Getting lost: it's as easy as this...

[Rheinhold]

I continue to read with interest the reports, on this blog and in other forums, of people getting lost or into trouble when hiking in Tassie. I do wonder sometimes how people find themselves in these situations. However, at the beginning of a walk along the South Coast Track (east to west) in February 2012 we found out just how easy it can be.

This Youtube video is what happened when our mate Terry strayed off the track. Coincidently, another party of two walking the track at the same time as us, made the same mistake as him, at exactly the same location. They ended up bush bashing for 3 hours through dense Ironbound scrub until they stumbled back onto the track. Terry was not so lucky.

There are a lot of could-have, should-have, would-have's in this story, and a lot of lessons to be learned, particularly for 'young-players', so I thought I'd share it with the masses.

http://youtu.be/6mxOHCm0iq0

[Nuts]

Wow, hey, get terry a whistle? Get a few?

[icefest]

There's a lovely section of the south coast track just on the eastern side of south cape range where the track braids out at least into 10 different paths. It's in the middle of nice Tassie scrub where the mud is thigh deep.

We had a gps with the track on it so it came out when we lost the main pad, but we ended up finding three lost hats and a couple of crocs in the scrub bash back to the track.

Getting lost on the SCT is not that hard and staying found just as difficult.

[Lindsay]

Great story. Shows how easy it is to get lost. Seems that all the right things were done once it was realised Terry was missing, good work all round.

[puredingo]

All I can say is thank *&%$#! that *&%$#! chopper got there because O'l Terry boy was *&%$#! about to lose his *&%$#!!

[baeurabasher]

And on one of the best tracks in the state.
You can begin to picture what it's like in some of the hard, offtrack places then.

[north-north-west]

And on one of the best tracks in the state.
You can begin to picture what it's like in some of the hard, offtrack places then.

Given that the average Tasmanian track (not including the major tourist tracks like Wineglass) makes the rougher parts of the AAWT look like a highway . . .
You know, I can understand why TasPAWS prefer that some tracks remain off maps and out of the reckoning for tourists. You just don't want the numpties going into some of these places. Even the Sentinels track . . . the number of people who seem to think they're climbing Wedge, just because the thing starts from the Wedge River Picnic Area . . . and the number who obviously don't go beyond the lower high point near where the track crests the ridge . . .

[corvus]

Good to read a happy ending however why did three"experienced"walkers let Terry head off on his own
corvus

[Lophophaps]

I lost the SCT at New River Lagoon. There's a small bush park in Victoria, can't recall the name. An experienced walker was on a track when he realised that he had to go back to the car, something forgotton. So he turns around and walks ... and walks ... and walks. He finally realised that he was lost, but how? He was on the track, the map only had one track. Mmmm. It took a while but he found the car park. As he was walking away from the car there was a second track coming in at an angle from behind him, nearly as big as the car park track. Mind in neutral on a track, he did not see this on the outward journey, but he took this side-track when returning.

I've seen bushwalkers on the summits of major peaks in fine weather checking their GPSs.

[Taurë-rana]

Thanks for sharing, good to see the happy ending. It is so easy to get lost, a couple of us were a bit behind the others going up Mt Picton on Saturday and took a wrong turn. We were chatting, and because I was with a group I didn't worry when I couldn't find my map to take, didn't have my PLB, had a GPS but it's not much use without a map or waypoints. It was a heart lurching moment when we realised, then had to work out how to get back to the track with the mist rolling in... Reminded me again of how easy it is to miss the track, and how important it is to be self-sufficient even when with a group.

[Nuts]

I became separated from a walking partner coming down off the Ironbounds on that side. She was right there but must have taken a slower braid somehow while I scooted past. It turned out she had ended up behind rather than ahead. Not hard to do, iv'e heard similar on at those long scrubby braided creek crossings as well.

A whistle is very handy early in the dilemma, gps, better plans etc.. I was lifted out once, was a spectacular mid winter flight but I was too embarrassed to pull out the camera (and it wasn't even me in trouble).

[north-north-west]

I've seen bushwalkers on the summits of major peaks in fine weather checking their GPSs.[/color]

I was logging a new peak, that's all, I swear it!

[Lophophaps]

I was logging a new peak, that's all, I swear it!

Was that Mt Numpty, formerly known as Mt Ossa? LOL.

[taswegian]

getting lost is not as hard as it sounds. Personal experiences and similar listed here show how easy it can be.

Many years ago there were two tracks leading up to Trappers hut (Walls Of Jerusalem).
I always liked the more direct but much steeper route as it was a lot shorter.
I took a couple of our kids into The Walls and on the way back we stopped at Trappers Hut where my 6 or 8(?) yo daughter asked if she could just wander down the track a bit.
Stupidly I agreed thinking she 'wont go far'. We got to the top car park and no Nita! Hopped in car and drove to the bottom (current car park) and walked up the track for a while, then retreated and back to the other track then returned to bottom carpark and set off once more.
We found one very hot and relieved girl halfway up to the Trappers Hut.
Poor girl had come all the way down and realised she was in wrong spot so went all way back to Trappers Hut and 'no us', so back down the way she had come.
I was even more relieved she again missed the turn off to the top carpark.
That was not at all pleasant and we all learnt a lot.
She still talks (fondly) of that moment and now a whistle is a compulsory item never taken from the pack.

Another time I wasn't lost, just got completely disoriented.
We were surveying at Middlesex and headed east off Cradle Road down through the Myrtle along an old boundary looking for myrtles that had old survey blazes in them.
There were two of us and we walked about 5 meters apart heading east.
We knew our initial direction from traversing but decided to press on ahead as the myrtle forest was clear and easy to see. We lined up an old myrtle probably 200 metres forward and headed off.
Coming to a tree we would walk around it and inspect then move on.
After a while we started going up hill and that bothered me as we were heading down over the side of the Forth Valley and why uphill?
It was then I realised all the circumnavigation of trees that mostly looked the same had completely upset the sense of direction.There was no sun and by then we had long lost the sound of cars along Cradle Road.
Thankfully we soon realised we were right in our directions but it gave some real meaning to 'walking in circles'.
Confessions of a surveyor!!

[corvus]

All good replies however why was the inexperienced member allowed to head off on his own ? should never happen in my opinion, and I think the patronising comment about him from his co walkers is their attempt to cover up for their own mistake! "always walk at the pace of the slowest walker" is still my mantra.
corvus

[Lophophaps]

getting lost is not as hard as it sounds. Personal experiences and similar listed here show how easy it can be.

Many years ago there were two tracks leading up to Trappers hut (Walls Of Jerusalem). I always liked the more direct but much steeper route as it was a lot shorter. I took a couple of our kids into The Walls and on the way back we stopped at Trappers Hut where my 6 or 8(?) yo daughter asked if she could just wander down the track a bit.
Stupidly I agreed thinking she 'wont go far'. We got to the top car park and no Nita! Hopped in car and drove to the bottom (current car park) and walked up the track for a while, then retreated and back to the other track then returned to bottom carpark and set off once more.
We found one very hot and relieved girl halfway up to the Trappers Hut. Poor girl had come all the way down and realised she was in wrong spot so went all way back to Trappers Hut and 'no us', so back down the way she had come.

Wow! Your daughter has descended and ascended quite a bit, alone. This is an instructive example. Even on a plain good track there's scope for misadventure. I was with another person T and I had to stop. T asked if he could keep going, and I said yes, follow the track. I got to where I should have caught up and no T. Whistles, shouting and we eventually connected. The track had switchbacks, and there was a pad that contoured at turn. T had taken this pad. I didn't think of that.

There's a theme. When on a track or close to familiar places, it may be that care and navigation are relaxed. In scrub with no track the compass, watch and map are used frequently. On a track this is less so. Would I have said that T could go on if we were in scrub? No. Ditto at Trappers Hut.

I last went up the direct track in 1983, and prefer the current route as the gradient is easier. I liked the log bridge on the steep route. I was unaware that both tracks were there at the same time.

[taswegian]

They ran concurrently for a while and there was a time after the steep track was closed that we still used it as I knew it well and preferred the shorter walk.
But there was a small branch across the junction with the main track.
The actual instruction was to go no further than that junction. She missed it and kept going.
Yes a lesson well learnt and one that has kept us for all times.
And agree.
No way would she have wandered off in The Walls for egs. Just not on!
Not sure what the difference is!

[photohiker]

I agree that Terry should not have been allowed to proceed alone. I've made that mistake too and gotten away with it, but those are the types of mistakes you should never make again.

If Terry had a mapping GPS with the relevant map and track on it he could have retraced his steps to the track.

Cost of GPS: $200. Cost of heli rescue: $1000's

Glad it all worked out.

[jjoz58]

I once got lost, it was 1977 and I'd been in the army 5 months. I have never been geographically embarrassed since. I've wondered off the track or route because I was wandering thumb in bum mind in neutral, but when I do decide to check I can always get back on track. But that's because I'm prepared and have the right equipment and knowledge in how to use them. I have lost count over the past 5-6 years of the number of people and groups especially families staggering through the bush, supposedly on a day track with no navigation equipment or a GPS with a dead battery or the map printed off a website (they look pretty).

This group seemed to be prepared, they did the right thing, both Terry and the rest of his party, once Terry was missing. He stopped and stayed put. They got help via the epirb/pir and they were reunited. Great!!!!!

Now they need to find a mate with a big foot and take turns getting kicked up the rear end by him. Because splitting a group when everybody doesn't have navigation equipment is just plain stupid and has cost a an organisation, the Tasmanian Air Rescue, a lot of money to rescue him.

[cams]

Great video. Australian Story style. Just need to equalise the audio a bit. I really enjoyed it though. Glad everyone got out safe.

[GPSGuided]

Why did the 4 members of the group all travel alone?

[Ent]

No shame in getting lost in Tassie as long as you find yourself eventually without troubling others. Actually, if the group is lost they can be the most memorial and fun walks. But losing a group member is not much fun. Sure they are in our group well equipped and in no danger but still worrying, at least to me. I do get concerned when I encounter a member of Chapman's hoard with book in hand and not much else in the way of sensible gear in some remote spot with changing weather.

It was fascinating tracking a group of teenagers when they got lost. They enjoyed the experience and used common sense to find themselves. I would not have enjoyed their scrub bash but to them it made the walk. I think mindset when lost is the key. I must admit that I worry more than many so like to keep the group in sight but providing people after the initial, oh heck, regroup their thoughts then common sense takes over. For some it takes only a few seconds but for me a few minutes.

And there is nothing wrong checking that the mountain has not moved with a GPS. It could just be an OSM mapper in action or someone working out that they have the unit set to the wrong datum

Cheers

Ps Fenix has a built in feature when you need to back track it will not, and/or freeze. Not to be trusted

[sanbot]

It is indeed easy to get lost. A buddy and I went on the red track in Bungonia gorge. We got lost because we kept on following what we thought looked like a trail. The further we went the less it looked like a trail. We ended up at a spot directly above the gorge. By then we had forgotten how we got there so wasn't able to retrace our steps. So we decided to go in what we thought was the general direction of where we came from. Thankfully after an hour of bushwacking we finally found our way back to the "track" we were originally following and then eventually the real track with a marker that was clearly visable but we missed because we were busy chatting. Its real easy to get lost.

[Onestepmore]

Good story, I enjoyed the Aussie style video (had to crank the sound up though)

My main question, is why you didn't all leave at the same time, and walk as a party, instead of splitting up?
And Terry was so right in realising leaving his pack to go looking for the right trail was a mistake. He would have been stuffed if he didn't have his gear with him. I make sure there's a whistle on each pack and a signalling mirror of some sort.

And agree, yes it's really easy to get lost. Embarasisngly, Hubby and I got lost in the well marked super-highways of the Blue Mountains! One Saturday afternoon in late Autumn we descended into the valley after Saturday morning work, with a couple of hours of daylight left, intending to camp at Acacia Flat via the Blue Gum Forest. We had maps, compass etc. Anyway, somehow mised the turnoff to Rodriguez (there was trackwork, big white bags for choppers to pick up, so that may have obscured the track branch) and ended going up the Grand Canyon - we knew where we were but it wasn't where we had meant to be! I fell in the creek, got tired rock hopping and didn't feel I could cope with a cold wet climb out of the valley up all the slimy leaf and moss covered stairs in the dark, so we camped down the bottom near a sandy creek under a rock overhang (not meant to I know). Felt very silly. Walked out the next morning and changed plans, went via Braeside track and did another walk the next day.

I was walking in the Watagans by myself near Forest HQ, and got disoriented in the maze of bike tracks, firetrals and multiple open clearings that all look the same. Most of these aren't on any map. It took me a while to find my way back, using the creek as my reference point. I wasn't worried too much as I knew I was near a large camp, but it made me realise how easy it is to get lost.