I have heard that Maine is one of the most difficult portions of the Appalachian Trail. It’s a fascinating trail although I’ll never do it!
If she’d had a compass and the most minimal knowledge of how to use it she would have had no trouble getting back to the trail. Far too many people get out in the woods without the most elementary knowledge or training. She died less than 2 miles from the AT because she was disoriented and could not follow a simple direction back toward the trail. How sad....
“The report also includes agonizing information on Largay’s desperate attempts to contact her husband, who was waiting for her just a few miles away when she got lost. It acknowledges that rescuers came within 100 yards of her location on several occasions, only to miss her.”
Did she not keep a fire lit?
An interesting quote from Keller. A rebel when she was born, she tried to get away from her beloved teacher and mother to marry but was thwarted in that desire in a most poignant episode. Once her ‘teacher’ was dead, Helen took up drinking Martinis and smoking and dancing!
I know she was a Wobbly but I blame Anne Sullivan’s husband for misleading her very naïve self.
There is a reason to call it WILDERNESS, it is ‘in the wild’! Naive tourists on their own without the proper tools risk not only themselves but endanger others sent to look for them. Just last week there was the report of a hiker killed by a black bear after his group scattered.
For me to do the same thing as this unfortunate woman, I’d have my GPS, solar recharger and that inexpensive MARSAT rescue beacon. Not to mention any number of the wilderness survival guides.
Sympathy to her and her family BUT her life was not wasted if she can be a good example of how NOT TO DO IT!
I will refrain from making disparaging comments about the dumb things city people (even those who think they are experienced) do when they get lost in the mountains.
Sounds like she was really a nice lady, prayers to the family.
How very sad-that poor woman-I’ve hiked in my state most of my life-I hike in the woods and by the river in the rural area I live in, and there are lots of neighbors who also hike-I never, ever hike alone if I’m going to be out of easy reach of homes and people-to do so is dangerous beyond understanding-as well as getting lost, there are predators in any forest...
Anybody hiking alone should have a personal locator beacon. Even groups of people, why not?
What, she saw a public bathroom, walked towards it, and somehow got lost?
I know, I know... Bad newspaper writing!
Regards,
Hikers should consider carrying radios with 30+ mile range where there are no cell signals.
“How to Stay Alive in the Woods”, by Bradford Angier.
so you leave the trail to do a pee and don’t know enough to just turn around and go back the way you came to the path again...
maybe the husband hated her and left her there to die knowing she was that stupid ???
:)
Read where that trail is not marked very well. You could lose it pretty easily if you stepped off it for one reason or other.
I remember one lesson from when I was a boy scout over 50 years ago. If you are lost, stop moving. Once she realized she could not find her way back (it should not have been more than a short time) stop moving.
Wait for help.
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Atop a ridge. No water.
You can go 30 days at least without food. No water, 3-5 days.
If you are ever lost in the woods, go low. Keep going downhill. You will be near water to replenish your supply and also will, in all likelihood, encounter a road or a house.
Women in general do not seem to have as good a sense of direction as men. I wonder if this was part of the problem.
This is very sad. I’ve walked part of the AT, and the best piece of survival equipment I can suggest is a partner. No way I’d go alone - one twisted ankle could suddenly become a survival situation.
I did get lost in the woods once, as a kid - and I admit I got a little ‘panicky’. The terrain starts to all look familiar, and your mind convinces you that you’ll find a road or other landmark, ‘just over the next hill’, only to be repeatedly disappointed. Now that I’m older, I always suppose that if I can get to high ground, with the exception of the most rugged parts of our nation, there will always be something to see - either a road, powerline, or something like that...man made and it has to start somewhere and go somewhere.