Lost in the woods during a white out

[davetclown]

this is not an uncomon situation.

walking in the woods to be over come by snow is a frightening experiecne. complicat it with heavey snows so thick you cant see 10 feet in any direction.

you can get lost in as little as a hundred feet and be so far off your corce you can end up walking in circles in a hundred acre woods to sucumb to the eliments. a man can ealily forfit his life in a matter of a couple hours unproperly dressed, lost in the woods and no one knows you are there to come looking for you.

This happened just the other day, a heavy snow set in for a several hours where I could not see anglers sitting be side me on the lake just 20 feet away. While I was fishing, one of my neighbors was hiking across a park right next to our subdivision. there are a couple trails but it is mostly tall oaks and pines wich have long since grown to the point where they dont shelter from the snow any more.

he lost his way during this time and dicided to sit for a few minutes to let what I am sure he thought would only be a squal.

as I said, no one knew when to expect him so no one knew to go out looking for him. he was found yesterday morning not far from the exit point.

what is the point of this post? it is to open a discussion on surviving whiteouts and similar conditions.

what would be the first thing you should do if you find your self in a life threatened situation.
[ol] [li]you are in the woods and are underdressed because you are only going a mile. [/li] [li]the woods are one mile squared[/li] [li]it is snowing so hard you cant get any bearings[/li] [li]at a normal pace it is only a 15 minute hike through the woods from one side to the other but you have already been walking for 45 minutes so now you are sure you are lost[/li][/ol]
so what do you do?

This Post is didicated to "Richard"
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[DanielJRioux]

Good questions Dave, I hope everyone reads and heeds your story.
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[davetclown]

I forgot to mention this guy walked these same woods for nearly 50 years. he knew them woods like the back of his hand, more or less his back yard.

here is a good test for any one who dosnt beleive this is posible.

get on to an open field look across the feild one hundred yards away and pick a point you want to walk to, now looking at your feet atempt to walk across with out looking up twards your target. before you get half way there you will be so far off corse you wont beleive your sences.

take this and complicate it with the conditions above. where you cant get a berring in front or behind for that matter.
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[tomc]

around our area,dence fog is the big problem.fog has rolled in while i was hunting,couldn't see a thing.i ended up in a school yard that is 2 properties over,didn't like that lost feeling.out on the ocean is worse,even with compass,gps,and radar you still have smaller boats racin around that you don't pickup
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[davetclown]

fog is one of the most dangerous conditions.

people absolutly refuse to beleive that they need to reduce thier speed. patchy fog has resulted in more deaths than any other conditions.

people think because they can see down the road a quarter mile they can drive 65 miles an hour in a forty mile zone. that is how I ended up perminatly disabled.

ticks me off more than it scares me. all I can say they are lucky I am not the officer of the day... I would be burnning through them ticket pads like peperoni on pizza.

Back to the snow thing.

I found out today we lost another neighbor due to the white stuff, he was 60+ shoveling snow during a cold snap and passed on due to heart attac.

I came across his widow today, she was shoveling snow, about 7 inches fell last night. so I was out making sure that our siniors were not out shoveling and exerting themselves.

tip, if you are going to shovel snow, take lots of breaks. only shovel for about 15 minutes at a time. if you have to get out in a hurry, dont go!!! or call some one to come and plow it for you.

that is two neghbors in a month that has passed due to the white stuff.
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