Idiots. It used to be that, in simpler times, natural selection would take care of this sort of problem and humanity, collectively, would be better off for it. Nowadays….well…

The hikers weren’t prepared for their trek. They didn’t pack extra clothing to stay dry, and their tent had no rain fly, officials said. The hikers also didn’t have extra food or water, and they didn’t have layers to survive the night temperatures.

“These hikers said they did not understand why it was so cold and rainy in Colorado, because it has been ‘so hot in Texas’ where they hike all the time,” rescuers said. “They never checked any weather forecasts.”

Because, of course, Texas and Colorado are climatically Identical, right?

Contrast this with some Japanese hikers who got caught out and survived ten days before being rescued, at which point they profusely apologized to rescuers for being such a burden.

Normally, I’ve no love for the Japanese but the contrast here is interesting.

Moral of the story is the same as always: you have to respect Mother Nature because she has absolutely no respect for you. Check the weather, take your Ten Essentials, tell someone where youre going, stick to your planned route, and if things look dicey…bail.

By the time authorities found their car in a remote stretch of Death Valley National Park, Alexander Lofgren and Emily Henkel had been missing for four days.

Inside the abandoned white Subaru was a note: “Two flat tires, headed to Mormon Point, have three days’ worth of water.”

The 8 April discovery marked a turning point in the desperate search for the Tucson, Arizona, couple. Soon after, rescuers from the Inyo County Sheriff’s Office found Mr Lofgren, 32, and Ms Henkel, 27, in an isolated part of the California desert near Willow Creek.

The two were on a ledge so steep, the agency said in a news release, that rescuers could not reach them until the next day, 9 April. When they did, they found Ms Henkel injured. And Mr Lofgren, an army veteran and congressional staffer, was dead.

As is virtually always the case with these things, the rescuers found the vehicle first and then they found the people. So if the people had stayed with the vehicle, they’d have been found sooner. Vehicles can only go a limited amount of places..those places are called ‘roads’. So, that means the searchers have a much smaller list of places to search if they are looking for a vehicle. So..stay with the vehicle.

Moral of the story? Stay with the vehicle. And staying with the vehicle is a lot easier, even in Death Valley, if your bring along some basic gear and supplies. Two flat tires and your cell phone doesn’t work? String up a couple tarps, sit still in the shade, drink from the several five-gallon jugs of water you brought, and catch up on rereading ‘Atlas Shrugged’.

You know, stereotypes are not always accurate…but…they save time and the exist for a reason. Part of me wants to say that this is a case of ‘academics’ who know their way around a college campus but have a total disconnect from the real world and it’s real world consequences.

INVERNESS, Calif. (AP) — An academic couple who got lost during a Valentine’s Day hike in the woods of Northern California was found Saturday by rescuers who spent almost a week looking for them and had given up hopes of finding them alive.

Carol Kiparsky, 77, and Ian Irwin, 72, were found in a densely forested area near Tomales Bay, a narrow inlet about 30 miles north of San Francisco, and were airlifted to a hospital for treatment of hypothermia, Marin County Sheriff’s Sgt. Brenton Schneider said at a news conference.

“This is a miracle,” he said.

They were unprepared for a long hike or the cold weather, when night temperatures dipped into the 30’s, and survived by drinking from a puddle, he said.

If you’re going to go for a ‘walk in the woods’, take a moment and think about how in the span of an eyeblink you can get a broken ankle, weather change, crazed transient, medical emergency, or other sudden unexpected event that turns your walk in the woods into a scene from The Revenant. The stuff that would make a huge difference in these situations fits in a tiny daypack and between your ears.

The couple was identified as Ash Fork residents Richard Alexander 74, and his wife, Elizabeth Alexander, 79, the statement said. They were found a few minutes’ walk from their own home, according to the man who discovered the bodies. Ash Fork is a rural community west of Flagstaff.
…….
The couple’s car was found abandoned about one mile away, according to the sheriff’s office.

BEND, Ore. (AP) – A man whose car was stranded in central Oregon snow for five days survived by eating taco sauce packets and starting the engine periodically to warm up.

A snowmobiler found Jeremy Taylor, 36, of Sunriver, on Friday and a search and rescue team member who rode to him on a large snow tractor brought him out of the woods, said Sgt. William Bailey, the spokesman for the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office

A 23-year-old woman from Illinois has been found safe nearly one week after she went missing on a hike in Montana.

Madeline Connelly left for a hike in the Great Bear Wilderness on May 4, planning to spend a night camping with her dog, Mogi, ABC affiliate KTMF in Missoula, Montana reported. Local officials launched a search and rescue effort after she didn’t return.

Connelly was located around 11 a.m. on Wednesday by search and rescue crews about five miles from her car, the Flathead County Sheriff’s Office said in a press release. She was “uninjured” but “tired and hungry” when she was found, police sad.

In an interview with KTMF broadcast on Facebook Live Wednesday, Connelly said she couldn’t believe that she and Mogi were able to get out of the wilderness, where she spent seven days in “treacherous weather.”

The last several days have been far from treacherous weather, but….

Connelly didn’t have a tent or any supplies, she said, and slept under trees for protection from the elements. She was only wearing overalls, a T-shirt and a sweater with a hood.

Where to start??

Dude(tte), it’s Montana…if you’re going to go hiking, take a damn bag of gear.

Technically not a stranding, but thats the tag Im gonna go with.