Wilderness enough to swallow you whole

Yes, though it may be hard to believe in this era, there is still enough genuine Northern wilderness to swallow a person whole.

This news story is a reminder of that, and hopefully instructive to the thoughtful among us. A German visitor wanted to walk the forests of Yukon -- and will likely never be found.

http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/06/19/...k-across-yukon/

These visitors are welcome, of course. But there are hints that some of them don't fully comprehend what they are getting into, and so are not as well prepared as they might be. I detect a note of exasperation in the interviews with the SAR folks.

Just hints?

Ah, well, gentle understatement is the language of diplomacy.

For some reason the page headers come up but the story doesn't.

Thanks Doug.

I read a brief report a few days ago on this missing man in which the details were only a brief rewrite job of the official RCMP press release and today, this NP story provides a much more in depth insight and background of the missing person.

I doubt that the RCMP or SAR will spend much, if any resources in attempting to search for this missing person with no real clues to go on other then what they have now. Like many before him, if this missing person did indeed head off into the wild and did not find his way out, he will become part of the Yukon's growing collection of stories of people who have made the pilgrimage north for the ultimate gamble and lost.

As I near my departure date for a solo 9 day wildnerness venture, it is news stories such as these that really enforce to me, the concepts and wisdom of being fully prepared and also fully cognizent of the harsh reality that these types of trips can go drastically wrong at any time no matter how experienced or inexperienced that a person is.

Similar events have occured, and no doubt will occur again in Alaska. The most publicised case was the "Into the Wild" story that John Krakauer wrote about. That guy was found, but too late. I would be the last one to discourage someone from an adventure. However, some people just have no clue what they are getting into.

Have fun Teslin, but be very careful out there. We want to hear your stories when you get back!

That's odd. I can open the link normally in both Chromium and Firefox.

There's no reason to worry about Teslinhiker. He's the opposite of the object of the story. Teslinhiker has experience, has done this kind of thing before, and has prepared and thought about it a lot.

While things can happen, Teslinhiker is "lucky." He looks lucky to those who don't prepare.

Have a good time!

Go Teslin! Take some notes along the way and give us an AAR with some lessons learned, or at least reinforced!

Thanks guys. As the hours literally tick by, my plans are being changed and perhaps, altogether scuttled by a river on the east end of the trail where the river is at abnormally high flood stage and daytime temps are expected to hit the low 80's next week. Not that I have attempt to cross this river on foot (which I would never live anyways regardless of water level) however there is a vehicle ferry out of service until the water levels subside which really impacts the logistics of the return drive home..

On the north end of the trail, about 75 kms away which is my initial departure point, the latest report is that the trail is still experiencing winter conditions...go figure.

My very latest window of departure is from roughly to July 1st to July 5th. Any time past that is too late to fit into my work schedule so hopefully nature will decide to cooperate with me soon...

Getting somewhat back to Doug's original post. Another person very new to the Yukon has gone missing. In this case, it looks like this person was out canoeing near Teslin Yukon and probably capsized.

It loaded today. Odd.

I'm so glad that I have learned to evaluate risk...