Missing tourist Rita Chretien found alive in Nevada (husband still missing)

BBC ^ | May 7, 2011 | Unknown

[decimon]

A Canadian tourist missing in a remote wooded area of the US state of Nevada for seven weeks has been found alive near her stranded vehicle by hunters.

Rita Chretien, 56, told police her van had got stuck in mud in mid-March, and that her husband Albert, 59, had gone to get help on foot.

She said she had survived since then on "trail mix" snack food and water.

Police abandoned the search for the couple in April but have now resumed the hunt for Mr Chretien.

The couple were driving from their home in Penticton, British Columbia, to Las Vegas, when they decided to go off-road to see the landscape in Elko County, one of America's largest and most sparsely-populated counties.

[decimon]

The couple took a detour while driving from British Columbia to Las Vegas

[Blennos]

Seven weeks!

[Red_Devil 232]

They must have been well off the beaten path for the vehicle not to be found for seven weeks. It is not good to attempt short cuts when you are not familiar with the area or roads.

[Bigh4u2]

Husband still missing...

Hmmmm... wonder what she ate for those 7 weeks out there?

[Bigh4u2]

I should have said besides ‘trail mix, snack food and water’.

:)

[Jack Hydrazine]

They probably followed the GPS blindly without using any common sense.

[Red_Devil 232]

Article says trail mix. They must have had a big ol’ bag of the stuff. Wonder if she tried starting a fire? The spare tire would have put out a lot of black smoke!

[null and void]

[Inyo-Mono]

Sadly this happens more often than people realize. Driving off road, unprepared, into very remote areas is dangerous. Three skeletons were recently found in remote sections of Death Valley National Park. Two of them were tourists from Germany, missing for over nine years.

[svcw]

Sounds like a movie.

[ladyvet]

I live in Elko and this is the first I've even heard of them being lost. The weather has sucked this spring but that's the norm for here. Something doesn't seem right about this story.

[momtothree]

“The spare tire would have put out a lot of black smoke”

Never thought of that... you are a smart cookie!

[svcw]

GPS ha! The GPS on my phone always has me about 1500 miles from where I am. I just looked it and it placed me in Chicago IL when I am in Santa Barbara, CA.

[Krankor]

That was a good laugh for a Saturday morning.

[JimSEA]

It’s easy to get of the beaten track and get stuck in Elko county. In the spring, the surface of the ground can look dry and be mud just inches down. It took me five hours to dig out and put sage brush iunder the tires once. Early spring fishing on the many streams near the Ruby Mts can be touch and go but good fishing. Awesome country and lonely. Aside from an occasional waddie, there is no one out there.

[momtothree]

Okay, I’ll bite. What is a waddie? (I don’t get out much)

[IYAS9YAS]

GPS ha! The GPS on my phone always has me about 1500 miles from where I am. I just looked it and it placed me in Chicago IL when I am in Santa Barbara, CA.

Sorry about that. I'll reset it.

[mad_as_he$$]

Very lucky woman. I know the area well. I do not go there casually in the Summer. Almost every night since she was “lost” would of been freezing, record snowfall this year and hungry mountain lions.

[TruthShallSetYouFree]

I just looked it and it placed me in Chicago IL when I am in Santa Barbara, CA.

No problem. According to the democrats running Chicago, that makes you eligible to run for mayor there.

[mad_as_he$$]

I was just going to ping you. I had not heard this story until now either. I agree something weird.

[pepsionice]

If you do the research...it’s around a dozen episodes a year. The problem is that folks think that you can go a mile off the pavement and find scenic places to just stand....then they decide to drive two or three miles down another road....and never get back to the pavement.

[dhs12345]

Unfortunately, cells phones are a “jack of all trades.” You really need a professional GPS and even then, they are not 100% foolproof.

Using a cell phone to navigate in remote areas is foolish but people do it.

[wardaddy]

I think a recalibration is due.

My GPS on my Droid is within a few meters when it’s getting a good read.

I rarely use them to be honest.

I grew up with charts and compasses for both on land hiking and ocean sailing.

and a photographic memory of where I was before and an acute sense of east west

but a GPS does beat a road map for ease if going somewhere brand new...but have a map as backup

on the sea we had to rely on RDF and Loran C..Sat Nav was expensive, cumbersome and you could only get reads on occasion daily and if you missed it..tough

and when Loran developed the ability to just broadcast Long Lat position rather than those elliptical axis reads it was a vast improvement

[IMR 4350]

You ever seen what happens when someone burns their spare tire without letting the air out first?

Best when viewed after a couple of six packs.

I know it's not supposed to be funny seeing someone get hurt, but It will make your day seeing someone that stupid get a quick education.

[unkus]

LOL-

[QBFimi]

>> They probably followed the GPS blindly without using any common sense.

Well, at least they had a GPS. Most of the dumba$$es who get lost in the Colorado wilderness don’t. The good part: The Gummn’t gets to buy lots of neat search & rescue toys with our tax $$s.

[ladyvet]

Yeah, usually when folks are lost around here it's big news. Lots of local boys are out there in all kinds of weather hunting, fishing or just screwing around. If we let bad weather keep us in we would be housebound nine months out of the year. I'm wondering if they were even reported missing or if family didn't know their route.

[decimon]

More info: http://www.ktvb.com/news/local/Missing-Canadian-woman-found-alive-121424719.html

[Western Phil]

From: http://www.thefreedictionary.com/waddy

wad·dy 2 also wad·die (wd)
n. pl. wad·dies Western U.S.
1. See cowboy.
2. A cattle rustler.

[momtothree]

You see that! I learned something new today! Thanks. I plan on using the term at least once this week so the kids know the word as well.

[willk]

The Ruby Mountains are really beautiful.

[JimSEA]

Cowboy.

[momtothree]

Okay, I want to get this straight in case I need to ever do this. First, you let the air out of the spare tire and then you set it on fire, right?

[sportutegrl]

When my Droid GPS gets ‘off’, I have found that a reboot seems to work to realign it.

[AnyStreetFL]

GPS ha! The GPS on my phone always has me about 1500 miles from where I am. I just looked it and it placed me in Chicago IL when I am in Santa Barbara, CA.

Well, at least you're still in continental USA. My friend's Blackberry on AT&T always puts her in Brazil instead of South Florida.

[mad_as_he$$]

Yup, I suspect no one knew where they were. I was out hunting near White Elephant Butte a few years ago and there was a camp of Elko boys having ATV races at 2 am. Naked and tearing across the outback.

[TheClintons-STILLAnti-American]

"Wonder if she tried starting a fire? The spare tire would have put out a lot of black smoke!"

She may have thought of that but decided not to risk the Obama EPA coming after her with an arrest warrant and a long sentence in a federal prison!

That's a joke, but not by a great margin.

[ladyvet]

LOL....next time tell my kid I said to get back home!

[E. Pluribus Unum]

That's a joke, but not by a great margin.

Not a joke at all. The feds prosecuted Bobby Unser for getting lost in a blizzard.

[varon]

I just looked it and it placed me in Chicago IL when I am in Santa Barbara, CA.

Hmmmm, did you ever consider the phone GPS is right and YOU are in "The Twilight Zone"?????

[driftdiver]

Yes, the tire will burn a fairly long time but if you don’t let the air out it might blow out. Loud pop and if you are too close it could hurt you.

Smoke will be dark black and it will burn about an hour depending on size of the tire and fire.

Best to wait until you hear a chopper or plane in remote country and then light the fire.

[mad_as_he$$]

I will!

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Who travels with 20 pounds of trail mix?

[Smokin' Joe]

Almost every night since she was “lost” would of been freezing, record snowfall this year and hungry mountain lions.

Well, I hope the husband is OK, but the cats or other critters may have picked him up. I worked in that area many moons ago, and there is a lot of nowhere to get into the middle of. The winter weather can be as bad as weather here (in North Dakota), especially at altitude, it just doesn't stay that way as long. A few hours is all it takes, though.

[EternalVigilance]

People watch too much television. They just plain don’t understand real life, and that nature is unforgiving. Out of touch with reality, and by the time they get back in touch with reality, it’s often too late.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

I was a huge reader of Popular Science when I was about 10 years old to 20. They had a couple of great articles in the 60s on survival. I still remember some of the tips from one article on how to survive in your car. Burning the spare tire to create a smoke signal was one of them. Tearing out the headliner of the car and the seat cushions to provide clothing insulation was another. Ripping the mirrors off the car to make a signal was a third. A fourth was putting gasoline into a dished hubcap to generate a warming fire (many of you may ask, "what's a hubcap?"). Still good info after all these years.

I can't find the car article, but here are a couple of other vintage ones from the same period.

How to Survive If Your Car Goes in the Water

How to Survive Anywhere"

[rawhide]

That is a brilliant idea! They had 5 tires they could burn one at a time, if needed.

[rawhide]

Need to remember to let the air out first. Thanks.

[Western Phil]

There’s dangers lurking everywhere. It’s possible for the adventurous driver to get stuck from the operation of center pivot irrigation systems out on the section roads in the boonies in Nebraska. (That’s just a story I heard.)

[Eaker]

LOL!