Reason to carry maps and advice to parents

[SteveJ]

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.

chuckle,,,ouch... my oldest (18) is in Germany for 11 mths on a student exchange program. man, the house has been peaceful since july 17th, when he left!!

[STEVEM]

When my daughter was about 7 we went on vacation to Acadia National Park in Maine. Some of you may know Jordan Pond. There is a nice restaurant there and a loop trail maybe a mile long which goes around the pond.

Anyway, we took a family walk around the pond. it was close to dark when were retuning to the Jordan Pond House where we had dinner reservations. My daughter asked to run ahead to play on the lawn, which I knew was only maybe 200 yards ahead. I told her to go ahead. My wife and I got there 3-4 minutes later, NO MICHELLE. My wife goes crazy, I run back up the trail, rangers are called. Big scene.

It turns out that there was a fork in the trail that I had not noticed which lead to a maintenance building/garage. There she was standing by the building, not really understanding what was going on. This whole thing took maybe 10 minutes, seemed like 10 days.

She's 24 now and graduating from Nursing School in May. My wife still reminds me of this story. Why can't they ever forget?

[Smile]

Way to go! The right place at the right time, very cool! ;-)

[bigben]

By rationing water, I really meant not shooting it at bugs, etc. from him 1.5 L hydration pack. He likes to play with his water supply. He IS a 5 year old boy.

Bigben

[Blissful]

It's not that hard to get lost, even on the AT, despite the white blazes (which in some cases are fairly far apart)

We were section hiking in Northern VA with our son who's 16 - and of course we let him stroll ahead of his aged parents. When we got to the road crossing, he wasn't there. We have a firm rule with him to wait at road crossings. Of course I freaked. My hubby went ahead to see if he just "forgot" the rule and charged on. I kept calling and using my hubby's whistle and did a lot of praying. Finally after about 15 minutes we heard his whistle. He had gotten off the trail somehow and was heading on some side trail to no where. He came up to us really scared (and I was too).

[Frolicking Dinosaurs]

{{{ Blissful }}} There is no worse feeling for a woman than loosing a child - even temporarily. It gives you some appreciation for what mothers go through when a child passes on. (This is not meant to suggest men do not hurt - I'm not a man and can't relate to how men feel or react to lost children)

[RockyTrail]

Don't get between a mama bear and her cubs...

[Just Jeff]

By rationing water, I really meant not shooting it at bugs, etc. from him 1.5 L hydration pack. He likes to play with his water supply. He IS a 5 year old boy.

Ah - that makes perfect sense. My son likes spitting his water on plants to knock the dust off. (We have lots of dusty plants in Big Sur...it's pretty dry out here until rainy season starts...about now.)

[Outlaw]

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.

My oldest just turned 16. He is my hiking partner (for better or worse). All joking aside, he is really a pleasure ON THE TRAIL (at home is another story). He never grumbles about getting H2O, cleaning up, rain, packing, etc. and he hikes at my pace, which is fairly quick for a guy 30 yrs his senior, but I'm quite sure I'm not as fast as he is capable of (he is a nationally ranked wrestler and literally as fit as any Army Ranger).

{{{ Blissful }}} There is no worse feeling for a woman than losing a child - even temporarily. It gives you some appreciation for what mothers go through when a child passes on. (This is not meant to suggest men do not hurt - I'm not a man and can't relate to how men feel or react to lost children)

Last winter, while my son and I were attending a tournament near Niagara Falls, some 5 hours from home, I get a frantic call from my wife that my 13 yr old daughter was in the ER being worked up for, of all things, a stroke. During a soccer game, her entire right side went numb and became paralyzed. Scared the you-know-what out of me... I never felt so helpless and so afraid of losing a child than that moment. After a weekend in PICU, we got good news. TG everything worked out for us. I can certainly relate to the fear that father felt with a child lost in the wilderness with freezing temperatures. Thankfully someone like HE was there to provide some aid and comfort.

[Blissful]

My oldest just turned 16. He is my hiking partner (for better or worse). All joking aside, he is really a pleasure ON THE TRAIL (at home is another story). He never grumbles about getting H2O, cleaning up, rain, packing, etc. and he hikes at my pace, which is fairly quick for a guy 30 yrs his senior, but I'm quite sure I'm not as fast as he is capable of (he is a nationally ranked wrestler and literally as fit as any Army Ranger).

Wow, that's great. My son LOVES hiking if there are other guys around he can talk to and hike with (he is also an only child). Disney can relate - my son got his trail name from him and really enjoyed his company. If its just his crochety parents at the shelter though, he sleeps late and drags himself down the trail (or speed races down it, depending on the mood). It happened on our last section - he was looking for this one guy had had met earlier to show up and stay at the shelter - and was completely bummed the guy ended up tenting. Next morning was a challenge.

Anyway, I know he will LOVE the trail community next year. Hope he remembers I'm tagging along. ha ha

[LostInSpace]

There is no worse feeling for a woman than loosing a child - even temporarily.

This happens all the time in the shopping malls!

[Outlaw]

Wow, that's great. My son LOVES hiking if there are other guys around he can talk to and hike with (he is also an only child). Disney can relate - my son got his trail name from him and really enjoyed his company. If its just his crochety parents at the shelter though, he sleeps late and drags himself down the trail (or speed races down it, depending on the mood). It happened on our last section - he was looking for this one guy had had met earlier to show up and stay at the shelter - and was completely bummed the guy ended up tenting. Next morning was a challenge.

Anyway, I know he will LOVE the trail community next year. Hope he remembers I'm tagging along. ha ha

Blissful, how old is your son?

[Blissful]

Blissful, how old is your son?

16, same age as yours.

[Frolicking Dinosaurs]

This happens all the time in the shopping malls!

One of mine got away from me in a place that sold jeans when he was two. I had him by the gloved hand (he was dressed as plasticman and the costume involved gloves). He was squirming and trying to get away and broke free for a second. I re-grabbed what I thought was his hand, but it was a pant leg being pulled on by the lady across the table. By the time I realized this (less than a minute) he had vanished. I looked all over the store and alerted the staff. He was missing for about 45 minutes and I had a complete meltdown. He had crawled into a storage area under the tables and gone to sleep on a pile of jeans. He grinned and said "I hide Moma" when he was found. No wonder I have so many gray hairs.

[Twofiddy]

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.

Miss Janet,

This is a great idea, but the way that the EMS and other systems work these days the only real good way to do this would be to have the maps digitized and put on CD ROM and sent to all county dispatch centers or departments. The simple fact of the matter is that if you supply a local police department with a map, they are not going to have some one in the office when they need to get to it. If it was at the dispatch center, a trained dispatcher could relay the information on the map to the person in the field who needs it. Most police cruizers these days are equipped with Mobil Data computers that have police maps in them. I dont know who developes the maps but several different SAP and WMIS computer systems that are used by utility companies and other companies that do field work have layers in them that show certain things. The AT and the shelters gaps and other things could be listed on those maps.

[Monkeyboy]

Just had a great idea for an invention.......underoos equipped with lo-jack systems......never have to worry about where you kid is again!!!!

[Monkeyboy]

On the serious side, I couldn't imagine not taking my 14 yr old son on the trail with me......

Fourteen years old and he's already an inch taller than I am, and I'm 6'0".

But he's been with me hiking/camping/fishing everywhere I go......wouldn't be the same without him.

[Dharma]

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.

I guess first thing to find out is who will do the initial searches and or coordination in your area. Depending on the area the police may not be the ones who will search; it could be the fire dept.

Secondly, it still may not help until the 'right' people get on scene.
We had a call last week where it was obvious people in the emergency services are not comfortable using topo maps and doubly uncomfortable using a GPS to go to a location. I'm probably the only hiker in my dept. and I was unavailable to go on that call. I could hear their difficulty on the radio.