When it comes to directional orientation there are two kinds of people: Folks that are pretty aware and folks who need Garmins. You know which one you are. If you're aware you may not always know exactly where you are but you have a pretty good idea of how to get where you want to go. If you're the other group, when someone tries to give you directions using North, South, East, or West (Take Colorado north to Colfax and turn east..) your eyes glaze over like a cop at a donut shop. You much prefer left, right, and descriptions of landmarks. And that's okay.
Personally, I'm in the first group. I can't explain exactly how or why I got this attribute but I'm almost always aware of where I am and how to get where I'm going. Maybe I got it from my Dad. When I was young and trying to learn my way around, and even later when I was older, Dad took great joy in never going the same way to a place twice. And if you were in a car following him you bloody well better know how to get where you're going cause at some point he was going to blaze through a yellow light and lose you.
Maybe it was from Boy Scouts. We went on a lot of campouts during the summers and did some orienteering with maps and compasses. My third year at summer camp I had to "carry my rock." We had to find a rock that weighed at least 16 pounds, carve our initials in it, and deliver it to the main office of the camp on Thursday night. Friday morning we were given a map to the location of our rock which was 5 miles from camp. You had to find your rock and carry it back to camp then carry it around with you all day and at the Friday night campfire, the last one before going home on Saturday, you got to put your rock in a big pile of rocks from years of 3rd year campers and got your "Indian" name. Me being me, I looked at the map and decided to take a shortcut that would cut at least 2 miles off the distance. Took off cross country and came out on the road about 100 yards from my rock. Probably pure dumb luck but I'll take it.
Then there was the surveying class I took when I was studying Forestry in college. I had to lay out a grid on a plot of land, take appropriate measurements, and create a topographic map of my plot.
Whatever the case, I'm not directionally challenged in the least. When my wife asks if we should take her car somewhere "because it has GPS" I laugh hysterically and ask if she remembers who she is talking to. But that's only background, not the point.
Last weekend I was visiting my daughter in Arizona and spent 2 mornings creating images in the Superstition Mountains north of Apache Junction. The first morning I parked the car on the shoulder of Highway 88 and walked about 100 yards into the desert to get a shot with no power lines. No problem, just walk back to the highway and I'm good. Easy. Next morning, though, was a llittle different story. I pulled into the parking area of the Bulldog Canyon Offroad Area about 30 minutes before sunrise, shouldered my backpack and tripod, and headed down a 4 wheel drive road. There were some pretty prominent landmarks and I was on a road so I didn't worry about getting lost. Heck, I could just backtrack on the road and find my way out no problem. After hiking about 3/4 of a mile from the car I found a good shooting location a couple minutes before the sun started to light up the landscape and spent about 15 minutes shooting the sunrise. The light was getting flat pretty quickly so I decided to head downhill from the road to a wash I'd crossed earlier that was running a trickle of water to see if I could locate some shaded pools to shoot reflections and that's where I went wrong.
After a while of shooting in the wash I started following a pair of Cardinals that were flitting from tree to tree, trying to get a decent shot of a real Arizona Cardinal. After about 30 minutes of trying to get a good shot I gave up and headed back to the car. I thought.....
I knew the road had crossed this wash but I wasn't sure exactly where so I figured I could head uphill a little ways and hit the road then hike back out so uphill I went. About 5 minutes of climbing and I was getting a bit winded and thinking "I should probably have hit the road by now...and that rock formation looks sort of like the one I was photographing this morning but wasn't it waaaaaaaaay up the hill from the road?"
So here's the situation: I'm away from my vehicle in unfamiliar territory. I had clearly gotten disoriented a bit when I was chasing the birds. Looking around I could see nothing but cacti, rocks, and hills. No sign of a road or a highway or the parking area where my car was. What to do? If I were in group 2 I would immediately panic and probably wander off in the wrong direction eventually becoming one of the many people that have gone into the Superstitions never to be seen again. But I'm NOT in that group. So I found a smooth rock to sit on and started thinking. Eventually a logical plan was formulated in my mind. I knew I could head straight downhill and find the wash. If I headed back the way I'd come while following the birds I would probably come across where the road crossed the wash. If not, I could keep going until the rock formations on top of the hill matched the angle I'd photographed them from then head uphill and find the road.
In this case I got to the wash and about 100 yards later I found the road and made my way back to the car. I wouldn't say I was lucky because I was able to avoid panic and use logic to find my way back but it could easily have been a difficult situation because I was a little bit stupid. I went into an unfamiliar area without a map and compass which is something I NEVER do...well, almost never. I had only a small bottle of water, hardly enough to last a day if I was truly lost. I was alone and nobody knew where I was other than "up by Apache Junction." That's not a recipe for disaster, it's a whole flippin cookbook.
So what's the moral of this story? Just this: DON'T BE STUPID! And follow a few simple rules.
1. Be Prepared! The Boy Scout Motto. Dont hike in the Desert without enough water and try to have a map of the area and either a compass or a handheld GPS. It's easy to get disoriented when everything looks alike.
2. If you're going somewhere alone make sure that someone knows at least the general area where you'll be and a rough time frame for your return. And if that changes, let someone know.
3. Before setting off on a hike take a moment to look around you for landmarks. See where the sun is in relation to where you are so you can logically figure out where the car is.
4. Finally, think your cell phone will save you? Wrong answer. Through this whole ordeal I had exactly zero cell service. In fact, I didn't have any reception until I got about 5 miles down the highway towards Apache Junction.
Most of all, be smart. Think about what you're doing. And above all, don't panic. If you got there you can get back but only if you can stay cool and think logically.
Great reminder to always be prepared and to pay attention to where you are and what you're doing, Bill. I'm happy to hear that this one ended well. Too many of these misadventures don't end so well. I've been lost before. Really lost. I've crossed flash flooding rivers while backpacking, I've gone out without telling anyone where I was going and I've walked into the desert carrying nothing more than camera gear on my back, i.e. no water. I never claimed to be a smart man. Luckily, things have always worked out for me although I don't expect that luck will continue. So, I now go out prepared and I always tell my wife where I'm going and when I should be back.
ReplyDeleteAs always, an enjoyable and informative post!