Posted on 02/11/2016 8:31:39 PM PST by Utilizer
Five harrowing days after becoming stuck on a remote backcountry road in Death Valley National Park in August 2009, Alicia Sanchez lay down next to her Jeep Cherokee and prepared to die.
Then she heard a voice.
"I called as I approached, asking if she was okay," wrote Ranger Amber Nattrass in a park report. "She was waving frantically and screaming, 'My baby is dead, my baby is dead.' "
In the SUV, Nattrass found Sanchez's lifeless 6-year-old son Carlos on the front seat. "She told me they walked 10 miles but couldn't find any help (and) had run out of water and had been drinking their own urine," Nattrass wrote.
"She turned down a wrong road," Nattrass said in a recent interview. "She said she was following her GPS unit."
Danger has long stalked those who venture into California's desert in the heat of summer. But today, with more people pouring into the region, technology and tragedy are mixing in new and unexpected ways.
"It's what I'm beginning to call death by GPS," said Death Valley wilderness coordinator Charlie Callagan. "People are renting vehicles with GPS and they have no idea how it works and they are willing to trust the GPS to lead them into the middle of nowhere."
The number of people visiting Death Valley in the summer, when temperatures often exceed 120 degrees, has soared from 97,000 in 1985 to 257,500 in 2009. That pattern holds at Joshua Tree as well, which recorded 128,000 visitors in the summer of 1988. Last year: 230,000.
(Excerpt) Read more at sacbee.com ...
Old newspapers work well also.
Oh, and people get lost up here frequently as well.
Having worked with GPS equipment on the design and production parts of it, you should be advised that the FedGov can and does decrease the accuracy of the GPS system if it deems it necessary, such as during the Gulf War(s).
The accuracy was deliberately degraded worldwide so our enemies could not rely upon it, but our military units had specific codes to access the most accurate info so we were never at a disadvantage.
You sound like some of the flatlanders that continually annoy Me by incessantly asking ridiculous questions when they get lost up here and need to get back to wherever they came from. (not a personal attack, merely a general observation of some of the people I have had to deal with mate.)
They already have them in the Philippines and also some third-world countries. They are called ‘Jitneys’ (sp?).
Relying solely on technology is never a good thing, mate. Read My previous for why...
Acknowleged. It would be dangerous to allow GPS dependency to replace good navigation skills.
Actually, a halfway-decent map and less than an hour watching which way the sun was traveling would have given her the basic compass points and a strong direction to travel to get help.
As long as you keep track of where you are traveling on a basic map, if your vehicle becomes stuck you know which way to go to get out of your unwanted predicament and to a point where you can request more information and/or medical assistance.
In the Navy, it is always the ‘butterbar’ that KNEW he was “The Leader” to the poor befuddled Enlisted Swine.
And no, I don’t have a ‘bad attitude’ about zeros (occifers) in the military. *grin*
Unfortunately, oftentimes their wives would have an even deeper attitude which did not do wonders for unit cohesion when that was the case...
If, however, I were to go driving into Death Valley, and had not grown up there or knew the area ... 'be prepared' would dictate having it.
Actually, currently I am living in NorCal (Northern California) here in the USA. I am originally from Oz, but have settled down here in the mountains where it is quite, quite different from the lifestyle I lived for so many years in Silicon Valley.
We have bears up here. Also Mountain Lions (Cougars), deer, geese, quail -and SKUNKS!!!
Most of then try to avoid you, however. My post was intended for those loons that I encounter on a regular basis on My Little Homestead in the mountains away from the regular townspeople.
Yes they do ask those and so many other stupid questions...
As far as Oz, yes, Roos are dangerous -even if they are not carnivorous. They can jump 2 and a half meters (about 8 feet) easily, and 3 meters (roughly 10 feet) is not unknown. (note: I am not an expert on meters-to-feet ratios. You can look up the differences online if you've a wish to.) Anyways, as I were saying, those powerful legs are dangerous if they decide to attack you. Aside from the powerful kick itself which can indeed break bones, the claws on the ends of their feet can rip through an unprotected abdomen quite easily. Not to mention, you cannot outrun them (out-hop them?) if you try.
Dingos are not the same as coyotes. They are much bigger and stronger. Not really a danger to your everyday average human adult, but they have little fear of humans and can be a danger when one encounters one of the packs that roam about. As long as you keep your wits about you, they will cautiously ignore you in favour of easier game. Do not take any chances with them, however.
Perhaps not, but she is reported to be a woman. *ducks!!!*
At least some Freeperette didn’t whack me for the blonde comment. You, however, may not be so lucky.
No offense, but our opinions on what exactly is “affordable” seem to differ somewhat. Being a disabled veteran, there is very little other than the basics I can afford, and even less than 200 per year is still 200 I do not have.
Thanks for the information, however, as I am hopeful that other FReepers can find it of use. :)
Cheers!
GPS information is all well and good, but it should be a fallback, I believe, to the most-reliable methods that have been proven to produce the most successful results over a good period of time.
Plus, try to imagine attempting to travel without GPS info if something like an EMP burst (like countries such as China, Iran, the so-called “Palestinian State”, and the NORKs have promised, to name just a few) occurred and we were forced to use anything other than dead electronics to find our way about...
*laugh!* It would not be the first time, mate! *grin*
I live in the NJ suburbs, I’m really a city girl and this is the first time I’ve actually lived in suburbia. We have a pretty open area behind our house and see deer there sometimes. They are really all over the place. There are also bears in NJ, enough so they had a hunt this fall. They didn’t bag as many as they’d hoped. One poor fellow got killed by one last summer and he was just hiking in a state park, he wasn’t camping out in the hinterland or anything. At least that shut up the anti-bear hunt people for once.
We also have plenty of skunks and racoons (so cute and evil, God must have been in quite a snarky mood the day he created racoons) and possums (pathetically hideous creatures) and groundhogs. They are quite silly looking, like something our of a Disney movie.
I think the mountain lions are the most dangerous, at least after the bears, but the mountain lions really DO want to eat us.
Thanks for the advice about kangaroos. I often wonder what the first white guys to land in Australia thought when they saw them. I think they must have really been astounded to see such strange overgrown creatures.
Beautiful view. Life is good!
Oh, I forgot; the descriptive ‘roo-bait’...
Roughly translated, it means someone who has the relative intelligent capacity of a some manner of vegetable. In other words, someone who can not comprehend real life in any manner of acceptable way.
Perhaps the American idiom of “Squirrel-Bait” is the best way to understand this.
Squirrel-Bait. And what are squirrels most associated with? That’s right; “nuts”. *grin*
I have no idea what your talking about.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.