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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]OMG can't we just agree that this is very sad and while she clearly made some mistakes, it is a sad story and we all have likely made mistakes that could have been fatal and got lucky (I see people texting and driving every day...) while she made mistakes that turned out to be deadly. Also, she wasn't planning to hike solo - but her hiking partner had to get off the trail early and she decided to continue. It also doesn't sound like she just stayed in place - she tried to hike up to get a cell signal and it was in very dense woods so hard to see far in front of her. Also from what I read in "A Walk in the Woods" there are a lot of people hiking the AT, so you are less alone than in a lot of hikes (provided you stay on the trail). [/quote]

No, we can't agree.  First of all, if someone dies because they were texting and driving, my reaction would be the same: they were downright stupid to do that, and they risked other peoples lives.  Texting and driving isn't a "mistake."  It's a conscious action that is well known to be risky not just to one's self but everyone else.  Honestly, I even put that in the category of drinking and driving.

While hiking alone isn't as bad as texting and driving, it's downright foolish, even for someone who is experienced.  She could have easily stopped when her hiking partner stopped.  And in some accounts, the hiking partner even URGED her to and said they could do it again the following summer.

Sure, a lot of people hike the AT, but when you go off the trail, that is a different story.  And even with a lot of people hiking the trail, it's still a horrible idea to do it alone.

Every time a story like this comes out, the message should be that it is foolish to hike alone.  But instead, you get all of these people offering "well, I could have navigated" or "it's just a tragic accident."

No.  Don't hike alone in remote areas.  [/quote]'

I think this is a little excessive.  This woman seems to have had insufficient skill and left one of her protective layers behind (her SPOT).  If she had her SPOT with her when this happened it would have been a very different story. It's why many solo hikers including myself carry something along those lines - personally I have the InReach that allows for 2 way texting.  I also never hike without paper map and compass and have my phone set as a GPS.

There are lots of small errors in this story, but perhaps the biggest was to keep going when she was misplaced rather than backtracking to a known location.  She got off trail to pee - she wasn't intentionally going miles off trail. The instant she realized she was lost she should have stopped, and if she couldn't easily backtrack she should have stayed in that spot and proceeded to use her whistle to blow the 3 whistle emergency signal every few couple minutes.  She might have had to do that for a while but if you're just off trail far enough to pee you're close enough for someone to hear the whistle.  And any backpacker worth their salt will stop to assist.
And planes fly 
Is solo backpacking as safe as doing it with a companion? Of course not, but that can be said of all sorts of things.  It is not however so risky that we should offer a blanket 'don't ever hike solo.' [/quote]

Almost every disaster is the result of multiple factors, any one of which could have averted the situation, had it gone a different way. The trick is to figure out how to change at least one.  The first rule of wilderness survival is "STOP, and THINK."  I think it's like someone who can't swim who falls into the water. If they would just relax, they would float.  Panic is the biggest killer.  Based on other comments re: her apparent poor sense of direction, she may not have realized that she was lost until she was very far away from the trail and seriously had no idea how to navigate. (Which goes back to the fact that she, in particular, shouldn't have been out there alone.) The rescuers apparently were very close to where her body was found. Why didn't she start a very smoky campfire?  Even if the woods were damp (as per usual in Maine), surely she had some fuel for a stove that she could have used to get it started?

There are parallels to the Christopher McCandless story, although I agree that he was trying to get lost. However, I do think he realized too late that he didn't want to die.  The mutiple mistakes he made in preparation (or lack thereof) are well documented. However, the bus he died in is not far at all (by Alaska standards) from Park Service facilities, and a simple map would have shown him a way to get out, even over the flooded river (there was a cable over the river not far away). In any case, it's near a small airport and Park Service planes fly fairly low over it all the time as they take off and land.  There were ways he could have attracted attention.  The book was annoying in the way it glamorized his situation.  I had read the book, but when I was in the area and realized how close he was to help, I was shocked.

My husband and I are teaching our children survival skills (through Boy Scouts and on our own).  Even if those skills are never needed, the confidence it gives to a kid to know that he can survive is a wonderful gift. You must respect the wilderness, but, if you are appropriately prepared, there is no reason to fear it.  
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