If you go down to the woods today...

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jhawk

Veteran
Thought I'd share with you all my snowshoeing story from last night...

Got lost. Very lost.

After about twenty minutes of trekking down the trails, I turned to head back, and my tracks weren't there to follow out. S***. I'd taken a wrong turn somewhere, and now was well-and-truly up shoyte-creek-without-a-paddle.

Tried to re-trace my steps, was going further away from home... Called the old man, he came out with Reggie, our newly adopted Border Collie, and my new best friend. They found me after about twenty minutes of shouting and phone calls and playing music from my phone. I hadn't intended to go anywhere and had fully intended to get back the way I came in, so I had no compass or nowt.

The really scary part was when I came across (on trying to find my way back), bear feces and two fox corpses, looked fairly fresh. I had very bad images of being the new Christoper McCandless! Fortunately, I was found. :smile:

What a night. Note to self: Bring compass and whistle next time.

I did manage to get a few good pictures though!

2015-04-13_20-40-59_HDR.jpg 2015-04-20_18-38-55_HDR.jpg 2015-04-20_18-39-15_HDR.jpg 2015-04-20_18-43-08_HDR.jpg 2015-04-20_18-53-50_HDR.jpg 2015-04-20_18-54-09_HDR.jpg 2015-04-20_18-56-00_HDR.jpg
 
I think your title should read "to".

"in" gives a very different context...
 

Dave 123

Legendary Member
@jhawk - you need to carry a ball of wool, then tie it to your front door knob. Unravel the wool as you go..... For the return journey just follow the wool. At christmas you could use a string of lights.


Garmin schmarmin!
 

Drago

Legendary Member
Do you carry a rifle because of the bear threat, or is that not allowed?
 

ayceejay

Guru
Location
Rural Quebec
'tis scary in the frozen north. I was walking with a friend in Cape Breton, he is the real deal outdoorsman. After a while he spotted what he said was moose hoof prints but I could only see one, then he pointed out the others that were three feet apart. Having never seen a moose this conjured up a giani of an animal. Don't worry he said it was probably running
Correction: the hoof prints were more like eight or ten feet apart.
 
Last edited:
It's easy in the UK to forget how empty some countries are, and how dangerous. Going "for a walk" in parts of Canada, like Australia, could be the last decision you make. Glad you kept your head, and had a phone.

Can I suggest carrying an emergency bivvy bag? I've got this one, and I just checked - it weighs 100g. Never used it, of course, I live in the UK :smile: You could put it in a pocket without noticing it, and if things went wrong and you were out for the night you'd be ok. Well, you might need a warmer one than that for Canadian conditions, I guess.

Is your phone a smart phone? There are tons of apps that would have done as well as a garmin to get you home again.

Edit: We had quite a few 78(rpm) records when I was a kid, a remnant of my father's childhood. This was the only one we - the children - ever bothered to play ...


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZANKFxrcKU
Edit 2: and this was the B side


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bh0QZvHdSKo
 
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