Posted on 03/23/2017 12:27:38 PM PDT by simpson96
A woman who spent five days stranded in the Grand Canyon described the "true panic" of her harrowing experience in an exclusive interview with ABC News.
"I was panicking and crying and sobbing - I was a mess," said Amber Vanhecke, 24, about the moment she first realized she was lost without GPS or cell reception.
Vanhecke, a college student from Denton, Texas, was sightseeing by herself last week near the southern rim of the Grand Canyon when her GPS instructed her to make a wrong turn, leading her through increasingly tough terrain.
An experienced Girl Scout and outdoor adventurer, Vanhecke had traveled by herself numerous times before and visited other national parks including Yosemite, Yellowstone, Sequoias and Redwoods.
"I planned out my itinerary, had it posted on Facebook and stuff and off I went with some non-perishables and water,"Vanhecke said of the spring break trip she'd been planning since January. She left Denton and spent a day in Carlsbad, New Mexico, before driving the rest of the night to the Grand Canyon.
During her drive, she followed her GPS from a highway to a dirt road. But she eventually came across a more primitive road with grass and cacti.
"The problem was, the road wasn't there," she recalled. Vanhecke said that eventually her GPS stopped working entirely and her car ran out of gas.
Early on after getting lost, Vanhecke was able to briefly get through to a 911 dispatcher but the call dropped.
"And that was the first moment I felt true panic," she said.
(snip)
Around Vanhecke's fourth day in the desert, a truck passed by as she sat off to the side of road in her car.
"I chased them as far as I could," she recalled."[But] they didn't hear me and they didn't see me."
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
Even the boy scouts don’t teach morse code any more.
Arrogance or stupidity?
Young people are all too trusting in technology.... and don’t want to hear about any old map thing.
I remember a story where a stranded family pulled the wheels off the car and lit the tires - heat and a signal all in one.
Fool
BOTH
Yeah, maps are for old folks. The kiddies would get laughed out of their safe spaces if they even considered using one!
[her GPS instructed her to make a wrong turn, leading her through increasingly tough terrain.]
Ha, reminds me of my old GPS unit (a bit out of date but still knows traditional cities and highways, of course).
Anyways, coming from Texas it kept trying to steer me into wooded areas in Oklahoma. Of course, I knew it was wrong (East was my intended direction, not West) so I ignored it.
Keep that gas tank topped off, if you can. /Captain Obvious strikes again
“What would she do in a true wilderness area? Good grief.”
Rule of Thumb: Never go so far into The Wilderness that you can no longer see the Souviner Stand or the Snack Bar! ;)
I’ve been dropped off in the middle of NOWHERE so many times! First my Mom tried to get rid of me that way, then the Army did.
At least the Army gave me a map, a canteen and a compass! ;)
Yes...”Experienced”...And she relies on GPS?
Now she has a new “experience” to add...
Hard to beat map and compass, and a knowledge of land nav...
In the marine world, that's known as "GPS assisted grounding".
Yes, I always have maps, even the free ones, of any place I am not familiar with.
Even get the tourist maps in Branson when I’m visiting there. They’ve actually helped out a few times when you’re trying to get around all the tourist traps (seems like 95% of the town).
If she was an experienced adventurer she would A) never be lost; B) she would have made it into an adventure.
24 year old college student.
Weeks spent during academic year in national parks.
That’s someone who is degree-driven.
If Mom and Dad are paying for it, they’re stupid.
If she later bitches about student loans, she deserves it.
Which comes first? A. The Book. B. The Movie. C. The Television Mini Series.
No kidding, I don't leave home without them. I live in a very rural area near four national parks, visitors often get lost here using their GPS which shows a road that is actually a foot trail over a 13,000' pass into wilderness.
“was sightseeing by herself last week near the southern rim of the Grand Canyon”
__________________________________________
Did we learn nothing from James Franco in “127 Hours”?
Two years ago I went on a cross country trip on a big BMW dirt bike. From MA to CA. I tried to get lost. I couldn’t.
Real GPS is accurate as hell. I had a hand held backup. I had a compass and at least a AAA map. I had water, food, and minimal camping gear. I should have had a tent.
People that go wandering without a plan are idiots.
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