Hiker missing for two weeks in Zion found alive!

Wow, great news! A woman who'd been missing in Mount Zion National Park was just found alive! As usual the news story had very little detail, and stories like this tend to get bumped down the page by the news cycle but I would like to learn more! Family said she's an experienced hiker (but it seems like everyone that's ever spent a night camping is called an 'experienced hiker' by the media) but it's kind of unusual to see someone found alive after so long. Clearly she did a lot of things right to have survived!

Many questions as yet unanswered --- Was she evading searchers? What was her contemplated trip, if known?

Zion simply isn't that large a park. What was she doing during the two week period?

Yeah, I agree it seems odd. She left no itinerary and had no phone. Still even if it was planned she did a good job with water!

This event illustrates that thee cell phone is rapidly becoming the eleventh essential. Even out of cell phone coverage, a properly apped cell phone is very useful. Compass, GPS, maps are all possible.

I say this as a traditionalist who always carries a conventional compass and paper map, etc.

What other apps should grace a properly outfitted cell phone? Geezers want to know....

Isn't this when Doug sends out his staff of crack ETS reporters to get the scoop on the story??

It sounded like she absolutely loved the outdoors, and sometimes I think that can help lead to a positive frame of mind and comfort that can improve the chances for a good outcome.

So glad to hear she is OK.

Flashlight app.

According to a story released today she hit her head on a tree and was shaken up too bad to walk. If she had a bad concussion I could see her not being able get out on her own. She says every time she'd go to take a few steps she'd get woozy and collapse. In that case, and I'm proceeding on the assumption that she's being truthful, staying put probably gave her the best odds of survival. It worked I guess! She stayed by a stream bed but as dehydrated as she was I wonder if it was kind of just mud?

Now the sister of the missing hiker says that the hiker did not drink any water during the entire 12 day period.

A member of the local search & rescue says something here doesn't add up.

https://www.foxnews.com/us/zion-hiker-holly-courtier-sister-discrepancies-rescue

Yeah, kind of fishy. No way you go 12 days without any water! You'd be way beyond "dry mouth" at that point, you're a goner (especially if she didn't have food either).

I think the intent was to say she didn't drink from the river (toxic algae). Obviously she wouldn't be here without another water source.

The article also suggests that there may be a mental health aspect to this. I suspect that's something SAR and park rangers watch for. But if someone is operating under their own steam and refuses assistance, I suppose the rule is to escort to a safe place and that's that.

Sometimes the victim, SAR participants and friends or relatives of the victim will have different versions of the incident. it seems that this is more frequent with highly publicized ops...

She was found alive and in decent shape considering the fairly long time of the ops. That is the bottom line and that is all that matters.

"All else is sound and fury, signifying nothing."

Agreed: a win is a win.

It does make me wonder, though. When I walk the hills, I am in my introspective space. Unlike the entirely different mental radar walking though an urban space. If I had crossed paths with this lady, would I have registered that something was "off?"

Her GoFundMe mentions that she's suffered from some kind of mental illness in the past and that she may not have been in a good frame of mind when she entered the park.

Not in a good frame of mind, some reports of a pre departure period of fasting, an odd assortment of high end gear including a hammock..well, there is an old ER maxim: you can't explain crazy.
BTW, there was a recent FL incident of a fasting lad. y driving her car into a water feature and drowning. Fasting is a powerful and venerated spiritual path, and quite a dangerous one. Use with care.

Think i will go make a sandwich...

[ Preface: since all these use power that you might need to make an emergency call, power management is big. Make sure you are charged up at the last minute, monitor charge, and bring a "power bank" backup battery that has a power level display (that you check). For long outings, a solar recharger can be handy.

[iPhone] (only?)
• Set up Emergency SOS under Settings > Emergency SOS
• Through the above, or in Settings > Health > Medical ID, set up your emergency contacts, medical information, and set it up to be transmitted on the emergency call and available under emergency access from the lock screen
• Set up "location tracking" for your emergency contacts, so they can use "Find your friend" to try to locate your phone (in case you are out of it, or you lost your phone - hopefully that will be a clue to where you are if you don't show up).

• Navigation / Situational awareness apps:

[iPhone and Android]
• Location apps:
• Online maps: (what the heck - you might have signal). Google Earth, Apple Maps, Google Maps, AllTrails, GAIA GPS, etc.)
• App to display your GPS coordinates, and easily transmit by SMS text and email (if you have signal) your coordinates, Apple Maps link and Google Maps link by SMS or email: I use the free app "Find my GPS Coordinates" (available for iPhone and Android)
• Compass app: (iPhone includes one as default)
• Off-grid digital map: We should have one - the one I've been using seems to have gone quirky, so I don't know what to recommend at this point.
• Visual Orientation app: I like Peakfinder - before your trip, you can download digital elevation models of your region for offgrid use. In the field, you can then display a synthetic view you can match with your visual. I use it to get more accurate bearings than I can get with a magnetic compass, and it is a valuable check that I'm reading the compass correctly, too. You can get a feel for it on the free website - the iPhone/Android apps for off-grid use are about $5 and linked from the website. See here: https://www.peakfinder.org/?lat=34.1091&lng=-119.0645&azi=157&zoom=5&ele=429&cfg=r&date=2021-01-16T22:38Z
• Astronomy app: Mine's actually on a PalmPilot, but by day solar compass is more accurate than magnetic, and by night, stellar orientation even more so.
• Weather app: ( I use the free iPhone "Weather Radar" app a lot - even for neighborhood walks).
• Photos/video of my route: (particularly the photo of the turnoff we overshot by a mile once despite GPS ...) - no app required, but I use Google Maps satellite imagery and Google Maps streetview imagery as well as online photos from hikers as prep. I normally print that as hardcopy and carry in my backpack (not battery dependent), but it can go in the phone, too.

• Skills apps

• First aid books/apps; On my iPhone, I have "First Aid" - by the American Red Cross, I think.
• Survival books: (better late than never, and even if you think you remember, you may want to double-check your memory). Also, once they are on your phone, you can read them in odd moments before the emergency - like while waiting in line for your COVID vaccination ...
• Knots: "Animated Knots" app - https://www.animatedknots.com/shop
• .pdf manuals for any fancy gear I'm taking (camera, ham radio, GoPro, and yes, your smartphone) [I bring hardcopy, too.]

I'm sure I've overlooking whole categories of things, but this is what I have after a quick look in the "hiking" folder of my iPhone (21 apps currently), and skimming some of my other 100+ apps to see what might be useful ...

Thanks for the useful references. I will be checking them out tomorrow, but quite possibly not on Monday, since we were just notified by SCE that another public safety power shutdown may be in order, due to forecast high winds. It is really nice to get advance warning - much better than an unannounced power outage.

Mrs.Hikermor and I were critiquing the last outage, and wondering how we could improve. Cooking is easy - I have camp stoves galore, but refrigeration is the crux. We did OK during the last shutdown by only opening the fridge occasionally. If worse case scenarios arrive, we will consume my plentiful stash of ice cream before it all melts...

I have acquired more power bank capacity since our last outage, and I am glad I did. I see significant solar panels in our future....

Many thanks to all for your helpful suggestions on this and other matters.

It's curious: I turn off almost all of the stuff that people advocate as helpful (privacy issues x1000). And in a pickle, I would turn off all data services -- they suck battery life x100. So I guess I'm a contrarian to the core (can you tell I did most of my wilderness work before cell/satellite/spot was an option?).

Sometimes, simple wins the day:

VANCOUVER -- A B.C. police department says a dying cellphone light helped them locate a lost hiker on a Vancouver-area mountain over the weekend.

Abbotsford police said in a news release Sunday that a hiker called 911 from Sumas Mountain Saturday evening. The Air 1 helicopter was brought in and night vision goggles were used, helping the team spot the hiker's cellphone light from 10 kilometres away.

https://bc.ctvnews.ca/lost-hiker-s-dying...ntain-1.5261979

> refrigeration is the crux

Amen. We were lucky to have our power out for "only" two 12-hour periods (on successive days) in our last outage (heat wave overloading local capacity).

The one cheap mitigation I thought of was that if the power outage risk was elevated, to put couple of extra gallon jugs in the freezer to freeze beforehand - turning the refrigerator into an icechest. Also, pre-emptively eating the food most at risk.

> Many thanks to all for your helpful suggestions on this and other matters.

You're welcome! As Doug pointed out - conserving enough power for emergency communications is key. GPS usage burns through battery power pretty quickly. I put my phone in "airplane mode" and "off" when it isn't needed, or do a complete shutdown.

I do keep "Location services" off unless I really need it, and the "while using" setting on apps where I need it - for both privacy and power concerns.

Yes, and location services even more so. When I don't need service, I keep the phone in "Airplane Mode", and "off" (not really off, but faster to bring back than full shutdown).

Good point, and that has paid off many times - it didn't take me long to find quite a few - seems like this is a topic that could justify it's own thread:
Florida, Dec 2019, iPhone flashlight rescue
New York, Sep 2017 Cell phone flashlight rescue
Montana, May 2015 Cell Phone Flashlight Rescue
New Jersey, Aug 2014, Cellphone flashlight rescue
Nov 2008 cell phone flashlight rescue

In this case, the NVG was able to pick up the cell phone screen itself, they say:
Cell phone screen seen by NVG

My offline maps app (MotionX GPS) is still working on my device but does not appear to be available in the App Store any more. I’ll work on finding one that’s current.

Recently, I purchased a larger power bank for the purpose of powering my portable ham radio rig (an Icom 705), along with a Raspberry Pi 400 and USB-C powered screen, for operating digital modes in the field. The weather turned (among other things) so I haven’t operated portable digital yet, but the power bank itself works a treat (https://portableuniversalpower.com/revolt-g2/). The website has some quirks and it took a while for my order to ship, but the device is if anything better than described on their web page. No affiliation with them.

Thanks! MotionX GPS is the offline map app I use, but some things had stopped working.

I found the official discontinuation announcement on the company site here: https://support.motionx.com/#

Let us know if you find an offline map app you like. For offline access, I see membership fees for both GAIA GPS ($17/yr) and Alltrails ($20/yr for 3-year).

There's a recent list of offline map apps here, but at first blush they don't seem very wilderness friendly:
Offline map apps for IOS and Android, Jan 2021

This 2018 listing of offline map apps for hiking looks like a better bet (and lists MotionX GPS ... sigh)
Offline Hiking map apps: IOS and Android 2018

Given how little light (usually <50 lumens) is emitted from mobile phone lights, surprising they have been that effective.

A big consideration is how well your eyes are adaptd to thee darkness. Way back when we hiked routinely at night using carbid lamps, usually on a low fuel setting in order to achieve longer run times. i doubt they gave more than 50 lumens.

Nowadays I have a great headlamp which can emit 1000 lumens. I almost always run it at a lower setting but it is nice to have the brighter capability.

Yeah, the low 15 lumen setting on my edc flashlight is the most used.

Meant the rescuers being able to spot a phone light from a helicopter.

I've settled on Topo Maps US (by David Crawshay) for now. Pros: 100% free, no ads or membership, easy to use, super nifty freehand distance measuring tool.

Cons: Map tile downloads take a long, long time. If your device sleeps during a download you may have to restart the download.

I want to run this app on both my iPad and my iPhone. It has a little WebDAV server that you can turn on to download map data. You can then upload the map data to your other device (no direct connectivity between iPad and iPhone that I could make work). This saved me hours of download time, but it's probably too fiddly for many folks.

Make no mistake: there are a lot of good reasons that Gaia GPS is so highly rated. But this app works for my purposes.

They have all sorts of electronics on a helicopter, don´t have to rely on eyes.

Yea, one of the links listed has a video of what they see using NVGs from a helicopter.

Yes, it's useful to have a momentary blowtorch. But better to operate at the lowest possible lumens otherwise. I notice how quickly my peripheral vision is torched (hah) by bright lights, and I don't like being blind at the sides.

FOIA release on the incident

https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/1KPWT1XtRR1SggKFkovIrI8ztBGU5WboD

A lot redacted.
Edit:

Expenses report is interesting, spent a total of around $2,500 at bhphotovideo replacing GIS/mapping supplies.
Imagine paper maps are almost considered single use, but $2.5k?

Thermal imaging monoculars bought off Amazon. $4,249.00.. Guessing couple of Flir Scouts or something.

The "GIS/mapping supplies" might also include such things as large scale blown up prints of maps and imagery (perhaps laminated) for briefing purposes. Possibly also for purchase of non public domain imagery.

As noted in the other thread on the strain on SAR due to the Pandemic, National Park SAR missions generally have a lot of resources (financial and otherwise) available. SAR missions outside of the parks often do not have as much support.

Just looking on bh website, (we don't have that chain over here) guessing could be a large format printer, rather than actual maps.

Could it be that someone saw a chance to replenish or increase stockpiles of desirable items not purchased from normal budgets?

Goodness, heavens no!! who would ever do such a thing, even if they had an opportunity!! Certainly not the National park Service or any other government agency!! - speaking from forty years of experience....

It's marked as a SAR Replacement, so whatever it was, it was either considered consumable or something broke and needed replacing.

Though the thermal imaging, and binos look like an increase capability.