing. Maybe the police would have noted that the driver would have seen him if we were crossing the street with a companion. (The reporter would seem out of touch if the reporter had mentioned that he was not wearing a helmet.)

I don’t know where to draw the line on risk. Cynthia is right about the danger of Skyline to most hikers when the temperature is high, and even to many hikers when it is not so hot. She is also right about the recklessness of some hikers. (They drive cars too.) She is also right about hiking prepared. Cynthia is okay in my book.

[climbant]

As someone that has been in the fire service for 15 years, I think it is a total lack of personal responsibility. There is an expectation that the "system" will save you. 911 calls have increased dramatically over time and people call for anything, and I mean anything. My department responds to the "rescues" around Palm Desert area, La Quinta, San Jacinto, Mecca Hills, Thousand Palms, etc. A once rare call for service is now very frequent especially on the bump and grind. You go out ill prepared without knowledge, but who cares, 911 one is there to take care of you. It seams that telling someone to be a prepared adult is offensive, well who cares, take care of your damn self. Your first thought shouldn't be call 911. You are responsible for your own safety, the most dangerous thing I do around the valley is probably running the roads. I don't wear bright colors, I do listen to my headphones, and I'm fine because I understand the risks, keep my head on a swivel, and ensure my safety. I don't assume drivers are looking for me, cause the aren't. I've been lost and enjoyed the adventure, if I have to spend a night outside because something didn't go right that's fine because I expect to happen so I'm prepared if it does.

Cynthia, you do a great job beating the warning drum, I guess its sad that you have to.

[Wildhorse]

Climbant, Cynthia:

You both mentioned that people are not taking responsibility for their safety when hiking. Climbant wrote about an increase in 911 calls. What may be causing a decline in taking responsibility and an increase in 911 calls?

[cynthia23]

My two cents is ... people are infantilized and have few adult skills in the way that people did up to fifty years ago. Fewer and fewer people know how to do anything physical/crafty, be it woodworking, sewing, starting a fire, growing a plant, etc. Kids don't spend any time wandering around, climbing trees, poking around in the woods or vacant lots. They're always being herded from one adult-supervised activity to another. They spend no time on their own and are disconnected from the realities of physical existence. They're used to everything being virtual, and they're used to being told what to do by authority figures. When they come up against the limits of physical reality in a sudden way (like finding themselves slightly lost) and there's no one there to tell them what to do, they're absolutely flummoxed and panic. They do the only thing they can think of to do--call someone in authority.

[Wildhorse]

Cynthia, your two cents are telling. You have described our condition well. The connections you make fit. Our alienation from nature is nearly complete.

In my imagination, the woman in the news story was never lost. Leaving the Lykken Trail she fled the alienation. Why her boyfriend did not flee with her, I don’t know. I think he wished he had. She lied to the police. They would not have believed her if she had told the truth.

My wife and I climbed a mountain as raindrops fell early this morning. We were not wearing rain coats and our clothing matched the colors of the earth. I was soaked when we reached the top. I could not tell the sweat from the rain. Life was once like this.