Reason to carry maps and advice to parents

[hammock engineer]

I am taking a zero today to rest a hurting knee on my LT hike and wanted to pass along what happened to me yesterday. I was at Hazen's Notch Camp eating lunch around 1pm when a man walked up and asked if I had seen his 8 year old son. I said I hadn't and that I hiked in the the opposite direction as him. He said that his son run ahead of him back south on the trail. He left after I talked to him a minute. I ran into him about a mile later and he still didn't know where his son was. By this point we both decided that he must have missed the trail somewhere. Which is very easy right now with the leaves fallen. He said that his girl friend went into town for help. I circled one way off the trail and he went the other. I did a small loop and went back to the trail and to the road. It is only 1.5 miles from the camp to the road. I passed 2 vermont state troopers on the way down.

When I got to the road I saw another trooper in his car. He was having problems with his 2 GPS units in giving the search helicopter the location to start searching. We were able to use my trail map to help guide the helicopter to the right place. I helped searched a little bit. At this point it was after 3pm and there were only 2 dog teams there. When asked the trooper was still using my map an hour or 2 after I gave it to him. Luckly they found the boy around 6pm at a near pond. It was 30 degrees the night before and really cold after dark at around 6:30pm.

Just as they found him more seach and rescue teams just arrived.

Did my map save him, probibly not. But it sure helped. The hug from the dad and the hand shake and thanks from the Trooper made me glad I had it.

Moral of the story is parents don't let your kid run away from you in the woods.

[Just Jeff]

And make sure they have a whistle on them at all times, just in case they do.

Good story, HE. Glad you were there to help.

[MOWGLI]

Moral of the story is parents don't let your kid run away from you in the woods.

Glad it was a happy ending. Unfortunately most parents who read this will be convinced to NEVER take their kids into the woods. We live in a culture of fear these days. Sad.

[Frolicking Dinosaurs]

God bless you, HE, for being willing to loan out your map. Kids are hard to keep in tow when hiking. Mine always wore a whistle and signal mirror combo that had a waterproof compartment for matches and a piece of fire starter.

I wish they still made an item I haven't seen in many years (it was available at army surplus stores) - it was a small helium canister that was halfway down in a dayglow orange punch-ball. There was a strap the kid put on their wrist that contained kite string attached to the ball. The kid would pull a tab and this allowed the helium to go into the ball making it rise - made finding a kid from the air pretty darn easy. Thank goodness we never needed it.

[saimyoji]

Good show HE. Kludos!

Did I use it right Sly?

[Programbo]

I wish they still made an item I haven't seen in many years (it was available at army surplus stores) - it was a small helium canister that was halfway down in a dayglow orange punch-ball.

..I worked in an army surplus/camping/backpacking store for 11 years and don`t recall ever seeing this item....How long ago was it out?...It sounds like a great idea and if it`s off the market I may look into re-introducing it in some way

[Skidsteer]

God bless you, HE, for being willing to loan out your map. Kids are hard to keep in tow when hiking. Mine always wore a whistle and signal mirror combo that had a waterproof compartment for matches and a piece of fire starter.

I wish they still made an item I haven't seen in many years (it was available at army surplus stores) - it was a small helium canister that was halfway down in a dayglow orange punch-ball. There was a strap the kid put on their wrist that contained kite string attached to the ball. The kid would pull a tab and this allowed the helium to go into the ball making it rise - made finding a kid from the air pretty darn easy. Thank goodness we never needed it.

That is simultaneously the best and worst thing I have ever heard of.

Ya right?

I got the giggles thinking of a really small child pulling the ripcord of an accidentally over-inflated helium canister and.....

Well, you get the picture.


Good job, HE.

[TJ aka Teej]

Good job, HE.
I lost my oldest when he was 8 for about 20 minutes once in the Pemi Wilderness when he went off to water a tree. He hiked right back to the trail, crossed it, and started walking into the woods. After ten minutes, I hollered for him and he didn't answer, so I went in to where I thought he was and hollered some more... no answer. Then I heard his whistle and I hustled back to the trail and hollered... no answer. He blew his whistle three more times and I hurried toward him. He was near a running stream (thats why he stopped, he knew he hadn't crossed a stream) and the noise from the stream drowned out my hollering - he said he never heard me at all, and I had yelled the last time only about 200 feet away. But I heard his whistle loud and clear. Like Jeff says, make sure they carry that whistle - and know when to start blowing it.

[Miss Janet]

We have trouble around here all the time with the different "authorities" not having AT maps and often no clue about the trail. On many occaisions they have needed help from the trail clubs and hikers to locate places on the AT.

It would be an interesting idea to have people donate appropriate maps to the local authorities. A map carrying hiker will not always be available.

Any ideas how this might work? I am thinking that I could donate a set covering our area to the Unicoi County Sherrif's dept... and so on.

[TJ aka Teej]

It would be an interesting idea to have people donate appropriate maps to the local authorities. A map carrying hiker will not always be available.

Any ideas how this might work?

Fantastic idea, Miss Janet! I guess we'd have to find out first who would be responding to what section of trail - mulitiple sets would be needed for most areas, I think.

[Sly]

Good show HE. Kludos!

Did I use it right Sly?

Yeah man... Kludos! to HE!

[Frolicking Dinosaurs]

..I worked in an army surplus/camping/backpacking store for 11 years and don`t recall ever seeing this item....How long ago was it out?...It sounds like a great idea and if it`s off the market I may look into re-introducing it in some way

I bought them back in the mid-1970's

[bigben]

I think every parent who takes their kids out in the woods needs to have the "what to do if you get lost" talk with them, and make sure it sticks. I took my 5 y/o son out on his 1st backpacking trip last month and right before we got to where we were going to camp, I asked him what he would do if he couldn't find me. He didn't know what he'd do. A few hours later I painted a vivid picture of what happens and what he should do. Probably too vivid because he got scared just thinking about it and started to cry. I felt bad about that, but later felt good about it because I know it got to him and what I told him to do will not be easily forgotten. It helps that there was a HIGHLY publicized search for a 3 y/o boy in my hometown a week or so before this trip, and he got to see the hundreds of people looking for the kid on TV.

I am confident that he would 1) stay put, 2) blow his whistle in bursts of 3 nonstop, 3)put on all his clothes if it was getting dark and cold, 4) ration his food and water and 5) be so scared of having to do all that that he would not let me out of his sight and get lost in the woods in the first place.

Bigben

[Newb]

Lucky ending. The kid could have been lost and eventually gone feral. Never could have re-housebroken their hatchling after that. Best thing to do with a feral kid is put 'em down. Yep. Seen it before...never pretty.

[Kerosene]

This has been my biggest fear when hiking with my newbie brother, wife, mother, and eventually daughter (all on separate trips), given that it's difficult for me to significantly slow my hiking pace for extended periods. Yelling doesn't work very well unless there is no wind or water noise. I think that banging a pot is better than a whistle, but a whistle is more convenient. My hiking buddy and I tried personal radios/walkie-talkies with 5 mile ranges in the Whites, but they only work line-of-sight and were generally worthless when the trail is rolling up and down and around ridges. Don't get me started on cell phones (as a technologist, I wouldn't keep my job if I designed products as unreliable as a cell phone!).

Staying on/near the trail is very important, and having a pre-arranged approach when things don't work out is paramount.

[Frolicking Dinosaurs]

My biggest fear was never that the kids would get lost (they knew to stay put & on the trail once they realized they were lost and had been taught how to make a shelter and use leaves, etc to stay warm). My biggest fear was that they would get out of sight and fall. Most children who have died in the Smokies have died from falls or injuries - not from simply getting lost.

[Just Jeff]

Yep, FD - my younger one is fearless. He'd be the one on the edge of the cliff to get a better view...sometimes if I'm standing on an edge, he'll come running over to see what I'm looking at. Freaks me out every time. Now I make him slow down as soon as he looks my way.

bigben - I've never heard to ration water. The best place to store is in your stomach. If you're rationing water and dehydration sets in, hypothermia and poor decision-making are that much closer. Drink when thirsty. Just what I was taught, though.

[sarbar]

When my son was young (he is 9 now) I actually had him on a tether system. He was connected to me with a system of two carabiners and a lenth of poly webbing. He came off of it around when he was 7. He knows to never run ahead..and I drill the "if you get seperated from us, you park it." And the whistle..he knows to not take his pack off EVER, unless we say so.
Drilling it in took awhile..but I am glad I did!
And glad to hear it turned out ok with the missing boy!

[Sly]

When my son was young (he is 9 now) I actually had him on a tether system. He was connected to me with a system of two carabiners and a lenth of poly webbing. He came off of it around when he was 7. He knows to never run ahead..and I drill the "if you get seperated from us, you park it." And the whistle..he knows to not take his pack off EVER, unless we say so.
Drilling it in took awhile..but I am glad I did!

Yeah but, what's going to him/you when it's timefor him to leave the roost? Will he still have the "umbilical" cord attached?

[Frolicking Dinosaurs]

Sly, they tend to naturally gravitate away during the teen years -- that and they turn in real PITAs so you're ready to drop kick them out the door by the time its time for them to go.