I have two boys myself, I am a Scout Master. I could not imagine allowing anything like this to happen. I will read this article to the troop, and use it to justify why I make them all carry a poncho, survival kit and bottle of water even if they are only going 100 yards from the camp.

Children do not tough it out. One of the BO issues most people with children seriously overestimate is how well children will hold up in a BO situation, especially on foot in bad weather. The just don't do well. He might have been able to tough it out and walk himself out of the woods (although this is not as easy as it may sound) but he would have had to leave the kids to die.

I don't know what happened to this guy but I can relate to how fast the weather can change. I walk the dog every morning. These days we leave about 4:30 and go about 3.25 miles. Typical suburban type streets and sidewalks. An easy walk.

One time I was about 3 blocks from home when it started to sprinkle. I decided to just walk faster. It was in the upper 40s and I am close to home walking on a paved street. How bad can it get? I leave my poncho that I had in a fanny pack in the pack. Shortly thereafter the sprinkles turn to a torrential downpour. I was wearing a more or less rain resistant nylon jacket. Within maybe 30 seconds I am soaked to the skin. It is raining so hard I cannot see the surface of the street I am walking on more than a few feet away. No wind to speak of, but I am just drenched. In the few additional minutes it takes me to get home I get pretty chilly. Nothing real serious, but if it had happened out in the woods 20 minutes from the car, I might well have been in trouble.

It was a good object lesson about having some protection from the elements and that if you get any warning at all that it is going to rain soon, damn well better put on the rain gear now rather than wait until I am soaked through. Now I see a few drops of rain and the poncho comes out of the pack and if not on me, it gets out of the pouch and in my pocket where I can put it on in about ten seconds.

If you have never been outside when a storm like this brews up, it is hard to realize just how fast it can go from a nice walk in the woods to a life threatening situation.

Another time I was walking the same route and it started to sprinkle so on goes my poncho. The wind picks up and I mean some serious wind. Again, I am only a few blocks from home on a paved street (actually the street is made of concrete pavers, but that is not an important part of the story). The serious rain held off until I made it home but the wind blew my poncho all over the place. If I had been out in the woods in that storm I would have been in trouble and soaked from the waist down.

People forget too how fast hiking conditions can change. Many trails are not well marked and when it gets dark or there is rain so you can't see more than 20 feet in front of you even with a flashlight, it can be easy to miss turn offs. If you have a paper map and it gets wet it is useless.

I was out a few weeks ago hiking and came across a couple on the trail. The gal was dressed appropriately. The guy was wearing blue jeans, a light windbreaker, no hat, no gloves, and low cut canvas shoes. He was obviously cold as he had his hands jammed in his jeans and had his shoulders hunched up. I don't know if he thought he looked cool for walking around in the cold shivering or what. I don't go out this time of the year without hat and gloves. I keep a snap ring on a pack strap so that I can hang them from the strap if I want to take them off as often happens once I start walking and warm up. But even if it is warm enough when I set out to walk without them, they are hooked to my strap. I also keep a spare pair of light weight gloves in an inner jacket pocket along with a balaclava.

I sometimes see guys on bikes out 2 or 3 miles from anywhere in the winter with nothing in the way of gear and dressed like it is summer. They are fine as long as they are humping it, but if they have to stop (say they get a flat), they are in trouble.

Something I wrote about this on another forum.

We get funny looks when going even on a short hike on a nice summer day. Everyone else in short shorts, tank tops, and no pack. And we have our convertable hiking pants, shirt, Camelbak packs, etc.