7 ms·

If you're REALLY lost look for powerlines, microwave towers, rivers, or easy to build in low-lying areas. If river, follow down stream. Anything else, vaguely

If you're REALLY lost look for powerlines, microwave towers, rivers, or easy to build in low-lying areas. If river, follow down stream. Anything else, vaguely, follow the power / sight lines towards obvious markers or a way of calling for help. 'way of calling for help' might involve tripping security sensors.

toomuchtodo 8y ago
Or cutting down a power pole. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/stranded-man-cuts-power-poles-to-draw-attention-1.890115 https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/stranded-man-cut...
- dfee 8y ago
  You know what... good for him.
  - deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]
  - tonyarkles 8y ago
    I think it's worth pointing out how remote Wollaston Lake really is: https://goo.gl/maps/U4TxWcUjQrC2 https://goo.gl/maps/U4TxWcUjQrC2 There's a single highway that connects it to the rest of the country, and it's 550km to the nearest major city. That highway doesn't actually run to the town though; in the winter there's an ice road, and in the summer there's a ferry from the west side of the lake. If you're stranded in the bush near there, you're pretty much hoping that you can signal an aircraft that can land on the lake and pick you up. My guess is that the SaskPower repair/rescue crew probably came in via helicopter. I'm going to spend a few minutes here looking at the satellite view to try to find the power line (I can almost guarantee that it's a single one that links Wollaston Lake and Hatchet lake) Edit: didn't find the power line, but did find confirmation that the repair was helicopter: > "We have to charter a helicopter to fly the line to find out what the issue is and that's what we did on Friday. We discovered the four poles that were toppled and discovered him as well." > The man had been out on the lake in a boat when bad weather struck. His rather dire circumstances may save him from the financial consequences of his unorthodox rescue signal -- which could cost the utility upwards of $100,000 to repair. From: https://www.ctvnews.ca/stranded-man-chops-down-power-poles-to-get-rescued-1.517876 https://www.ctvnews.ca/stranded-man-chops-down-power-poles-t...
    - singingboyo 8y ago
      It's also worth noting that Saskatchewan is not very populated in general, either. There are 1.2M people, in an area 1.5x the size of California (which has 39.5M). At least 500K of those are way south of Wollaston, in Regina and Saskatoon. There is no one around when you're up that far north. You're not getting overflights the way you might in the US. There are 3 flights (~30 max passengers each) daily to CZWL (Wollaston) by one SK airline - there's one other airline that might service it, not sure. There might be a few other small aircraft, but in an area with about 1k people, not many. So, yeah - you are not getting rescued without being lucky, and/or taking drastic measures. Really, though, that's true once you leave the 49th parallel. In general, you get about half way up through the provinces in Canada, and there is nothing much left to go find. Not quite true in northwest BC and all of AB are exceptions, AB due to oil, BC may be the same and/or mining. Then you have to get up into the territories.
      - tonyarkles 8y ago
        You sound like you're around here :). I'm in Regina. If you're nearby and want to grab coffee, my email's in my profile. There aren't too many SK HNers...
        singingboyo 8y ago
        Alas, no, I'm a Vancouverite. I just travel north a bit here and there, and to the prairies on occasion. You pick things up, and, well, there's not a huge amount of difference (in density at least) between northwest BC and northern SK/MB, so a lot of the same points apply. And of course, there's always google for the numbers when I (somewhat inevitably) forget them.
      - BeeOnRope 8y ago
        I'm amazed that a community of 1k people actually supports 3 flights of 30 people every day! That's like 10% of the population on flights, daily...
r-bryan 8y ago
...or bury that length of communication fiber you remembered to bring along. "A backhoe will be along presently to dig it up."
thaumaturgy 8y ago
If you're lost, please stop moving and re-assess. If you have a cell signal, make a call for help (911 is just fine). If you don't, hopefully you brought a PLB. Go ahead and use it. If you can't make a call or use a PLB, then get out your GPS and start following your track back the way you came (almost always better than venturing deeper into the unknown just because there's supposed to be a road up ahead). If you also don't have a GPS, then get out your map and start figuring out how to go back the way you came in. If you don't have a map ... what the heck are you doing, anyway? There are quite a few places where trying to follow water downstream, or even powerlines, will get you even deeper into trouble. In most areas, people wait too long to ask for help, and they can make their situation worse by trying to self-rescue. In most counties that have wilderness areas, there's a county search and rescue team, all volunteers, who are familiar with the area and will be perfectly happy to come and get you at no cost. That comes with the added benefit that you'll get to meet some cool folks, and if you suddenly get sick or injured or something else goes wrong, people with first aid training will be right there. SAR teaches kids, "if you're lost, hug a tree" for good reason.
- codingdave 8y ago
  > will be perfectly happy to come and get you at no cost. There is a cost. If you were lost or injured due to negligence, they may charge you for it. Even if they don't charge you, rescues cost money. Some states have cheap insurance policies you can buy (in the range of a few bucks a year), which go towards the costs of search and rescue, but one way or another, money is spent. More than one might expect. It is also not a way to "meet some cool folks". Needing a rescue is not something to be taken lightly. Not all rescues succeed, and people die in the wilderness every year, despite large rescue efforts when they go missing. Be safe. SAR may be a safety net, but don't take that for granted.
  - thaumaturgy 8y ago
    I don't recall any credible cases where someone was charged by a search and rescue organization. Some other organizations might (AMR has recently started showing up at calls and charging for the kind of basic first aid that SAR traditionally has provided for free), but in general it's SAR policy not to charge even when the person involved made some really bone-headed decisions. See for example https://www.reddit.com/r/searchandrescue/comments/8gv3n3/thoughts_missing_hiker_warned_he_may_likely_be/ https://www.reddit.com/r/searchandrescue/comments/8gv3n3/tho... If you get air-ambulanced, yes, you'll probably end up with a hefty bill for that and your insurance company probably has a clause exempting them from paying it. REACH (https://reachair.com/membership/ https://reachair.com/membership/) and AirMedCare (https://www.airmedcarenetwork.com/ https://www.airmedcarenetwork.com/) both provide affordable insurance for this. But if it's CHP or air national guard that picks you up, you shouldn't expect to get a bill for it. Pilots need flight hours and ground SAR personnel need regular training. There are a handful of areas where SAR might get a bit over-worked now and again, but usually more calls are better than no calls. Yes, the rescues incur some cost, but a significant amount of that cost is covered by the SAR volunteers themselves. And yes, it is a way to "meet some cool folks". Obviously I don't mean go out and call for a rescue if you don't need one, but talk to any SAR volunteer and they'll almost universally say the same thing: they'd rather people call sooner than later, and they're happy to walk out with them. The call-outs that get really expensive are the ones where somebody disappears and SAR has got no damn clue where they went. Those can stretch on for several days before the search is suspended, can consume multiple air resources, and increases the risk of injury for volunteers. In many of those cases, the search would've ended successfully far earlier if someone involved had called as soon as they thought there was trouble.
justinator 8y ago
> 'way of calling for help' might involve tripping security sensors. Or making a forest fire.
- mc32 8y ago
  You gotta be careful with that. You may end up causing major damage infrastructure and potentially lead to fatalities. Creating smoke in an area where the probability of causing a forest fire is negligible is one thing, but purposely starting a forest fire is extremely dangerous and illegal.
  - justinator 8y ago
    If you're lost in the Wilderness in some sort of situation where you cannot walk out, "be careful with that" is out the window.

toomuchtodo 8y ago

Or cutting down a power pole. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/stranded-man-cuts-power-poles-to-draw-attention-1.890115 https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/stranded-man-cut...

dfee 8y ago
You know what... good for him.
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
- tonyarkles 8y ago
  I think it's worth pointing out how remote Wollaston Lake really is: https://goo.gl/maps/U4TxWcUjQrC2 https://goo.gl/maps/U4TxWcUjQrC2 There's a single highway that connects it to the rest of the country, and it's 550km to the nearest major city. That highway doesn't actually run to the town though; in the winter there's an ice road, and in the summer there's a ferry from the west side of the lake. If you're stranded in the bush near there, you're pretty much hoping that you can signal an aircraft that can land on the lake and pick you up. My guess is that the SaskPower repair/rescue crew probably came in via helicopter. I'm going to spend a few minutes here looking at the satellite view to try to find the power line (I can almost guarantee that it's a single one that links Wollaston Lake and Hatchet lake) Edit: didn't find the power line, but did find confirmation that the repair was helicopter: > "We have to charter a helicopter to fly the line to find out what the issue is and that's what we did on Friday. We discovered the four poles that were toppled and discovered him as well." > The man had been out on the lake in a boat when bad weather struck. His rather dire circumstances may save him from the financial consequences of his unorthodox rescue signal -- which could cost the utility upwards of $100,000 to repair. From: https://www.ctvnews.ca/stranded-man-chops-down-power-poles-to-get-rescued-1.517876 https://www.ctvnews.ca/stranded-man-chops-down-power-poles-t...
  - singingboyo 8y ago
    It's also worth noting that Saskatchewan is not very populated in general, either. There are 1.2M people, in an area 1.5x the size of California (which has 39.5M). At least 500K of those are way south of Wollaston, in Regina and Saskatoon. There is no one around when you're up that far north. You're not getting overflights the way you might in the US. There are 3 flights (~30 max passengers each) daily to CZWL (Wollaston) by one SK airline - there's one other airline that might service it, not sure. There might be a few other small aircraft, but in an area with about 1k people, not many. So, yeah - you are not getting rescued without being lucky, and/or taking drastic measures. Really, though, that's true once you leave the 49th parallel. In general, you get about half way up through the provinces in Canada, and there is nothing much left to go find. Not quite true in northwest BC and all of AB are exceptions, AB due to oil, BC may be the same and/or mining. Then you have to get up into the territories.
    - tonyarkles 8y ago
      You sound like you're around here :). I'm in Regina. If you're nearby and want to grab coffee, my email's in my profile. There aren't too many SK HNers...
      - singingboyo 8y ago
        Alas, no, I'm a Vancouverite. I just travel north a bit here and there, and to the prairies on occasion. You pick things up, and, well, there's not a huge amount of difference (in density at least) between northwest BC and northern SK/MB, so a lot of the same points apply. And of course, there's always google for the numbers when I (somewhat inevitably) forget them.
    - BeeOnRope 8y ago
      I'm amazed that a community of 1k people actually supports 3 flights of 30 people every day! That's like 10% of the population on flights, daily...

r-bryan 8y ago

...or bury that length of communication fiber you remembered to bring along. "A backhoe will be along presently to dig it up."

thaumaturgy 8y ago

If you're lost, please stop moving and re-assess. If you have a cell signal, make a call for help (911 is just fine). If you don't, hopefully you brought a PLB. Go ahead and use it. If you can't make a call or use a PLB, then get out your GPS and start following your track back the way you came (almost always better than venturing deeper into the unknown just because there's supposed to be a road up ahead). If you also don't have a GPS, then get out your map and start figuring out how to go back the way you came in. If you don't have a map ... what the heck are you doing, anyway? There are quite a few places where trying to follow water downstream, or even powerlines, will get you even deeper into trouble. In most areas, people wait too long to ask for help, and they can make their situation worse by trying to self-rescue. In most counties that have wilderness areas, there's a county search and rescue team, all volunteers, who are familiar with the area and will be perfectly happy to come and get you at no cost. That comes with the added benefit that you'll get to meet some cool folks, and if you suddenly get sick or injured or something else goes wrong, people with first aid training will be right there. SAR teaches kids, "if you're lost, hug a tree" for good reason.

codingdave 8y ago
> will be perfectly happy to come and get you at no cost. There is a cost. If you were lost or injured due to negligence, they may charge you for it. Even if they don't charge you, rescues cost money. Some states have cheap insurance policies you can buy (in the range of a few bucks a year), which go towards the costs of search and rescue, but one way or another, money is spent. More than one might expect. It is also not a way to "meet some cool folks". Needing a rescue is not something to be taken lightly. Not all rescues succeed, and people die in the wilderness every year, despite large rescue efforts when they go missing. Be safe. SAR may be a safety net, but don't take that for granted.
- thaumaturgy 8y ago
  I don't recall any credible cases where someone was charged by a search and rescue organization. Some other organizations might (AMR has recently started showing up at calls and charging for the kind of basic first aid that SAR traditionally has provided for free), but in general it's SAR policy not to charge even when the person involved made some really bone-headed decisions. See for example https://www.reddit.com/r/searchandrescue/comments/8gv3n3/thoughts_missing_hiker_warned_he_may_likely_be/ https://www.reddit.com/r/searchandrescue/comments/8gv3n3/tho... If you get air-ambulanced, yes, you'll probably end up with a hefty bill for that and your insurance company probably has a clause exempting them from paying it. REACH (https://reachair.com/membership/ https://reachair.com/membership/) and AirMedCare (https://www.airmedcarenetwork.com/ https://www.airmedcarenetwork.com/) both provide affordable insurance for this. But if it's CHP or air national guard that picks you up, you shouldn't expect to get a bill for it. Pilots need flight hours and ground SAR personnel need regular training. There are a handful of areas where SAR might get a bit over-worked now and again, but usually more calls are better than no calls. Yes, the rescues incur some cost, but a significant amount of that cost is covered by the SAR volunteers themselves. And yes, it is a way to "meet some cool folks". Obviously I don't mean go out and call for a rescue if you don't need one, but talk to any SAR volunteer and they'll almost universally say the same thing: they'd rather people call sooner than later, and they're happy to walk out with them. The call-outs that get really expensive are the ones where somebody disappears and SAR has got no damn clue where they went. Those can stretch on for several days before the search is suspended, can consume multiple air resources, and increases the risk of injury for volunteers. In many of those cases, the search would've ended successfully far earlier if someone involved had called as soon as they thought there was trouble.

justinator 8y ago

> 'way of calling for help' might involve tripping security sensors. Or making a forest fire.

mc32 8y ago
You gotta be careful with that. You may end up causing major damage infrastructure and potentially lead to fatalities. Creating smoke in an area where the probability of causing a forest fire is negligible is one thing, but purposely starting a forest fire is extremely dangerous and illegal.
- justinator 8y ago
  If you're lost in the Wilderness in some sort of situation where you cannot walk out, "be careful with that" is out the window.