Learning From The Death Of A Hiker

You may remember from this past week reports of the finding of the body of a lost hiker, Geraldine Largay, who had been found only two miles from the Appalachian Trail in Maine.  Largay had been missing for two years before her body was found. More tragically, based on a journal she kept, she was not injured or ill, but managed to survive for at least 26 days after she became lost before dying from exposure and starvation.

NBC News provides a summary of what went wrong: 

A retired nurse from Tennessee, Largay set off on April 23, 2013 with her friend Jane Lee to walk a long stretch of the famous trail, starting in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, and heading north to the trail's terminus in northern Maine. The plan was that they would trek the more than 1,100 miles together, and Largay's husband would meet them along the way with supplies. 

But on June 30, while in New Hampshire, Lee was forced by a family emergency to leave the trail. Largay insisted on going on alone despite what Lee said was a poor sense of direction. 

Lee later told investigators that Largay "had taken a wrong turn on the trail, more than once." She also said Largay was afraid to be alone — and scared of the dark, the New York Times reported. 

... But Largay made progress, and by July 21 had reached the Poplar Ridge lean-to in western Maine, was less than 200 miles from the end of the trail on Mount Katahdin. Her plan was to hike to the Spaulding Lean-to about nine miles away, spend the night, then hike 13 miles to the Route 27 crossing and meet her husband. 

A fellow hiker named Dottie Rust took a picture of Largay around 6:30 a.m. on July 22 as she was about to set off on the trail. 

It was the last time anybody saw Largay alive. 

Investigators said Largay's cellphone revealed she got lost in the dense woods after she left the trail to use the bathroom. Right away, she texted her husband for help. 

... George Largay never got that text, or the others his wife subsequently sent, "because of poor or nonexistent cell tower coverage in the area," officials wrote in their report. 

Largay then walked west to higher ground hoping to find better cell phone reception and would [sic] up getting even more lost. 

The Portland Press Harold has reproduced excerpts from an official report on the incident. Based on the report, Largay had shelter (she was found in a collapsed tent and was in a sleeping bag), and had a Mylar survival blanket and rain gear. She had various other supplies, including a first aid kit, "a key chain temp gauge with compass," a section map of the Appalachian Trail, a small flashlight (that still worked), a whistle, string and cord. The Mylar blanket had been stretched out and tied to trees, possibly as a means to attract attention. Although there was plenty of dead wood available for building a fire, there was no evidence that Largay had ever made a fire in her camp, although she apparently had attempted to light a couple trees on fire (perhaps for purposes of signaling her location). Interestingly, investigators found a water proof container still with 22 matches and 2 Bic lighters, so she certainly had the means of starting a fire. There was a flowing stream a short distance from her camp, so she had a ready source of water. 

Per the report, and as noted above, Largay apparently left the trail to relieve herself. The woods immediately along the trail was thick, but quickly transitioned to more open woodland with visibility of several hundred yards. However, Largay had made her camp in an area where she had once again entered dense woods, including overhead cover that obscured her camp. Although she had made her camp in an area with thick woods, within less than 60-70 yards the woods opened up providing good visibility. In addition to the Appalachian Trail a couple miles from the site, there were old logging roads near to the camp. One logging road was only a 20 minute walk from the camp, and quickly (another 10 minute walk) led to an old railroad bed.

Modern Survival Blog and Outdoor Life have each published articles drawing lessons from Largay's experience, although it doesn't appear that they had all the details that were in the investigator's report. The authors, nevertheless, had somewhat different insights and thoughts, so I recommend reading both.

However, here are the main lessons I drew from this incident:

First, you need to understand and recognize you limitations, and be willing to admit that you may not have the requisite ability for a task. I know this sounds harsh, but the basic fact of the matter is that Largay was killed by her own hubris.  It is clear that Largay was attempting a hike well beyond her skill level. Things were fine when she was being guided by her friend, but she was not competent to be making the hike by herself, as evidenced by her friend's comments that she easily became lost and her failure to use the tools at her disposal to keep herself warm or find her way back to a trail or road. 

Second, learn how not to get lost. There are obviously a lot of people that believe they have some natural instinct or ability to find their way, but it just isn't true. Shortly after I first read of Largay, I happened across a passage in Horace Kephart's Camping and Woodcraft that made this point. Kephart wrote:

We hear much about the "innate sense of direction," the "extraordinary bump of locality," of savages and of certain white woodcraftsmen. "A good woodsman," we are told, "finds his way, just as an animal does, by a certain kind of instinct." If by this is meant that some men are born with a "gift," a sixth sense or homing instinct comparable to that of a carrier pigeon, I am more than skeptical. In the art of wilderness travel, as in other things, some men are more adept than others who have had equal advantages, and a few possess almost uncanny powers, amounting to what we all genius. To my notion this means little more than that some individuals are quick to observe than others, reason more surely from cause to effect, and keep their minds more alert; and I believe that this is far more due to their taking unusual interest in their surroundings than to any marked partiality of Mother Nature in distributing her gifts. Instinct will work as well in one place as in another, but human "sense of direction" will not.  

This is not saying that all men are born equal as regards the faculty of orientation; some have a knack; but that knack is not an instinct; it is worthless until sharpened and trained by experience.

Even if you do not use them, you should have a map and compass whenever you head into the woods. Even if you are following a well marked trial, you should review your expected path on the map to understand the course of the path, the terrain, and any landmarks, roads, streams, etc. It is helpful to consult the map periodically to get an idea of your progress. Pick out key landmarks as you move along the trail. Pay attention to what direction you are moving. Pay attention to the time you start or stop, which can be used to get a general idea of how far you have traveled. Don't forget to look behind you so that you can recognize landmarks or distinctive features in the event you have to backtrack.

While Largay might be faulted by moving too far off the trail to relieve herself, we actually have no idea how far she went before doing so. But what is clear that she did not pay sufficient attention to her surroundings in order to backtrack to the trail. According to the report, she moved off the trail to the west, then continued to move further west to find higher ground. Obviously, if she had been paying attention to the direction she had been walking, she would have known that simply walking east would have brought her back to the trial.

Third, if you do get lost, don't compound the problem. In this case, even though Largay may have become disoriented when she first left the trail, she would have quickly found herself in more open woods--clearly not the way she had come. Yet she continued to move further from the trail in order to get to high ground to use her cell phone. This was truly a time for her to stop, calm down, and carefully consider her actions.

Fourth, learn how to get unlost. Obviously, if you are lost, you won't know your precise location on the map. But you should know your general location, and be able to determine a general heading that would take you toward a road or trail by using a compass, the sun, or the stars. In this case, Largay could have also followed the stream until it connected with a larger stream or river, a trail, or a road. She could have learned and used better methods of signaling, and located her camp where she would have more easily been seen.

Fifth, while staying put may be useful in many situations, it is not an unbreakable rule. It was especially harmful in this case because Largay had not stopped when she first realized she was lost, but continued walking for some distance before finally stopping. If she had stopped when she was first lost, she probably would have been close enough to the main trail to use the whistle to try and alert someone; at a minimum, she would have been close enough to the trail that searchers may have readily found her, or her them. It is especially tragic in this case because when Largay finally decided to stop and stay put, she was near an old road and railroad bed. If she had shown any initiative to explore the immediate area to exploit resources, she probably would have found the logging road.

Finally, at some point, if you haven't been found within a reasonable time, it is up to you to try and extricate yourself from your situation. Largay had to know that she had not walked a significant distance from the trail. Since she had hiked in with everything, Largay had nothing to lose by packing up and following the stream, blazing trees or leaving other marks in case she had to follow her way back to the location of her original camp.

In short, a hike in the woods is not a stroll through the park. Use your situational awareness to know where you are, where you've been, and where you are going.