Posted on 05/26/2016 1:18:25 PM PDT by DUMBGRUNT
Geraldine Largay knew she was doomed.
It had been two weeks since she left the Appalachian Trail to go to the bathroom and lost her way; two weeks since she had wandered deeper and deeper into the woods of northwest Maine in search of a cellphone signal to message for help; two weeks since she had pitched her tent underneath a copse of hemlock trees atop a ridge; two weeks since she was supposed to meet her husband, waiting for her in his SUV on Route 27.
Largay’s food was running low. Her water, too.
So the 66-year-old retired nurse sat down and wrote a note to whoever might find her — after she was dead.
“When you find my body, please call my husband George and my daughter Kerry,”
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Call it suicide by faking being lost?.....Hard way to die. Sort of like being locked in a jail cell and beating yourself to death with the toilet lid.
Ok, if she did have a compass, she was just stupid. She went off the trail to poop. Surely she didn’t walk more than 30 mins to find the right bush. So she goes the way she thinks is the trail but was wrong, and finds herself lost. At this point, she texted (no service) her husband that she was north of the trail.
IF SHE KNEW SHE WAS NORTH OF THE TRAIL, why didn’t she walk south???????????? There would have been no way NOT to run into the trail if she had walked southeast, south, southwest.... Look on the map.
She tried to find higher ground for cell bars so daddy could send a helicopter to save her. And survived three weeks like that. When if she had walked 2-3 hours south at most, she would have been on the trail that same day.
She did have a compass and a map. Her biggest mistake was hiking alone.
I’d read several other articles about this case but I had not read this WaPo article because they are trying to force me to subscribe in order to access the article. I guess one can only access a certain small number of WaPo articles online without subscribing, and I’ve reached my limit (I do not wish to subscribe).
Anyway, I was assuming she had no map and compass because other articles had not mentioned same, and because it would be so elementary to get back to the AT with even just the compass. Don’t know why she found herself stranded, then. There has been no mention of her being hurt or ill and they have the notes she wrote while she knew she might be facing the end. For some reason she was unable to make proper use of the map and compass if indeed she possessed them.
“If she’d had a compass and the most minimal knowledge of how to use it she would have....”
A compass? You silly, there’s an app for that.
Yes, that is the point. She had everything she needed to get right back onto the trail except common sense.
And the above poster is right: she proved she had no common sense when she refused to go home when her hiking partner had to.
Not that hard to tell directions even without a compass. The sun comes up in the east, sets in the west, and the ecliptic leans to the south in the northern hemisphere. You can set up a vertical stick and look at the shadow and how it moves over the course of 15 minutes to estimate the cardinal directions. From that you can set waypoints to walk toward and then again look at the shadow of a vertical stick to reorient yourself to a new waypoint. At night you have Polaris to tell you due north and knowing a few star patterns or simply watching the motion of the stars or moon will help you lay out the cardinal directions that you can use the next morning. You can also look for skyglow from cities to judge your location and which direction the glow is coming from.
“but when you’re on the spot and every tree looks alike”
Two weeks dude. Two weeks. There are very few places in this country where you can’t just get out of by walking in the same direction for two weeks.
In my experience disposal lighters are also totally unreliable.
We walked some of it in Virginia.
I have a little hand held GPS unit made by Garmin that I bought on ebay for $50.If I was going out into the middle of nowhere I'd be damn sure to have it with me...with at least two sets of fresh AA batteries.
If she really had to go and that was it why would you go far off the trail at all. How busy would the trail have been for necessary modesty? You wouldn’t want to do your business on the trail itself but anything beyond a short distance would be overkill no? I am not an expert on hiking but for those who are is there a standard procedure for a bathroom relief break?
I’ve backpacked many times in the East and a little in the West. My sense of direction is not too bad but there have been times in the thick woods where I tried to retrace my steps and was on a very wrong azimuth. The thickets look different going back.
I enjoy bushwhacking (hiking where there is no trail) but it is tricky.
Wow,that old? Incredible. :-)
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Haha! I thought the same thing!
Two weeks indeed. Not saying she didn’t make some very unfortunate choices. Not trying to defend her. I just think it’s sad.
Another story: A friend of mine’s brother had ... issues and refused to take his medication. Eventually, the parents had to send him out on his own due to threats of violence, etc.
The family had been avid campers when the boys were young, so he decided to head out to the Adirondacks and go ... camping.
He was found a month or so later facedown in a river.
Mother nature is an unforgiving youknowwhat.
(Talon, not meant as a diatribe to you or anything, just felt like telling another story.)
I walked that portion of the AT back in the early 80’s...most lean-tos had a ‘bathroom’, so to speak. You sat down on the crossbeam, and added to the pile. Some even had a roll of toilet paper on a nearby tree branch. Easy peasy. Of course, if you’re squeamish...
Handy gadgets and huge time savers when they work. Do you know how to use it?
Plus bring a cell phone and keep it in a water proof bag. Read stories of people getting hurt or lost in the back country and being able to make a call and give the authorities their GPS coordinates.
Technology can be a life saver when it works.
Yep. Walk downhill until u find water. Follow the water downhill. Basic woodcraft. An old scout manual from the thrift store would have done her more good than the fanciest iPhone.
There was an episode on Animal Planet’s “North Woods Law” which spent the entire hour covering search and rescue efforts by the Maine game wardens and other agencies.
Yours is the first post on this thread to mention a whistle. Something absolutely basic for any survival kit. It would have saved this unfortunate woman.
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