SummitPost.org

x15x15 wrote:if your out looking for an adventure, how could you ever get lost!

if you you're just trying to tag a summit expecting everything to line up perfectly, you will be lost....

i'm surprised this topic is even on the PNW board...

I'm all for having a good time. However, if you can't find your car and you have to be back in town that evening, it's a slight problem.

billisfree wrote:If you're climbing UPWARDS in fog, etc. ... you'll always know where you'll be - at the summit.

Careful there, you will be at a summit, but maybe not the one you were trying to climb. I've done that.

Here's one for you about being lost and off route in the same hike. Yeah, I was a dumbass kid that thought he was invincible.

http://mymountainsoregon.blogspot.com/2010/08/older-story.html

fredzurensick wrote:

x15x15 wrote:if your out looking for an adventure, how could you ever get lost!

if you you're just trying to tag a summit expecting everything to line up perfectly, you will be lost....

i'm surprised this topic is even on the PNW board...

I'm all for having a good time. However, if you can't find your car and you have to be back in town that evening, it's a slight problem.

yeah, but it still has nothing to do with being lost, IF you are expecting an adventure...

"I can't say as ever I was lost, but I was bewildered once for three days." - Daniel Boone

zodis wrote:Is there a thing as a "sense of direction?" If so, is it natural, learned, or both?

If I'm lying still, flat on my back, I can tell whether my head is pointed North, South, or "other." Sometimes I mix up N/S. I assume humans have some ability to sense the Earth's magnetic field; that's pretty common with other species.

zodis wrote:Is there a thing as a "sense of direction?" If so, is it natural, learned, or both?

I'd say it's both. We probably have the innate skill but it must be developed. Some are better than others, of course. You can use landmarks and the path of the sun and things like that, and it may become second nature making it feel like a "natural" skill when in fact your brain is processing all these cues subconsciously, leaving the rest of your brain to hum the tune to "Maneater" by Hall and Oates over and over again while on a hike, driving you insane.

Some studies have shown that we have a tendency to simplify mental maps of our surroundings: curvy roads become straight, significant objects becomes "closer", lesser objects are ignored, things like that. Draw a freeway map in your closest big city and see how accurate you really were. Translate that skill into the backcountry and you can appreciate the work it takes to develop a true sense of direction.

I used to race in the ~150 mile AK Mountain Wilderness Classic and their rule of thumb is;

"If you have not been seen for 7 days, you will be considered 'lost' and we will notify the state police".

Until then, you are likely just off route.