Found missing hiker... (living, cabin, trailer)

[Grannysroost]

Got a ride to Whitehorse, planning to continue his hike...now, the rest of the story...

[Barkingowl]

It seems very strange to wander off & not let anyone know where you're going.

[blue_eyedgirl]

Well at least they didn't find him frozen stiff in a snowbank somewhere. I'm glad this had a "happy ending" but I wouldn't mind if someone knocked some sense into this crazy man.

[Alaskagrl]

You said it. I have become intimately familiar with this particular circumstance, due to my experience on New Year's Eve.

4 of us decided to spend NY Eve at a little log cabin in the woods, owned by a friend who recently sold it to another of our friends. 4 of us and two dogs set off to celebrate in fine style, with O'Doul's for me, beer for them, lots of leftover fireworks, and venison backstrap. We had the wood stove going well and it was toasty warm inside. After setting off a bunch of fireworks at about 8:30 or so, we became aware my friend's dog was missing. We waited about half an hour, then she went to look for the dog, saying she'd be back shortly. An hour or so later, my other friends and I looked at eachother and said, "Well, let's go find her." I was completely sober, one of my buddies had only had a couple drinks, but our other friend was pretty inebriated.

Long story short, we found her tracks leading into the woods, right beside her dog's tracks. We geared up and followed them for almost 40 minutes; right at midnight, we were diving into the brush. It became clear our other friend could not continue without risk of injury and there was no sign of my girlfriend or her dog, so we turned back, and called Troopers for Search and Rescue. (We had to drive about 30 minutes to get cell service). About 10 minutes after they got there, about the time they were ready to start the search, our friend came running down the road with her dog, very apologetic to the Troopers. She had gotten a bit turned around and had to walk about 4 miles along the highway back down the gravel road. All told, she put about 6 miles on that night, and was missing for 4 hours.

Whew. Alaska can bite your azz when you least expect it. We knew she was dressed in hunting clothes and she is an extremely capable outdoors individual, but I thought she might have broken a leg, and so we were all concerned. Anything can and will happen.

One New Year's Eve I will NEVER forget!!! I can laugh about it now... She had to coax the dog out from under an abandoned trailer, and then they sheltered briefly in an abandoned vehicle. What a night!

[rotorhead]

Anyone interested in living out their expected lifespan could definately choose a better time of year to try the backpacking/adventure/hitchhiking thing out.

With the kind of negative temps the Yukon has been having, it's no time to get stuck out waiting for a ride on the side of the road.

[Wrennie]

Originally Posted by Alaskagrl

You said it. I have become intimately familiar with this particular circumstance, due to my experience on New Year's Eve.

4 of us decided to spend NY Eve at a little log cabin in the woods, owned by a friend who recently sold it to another of our friends. 4 of us and two dogs set off to celebrate in fine style, with O'Doul's for me, beer for them, lots of leftover fireworks, and venison backstrap. We had the wood stove going well and it was toasty warm inside. After setting off a bunch of fireworks at about 8:30 or so, we became aware my friend's dog was missing. We waited about half an hour, then she went to look for the dog, saying she'd be back shortly. An hour or so later, my other friends and I looked at eachother and said, "Well, let's go find her." I was completely sober, one of my buddies had only had a couple drinks, but our other friend was pretty inebriated.

Long story short, we found her tracks leading into the woods, right beside her dog's tracks. We geared up and followed them for almost 40 minutes; right at midnight, we were diving into the brush. It became clear our other friend could not continue without risk of injury and there was no sign of my girlfriend or her dog, so we turned back, and called Troopers for Search and Rescue. (We had to drive about 30 minutes to get cell service). About 10 minutes after they got there, about the time they were ready to start the search, our friend came running down the road with her dog, very apologetic to the Troopers. She had gotten a bit turned around and had to walk about 4 miles along the highway back down the gravel road. All told, she put about 6 miles on that night, and was missing for 4 hours.

Whew. Alaska can bite your azz when you least expect it. We knew she was dressed in hunting clothes and she is an extremely capable outdoors individual, but I thought she might have broken a leg, and so we were all concerned. Anything can and will happen.

One New Year's Eve I will NEVER forget!!! I can laugh about it now... She had to coax the dog out from under an abandoned trailer, and then they sheltered briefly in an abandoned vehicle. What a night!

LOL.
I got lost on POW myself once. We were hunting, all in different directions, and I was fooling around with blowing a call with some blades of grass and wasn't paying attention to what I was doing, and before I knew it I didn't know the way out. The trees were too high for me to get a bearing on where I was. My very first thought was "OH crap they're gonna have to call the troopers and I'm gonna get my name on the trooper report"....not kidding.
Fortunately, the three shots signal with my rifle worked perfectly and my friends came in and got me out with alot of yelling back and forth for direction. Embarrassing. But so easy to do.
It was a damn good lesson, I'll say that.

[Woof Woof Woof!]

I don't understand how that women became lost with a dog. My dog always showed me the way out of the woods. Why did she not simply follow the dog?

You have to trust the dog in those situations. They have better directional sense than us.

[rotorhead]

Depends a lot on the dog, I'd say.

I've got a beagle, and if I let her lead the way "out of the forest" we'd be there forever more, hunting down old rabbit trails and heading for the deepest, darkest, thickest woods she can find.

[akck]

Originally Posted by Woof Woof Woof!

I don't understand how that women became lost with a dog. My dog always showed me the way out of the woods. Why did she not simply follow the dog?

You have to trust the dog in those situations. They have better directional sense than us.

It sounded like the dog ran off because of the fireworks they were setting off. I don't think he would head back towards it.

[Grannysroost]

Originally Posted by Woof Woof Woof!

I don't understand how that women became lost with a dog. My dog always showed me the way out of the woods. Why did she not simply follow the dog?

You have to trust the dog in those situations. They have better directional sense than us.

Woof..the dog took off first, then the woman went to look for the dog and disappeared, then they both came back...happy ending...