[hearingjd]

Interesting article... and kind of reflects my thoughts. I actually would put "Splitting up" high on the list. Seen a lot of this, especially in climbing, and while it works out okay in most cases, when groups split up, you are really increasing your risks (key example: climbing party on Baker who had a person who wore out, so they left him BY HIMSELF on the glacier while they went to go summit). BUT, I'd add "my phone led me astray"... https://getpocket.com/explore/item/10-reasons-people-get-lost-in-the-wild?utm_source=pocket-newtab-en-us

[Schroder]

I was on a search once when a dozen people got lost in the dark. They all separated, figuring someone would find their way out and get help (they did). It took another full day to round up the rest of them.

[Chief Joseph]

The main reason that I get lost is that I leave the house. I became lost for an hour or so while trying to find Devils lake, luckily I could see the sun to the west and Big 4 to the south, so I knew which way to go. I brought some friends there a few weeks later and got us all lost, but we did find the fossils up to the west. One other time lost was coming down the ridge from Lewis peak. The ridge is heavily wooded and narrow and we kept getting cliffed out. My friend was freaking out which I found to be a bit funny. I actually think it's kind of fun getting lost, for some reason I find it exciting but haven't panicked so far. Got lost trying to find an off trail lake neat Priest lake, found a familiar logging road but unfortunately it was going in the wrong direction....but since I knew where it went I continued on and ended up walking 12 miles out of the way...lol...but on the bright side I did find some usable items along the highway, amazing how much people lose off of their cars.

[DadFly]

When I used to hunt in Montana with my father and brothers we would split up and plan our routes to try to intercept each other's flushed out prey. We always said we would "meet on that high point right there (where ever that happened to be.)". But no one ever showed up. We would meet at the car sometime after dark and drive back to the cabin with the heat blazing. One time dad didn't show up at the car. We waited an hour then drove back to the cabin to see if he was there. Nope. Drove to a ridge where we could see a large expanse of the west fork of the Clearwater. Sat there in the dark for a couple hours until we saw a flashlight bobbing out of the upper West Fork. We drove down to where the trail made it to the road. There was dad covered in blood from the biggest elk he had ever seen. It took four of us three trips to pack it out over the next two days. Five miles each way with huge packs of meat. The rack alone weighed about 40 lbs. Great memories of getting lost all over the Swan valley. It was so much drier there, fires were easy to start. So there were a few times we had one on either side of us going all through the night.

[cdestroyer]

never been lost

[timberghost]

[Lazyhiker]

What do we consider lost? Is it being off route or is it having no idea where you’re at and having no sense of cardinal direction?

[olderthanIusedtobe]

I like to say I don't always know exactly where I am, but I'm never lost. It's worked for me so far.

[thunderhead]

[Bootpathguy]

I've also never been lost. Disoriented? Yes! Landmarks have always gotten me back in track. Regarding "out & backs" Finding and memorizing landmarks isn't a "special gift". You don't need to be some sort of prodigy I'm constantly doing this. It's also a great way to appreciate all the cool little things nature offers us . Turning around from time to time and looking @ where you came from and not where you are going and making a mental note of rocks & boulders, trees that grow in odd ways, stumps, sounds of flowing water. Where is north?! Which way was I headed when I started my travels? Kick a few rocks and fallen debris over. Disturb the landscape a little bit. Also, that really cool looking rock mound in the distance, that was on your left going in, isn't going to be on your left going out, but should be on your left if you're doing a loop.

[RumiDude]

Lost is a state of mind, in one respect. One can not know where they are but be confident that they can figure it out with minimum effort. One can be confident that they are on the correct route yet be totally mistaken. One way to not get lost is to check progress often. It does no good to have the correct tools, in this case map/compass/GPS/altimeter, and not use them. People often get lost because they are not using their gear to remain on track, often due to overconfidence. Check early, check often. Like so many other things in life, the Rule of Three C's applies,: Confirm, Confirm, Confirm. Rumi

[the1mitch]

I may not be able to define LOST, but I know it when I see it. Well one time when I was much younger and fuller of myself, I and a buddy decided to hike to a lake he'd heard about. The directions were great, " drive to the end of the first right fork off FS #@% and go due south". Couldn't be easier right? Buddy says let's find the trail. I say well there's been fresh logging activity and the road is a mile longer now than the directions said. That means the directions are no longer any good. I say I can see the lake thru the timber and there's a line of survey tape heading straight towards it. How tough can it be? He heads straight south and I follow the flagging. Short story long, we get separated and he finds the car in an hour and I spend 8 hours bushwhacking a circumnavigation of east Snohomish County. In the highlight reel, I break the strap on my daypack, find a pile of magnetic rocks that convinces me to toss my compass, begin to hallucinate in the form of voices, and find a log truck at dusk to hijack down the hill. Guard in a trailer pointed a shot gun at me as I raised my hands and started crying. His wife came out and gave me a hug and told her husband to calm down and radio the sheriff to take me home. I slept sitting in a folding chair and it felt like a feather bed. lessons learned? 1. bad maps are worse than no map. 2 .don't split up. 3. Stay calm. 4 .Stop and think before you get deeper into the Kimchee.

[zimmertr]

I just spend 15 minutes building a GPX file and then sync it to redundant GPS devices before traveling into any sort of terrain that makes it possible to get lost. I haven't felt remotely lost since I was a child wandering around in Northern Michigan forests. Plus I can see what time sunset is, what the temperature is, what direction I'm facing, what my current elevation is, the exact route I used to arrive at my current location, etc. All by simply glancing at my wrist. It's also completely trivial to immediately determine the approximate distance, elevation change, etc to virtually any landmark or destination around me. I guess maybe I'd be screwed if an EMP hit? Or if some anti-sat missiles take down all of the different GPS constellations my devices can use?

[rossb]

I've never been lost, just off-route Seriously though, I would say the biggest problem (for me and the people I know) is just overconfidence. You hit snow a bit earlier than expected, but you know the trail really well (been there a dozen times). So you keep going, with confidence. A little while later, you realize you are definitely not where you wanted to be. At this point, the smartest thing to do is just retrace your steps as much as possible, to where you left the trail. Unfortunately, human nature being what it is, you again make a mistake of confidence. Not only are you confident in terms of which way the trail is, you are confident you can get there (without running into a cliff, or some other danger). GPS definitely changes things. I use it all the time in the Spring. There are big sections where I don't need it, but plenty of others where it sure saves a lot of time (and backtracking). It is really a matter of how often I look at it now. I prefer just navigating by feel whenever possible, but that inevitably leads to a lot more work (it is better to "measure once, cut twice" even if you really don't feel like measuring). Of course GPS can also give you unwarranted confidence. I remember Hiking up to Higgins after the big washout. It was basically just a big open, rocky area you need to navigate. There were cairns on the other side, so it really wasn't hard going up. I remember thinking "We should make sure there are cairns for the way back", but my buddy had GPS and was laying a track. Unfortunately, his GPS just wasn't work through there (not sure why). So on the way back, we spent a good half hour trying to find the trail (largely by trial and error). The middle of the washout was actually fine, but the edges (where we were trying to find the trail) was really nasty.

[Chief Joseph]