Sometimes people make the right moves: (from the NPS Morning Report)

Monday, June 20, 2011

Grand Canyon National Park (AZ)
Overdue Hiker Found On North Rim

Late on the evening of Wednesday, June 15th, rangers received notification that 64-year old Billy Driscoll of Fredonia, Arizona, had not returned from a backpacking trip in the Grand Canyon. The reporting party, a friend of Driscoll's, said that he had been expected back no later than Tuesday. Driscoll had provided his friends with a detailed itinerary of his planned hiking route, which helped the agencies focus their search on the Sowats Point/Fishtail Mesa/Indian Hollow area, about 30 miles northwest of the North Rim developed area. Driscoll had planned to enter the park at Indian Hollow, then find a route down to Hualapai Spring, cross to Kwagunt, and come back up and exit near Sowats Point at the Jumpup-Naile trailhead. On Thursday morning, once Coconino County Sheriff's Officers located Driscoll's car and confirmed that he had not yet left the area, the park helicopter flew two search patterns over his planned route with no success. On Thursday night, a DPS helicopter equipped with FLIR (forward looking infrared) technology, which detects variations in heat signature, also flew Driscoll's planned route with no success. On Friday, search operations expanded, adding teams to ground search the area between Fishtail Mesa and Indian Hollow. Late on Friday afternoon, a Forest Service officer on routine patrol found Driscoll at the junction of two roads that were significantly north and east of his planned exit point. According to Driscoll, he had hiked his planned itinerary and stayed at Kwagunt on Monday night. On Tuesday, though, he was unable to locate the route up to Sowats Point, a route he had never hiked before. After spending a second night at Kwagunt, Driscoll decided to hike out via Jumpup Canyon, a route he had traveled before, camping at Mountain Sheep Springs on Wednesday night and at a cabin near the top of Jumpup Canyon on Thursday night. Driscoll was reported as being tired and unable to eat much, but otherwise in good condition and high spirits. The National Park Service credits Driscoll with making sure friends knew when to expect him out of the backcountry, providing them with a detailed description of his planned route, and carrying extra food and supplies in case he was in the backcountry longer than expected. In addition, he did not panic when he could not find his route. Instead, he stayed near water and familiar terrain as he searched for his route and contemplated his options. [Submitted by Shannan Marcak, Public Affairs Officer]

Hooray for him for filing a detailed plan with a dependable friend! Sounds like he made a lot wise choices along the way too. Good for him!

Bravo. Sounds like the smartest thing he did was admit his error and change course accordingly.

He did a very good job, helping make the big difference between a search and a body recovery.

I wish more people were as careful.

Sue

From what I've read, that (admitting there's a problem) is one of the truly critical things about survival. One has to acknowledge the situation for what it is. Failure to recognize the gravity of the situation can really compound the problem.

Sounds like, though, that he didn't make an error per se. He just couldn't find a particular trail. Having hiked in Northern Arizona before, I'd say that a lot of trails there are more dashes on a map than real trails. In other words, some of those trails up there don't get a lot of use and are pretty hard to find, hardly his fault. I'm not familiar with the particular trail in question.

HJ

A lot of the "trails" in Grand Canyon are pretty obscure, perhaps more properly described as routes. I have never heard of this particular trail, either, before reading this account.

This story demonstrates that a little preparation and the right attitude may very well be the difference between a little extra involuntary "vacation time" and a serious survival episode.

I agree that realizing things aren't going to happen as planned and work from there is probably one of the most important survival skills.