Posted on 11/12/2023 11:49:40 AM PST by george76
Maybe this hiker should have Googled where he could buy a paper map.
A hiker had to be rescued via helicopter in British Columbia after he got lost — because he followed a made-up trail on Google Maps.
It was the second time in two months that a hiker got lost relying on the high-tech map app
...
stranded on a cliff on the backside of Mt. Fromme, just north of Vancouver, after attempting to reach the peak’s summit.
A pair of rescuers were brought in by air and dropped into the heavily forested area during the Nov. 4 rescue.
After locating the lost hiker, who according to NSR had minimal gear, no flashlight and poor footwear for his trek, the rescuers brought him down to an area where the helicopter could retrieve the trio.
NSR said the rescue was the second in two months for hikers trapped on Mt. Fromme, both of which appeared to be the result of people following the fake trail displayed on Google Maps.
... NSR advised would-be hikers to avoid using Google Maps for hiking and instead use apps designed for the outdoors like CalTopo or Gaia or a paper map and compass.
It also insisted people who rely on phones for hiking navigation pack a backup battery, and that they research areas where they plan to hike to make sure they know the terrain and if trails are even available.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
The tenderfoot was stupid. The Google map trail was probably old and petered out so he as a naive tenderfoot could no longer find it
Use Google Maps for researching places to go but DO NOT use Google Maps to get there.
Google Maps sends 18 wheeler trucks , Greyhound buses, and .. up jeep roads..
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Eh? I’ve spent a good bit of time in some remote areas and I can’t say I’ve ever walked into a place I couldn’t walk out of. Mebbe I’m just ignorant about such places but it seems odd to me.
I have wondered how things get into google maps in the first place. Some of it especially some things in towns, seem to be so precisely accurate, and then there are other things, especially out in rural areas, that are so wildly off that giving a kindergartener a crayon and telling them to remote view the area would likely be more accurate.
Incredible. Mid November, winter coming on, big rain storms in the NW, poor gear, poor footwear, no flashlight, cannot detect a fake map on Google, does not use AllTrails or GaiaGPS. No compass, no nav skills, no paper maps.
What an idiot. Some people deserve to wind up in pepper-smelling bear scat filled with bells.
Trying to get to an airport once, I ended up in a cow pasture on the back side of of the runway. Fortunately I had 4 wheel drive.
Another thing you don’t trust is Drone photos of mountains. Found a cave on a mountaion side and the reality of what I had to climb was eye openeing.
Fifty years ago I had a VW THING and a county map of all the back roads in San Juan County NM. In my travels on those back roads I hit roads that had not seen a vehicle on them in decades! If my vehicle had broken down there my bones might still be bleaching in the sun.
“Google Maps sends 18 wheeler trucks , Greyhound buses, and .. up jeep roads..”
Some years ago when Google maps and in car GPS were somewhat new (at least to me), I was in very rural East Texas trying to get to a place that had a truck tailgate I needed. Google maps did send us to the right location via the shortest route. BUT a good part of the trip was on a muddy one lane dirt road, ditches were full of water, no place to turn around. I was in a two wheel drive 3/4 ton pickup with highway tires. I kept praying that we meet didn’t another oncoming vehicle. We didn’t but I am now very careful with that tech.
I don’t even trust google maps for the roads we drive in in this country in civilization.
It always takes you by the worst possible route.
I saw that not long ago in Washington County AR. with a super long semi trailer truck. I know he was using a google road map because he turned onto a narrow two lane road, went through some of the tightest bends, then had to turn from the left lane to the right to get on the interstate.
Had he turned left at the first stop way back he could have gotten on the interstate within half a mile.
not following trail markers... first time in the woods???
LOL!! I personally discovered this kind of problem with the first GPS equipped SUV I had. It’s science, not witchcraft.
I learned as a kid that it’s pretty easy to get cliffed up. Most people can climb up much more easily than they can climb down, so when they can’t get clear to the top of something they can be stuck. I got better at deciding when not to try to climb something.
Now I’m old enough that I just avoid the really steep stuff entirely. If I need both hands, I shouldn’t be there.
I use Gaia. You can download topo maps for use when cell service isn’t available. Which it isn’t when you need it most.
He walked in, he can walk out. That’s what they should have told the dumbass.
I had to explain that there are many routes available to cross three thousand miles of the very scenic USA that the gps would not show on it's tiny monitor.
My thought too. Unless he climbed up, I can understand not being able to climb down (or climbed down and cannot climb back up). But if he walked in to the area where he was “trapped”, why not just turn around 180 degrees and walk back the way he came?
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