If you don’t know where you are, you’re lost
This weekend I was a staff member/victim for the EHS departments’ search and rescue class. I took the class 2 years ago, where I learned about search management, deployment of resources, and the like. Every year, there is a weekend trip to Shenandoah national park to put into practice what the students learned throughout the semester. The weekend consists of several mock searches with extrication and tabletop exercises. My year, forever known as the ‘year of the snow’ began with 6” of snow on the ground when we got there, and two more after we got to the campsites, crippling a few tents, including mine. On one hand our searches were easy (footprints) and on the other, terribly wet and cold. Shenandoah is notorious for extremely variable weather and, for some crazy reason, I volunteered to return this year.
Thankfully, when we arrived at the park, we were not greeted by snow, rather with lovely warm, sun burn inducing weather. I could hardly believe it was the same place that I saw two years ago, when I wouldn’t have dared to be out in a t-shirt. Well, the weather got progressively worse, by Friday night it was colder and raining.
At 1945 Friday night I found myself being pelted with rain sitting under a tarp in the woods during a lightning and thunder storm. I am the injured hiker who was left behind while my friends went for help. Only, my friends then forgot where they left me, prompting the need for a full-on search. I enjoyed the solitude, the rain, even the lightning (as long as I didn’t die). I tried to get into the survival mentality as if I had actually been lost in that situation. It was a pretty scary feeling of not knowing who would come, or when, in the dark, the increasing cold, and the rain. People have been lost in terrible conditions like that for days, without knowing if anyone would ever come.
Around 2245, I was located, thankfully, as the novelty of being one with nature was wearing off, and the shivering was setting in. They splinted my “injuries”, offered me food and drink, secured me to the stokes basket, blinded me with their halogen head lamps, covered me up, and rolled me out on the stokes wheel. They did a good job, which basically means they didn’t drop me or make me think they were.
When we got back to camp, our tent had blown about 10 feet off course and the stakes were impossible to find so we bungeed it to a couple of trees. It continued to rain for most of the night, and was pretty cold, but survivable.
On Saturday they did a grid search which is where all the searchers get in a big line, and move together through a field or section of forest. It is not fun at all. Sean, who I drove and tented with got to be the lucky victim for that exercise. Later, while the students were being briefed for Sundays search, Sean and I went for a drive down a road that I thought would be fun given all the rain we had. We got a ridiculous amount of entertainment out a mud puddle that threw water all the way over the windshield. Needless to say the truck is currently sporting a lovely layer of mud.
For the night search on Saturday, I was the reporting party as one of three counselors who had taken three mentally challenged campers to hike and camp. For some reason, I fell asleep in the car, and when I woke up, everyone was gone. The rest of the story was that the other counselors got intoxicated and then in a fight over me, while the campers dispersed. Each camper had a different, um, personality, you could say, presenting a different set of difficulties for the searchers and the search managers. Also, the weather had gotten really miserable, and the fog rolled in, limiting visibility to about 10 feet. I was very glad to be inside for this one.
Within the course of 2 hours that evening, the truck was sporting a lovely layer of frost, making it difficult to open the doors, and impossible to open the bed cover. Let me say, I just love camping with frosty condensation in the tent, and having to sleep with my flashlight so that the batteries don’t die. It hit around 17 degrees, forcing me to zip the mummy bag I was in almost all the way up. I love worrying that I’ll get frost nip and shivering myself awake, it’s awesome!
The Sunday search is always the largest and most extensive. In addition to the teams of the class, the managing team had several K-9 and horse teams at their disposal. The scenario was that the reporting party had dropped his three friends off, intending to pick them up at a certain time later that day, and they never showed up. More of the story that the students wouldn’t know until they found one of us is that we decided to hike overland from one thing to another, because “a straight line is shortest.” (Note to hikers: never do this. Well, unless you truly know what you are doing.)
So, I was placed way off any trail, and about half a mile from the closest road. At 1000, I was just lying down for my long winters’ nap. I got better sleep curled up there amongst the rocks and trees than I had on either night of our trip. The weather was absolutely beautiful, clear blue skies, temperature 40ish, a little wind. I was toasty under my blankets and tarp, and aside from the occasional bird, the silence was complete. Perfect conditions for me to meditate on life for a while.
As the rogue hiker in the scenario, I had stopped here because my legs were cramped. I told the others to “go ahead without me.” (Note to hikers: never do this.) As I put myself in the boots of my character, with my legs recovered from rest, I would have had a hard time staying put (Note to hikers: stay put, even when you think it’s stupid to do so.)
I fully expected to be eventually greeted by an energetic search dog, as the dog search teams usually sweep the type of area I was in, and there was no way I’d be found otherwise. It ended up that at 1630, the same people that placed me, came back to retrieve me. I’m not sure why exactly they were trying to wrap things up quickly, but they just told the teams that I had been found by a ranger and walked out safely. I was happy to return to the relative civilization of the fire station, with indoor plumbing and food that was a little better than granola bars. The teams had found one of the other victims around 1330 and the last victim shortly after I returned.
I’m sorry to say I didn’t come back after six hours alone in the woods with any actual spiritual enlightenment. But, I was very relaxed and happy to be part of the world.
Shortly after, Sean and I headed down the mountain, and became tourists for awhile, stopping at several overlooks to take in the beauty of the region. In the end, if I weren’t graduating, I’d do it again next year. I got mud on the truck, enjoyed nature, trusted others, and got an ab workout from shivering so much.
When I got home my new nalgene bottle was waiting for me, hurrah for lifetime warranties!
Thankfully, when we arrived at the park, we were not greeted by snow, rather with lovely warm, sun burn inducing weather. I could hardly believe it was the same place that I saw two years ago, when I wouldn’t have dared to be out in a t-shirt. Well, the weather got progressively worse, by Friday night it was colder and raining.
At 1945 Friday night I found myself being pelted with rain sitting under a tarp in the woods during a lightning and thunder storm. I am the injured hiker who was left behind while my friends went for help. Only, my friends then forgot where they left me, prompting the need for a full-on search. I enjoyed the solitude, the rain, even the lightning (as long as I didn’t die). I tried to get into the survival mentality as if I had actually been lost in that situation. It was a pretty scary feeling of not knowing who would come, or when, in the dark, the increasing cold, and the rain. People have been lost in terrible conditions like that for days, without knowing if anyone would ever come.
Around 2245, I was located, thankfully, as the novelty of being one with nature was wearing off, and the shivering was setting in. They splinted my “injuries”, offered me food and drink, secured me to the stokes basket, blinded me with their halogen head lamps, covered me up, and rolled me out on the stokes wheel. They did a good job, which basically means they didn’t drop me or make me think they were.
When we got back to camp, our tent had blown about 10 feet off course and the stakes were impossible to find so we bungeed it to a couple of trees. It continued to rain for most of the night, and was pretty cold, but survivable.
On Saturday they did a grid search which is where all the searchers get in a big line, and move together through a field or section of forest. It is not fun at all. Sean, who I drove and tented with got to be the lucky victim for that exercise. Later, while the students were being briefed for Sundays search, Sean and I went for a drive down a road that I thought would be fun given all the rain we had. We got a ridiculous amount of entertainment out a mud puddle that threw water all the way over the windshield. Needless to say the truck is currently sporting a lovely layer of mud.
For the night search on Saturday, I was the reporting party as one of three counselors who had taken three mentally challenged campers to hike and camp. For some reason, I fell asleep in the car, and when I woke up, everyone was gone. The rest of the story was that the other counselors got intoxicated and then in a fight over me, while the campers dispersed. Each camper had a different, um, personality, you could say, presenting a different set of difficulties for the searchers and the search managers. Also, the weather had gotten really miserable, and the fog rolled in, limiting visibility to about 10 feet. I was very glad to be inside for this one.
Within the course of 2 hours that evening, the truck was sporting a lovely layer of frost, making it difficult to open the doors, and impossible to open the bed cover. Let me say, I just love camping with frosty condensation in the tent, and having to sleep with my flashlight so that the batteries don’t die. It hit around 17 degrees, forcing me to zip the mummy bag I was in almost all the way up. I love worrying that I’ll get frost nip and shivering myself awake, it’s awesome!
The Sunday search is always the largest and most extensive. In addition to the teams of the class, the managing team had several K-9 and horse teams at their disposal. The scenario was that the reporting party had dropped his three friends off, intending to pick them up at a certain time later that day, and they never showed up. More of the story that the students wouldn’t know until they found one of us is that we decided to hike overland from one thing to another, because “a straight line is shortest.” (Note to hikers: never do this. Well, unless you truly know what you are doing.)
So, I was placed way off any trail, and about half a mile from the closest road. At 1000, I was just lying down for my long winters’ nap. I got better sleep curled up there amongst the rocks and trees than I had on either night of our trip. The weather was absolutely beautiful, clear blue skies, temperature 40ish, a little wind. I was toasty under my blankets and tarp, and aside from the occasional bird, the silence was complete. Perfect conditions for me to meditate on life for a while.
As the rogue hiker in the scenario, I had stopped here because my legs were cramped. I told the others to “go ahead without me.” (Note to hikers: never do this.) As I put myself in the boots of my character, with my legs recovered from rest, I would have had a hard time staying put (Note to hikers: stay put, even when you think it’s stupid to do so.)
I fully expected to be eventually greeted by an energetic search dog, as the dog search teams usually sweep the type of area I was in, and there was no way I’d be found otherwise. It ended up that at 1630, the same people that placed me, came back to retrieve me. I’m not sure why exactly they were trying to wrap things up quickly, but they just told the teams that I had been found by a ranger and walked out safely. I was happy to return to the relative civilization of the fire station, with indoor plumbing and food that was a little better than granola bars. The teams had found one of the other victims around 1330 and the last victim shortly after I returned.
I’m sorry to say I didn’t come back after six hours alone in the woods with any actual spiritual enlightenment. But, I was very relaxed and happy to be part of the world.
Shortly after, Sean and I headed down the mountain, and became tourists for awhile, stopping at several overlooks to take in the beauty of the region. In the end, if I weren’t graduating, I’d do it again next year. I got mud on the truck, enjoyed nature, trusted others, and got an ab workout from shivering so much.
When I got home my new nalgene bottle was waiting for me, hurrah for lifetime warranties!
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