Her biggest mistake was the first one - wandering off alone. Other people have commented on that. On that score, nuff said.

An excellent primer for map reading is the current U.S. Army issue manual. That can be downloaded as a PDF from the Cammega website. 20MB file. Written for both the complete neophyite mapreader and the more advanced user. Recommended.

Cameron,

I'm glad your group member turned up ok.

I have no experience in hiking in your neck of the woods (summer or winter) so I have nothing to offer of value to your situation other than a question:

Would this individual have benefited from having a quad map of the area and maybe a small gps unit?

I don't head into an area (familiar or not) without at least one quad map of the area. In the past, I've gotten the quads ajoining my target area just in case I wandered off the map.

Maybe an offering of orienteering skills inservice taught by a local Boy Scout (working on a community service merit badge) might be of some interest to some folks in your group. I know I desperately need to brush up on some skills.

I don’t know how your group hikes are run – Are the organizers typically leading the way, with most of the other people not really paying much attention to the route?

GPS units and topo maps for everyone in the group may not be practical. However, the organizers should at least hand out simple photocopied trail maps with the day’s route highlighted and turns marked. When I’m out with even one other person and I’m doing the navigating, I like to think out loud (ie “Oh, here’s where the red trail splits off from the blue trail we’re on. We’ll follow it for a mile where we should hit the yellow trail.”)

The buddy system already mentioned is a good idea for a large group. And it sounds like you already make sure everyone is accounted for when the hike is over – well done!

A whistle might have been heard before the group got too far away.

Have a plan for what to do if you get separated – If you think you’re lost, stop and wait for us to find you. If you guessed at which fork to take and think you might have guessed wrong, backtrack to that point and wait there.

Just curious, but an account of what the lost person did during those two hours might be interesting and instructive.

I will be seeing her on next monday at our monthly meeting. I was going to ask her then. When she has had a little time to calm down what she did while she was lost.

Cameron Ownbey

samhain,

I am pretty sure she didn't have a map and or compass. We as a group have always insisted hikers carry 10 essentials and that includes a map and compass. To this point we have just taken peoples word on having a map. All organizers are having a meeting Tomorrow night so we can discuss this situation and I am sure part of the solution will be us starting to check and make sure people have maps.

So to answer the question yes if she had a map she probably would have been lost for a lot less time.

Cameron Ownbey

Thanks for the web site but I can't seem to find it. Do you know the URL?

Thanks

Cameron Ownbey

This rather lenghty thingy should lead you there...
http://usmilitary.about.com/gi/dynamic/o...26%2Findex.html

If that doesn't work, just do a goodle search for fm 3-25.26, that will lead you to it.

Personally, unless they have changed the manual since the 60's, I don't consider it worth much in the civilian world. If you don't have a GI lensatic compass, with mils and all that, it isn't worth much. Your good old Boy Scout Handbook ('specially one from the 60's or 70's) is better...

"GPS units and topo maps for everyone in the group may not be practical"

A basic Garmin Geko 101 and the yellow Garmin eTrex cost well under $100 these days. The Geko 202 costs just over $100.

A USGS 7.5 minute topo map costs only $6 from USGS.

A Suunto M-3 compass with adjustable declination costs only $20.

Combined GPS & compass weight is only 4.7 oz.

Ask the person who got lost if she'd have been willing to pay $126 to know exactly where she was AND how to get to the parking lot on her own.

Maybe I'm totally out of focus here, but... when your people are traveling, do they ever mark the trail? It seems to me that a 4" piece of orange surveyor's tape could have prevented the whole incident.

Sue

Back when I used to lead large group hikes, we had a leader in front and a sweep in back. Both had usually prehiked the trail in advance, within a few weeks of the hike. Persons leaving the trail for 'personal business" or any other reason, were asked to leave a pack or jacket or something very visible on the side of the trail. The sweep was to wait at the marker until the person reappeared. The sweep passed no one of the group on the trail.
Group members ALL got copies of the hike directions and a map, along with a list of things to do if "What If" happened. Often, the leader would leave small cards with arrows showing the direction to take at junctions, to be collected by the sweep.