ADDED: That video was shot in Yosemite National Park. Right after reading that, I saw this piece about a couple dying in Joshua Tree National Park:
Two bodies have been found in Joshua Tree National Park, locked in an embrace, nearly three months after a southern California couple vanished while hiking nearby....
Orbeso and Nguyen's car, a burgundy Lexus, was discovered near the Maze Loop, in the northwest area of the park, and footprints were seen leading away from it. 'The way the tracks were picked up indicate these people could be walking in circles, which is not uncommon when people are lost,' George Land, a spokesman for Joshua Tree National Park, told the Orange County Register.
Temperatures in the park had topped 100 degrees and it was unclear whether the couple had water and supplies with them. Land said the couple did not appear to be experienced hikers.
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24 comments:
I like the look of wing-suit jumping better: Wing-suit jumping Youtube
Yikes, it looks like someone crashed in that video!
Several people have crashed flying wingsuits.......but what a way to go.....
D'oh, seriously I thought this post was about jump-rope until you expanded it..
That poor couple.
For a blogger whose initial post was that she didn't know what she'd write about today, you seem to have been pretty creative.
I saw an episode of "So You Think You'd Survive" on the Weather Channel where a couple got lost hiking in a desert in a national park. I can't believe how unprepared people are for things going wrong. And they will go wrong. Happy ending to that story at least -- the wife had to stay behind because she had gone past her endurance, but husband, after hiking further, saw a flash of light and correctly deduced that it was from the windshield of a car in the park's parking lot. Rangers couldn't find his wife so she survived an extra 36 hours in the desert until a ranger realized that the husband had walked further than he had thought. Found wife alive, but by all rights she should have perished.
No looking backwards to identify landmarks, no compass, no good maps, no marking your trail. Not enough water. A Boy Scout from my era would not make mistakes like that.
Three months ago puts that Joshua Tree hike in July. Who, except the most dedicated and prepared hiker, goes into that environment in the dead of summer? I know my limitations: I'm not hiking in Joshua Tree in the summer, nor Grand Teton in the winter. I want to avoid both death and extreme discomfort on my vacations, thanks very much.
Right you are, Big Mike. A simple day hike can turn into a several-day outing of exposure, thirst and hunger. I try to take the 'ten essentials' every time I hike. In the NW there were often water sources available and I only carried a day's worth plus a filter bottle. But here in the desert you need more water than most people can probably carry, which makes it dangerous at best.
Tari asks: Who, except the most dedicated and prepared hiker, goes into that environment in the dead of summer?
Who, except a complete moron, goes into that environment in the dead of summer. FIFY.
"For a blogger whose initial post was that she didn't know what she'd write about today, you seem to have been pretty creative."
That's how I start every day. I think it's a way to be creative.
But I got a late start today because I got up late — after waking up at 1:30 a.m. and deciding that's a completely unacceptable time to think of as morning and making it, eventually, back to sleep. And then Meade and I had a long conversation.
Don't jump off a sheer cliff with a single rope as your safety.
Seems like good advice. Okay, I'll follow it.
If you walk in a circle you end up where you started; the real problem is NOT walking in a circle.
A guy was killed a few years ago rope-swinging on Corona Arch in Utah.
Tari said...
Three months ago puts that Joshua Tree hike in July. Who, except the most dedicated and prepared hiker, goes into that environment in the dead of summer?
Oh, I dunno, when you grow up in an environment like that, it seems normal. I used to run > 10 miles in > 100 degrees nearly every day ...a very long time ago. IIRC I'd sweat off about 7 pounds of water. But now I wouldn't even want to stand still in that weather.
You can get lost ina snap in Joshua tree. Which is amazing since you can see for miles.
So you can do something incredibly dangerous like jumping off a cliff and survive because you've prepared properly, or you can do something that seems perfectly safe and die because you weren't prepared. Something to think about.
I knew a couple who deliberately hiked Death valley for a week in August. They got a kick out of the solitude and surviving in a dangerous situation.
Needless to say, they had it all planned out like an Army exercise and always had plenty of food and water.
People who walk in circles rarely know they are walking in circles.
Especially if they're Democrats.
"Over The Edge: Death in Grand Canyon, Newly Expanded 10th Anniversary Edition "
https://www.amazon.com/Over-Edge-Canyon-Expanded-Anniversary/dp/0984785809/
Fantastically Althousian.
A comprehensive record and analysis of all deaths in the Grand Canyon since ... forever.
-XC
I was laughing about all you city dwelling easterners worrying about the hot wildernesses and thought "I bet more people are killed in car accidents driving to/from these places than actually die from heat/thirst/getting-lost in these places" and came across this:
The main cause of death in Death Valley: "More people die in single-car accidents than by any other means."
Fernandinande said "Oh, I dunno, when you grow up in an environment like that, it seems normal."
I see that here in Texas. My kids have gone to summer camp in Hill Country in July for years. I have no idea how they run around like lunatics when it's 110 with the heat index, but they do. Just dropping them off and picking them back up is exhausting to us adults in that heat.
And I thought the cold and dark winters in upstate NY were normal ... until I left.
ann says " And then Meade and I had a long conversation."
is That what they call it these days?
Death Valley is no joke. Type "death valley Germans" into google and read the (long) article. What strikes me is the contrast between the prepared and experienced hikers who found their remains years later, and the tourists who apparently decided to drive through Death Valley on a whim.
There's a dude down there they call the Harvey Weinstein of search and rescue.
If you see a bumper sticker that says "I [heart] cotton mouth", that's him.
Okay, you can jump - but first ... oh dear ...
The internet has made everything easy, until you actually do it, and it's too late.
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