Posted on 02/21/2024 7:11:56 AM PST by george76
Two German tourists became lost in their four-wheel-drive vehicle in a remote part of Cape York after trusting Google Maps. They ended up having to camp for about a week before walking out to safety. What's next?: The pair are safe, but local rangers say it could have been so much worse and are warning people to take care. Two young men are lucky to be alive after walking for several days in the Cape York wilderness when their car became bogged after they followed Google Maps directions.
German tourists Philipp Maier and Marcel Schoene left Cairns on February 4 and headed off to travel through Cape York in a four-wheel-drive vehicle.
They told Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service (QPWS) rangers they had been following the directions on Google Maps on their way to Bamaga.
Google Maps told them to enter Oyala Thumotang National Park through a dirt track known as Langi Track, which leads to the old Archers Crossing.
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On February 6, their vehicle became bogged and without any phone service they became stuck.
The pair camped for about a week before attempting to walk to Archer River and then Coen, which took several days.
Mr Maier said he and his fellow traveller had been following Google's directions.
"In Coen, Google Maps said we should go to the national park right away, and we thought just do it because maybe the main road is closed because of a high river," he said.
He said they drove through the national park for 50 to 60km before they became stuck.
"The roads were quite good because the weather was quite dry for the past few days and the creeks were knee-high, maybe," Mr Maier said.
"Where we got stuck, it looked really dry. The surface was dry, but under the surface it was really wet and muddy."
He said their car became stuck in a hole.
"[It was] almost impossible to get out of there," he said.
The men said they initially tried to walk to Archer River because it was closer, but when they reached the river the water was too high to cross.
Mr Schoene said they tried to cross over the river on a fallen tree.
"We went on the fallen tree to come over the other side, then at the night we had to sleep there and it started to rain and we couldn't go further up," he said.
He said the pair built a shelter out of wood in the landscape.
"It wasn't very good, it wasn't very safe," he said.
Mr Maier and Mr Schoene said they had several wildlife encounters including a crocodile and a snake, a lot of spiders, as well as several cows and wild pigs.
Mr Maier said they mostly walked during the early mornings, stopping during the heat of the day, before continuing until late at night.
Hard decision to start walking Mr Schoene said the decision to leave their car was hard.
"It was a very bad feeling, very weird," he said. "But after 10–20 kilometres, we never thought about it."
He said they walked for about 22 hours, through rain, sleeping on the road at night and using a drone to look for nearby roads.
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"We had our backpacks with us, like 12 kilos on the back, so all the important stuff we had with us," he said.
The pair spoke with rangers after their ordeal and were unharmed but did have lessons they would take with them.
"Never trust Google Maps on your own," Mr Schoene said.
Mr Maier said it was a happy ending but a difficult few days.
"It was a good experience but it was a really hard experience. I don't want to live this week another time," he said.
Ranger in charge Roger James said QPWS and a local mechanic helped recover the vehicle, but the situation could have been a lot worse.
"These men ended up on foot in oppressive conditions and although they had supplies and a shelter for sleeping, they are extremely lucky to be alive," he said.
"In this case, we were quite lucky we were recovering a vehicle, not bodies, but it could have been much different."
He said if the men had not been as young, fit, prepared and motivated, it could have ended tragically.
"These men tried crossing a river on a fallen log, endured intense heat and storms, encountered cattle, pigs, and crocodiles and had to sleep in the bush."
He said it was not the first time tourists had been sent the wrong way through the national park by Google Maps.
"We've got no idea why this is happening, there aren't even any crossings on the Archer River," he said.
Google Maps problems In December, a frustrated council in Western Australia erected signs warning drivers against using Google Maps after GPS-based directions repeatedly sent travellers down unsafe roads.
And in November, landowner Graham Anderson invented his own road sign to direct travellers regularly getting lost near his property at Isla, about four hours' drive west of Bundaberg.
He discovered drivers were following Google Maps across his cattle property in search of the spectacular Isla Gorge, which had an entrance almost 20 kilometres further along the Leichhardt Highway.
I remember we took some dirt roads in NC, that were on the maps.
Dirt roads. There’s maintained dirt roads, and then there’s find out when you get there. Gullies, big rocks, crumbling edges, loose gravel slopes. The map didn’t make the distinction, but I learned it matters.
I remember the case some years ago where a family was following a navigation app in SW Oregon in the winter. They got stuck in snow; the wife and children stayed with the car and were rescued after several days, but the husband tried to walk out and died. I don’t know if they were using Google Maps or some other app.
Google Maps is wrong about the road we live on. I would never trust it in a remote area.
You posted while I was typing. I know the road they got stuck on and I wouldn’t try it in midwinter even with 4WD.
Google Maps loses town, outback mayor loses patience with wayward navigation app.. If you are driving in parts of outback Queensland, it is probably best not to listen to the authoritative voice on Google Maps, warn the mayors of several Australian towns.
The western Queensland mayors and tourism officials are so “disappointed” by the inaccuracy of Google Maps in parts of the region, they are urging locals and tourists alike not to trust the web-based technology.
They are advising tourists to use their common sense instead.
“If you see a signpost saying a town is ‘this way’ and Google Maps is telling you something different, do not trust Google Maps,” said Quilpie Shire Council Mayor Stuart Mackenzie.
But so much better than those antiquated paper maps.
I see no road where they got stuck. Why would they camp for a week before deciding to walk to safety? Other than don't trust G-Maps, their story makes no sense. i don't trust any mapping devices. Once it said I was driving 10 thousand miles per hour. Driving home from work always shows me in the middle of the river miles away. Your destination is usually on the other side of the road or a case of you can't get there from here.
Sadly, even paper maps can run you into trouble but nowhere near as much trouble as g-maps.
Back when we only had paper maps, we were traveling across New Mexico and it showed a highway between two major cities. It neglected to say their highways weren’t paved, were one vehicle wide and one side is a sheer cliff for miles and miles and hours and hours. Oh, and there was was a homemade sign saying, “hole in bridge”. The folks looked like, well, I started humming Dueling Banjos and hubs still hasn’t forgiven me.
I know it wasn’t funny at the time, but I laughed reading your description of the road .... that road was horrible, before the ‘hole in the bridge’ sign!
Google Maps recently changed and put an address on my standalone garage. I kept getting blink camera notifications of people walking into my side yard. It seems they were trying to deliver packages to the new address, which belonged to a house on a lot beyond us. This is in an established neighborhood... our house was built in 1930 and the other house has been there since the early 1990s.
Cape York is NOT a place to go without a trusted guide and armed.
Saltys everywhere and way out in the middle of nowhere.
Pretty but dangerous from wildlife.
Paper maps....
I have great fun with my nephews showing how to use a map and compass.
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