Apparently went on a dayhike last weekend near Diablo, Washington. Found yesterday by S&R. No way to treat water? Either the news reports are inaccurate or she was delirious not to drink water becasue she couldn't treat it. Strange.





http://www.kirotv.com/news/14176252/detail.html

"Her overnight pack was in the front seat."

I take my small BOB with PSK and FAK into parks that I can walk out of in less than a day if I head straight in just about any direction. It continues to baffle me why people hiking in remote areas don't do the same thing at the very least.

I google mapped Diablo and Whatcom County, Washington and a good chunk of it is frackin' real deal wilderness. And while I don't know specifically where the hiker was lost, it appears that there are great stretches where there aren't any roads for 15 to 20 miles at a minimum in many directions.

In any case, I'm very happy that they found her alive.

God's Country -- she came very close to finding out how true that is. The article says What's an overnight pack? Did she have two packs? -- hiking/day pack vs camping/overnight pack? I suspect she started last weekend with enough stuff for a day but by Tuesday she was running on empty and by Thursday she was starting to lose it.

Still though, my day pack is a Camelback Rim Runner with an MSR mini-works and nalgene bottle for making water++. With the quality/quantity water she had to start with that would have kept her drinking 'til next year. Without the filter, I'd've drank straight from the river/stream. Did it when I was a kid back in the '60's with no ill effects at all. Food I'd've run out of, but not water. Where was her map? Compass? Obviously no GPS.

Fortunately for her this will be a great learning experience -- that or she'll never step foot in the woods again. Her call. . .

Here's an earlier article from the Seattle Times that has a bit of background. Somebody missed her and gave them a starting point -- wrong point, 37 miles from Darrington to Diablo as the crow flies; at least they started looking north of Seattle.

Evidently she made two fundamental mistakes. 1) changed her itinerary without notifying anyone; 2) ill prepared for the potential of getting lost.

At least she didn't loose her hand . . .

Hope she's learned something.

Hmmm… carries her dental insurance card and a grocery store discount card, but doesn’t carry anything that will help her make a fire (a lighter perhaps, let alone a sparker) which would 1) keep her warm, 2) cook any found food, and 3) treat water. They’re called the “10 essentials” for a reason.

It’s great that she was found alive, but it is so much more rewarding when they find people who are also prepared to help themselves.

An article in the Seattle Times said searchers found her water bottle. She left it along the trail.

I guess she's watched too many movies where the characters empty their canteens, then toss them away. Apparently it never occurs to some people that that may need a container when they find water up the trail.

But I would really laugh if she had water purifier tablets with her, but had tossed her water bottle!

Sue

For the first 24 hours, I can't blame her for not drinking unsure water- I probably wouldn't. After that....

All I can think of is that the "impure water" drum has been beaten so hard and so loud that people who don't know are going to err on the side of caution. It is like the little kids who get lost then hide from searchers becuase they've been programmed all their life to be afraid of strangers.

Yeah - I'd rather HAVE water, and a case of Gardia cysts, than die do lack of water...

So, she was willing to eat wild berries but not drink the water? I've seriously got to question her judgement on this one. I personally have got to be pretty darn certain about berries in the woods before I pop them in my mouth, wild rasberries, strawberries and dew berries are about it. Choke cherries too, but they're way too tart for me unless I'm making jam.

Those were probably blackberries, very tasty and perfectly safe as long as the thorns don't draw blood. If she got thirsty enough she'd have drunk from a stream.

Exactly, I'd have drank the water. But then I have a steel cup I carry for making hot chocolate on a butane backpacking stove or campfire.

Like I said in my previous post, my Camelback Rim Runner has an MSR mini-works and nalgene bottle for treating and storing water, but I also have an MSR Pocket Rocket and fuel cannister in an MSR Ti kettle. Lots of MSR, but they work well together.

Down here in SOCAL the 100 oz bladder would be filled at any source of water. In the Diablo area there's so much water available I'd just refill the Nalgene bottle as required and leave the bladder empty, no point carrying the extra weight. I'd still have run out of food, but then I'd've also had a map, compass and GPS so I wouldn't have been wandering in the first place.

Blackberries are ripe all over western WA this time of year, so that's probably what she was eating.

From what I understand, all aggregate berries (tight clustered fruits, like blackberries, raspberries, etc) are edible.

The single fruits, like blueberries and black nightshade are much more iffy.

And don't judge toxicity by seeing birds eating certain berries. Deadly nightshade (Atropa belladona) is one of the most toxic plants of the western hemisphere, but birds can eat them with no harm.

Sue