No. Don't hike alone in remote areas.


Hiking is downright foolish?? Good lord so we should all lock ourselves in our houses and never venture out into the great outdoors? What an odd and sad view you have. This woman lived a full life and died adventuring into the great outdoors. To me that is a much better life than someone who lives a long time and is too timid to ever do anything with it!


Your reading comprehension is lacking. The PP said 'hiking alone', not 'hiking'. And, given the portion of the AT she was hiking, yeah, it was downright foolish to do that alone.


lots of people hike alone. Lots of people hike the AT alone. It is not foolish. I think more people should try getting out in nature by themselves. It is good for the soul. I did find an article on this and it sounds like she took medication for mental health issues, and was directionally challenged. So there are some specific circumstances that may have come into play. But again, solo hiking is not foolish if you are prepared and know what you are doing. I also think, good for her for trying this, if it is something she wanted to do.

I hope you hike alone and often.......

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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).

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.

'

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.'

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.

As any student of literature knows, the biggest factor (usually) in human tragedy is hubris. I'm sorry, but I think many people *think* they know how to survive in the wilderness, but the reality is that even people who for a living have to have those skills acquire them over years -- with LOTS of time actually spent surviving and living in the wilderness. And even those people -- who train for years and actually spend time relying on their survival skills -- still fear the wilderness.

You aren't adequately prepared if you don't have some fear. It's unpredictable and can be harsh. There is a reason why humans eventually established cities and civilization, because the wilderness is harsh and -- here's a shock -- WILD. Bears, for example. You are a fool if you don't have a healthy fear of bears. Does that mean you should be paranoid about bears when you go hiking? No. But it does mean that if you are in an area where there are bears, you should have a healthy enough fear of them and recognition that even despite all of your best efforts and the recommended things to do, you could still run into a problem with a bear.

Fear isn't a bad thing. It exists for a reason. Animals who live in the wilderness use it to survive. Panic is the bad thing. Panic is what you want to avoid. Fear can be healthy, especially in nature.

But aside from that, if you really want to prepare your child, you should teach him/her that even with all of the things you are teaching him, don't be over confidant. I love nature. I love being outside. But the first and biggest lesson anyone should learn about nature is to be humbled by it.

Our ancestors knew that. We've forgotten.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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).

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.

Hiking is downright foolish?? Good lord so we should all lock ourselves in our houses and never venture out into the great outdoors? What an odd and sad view you have. This woman lived a full life and died adventuring into the great outdoors. To me that is a much better life than someone who lives a long time and is too timid to ever do anything with it!

Did you not read the post? hiking ALONE is downright foolish. Hiking is great, fantastic. But going into a remote area ALONE where you know you can't rely on cell phone reception is foolish.

There's a difference between being too timid to do anything and being naive. It was fine that she went with a friend. When her friend dropped out, she should have cut it short and planned for another hike when her friend was available.

There's nothing odd and sad about my view. I'm fine with hiking, but you shouldn't go alone.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This woman died because she was a moron who lacked basic survival skills.

The moron part is too harsh, because we all do stupid things all the time. But yes, she died because she made a series of mistakes and lacked basic survival skills. As do many, many people who hike and do other activities. They just are lucky enough not to die from their mistakes. She was unlucky.

To me it's similar to people who try to summit Everest and other high mountains. Many people are not adequately prepared but manage to succeed. Many people are not adequately prepared and fail, and some died. And even some people who are very prepared fail and died. Shit happens. All the knowledge in the world is not 100% foolproof.

That's a topic deserving of another thread. Many people who shouldn't be on Everest go and pay a lot of money to tour companies who put at risk local Tibetans to carry all of the stuff up the mountain for the Westerners who are looking to cross something off their bucket list. It kind of makes my stomach turn. There was an interesting documentary. The sad part is that the Tibetans do need the income, but it seems pretty clear that they don't feel like they're respected. I also suspect they aren't paid enough and that the tour companies reap most of the profits. It's exploitation.

But beyond all of that, unless you are a professional mountain climber or at least a really, really experienced one (athlete level), I don't think you have any business on Everest. But no one wants to hear that.

As for this hiker, I personally don't think that even experienced hikers should hike alone. So much can go wrong. The hiker could injure herself or himself in such a way that he/she can't walk. But it just isn't wise to go walking alone in remote areas.

Even when humans were hunter-gatherers, they stayed in groups. Why is it so hard for people to get over their ego and overconfidence?

Her biggest mistake was not stopping when her hiking partner had to go home.

Sure, lots of people hike alone and live to tell about it, but I think they're just lucky. It's still foolish. And if you are going to hike alone, then you should be extremely prepared. I believe there's relatively cheap technology that doesn't rely on getting a signal. It uses satellite technology. I think they're called personal locators or something like that. If you are determined to hike alone, you should at least get something like that.

The problem is in part that this woman wasn't planning on hiking alone. Her trip was planned with a partner in mind. So it's likely that she didn't pack or prep with "I'm going to be alone" in mind.

That's part of why should have cut the hike short when her friend had to leave.

I kind of view hiking in remote areas like going to sea: preparation is important, but you also have to have some sort of lifeline/communication/SOS system if something goes wrong, and a cell phone isn't going to cut it. It's also not wise to go alone. Why? Because humans are social creatures. When they're in remote, uninhabited areas (like the sea or the deep forest), it doesn't take much for them to panic or to lose a sense of sanity in part because of the isolation. That's why even if people know what they are supposed to do in emergency situations while hiking or while at sea, they can easily mess up because the sheer reality of being so isolated is enough to send them into panic. If there is one other person there, that sense of isolation and aloneness that makes people freak out isn't as intense.

Anonymous wrote:This woman died because she was a moron who lacked basic survival skills.

The moron part is too harsh, because we all do stupid things all the time. But yes, she died because she made a series of mistakes and lacked basic survival skills. As do many, many people who hike and do other activities. They just are lucky enough not to die from their mistakes. She was unlucky.

To me it's similar to people who try to summit Everest and other high mountains. Many people are not adequately prepared but manage to succeed. Many people are not adequately prepared and fail, and some died. And even some people who are very prepared fail and died. Shit happens. All the knowledge in the world is not 100% foolproof.

This may be insensitive, but it may have been a form of suicide. She couldn't think of how to kill herself, so she "lost herself" in a remote area.

Anonymous wrote:I read somewhere that she suffered from anxiety, but might have run out of her meds. In which case, she may have been less than sharp-minded.

That was in the New York Times, where it said she had anxiety disorder and was prone to panic attacks when unmedicated. A former hiking partner also said that she had a poor sense of direction, had made wrong turns previously on the AT, and became "flustered and combative" when her errors were pointed out to her.

Put together, this sounds like a woman whose judgment was too poor to go hiking by herself.

I read somewhere that she suffered from anxiety, but might have run out of her meds. In which case, she may have been less than sharp-minded.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This woman died because she was a moron who lacked basic survival skills.

Or had dementia

I read the articles in the Post and Herald and cant help thinking about this. Apparently she a 10 minute walk to a dirt road south of her, she was about 2 miles west of the trail, she set her camp near a stream, and rescuers came within 100 yards of her camp multiple times. Her failed text messages indicated she knew she was north of that road. In those 28 days, she had she walked parallel to the morning sun towards the road she knew was there she would have hit it in 10 minutes. Had she followed the stream, she would have been out in no time. Had she just walked in the direction of the sun one morning she would have gotten back to the trail.

I hate to Monday morning quarterback, or guess at other motives, and I know panic can be overwhelming, but something just doesn't add up for me.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How do you get lost on a trail anyway?

She stepped off to pee, lost the trail, and then tried to text for help. Her text didn't go through, so she made the fatal error of trying to find a cell signal instead of trying to find the trail.

Yeah I get that. But basic survival alone: don't go far from trail to pee. Who is there anyway?

Yes, this has been bothering me. You're out in the middle of nowhere with no one around. How far do you have to go off the trail to pee? Hell, you could just squat down there by the side of the trail.

Anonymous wrote:It said she was 20 minutes from a logging road and she had a compass. She had DAYS to run some transects to try to find the trail again. I still don't get why she just hunkered down and hoped to be found. I would pick one direction and walk until I collapsed.

I was wondering if she had a paper topographical map. I did all my backpacking before the advent of smartphones. I wonder how many people take to the wilderness with just their cell phone these days. A topo map would have made it more likely she could find her way.

The sun rises in the east, sets in the west, the rest isn't that hard. Maybe if she had a compass and knew how to use it, she would still be alive.

Anonymous wrote:This woman died because she was a moron who lacked basic survival skills.

Or had dementia

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How do you get lost on a trail anyway?

She stepped off to pee, lost the trail, and then tried to text for help. Her text didn't go through, so she made the fatal error of trying to find a cell signal instead of trying to find the trail.

Yeah I get that. But basic survival alone: don't go far from trail to pee. Who is there anyway?

doodlebug wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This woman died because she was a moron who lacked basic survival skills.

and yet she manages to survive almost a month alone in the back country...like to see you do that so we can all call you a moron.

And, she was a person. Imagine, PP, if your mother did something like this, or died in a way others feel is "moronic"...would you want internet people calling her a moron? Have some empathy a heart, something that resembles humanity.