Lost Hiker in Vancouver

Sounds like all he needed was a whistle at one point and he could have shortened his ordeal by a few days.

Another article said he was wearing running shoes. If his feet were so bad he required morphine, I assume he loses some toes at best.

I don't know the terrain, but he had a tarp and a little food. It seems to me that any knife, a lighter, a whistle, a cell phone, maybe a mirror, and boots would have saved his feet at least.

Boots alone, it sounds like, would have made a significant difference.

Here is the general area and an idea of the terrain in this picture that I took in Dec. 2010. Hanes Valley is slightly NW from here.


This link to a pdf map of Lynn Valley Park shows Hanes Valley just to the bottom right of the map legend.

The above picture was taken in the river bed at the Third Debris Chute location as denoted in the pdf.

This man was very lucky. This is extremely rugged and unforgiving country which has turned me back on more then one occasion.

Some more info on the rescue here.

[quote=TeslinhikerThis man was very lucky. This is extremely rugged and unforgiving country which has turned me back on more then one occasion. [/quote]

A beautiful landscape photo as always. Thanks for providing us a view into the area.

Looking at your map, it appears that he didn't make it in too far from the entry point, and that it is a well-used trail. I wonder if there's more to the story...........

Odd... not much of a beard after 10 days.

Sue

I don't think that picture is fresh...

Big bonus for bringing a tarp and being able to stick around for 10 days. It takes some guts to do that.

Big anti-bonus for not filing a trip plan by a responsible person. Search initiated because his car wasn't moved for 10 days is a lousy substitute for a trip plan.

As always, there's very little detail reported. Bad shoes may have been a factor, but I would be reluctant to accept that as a hard fact with so little hard information to go on. I'll also abstain from commenting on what other preparations he made for that trip.

One other lesson, though: Being able to make a fire isn't always as easy as you think. Fire starters and a tool for manipulating wood are important tools.

Lower Lynn is a popular area but not a lot of people, proportionately do not get up into Hanes Valley. If you do venture up there, as always you need to be prepared. The area is punctuated by rugged terrain and dense forest. Step off the off the main trail(s) even 10's of yards, people can walk right by you and not even know you are there as was in this case. This man was fortunate that the woman who found him is a member of the local SAR and had access to the local SAR supply caches up there.

You are correct on the difficulty of fire making. There has been a lot of rain (days and weeks worth) up here along with temps at night close to freezing. The ground and vegetation up here are thoroughly saturated. Pretty tough conditions for fire making for even the experienced person...

the 2 cents solution: Leave a trip plan with 2 people...and one in your car.

WHERE are you going?

WHO are you with?

WHAT are your carrying?

WHEN do you expect to be back?

ANY communications gear? Cell phone/ radio/etc?