[treeswarper]

This was in the Wenatchee World. Don't know if it was in the Seattle paper first. Hope you can read it. A Close Call

[cdestroyer]

one last item to add to the list,,,,,,never get lost, hiking always take a look back trail and notice something for a reference,that big rock to the side or a mark on a tree,,, getting to far out,things look the same back track, dont press on, you should be able to follow your trail back, and,,,,, never get to far ahead of yourself.. you think you can do more,,, slow down, stop, rest.....time to call it quits for the day...get out!!!

[Exmoor]

[Chief Joseph]

[Anne Elk]

That was a really good first-person news story, Treeswarper; thanks for posting it. Very instructive to hear from the hiker himself what the experience was like, and recounting the mistakes he made. It reminded me of the never-found Puget Sound Mycological Society elder. She made many mistakes: told no one she was going anywhere, went alone, and likely not equipped with the essentials for surviving bad weather overnight: Six years later, the mystery of Hildegard Hendrickson remains

[coldrain108]

that is why you don't eat the mushrooms until you get back to safety... My one disorientation story involved herbal intoxicants, competitive extraction (fishing) and not knowing the lay of the land. Luckily I remembered the #1 concept when disoriented; stop and wait for your head to clear from the panic before moving in any direction. Then I figured out how to get back to where I wanted to be. Luckily I'm a human GPS unit...except in the Goat Rocks - what kind of weird magnetic energy is happening over there?

[treeswarper]

Mushroom hunters get lost easily and my theory is that they are intensely looking at the ground and not looking elsewhere. I can do the same berry picking but I make myself pay attention and it's usually up or down. Flatness is easier for me to get misplaced in, so I need to have a compass along, or pay attention to the sun if possible. Today's little jaunt into the woods turned out to be more difficult than planned. The logging changed things drastically--more roads were put in, trail numbers and markers were gone as were memorable rocky spots. We did just fine relying on memory of terrain instead of trail markers.

[Snowdog]

I cannot open it- paywall pops up.