Lost and Found

It's said that Daniel Boone was asked if he ever got lost while he was wandering around the wildness. His answer was "Naw, but I got bewildered once." You bet, I have been as well, but actually it's been more than once. In my younger years I would often backpack with my son and daughter's. The area we hiked in is in the Sierra's between Yosemite and the Sequoia Nevada's just east of Fresno California. It's a really pretty place.

Well, alright, let's head that-a-ways for a while then. 

   I was with a friend in the early 1980's, my kids were not with us, we were hiking near the John Muir trail. The mountain we were using as a base is the furthest east a road goes, the eastern slope at Crowley Lake was visible. There is a lot of miles of nothing but miles and miles up there. One day about mid morning I left the camp to take a short "go see" walk, I had looked down the hill and it was calling me. I was wearing a small pack with some water and other things in it, I disembarked. I was carefully (I thought) keeping up with where I was, my confidence was high. Making a map in my head, this clearing I came in here, remember that rock, that cliff, those trees yep, I was on top of it. I was gone for about 1/2 hour and decided it was time to go back to camp, so I turned in my tracks and began looking for familiar landmarks. The mountains are deceptive, so many trees look alike, rocks, cliffs, trails they all lose thier meaning. It took me a while, I was in denile, but I was bewildered. More than that, I was profoundly lost. I had no idea where I was or where camp was or how to get back. We have a tendency to walk down hill, it's easy to travel a long way with little effort, that's exactly what I did. I knew I had been walking down hill for a long time, instead of turning and going back up, I continued down. I was extremely lucky, I came to a creek. We were all taught in Boy Scouts when you get lost stay dry number one and number two if you come to a creek or river it will lead you to a road or town. (Backpacking link) I followed the creek, it was the right thing to do. By this time it was dusk, I figured the guy I was with was at least wondering where I was, at worst gave me up for gone and went home. By the time I made it to the single lane mountain road, I recognized where I was, I took a left. I had a long uphill hike ahead of me and would not reach camp for at least an hour or more. I had walked about 1,000 feet when I saw a yellow 4 wheel drive pickup heading my way, it was my hiking partner. I was so happy to see him, I was found. During that time of year the cowboys are bringing their cattle down the mountain to the valley, my partner asked them to help find me. We had to go find them to call them off, we did, they were happy I was found and life went back to normal.
   I started out going on a 10 minute walk, it ended up being about a 10 hour ordeal. The only survival gear I had was a canteen, (in the late 70's early 80's no one bought water in bottles.) matches, some peanuts and my knife, not much planning, heck I was only going to be gone for a few minutes.

But, is there an internet connection here?

   The Boy Scouts taught me another thing: "Be Prepared", I learned a lesson. It was a dumb mistake, but a good lesson. I'd like to hear your comments, it's hard to admit it when you are lost, have you ever been faced with that situation?

Thanks for reading jimandkate
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