This is awesome!!
Not laughing at ya ,but with ya thanks!!
At any cost find your way back!!
Besides it has to be metaphor right ?
Bread crumbs = calories = no hikers gonna loose......
After reading the sad story of the lady who died in Maine, lost a short way off the trail, I have no problem with this method. It might save a life...
Thanks for your clarification of you playing with the words a bit.Originally Posted by Teacher & Snacktime
I know of people marking the trial with ribbon. Nver thought of using Bread Bag ties...
My love for life is quit simple .i get uo in the moring and then i go to bed at night. What I do inbween is to occupy my time. Cary Grant
biodegradeable ribbon is easy to come by,,,
A caveat. It seems to be tasty to deer and cattle. Although supposedly deer eat the plastic stuff too, However I strongly doubt it. Folks dont want to admit other people like to sabotage trails.
I also agree most of the time the privies are gross anyway I much prefer to poop in the woods. You could also take a little baggie of pink plastic ribbon already cut into 1ft. Pieces and tie one every 10ft , and of course retrieve on your way out.
some places require one to use a privy....
Great idea!
When I was reading it I immediately thought how different the story of Inchworm could have been had she used some trick like this.
https://tinyurl.com/MyFDresults
A vigorous five-mile walk will do more good for an unhappy but otherwise healthy adult than all the medicine and psychology in the world. ~Paul Dudley White
Snacktime and I were in Stratton, ME when she went missing. A memorial - empty boots and her photo - was set up at the trailhead kiosk. The search had been going on only a few days, maybe a week; folks were both hopeful and anticipating heartache. I spent a great deal of time "wishing" strategies to her so she could be found, and identifying with her plight as a woman of her age hiking solo, a "there but for the grace..." emotion.Great idea!
When I was reading it I immediately thought how different the story of Inchworm could have been had she used some trick like this.
This little trick was something I came up with when I became disoriented after a pit-stop, and immediately thought of her. Her tragedy can perhaps inspire others to be safe.
Last edited by Teacher & Snacktime; 02-07-2021 at 21:58.
"Maybe life isn't about avoiding the bruises. Maybe it's about collecting the scars to prove we showed up for it."
You make a controversial claim as the main reasoning behind your idea, then refuse to support or discuss that claim.
It is what it is.
that's what my thinking is as well......
it could have easily just been a thread on ways not to get lost while taking a tinkle without mixing
that element into it.....
I have gotten off-track a few times in National Forests -- either exploring something interesting or to take care of personal business -- and yes, it can be surprisingly hard to get back on trail. Many, many years ago something like this led to an unplanned November overnight in northern Wisconsin (happily with 3 friends and enough gear & skills to make it actually seem like a fun camping adventure, but it was an important eaching moment.) I keep several strips of bright neon colored surveyor's tape, cut into "flags" that I can quickly loop around tree branches -- always keeping one within the sight of another. As I go back to my trail, I collect them again. They weigh nothing, and take no space in a waist pocket (I also keep a few in my trowel/TP sack.) They have come in handy to mark the way to & back from my pre-dug campsite cat hole, too.
fortis fortuna adjuvat
For those for whom this is a regular problem, you're probably (hopefully) carrying a clever little device made specifically for the purpose. A compass.
Let's see, I'm walking due south for 60 steps. So I'll walk 60 steps due north when I'm finished.
Another thing. Never leave pack nor poles nor any other gear unattended at the trail. So if the SHTF and you sill managed to get lost, as least you have your full kit with you.
The Five Basic Principles of Going Lighter ~ Cam "Swami" Honan of OZ
Mine has a nifty little rotatable arrow on it so I can hightail it back to the trail when ready.
Dang! What'll they think of next??
The Five Basic Principles of Going Lighter ~ Cam "Swami" Honan of OZ
If you don't stand for something, you will fall for anything.
The longer the trip, the more likely I am to get turned around and disoriented. The first trek into the woods, it's easy to think, right, the trail is that a way. The third or fourth stop, things start to blend into one another. That said, I only need two points of reference, three at most for getting back to the trail. If I go over a rise, which is nice for the privacy, I'll drop my pack at the top of that rise, so it can be seen on the way back. Then a pole pointed toward the pack. I just make a point of not meandering and changing directions. If an obvious direction change in warranted, but really, that's pretty rare, I might drop a pole with the pack to point back to the trail.
Probably a terrible idea if you have a camo-material pack.
I don't leave breadcrumbs, but I do make it a point to take note of my surroundings, and if possible - always go straight uphill to find a spot. For one thing, most hikers are looking down while they hike! Once I've done my business, hike straight back down.
A compass isn't necessarily a better option really. Suppose you take 60 steps one direction, there's too many rocks, you go another direction 30 steps because you have to and there are bushes and then you find a spot about 10 paces over. At this point you really have to go, you nearly pop a blood vessel from eating too many peanuts and all you remember is was it 30 steps or 30 degrees?
This could be a short-term memory issue for some, whether age or disability even.
A GPS in rugged terrain may be off quite substantially. If that causes you to misidentify a geographic feature for instance, you might wander around in the wrong spot for a while.
Leo L I believe these plastic items are called "bread clips". One story commonly cited for using breadcrumbs is Hansel and Gretel, but the modern/translated versions differ from the original stories told by the Brothers Grimm to differing degrees.
Teacher I would suggest numbering these with a sharpie and perhaps strictly using a set pacing distance between placement.
Flagging tape is biodegradable and lightweight if you don't carry the whole roll. Longer length and better colors. If you somehow lost your last point, somebody would spot the flagging right quick if you were lost. Anybody working in the woods who spots flagging their first thought is "I wonder what that flagging is for?"
"Sleepy alligator in the noonday sun
Sleepin by the river just like he usually done
Call for his whisky
He can call for his tea
Call all he wanta but he can't call me..."
Robert Hunter & Ron McKernan
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Just wondering, how many times and how far off the trail most of you go for a bathroom break?
As an anekdote, it had happened to me once in the Middle East desert:
Alone in the winter in a rugged valley high up the mountains it was starting to get dark and it was hard to find a suitable spot for the night.
I found one finally in a boulder field, roundish Granite boulders the size of a table strewn in a wide area.
Dropped my pack, and as is my habit I strolled a loop through the area to look and see if there was anything noticeable or dangerous around.
It was pretty cold and it was getting dark quick. My sweat-soaked upper body started to get really cold in the stiff wind, all the boulders looked the same and suddenly I realized I was lost in this bolder field, kind of started to panic and stumble around to find my pack ASAP.
It took me a minute to stop panicking and doing the most reasonable: I walked ever-widening circles and finally found my pack within maybe 20 meters.
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