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 ...
Meh.
“it was great..no men”
If only she had brought some cookies with her...
boy scouts have the buddy system.
never go alone.
always tell someone what you are planning to do and go.
check the gas gauge.
simple differences.
“I’ve been through the desert in a car with no gas
It felt good to be out of the rain
In the desert you can remember your name
‘Cause there ain’t no one for to give you no pain
La, la
After two days in the desert sun
My skin began to turn red
After three days in the desert fun
I was looking at a river bed”
And the story it told of a river that flowed
Made me sad to think it was dead
LOL...
I wonder if she ever heard of compasses and topographic maps. No, I dont’t mean an “app” for a smart phone.
Bring water
And stay near your car
rip the mirror off and use to signal..
Two simple rules will keep you out of many troubles:
1) If your GPS tells you to turn onto a dirt road, DON'T. Just keep going on the main road. It will recalculate an alternate route.
2) If you're in an area where gas stations are sparse, fill up whenever you pass a gas station and your gauge reads half full or less.
How about ‘when the road starts to disappear into the vegetation turn around and head back?’
I hate to say it, but this was a really ill-advised trip. Time after time we see stories like this, but people keep making the same bad choices.
You are correct, living in a rural area, databases can be marginal.
A map is very important.
Agreed.
life can be rough when you’re dumb!
I have been to the Canyon a number of times. Spent time down in the Canyon and also in the areas up on the rim. I cannot imagine getting so lost I couldn’t find my way to civilization. This place is pretty simple other than down in some of the side canyons in the lower part of the Canyon.
What would she do in a true wilderness area? Good grief.
“...the moment she first realized she was lost without GPS or cell reception.”
The struggle is real, People! We now have an entire generation of people walking around, panicking like this...even in Urban settings, surrounded by other people!
This herd NEEDS some thinning. ;)
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