Eight Hikers Stranded - rmru report

[Cy Kaicener]

Last Saturday eight hikers decided to hike from the Tramway via Blaisdell Canyon down to Highway 111. Some of them had only one quart of water
http://rmru.org/missions/2007/2007-007.html

[AlanK]

Thank God they weren't using GPS or I'd be dog meat on this Board!

[zippetydude]

Well spoken.

[Perry]

That's an odd choice for a group hike. I've heard that canyon casually referred to as "banana canyon."

Edit: I ran to the peak today, and there were some guys smoking pot. Funny! That's the second time I've noticed that at the peak.

[zippetydude]

Another odd choice - ending up with munchies at the peak, and nothing to eat for miles...would make for a long hike back. Maybe they packed in some Life cereal or something. Or maybe, just maybe, they didn't inhale. You may have met a future president!

z

[TRumble24]

Never heard of this trail, if it is even an established trail. Any links to info?

[magikwalt]

"...the party of four hiking out had found a cache of bottled water..." In the last 2 months I've had two water caches emptied. Maybe its going to a very needy cause.

Alan...We GPS folks can't be blamed for this type of genius. Having both survived my early 20's and raised 3 kids through theirs (one 18 year old to go) the photo attached to the story tells me they're whoohooing it up and looking for the next road trip! No way to explain how close they came.

[cynthia23]

OMG, I guess I am becoming a grumpy curmudgeon, because the group photo of these happy grinning idiots really pissed me off. They should be hanging their heads in shame and at least have the grace to look sorry and grateful. They seem not to understand that they endangered other people, too, with their selfish actions. I don't get behavior like this. There is a lack of respect in it--for the sovereign power of nature and its absolute limits, and for other people's time and lives. Everyone makes dumb mistakes, but it is the disrespect that puts me off. It is like they think nature is just one big Disneyland put there for their entertainment and that rangers and rescue people are merely low-level workers whose job is to make sure you never come to any real harm. Wilderness--Sanitized For Your Protection. More and more I get why the Indians think white people are a bunch of big dumb arrogant jerks ...

[magikwalt]

If Mountain Rescue charged a $3,000 minimum event fee the facial expressions would be different. If they had pulled this stunt outside the US they would know the real cost of coming to thier aid.

[cynthia23]

Right on, MagikW! I am a big fan of charging people for their rescues, at least when they do egregiously foolish things they have been warned against. Some parks like Yosemite now charge for rescues from the Big Wall and my understanding is that it has drastically cut down on rescues. It seems crazy that people would actually evaluate their wilderness behavior on how much it might hit their wallet--as opposed to killing them or others--but apparently, people do care about money even when they don't care about anyone or anything else. Of course we all screw up and do foolish things, and sometimes bad stuff happens to even careful and well-prepared people, but I do think that those who just blithely assume others will be there to pick up the pieces for them should be charged for the privilege ...