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We presented the CDT Workshop at the ALDHA Gathering for five years. And we consistently told those who intended to hike the CDT to plan on being lost - not all the time, but frequently. And we found a few (very few) hikers who got upset at the idea of being lost. Which is interesting but not quite upsetting - because the problem wasn't with what we taught, but rather with what they heard - or failed to hear because of their own fears.
What some of them apparently heard was that everyone who hikes the CDT get "LOST". But what we actually said, in at least a dozen ways, was that nearly all CDT hikers get "lost". Yeah, both words are spelled (sorta) and pronounced the same. But there's a huge difference between the two words.
LOST" means not knowing where the hell you are - or how you got there - or how to get to anyplace you might want to be. It means "Oh, my God, I'm LOST" - I'm gonna starve to death in the wilderness and the bears are gonna eat me and I'll never see my Mama again and ...and.. and......."
"LOST" might mean that your Mama's worst fears have been realized. And sometimes that YOUR worst fears have been realized.
"lost" - is an entirely different proposition. It means:
- "I missed the turn a mile back."
- "I can see where I want to go, so how do I get there."
- "I took the wrong trail - again."
- "I got off track"
- "The trail went into the meadow, where does it come out?"
- "I went the wrong way"
It means -- any of a thousand variations on those themes - any one of which could cost you 5 minutes - or a couple days.
And none of those should be that big a deal to anyone who's halfway competent with map and compass, has a reasonably good attitude and doesn't totally panic at the thought of not knowing "exactly" where they are at all times.
When we hiked the CDT, we got "lost" fairly often. But we never got "LOST".
One gets "lost" on the CDT in small ways, usually by nothing more than a momentary inattention to detail such as:
----- and a thousand other forms of distraction or "inattention to detail" - all make it only too easy to find oneself in some very strange places. And "lost."
- Listening to music
- talking to friends
- thinking about one's girlfriend
- didi-bopping mindlessly down the trail
- "assuming" that the trail follows the obvious or easy path
- failure to properly read the map
All of those habits (listening, talking, assuming, etc) are what I call "AT attitudes" because that's where a lot of hikers develop the sloppy navigation habits that contribute to being "lost" - and sometimes, although rarely, to being "LOST". There are other "AT attitudes" as well, but that's an entirely different conversation.
We also know a very few hikers who have gotten "LOST" - meaning so lost that they ran out of food and had to be rescued by dayhikers or rangers. Some people never (or at least very rarely) get "lost" - others can't seem to find their way out of a shopping center without getting "LOST". And most of us are somewhere in the middle.
In any case, the cure for "lost" consists of several parts – all of them are very simple – and very hard:
- Learn to use your tools. Map and compass are essential. And truthfully, the compass is much less important than the map - unless you get caught in a whiteout in Colorado.
- PAY ATTENTION. Most of the incidents of "lost" will happen because either you aren't paying attention - or because you "ASSUME" too much. If you think you can hike the CDT and spend hours listening to music or thinking about your girlfriend or just "zoning out" - then I'll really enjoy reading in your journal about all the times you get "lost." If you don't want to get lost, then learn to pay attention. Yeah - I know - you think you do that now, don't you? We'll see. At one time we hiked with someone who thought he was observant - but after nearly two AT thruhikes, he'd never seen a moose. And he didn't see the 1500# bull moose that we were walking past until it was specifically pointed out to him.
- Develop the attitude that it doesn't really matter. Because it really DOESN'T matter. If you're hiking south and you misplace the trail - keep hiking south. It'll show up sooner or later. If one is hiking south - it's awfully hard to miss the Mexican border. And if you're headed north it's even harder to miss the Canadian border. And that IS where you're headed, isn't it?
- Develop the attitude that it can be fun. One hiker said that he'd been lost for 3 days in the Bridger NF. He said it was the best and most beautiful part of his hike.
Being "lost" is NOT that big a deal. I've recently seen people insist that they're not "lost" just "misplaced." But being "misplaced" doesn't make you any less "lost."
So -- go get "lost" a little. It's fun - unless you take it too seriously. In which case, you need to watch the Team Triple Crown DVD "Really Livin" and learn what thruhiking is about.
Created: Fri, 06 Jan 2004
Revised: 15 Nov 2009Copyright © 2004-2009 Spirit Eagle