What to do when lost

[Fredt4]

You're not having fun if you never get lost.

Put on clothes?
Build a fire?

No, that's for boy scouts, being lost isn't automatically a life or death situation. You have the gear necessary to survive on your back. Getting lost may mean a few more miles but rarely is it a disaster unless you make it one. Don't swim across an open body of water unless you know what you're doing, don't try to climb up or down a cliff, don't panic and injure yourself. Just consider it an unexpected alternative plan. Prior knowledge of the area is helpful, a GPS phone with maps us helpful, knowledge of how natural features work (water runs down stream, usually towards civilization) is helpful.
Taking a good night's rest is probably better than trying to hike out in the dark. Be very careful following a stream as stream beds can be very slippery. Being lost isn't necessarily a situation that requires a rescue, so having a Spot isn't something that you necessarily should use. Sort if like LNT, you packed your self in, you pack yourself out.

[Chair-man]

a GPS phone with maps us helpful

I know the first thing I reach for if i become lost is my smartphone GPS app. As mentioned in other threads, YOU DO NOT NEED CELL SIGNAL FOR A GPS APP TO WORK. This is only partially true, YOU MUST HAVE THE MAPS DOWNLOADED INTO YOUR PHONE. For example, if you try to use your google map app it will not work unless you have cell signal because the google maps load from the cell towers. On the other hand if you have an app like Guthooks A.T. app those maps are in your phone and will work without cell signal showing your exact location.

I have Guthooks FL Trail app and it works great even in moderate to heavy tree cover.

[Dogwood]

You're not having fun if you never get lost.

..being lost isn't automatically a life or death situation. You have the gear necessary to survive on your back(MAYBE!). Getting lost may mean a few more miles but rarely is it a disaster unless(MAYBE!)....consider it an unexpected alternative plan. Taking a good night's rest is probably better than trying to hike out in the dark....Being lost isn't necessarily a situation that requires a rescue... ...you packed your self in, you pack yourself out(MAYBE!).

Got to keep your spirits up. Best asset you have is that piece of gear between your ears. Use it...without giving into rampant fear.

[wormer]

Make a good mental map in your head and be mindful of white blazes

[rafe]

There's "lost" and there's "lost." So maybe the first thing is to try to figure out just how lost (or what kind of lost) you are and respond accordingly.

[JohnHuth]

Regarding the Boomhower story - you have to make some judgement as to whether people will be searching for you in the right places.

We had a lecture by Robert Koester on Lost Person Behavior - here's a link to it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hE1B6JOu2R8

Having some idea of how SAR teams look for lost persons can help you make more informed decisions.

[Shutterbug]

A button compass is still a valuable tool. The last time I got lost was when a sudden snow storm caught me. Within minutes, the snow had completely covered the trail and the snow prevented me from seeing any landmarks. I knew I was north of a road that ran east and west. I used the compass to keep heading south until I reached the road.

[Fredt4]

I know the first thing I reach for if i become lost is my smartphone GPS app. As mentioned in other threads, YOU DO NOT NEED CELL SIGNAL FOR A GPS APP TO WORK. This is only partially true, YOU MUST HAVE THE MAPS DOWNLOADED INTO YOUR PHONE. For example, if you try to use your google map app it will not work unless you have cell signal because the google maps load from the cell towers. On the other hand if you have an app like Guthooks A.T. app those maps are in your phone and will work without cell signal showing your exact location.

I have Guthooks FL Trail app and it works great even in moderate to heavy tree cover.

Nice that you're pushing that particular app, I favor Backcountry navigator. But neither automatically downloads the relevant maps. Google Maps is almost worthless for offline use because it map cache is nearly impossible to control. Technically Google Maps has allowed offline maps since June of 2011, but it's unreliable. Nearly all new cellphones GPS works "even in moderate to heavy tree cover", though I'm sure someone will manage to buy one that doesn't.

The biggest advantage of smartphone apps over GPS devices is that hopefully you're familiar with their use, but many times I've seen hikers that don't know how to use either their GPS device or their app.

Some will have a app and drive into the ocean (Google Maps), which shows that even if the app works you need to have a head on your shoulder.

[Coffee]

Apps are a good tool but not to be relied on. I used Guthook's PCT app a couple of times to verify where I was in relation to a snow covered trail. I corrected course once in a spot where I was tempted to follow a different course. I think that I would have been OK without it, however, as I had maps and a compass. But it is a nice tool when it works. Notably, smart phones don't work that well in freezing weather especially with precipitation. Some gloves allow for use without taking the glove off but I found that any moisture on the screen reduced tracking. Also battery drain is very high in cold temperatures. Smart phones should not be relied on.

[TexasBob]

Regarding the Boomhower story - you have to make some judgement as to whether people will be searching for you in the right places.

We had a lecture by Robert Koester on Lost Person Behavior - here's a link to it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hE1B6JOu2R8

Having some idea of how SAR teams look for lost persons can help you make more informed decisions.

http://www.smcmsar.org/downloads/Los...20Behavior.pdf

Here is another interesting read about lost person behavior and goes into some more depth about what Mr. Koester discussed and uses real cases to illustrate the points. It is interesting that some of the posts on this thread about what to do when you are lost could be used to illustrate how people make the right choices and the wrong choices when they are lost according to this article.

[rocketsocks]

What to do when lost

...eat my lunch.

[illabelle]

We met a guy recently who got lost in the Smokies in late February several years ago. Even though he was experienced in off-trail exploration, he relied too much on his GPS, got turned around, and his 2-3 hour dayhike became four days characterized by panic, despair, hypothermia, exhaustion, hunger, hallucinations, etc. His blog post is linked below.

http://gosmokies.knoxnews.com/profil...-and-misplaced

[JohnHuth]

It's important to understand that GPS units are not totally reliable. Local conditions, both weather and terrain can give false readings. The signal-to-noise ratio is very poor, and the receivers can degrade over time from exposure. Finally, they're only as good as the data entered. If you google the phrase "your GPS is wrong", you'll see a lot of road signs that are the result of bad data.

This is not to say that topo maps are impeccable either. Often times trails will get rerouted to help with erosion, sometimes features will get misplaced. I was once bushwhacking and my topo had a stream flowing east, when it was really flowing south. This threw me off, but I finally caught the problem by using other features to figure out where I was.

It's difficult to give bulletproof advice - but regularly updating your position on a map, and having a "what if I get lost" plan going are good habits.

[BirdBrain]

For many, discussing what lost means is sorta like discussing when King Arthur is coming back. It is an ever moving benchmark based on outcome. I view it entirely different. How many people have been "lost" while driving? If the driver is "lost", where does that leave the passenger that is asleep? If they find their way out of the situation, were they ever "lost"? I do not view "lost" as an outcome based word. I would contend that if you do not know where you are, you are lost. To say it another way, if your ability to make it to your destination requires following another person or their efforts, you do not know where you are and are lost. When it comes to hiking, you are following the works of other people. If the trail is your only plan to make it to your destination, you are lost and are playing hiking roulette. What happens when that trail disappears? When the trail disappears, reality becomes apparent. You are lost. I am certain this nuance will be lost on the average hiker. Those same people likely have never done a 5 mile bushwhack through area they have never seen before. I love walking on the AT. It still feels a little weird though. I was an adult before I realized long manmade trails like this ever existed. I always thought hiking was what I was doing as a child and thought everyone that hiked did so without trails. I thought trails were tourist traps. They still feel that way to me. I say my grandfather was right when he said "If you don't know where you are when you go in, you are already lost". All many hikers know is that they are following a trail... and that is a very bad plan. They are already lost, but don't know it yet. So... what should you do when you are lost? Make a better plan, be prepared, know the area you are going into, know where to go if you "lose" your way, and then step into the woods.

[rafe]

BB: how does being OCD square with bushwhacking? You've said (in other posts, on other fora) that you know exactly where you're going to be at the end of every day of hiking. I can't think of a hiker who leaves less to chance than you. (At least, less than you claim.)

[BirdBrain]

BB: how does being OCD square with bushwhacking? You've said (in other posts, on other fora) that you know exactly where you're going to be at the end of every day of hiking. I can't think of a hiker who leaves less to chance than you. (At least, less than you claim.)

I do not grasp your question. I will provide information. Hopefully I hit your curiosity. I started hunting when I was 10. I started trapping soon after that. I was already exploring the woods when I was 4. Now granted, the explorations at 4 were only a few hundred yards at a time. By the time I was 14, I had done hundreds of bushwhacks. Many of those bushwhacks were typically, "you go down to that point on the powerline, and I will go over to this road (sometimes a 10 mile loop that required the first person dropping me off), and walk a mile or 2 back to where you are going, and we will see if a deer is pushed". Practice, practice, practice, makes perfect. As a older teenager, I was part of trips to places like the Forks. A typical walk would be, "lets fish down this stream for 5 miles, and then hike to the top of that hill, and then hike out to the car the next day". In Maine, this stuff was very common for my generation. It was even more common for the generations before me. My goodness, it is easy to plan distances on the AT.

Now I have exceeded my post limit. I have set a goal to not post more than once a day on this site. I did so to limit myself. I figure if I only post once a day here, I can only make a fool out of myself once a day here. See you guys in a couple days... at least.

[nsherry61]

A button compass is still a valuable tool. The last time I got lost . . . I knew I was north of a road that ran east and west. I used the compass to keep heading south until I reached the road.

That, right there, knowing where you are in relationship to some linear "handrail" or boundary (road, river, creek, valley floor, ridgeline, etc), and being able to orient yourself and walk toward it is how I have found my way out of almost every situation where I have been disoriented and/or otherwise lost (many times in 40+ years of extensive off-trail hiking).

Now, that I carry my cell phone with me and can use its GPS, I am only ever lost in that I can't figure out where a trail or other feature I am looking for is because it is either not on the map(s), or the map(s) show the location of interest in the wrong place.

[wormer]

I'll second Shutterbug, the most lost I ever got was during a sudden snow storm. My tracks were quickly covered with snow and about a hour later I came onto my tracks again. Finally I got lucky and came out onto a woods road that I was familiar with. After that I always carried a compass, because it will at least keep you in a fairly straight line.

[PAFranklin]

That, right there, knowing where you are in relationship to some linear "handrail" or boundary (road, river, creek, valley floor, ridgeline, etc), and being able to orient yourself and walk toward it is how I have found my way out of almost every situation where I have been disoriented and/or otherwise lost (many times in 40+ years of extensive off-trail hiking).

Now, that I carry my cell phone with me and can use its GPS, I am only ever lost in that I can't figure out where a trail or other feature I am looking for is because it is either not on the map(s), or the map(s) show the location of interest in the wrong place.

That's what I was taught by my father over 50 years ago. I always study the map of the area I'm going to and work out a couple of those boundaries. I may get into a situation where I don't know my exact location but I always have that "handrail" to bail out to. (I have actually never been lost but I have had a time or two when someone moved the trail on me.)

[English Stu]

Thanks for the useful tips. Certainly when I mentioned being lost and lighting signal fires ect you have decided you are in a SAR situation.

Forethought is good. On the JMT at our position the camp spots for two were in short supply so me and my walk buddy were camped about 100yds apart in scrubland. I was to join him to cook the evening meal. After setting my tent shelter I had only gone a few paces from my spot when I realised I could have difficulty to finding that location again, especially as it would be dark for my return. I tied a trash bag and stuff sack on a bush at the site. Camp locations in scrub can look very similar when you are searching. Luminous guylines help and remembering to take your headlamp is essential.