Deadly hike----Haz-Mat the cause?

[John Kasaian]

I wouldn't rely 100% on anything electrical in the mountains. Just sayin'

[Drew Wiley]

You don't even bring an aluminum kite along for recharging batteries during a lightning storm, John? Those are lightweight, and I assumed every ole Boy Scout leader like you taught that trick. They can also double as a rain shelter atop bare knolls during the same kinds of storms. Tesla dealerships even give those away free, along with purchase of one of their cars, of course.

[John Kasaian]

You don't even bring an aluminum kite along for recharging batteries during a lightning storm, John? Those are lightweight, and I assumed every ole Boy Scout leader like you taught that trick. They can also double as a rain shelter atop bare knolls during the same kinds of storms. Tesla dealerships even give those away free, along with purchase of one of their cars, of course.

LOL!

Seriously though,
an unfortunate mule packer up there was killed by a bolt of lightening.
Melted the copper rivets in his jeans into the saddle leather.

Of course in CA now, PG&E wants us to cut down on electricity between 4:00 and 9:00PM
Maybe the same applies to lightening?

[Tin Can]

Father does NOT always know best

RIP

[Dan Fromm]

Hmm. About cell phones and GPS. I'm on my second smartphone -- started late -- and am shopping for a replacement. My two both claimed to have GPS receivers. The ones I'm looking at make the same claim.

Neither of my two can locate itself with cellular data turned off and neither can locate itself when no signal was available.

I've used a hiker's GPS for my fieldwork since 1996, they've always found my location. And I've used a proper stand-alone routing GPS receiver in my cars for over 20 years. They're invaluable for finding my way around cities. They've sometimes offered really stupid routings, thanks to their maps, but since I check them against proper maps that's only a minor problem. Re maps, the nice thing about my Garmin GPS is that reasonably updated maps for most of the world are available and can be loaded into them.

Re maps, I once suffered a Garmin software failure, the program told me it had loaded maps for the Dominican Republic and lied. When I got to the DR I had to find my own way, with the help of a map on my laptop, across Santo Domingo. Not fun.

[John Kasaian]

The military is totally invested in GPS, but map and compass is primary.
With the vulnerability of satellites, that's a good thing, no?
When I flew VFR in AK, even the compass was untrustworthy.
We kept one eye out for drainages(in lieu of roads) the other on weather.

[Vaughn]

If your going to go WAY back into the woods, buy, rent or borrow a satellite phone! Yeah, it's expensive-but how much is your life worth to you?

Hell no! I only take my flip phone backpacking for the timer (for long exposures and cooking dinner.)

Just don't follow my advice on the matter.

Got caught is a white-out/electrical storm while working on a ridge trail. Made life interesting. The mules did not appreciate it.

[Heroique]

Just don't follow my advice on the matter.

Nor mine.

Starting with my first solo hike as a young teenager, and continuing to this very day, I’ve been a paper map and magnetic compass hiker. Of course, these tools aren’t 100% reliable, especially in my region of compass-hating, iron-filled volcanic rocks. They're not too common, but I’ve been misled a couple of times.

For me batteries are for my watch, flashlight, and Pentax digital.

[Vaughn]

Nor mine.

Starting with my first solo hike as a young teenager, and continuing to this very day, I’ve been a paper map and magnetic compass hiker. Of course, these tools aren’t 100% reliable, especially in my region of compass-hating, iron-filled volcanic rocks. They're not too common, but I’ve been misled a couple of times.

For me batteries are for my watch, flashlight, and Pentax digital.

I don't haul a compass with me...but I have spent some time calling in smokes/fires based just on just topo maps. The lookout tower was condemned, so I could not use its Fire-finder. Translating/relating the map to the landscape is a good skill to develop.

But in reality...I have been lucky, have lots of experience, and I pay attention to the landscape/topology, vegetation, weather, time of day, and that sort of thing. I also go solo as much as possible. No one else to lead me off in a wrong direction but myself.

And some places it takes talent to get lost -- such as the Grand Canyon.

[John Kasaian]

What's tragic about this family's situation is that it didn't happen far out in the wilderness, but that's the way things happen when dealing with heat stroke and such.
We're told these were experienced hikers and they didn't get lost since they were found on the trail.
We don't know who the last one alive was, but having to helplessly watch your young family perish is certainly a sobering thought