Prof. Hike: The First Five Minutes

"Being lost" is a state of mind. I would not actually consider any of the three incidents described by the author as being genuinely lost. If you have some algorithm or strategy to get to a known point you are not lost, even if you don't know precisely where you are. Recapturing precise orientation after a period of uncertainty is just another thing one does outdoors, as far as I'm concerned. To have a resilient sense of orientation you need to know how to do it. Spoken as someone who does a fair amount of of-trail travel, where such skills are routinely used.

From that perspective I think the worst habit of trail hikers is to rely on the trail as the sole means of orientation, rather than trying to retain some notion of where they are on a map (either a physical or a mental one)

To avoid spending the night in the wilderness, unprepared and crouched under a tree, read and learn from other hikers about how to stay found on the trail. Also check out this book available on Amazon: Felix the Sugarglider Be Safe. Hike Smart. We read this book before every hike for a quick refresher course on the many ways to find your way on the trail, especially the dayhikes which can easily become dangerous since most dayhikers aren't prepared to spend the night outdoors. It sounds like a kids book but this book is for anyone who hikes or simply wants to know where they are when they venture outside.

I went hiking with a buddy in the Granite Chief Wilderness near Lake Tahoe recently with the intent to hike to a cluster of lakes only 2.5 up the trail. Knowing the trail was short and easy we didn't bring a map. Instead of swimming in the lakes, we opted to venture much further into the wilderness, passing many trail junctions. On our way back we hit an unmarked trail junction just a couple hours from sunset. We went with our gut and nothing seemed to look familiar. We were about 3 miles from the trailhead and knew the general direction we needed to travel, but without the proper trail we would have had a difficult and dangerous scramble down the hill to the car. With little light left this didn't seem like a good option. We eventually found a lake, and then another one and knew we were close to the main trail, but without a map, we couldn't tell which of the five lakes we were seeing. Unprepared for a night in the woods, panic began to set in as we wandered a series of social trails between the lakes. Eventually we found the correct trail and made the 2.5 mile descent to the trailhead with time to spare before before dark. Were we in great danger? Not really. But without good logic, we could have been. I do not take this lightly at all as too many people make bad decisions in the wilderness. The lesson learned: Bring a freaking map! Always! It's the uncertainty that can lead to panic which can lead to real bad situations.

Once in the grocery store with my Mom, I wanted to get some cookies, so I started out about 1:15 pm for the snack section. I noticed later that I was not in the snack section when I thought I should be, I was in produce! I was terrified! Broccoli everywhere!

After about 30 seconds (but it seemed foever!) I saw the blue and white packaging of Oreos down a long isle, I went in that direction and there was my Mom, waiting for me.

Next time, I took a map and compass with me.

I too got lost on the JMT which ended up causing us to make a very dangerous river crossing followed by an all afternoon, 1,000' class 3 boulder scramble. It was not pleasant and even once we got to the top we were unsure of where we were. Thankfully we found a few footprints (amongst the many animal ones) and finally found our way to a lake which I could identify on our map.
We had simply walked right off the trail...and before we knew it we were in the midst of much downfall...then hordes or mosquito's found us further pushing us off trail (we didn't care which direction we were going we just had to get out of that area).
Thankfully we made it to our next stop about 830pm. I want to go back to that spot to see where we went wrong...this time without the boulder challenge.

We were in the recently created Hoover wilderness, and among the first people into the area after the spring thaw of 2010. Around each lake were a maze of use trails, and at one point we found ourselves at a junction next to a long series of pools.

We (I) incorrectly assumed that this was the spot on our maps marked where there was a junction along a chain of lakes. But there was no sign at the junction. So we turned right and hiked for a mile--each step taking us further from our destination. I checked the map two more times during that mile...and finally concluded that we were either on the right trail, and would soon come to a lake, or on the wrong trail headed for a meadow.

Five minutes later we hit the meadow.

So we turned a two mile trail into a four mile trail, and continued on our way.

Spring conditions often create water where there isn't any later in the year---and those pools we passed were not the chain of lakes, they were just vernal pools.

(But later in the same trip we successfully cross-countried a complicated section of terrain with no problems...!)

My most embarrassing episode of getting lost was on the JMT with my daughter (then about 20) just SOBO from Thousand Island Lakes. Patchy snow made the trail hard to follow and I veered right at one point when I should have veered left. Once my daughter started pointing out that it didn't look like the trail and that we should turn back, I got all my male pride thing engaged and was convinced I could read my topo map and that the topography looked right.

30 minutes later I had to admit she was right, I was wrong. We backtracked much further than if I had listened to her in the first place.

Lessons:

1) If you are the most experienced navigator on the trip, don't get all defensive when someone else raises a question.

2) "Confirmation bias" applies in spades to topo map reading. If you assume you are right, you are likely to see a feature on the ground that looks like something you see on the map. You are more likely to interpret the map to confirm your assumptions than to contradict them. This is a hard one to avoid, but remind yourself to really build the opposite case. In other words, if I was trying to confirm that I'm on the wrong route are there any terrain features that don't look like where I think I am on the map.