Hiking Dangerously
Finger
Lakes Trail with White Blaze
(This 977th Buffalo Sunday News column was first
published on December 13, 2009.)
Last
fall a middle-aged man and his mother set out for an afternoon hike. Here are
excerpts from his report about what happened:
"My mother, age
86, and I are lifetime hikers and campers in all seasons, yet we still found
ourselves in trouble on our Columbus Day hike in the Adirondacks. At 12:30
p.m., we began hiking up Round Mountain near Keene Valley, giving us six hours
for the 4.5-mile loop.
"We were equipped with fleece jackets and
gloves, sweatshirts, wool hats, wool socks, boots and a jacket. We had packed a
lunch of sandwiches, apples, pumpkin bread and a quart of water. We had no
watch, flashlight, matches or a space blanket to use as a tarp."
Clearly the two hikers were ill-prepared for any
problems, but the length of the hike seemed reasonable. Many hikers walk at
2-miles per hour or more, which would give them plenty of time to complete
their trip.
In this case, however, the hike was up and later
down steep grades and that slows the pace considerably. Even hiking downhill is
a problem as your toes get jammed into the end of your boots and your legs get
rubbery. And recall the age of this woman: few 86-year old women or men would
be out on such an adventure.
On the way back down
the mountain, the hiker's narrative continues: "We finally made it to the
trail intersection and had 1.7 miles to get back to the car, but we didn't have
much daylight left. The idea of my mother hobbling out the rest of the way was
absurd. We decided I should try to get down to the car to fetch a flashlight.
"I hurried down
the trail in the deepening gloom, feeling my way. I finally tumbled face first
into the blackness as I stepped off a rock. I realized I simply wouldn't get
out that night and needed to hunker down and wait until morning. The
unimaginable had occurred. My heart pumped from anxiety as I considered the
threat of hypothermia for both of us. The forecast called for rain and snow.
"My cotton
T-shirt was soaked with sweat, so I took it off and wore just my fleece jacket
and wool hat. I began feeling my way around for branches to build a shelter.
After more than an hour, I sat on a log and tried to pull the branches over
myself like a blanket, but all of them fell off.
"I jogged in
place to stay warm, and the air temperature that night never got below the
mid-30s. With a tent and sleeping bag, that would have been comfortable for
camping. Even a sweater under my jacket would probably have been enough to pass
the night safely, but I had none of those things.
"Finally, the sky
slowly brightened. I descended the now snow-covered trail, which took an hour.
Around 7 a.m., I found Ausable Club Security Chief Bill O'Connor, who called
the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. At 9 a.m., Ranger
Charles Platt found my mother in good condition, up and moving around. When the
rest of the search party arrived, they put my mother in on a stretcher and took
turns carrying her down the slippery, snow-covered trail."
That all made for an
exciting story, but an unidentified blogger responded I believe accurately:
"The real gist of the story is that
these two spent a lifetime hiking and camping in all seasons and learned
nothing from it until this near tragedy occurred.
"Thankfully they were willing to tell their story and
suffer the public humiliation arising from their failure to gain knowledge
through their lifetime of hiking and camping experiences so that others could
read of their plight and hopefully learn from their mistakes."
This gave the blogger an opportunity to point out some
essentials for hikers missed by them, including: inform others of your plans
and take appropriate clothing and shelter. I add that they should have taken a
cell phone, matches and a flashlight.
Hikers need to hear this kind of story often to
remind us of our occasional failings. These two were lucky, others have not
been so fortunate.-- Gerry Rising