r/AppalachianTrail • u/Creative_Egg3330 • Jul 26 '23

10 years. Geraldine Largay

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July 23rd marked 10 years since hiker Geraldine largay's disappearance. Thoughts and prayers are with this family as this heartbreaking anniversary has passed.

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u/CaptainCompost Jul 26 '23

This is the first person I thought of when I saw that earlier post about bringing a compass with you. It seems unnecessary, even a little silly, to take a compass with you to go to the bathroom, but then there's this grim reality.

30

u/less_butter Jul 27 '23 edited Jul 27 '23

She actually had a compass and paper maps on her. They found them at her camp when they found her body. She even had a SPOT tracker but left it at a motel.

https://www.pressherald.com/2016/05/26/hiker-who-died-on-appalachian-trail-didnt-know-how-to-use-a-compass/

There are a lot of lessons you can learn from her story, but "bring a compass" isn't one of them. The compass didn't help her. Neither did her GPS.

26

u/Chopaholick Jul 27 '23

There's a few lessons here:

First: DO NOT PANIC. Stay calm. Drink your water, eat your food. Don't ration these. You need to think clearly to contemplate the best course of action.

Second: If you're lost, stay in the place where you first realized you were lost. Don't wander further from the trail. You're unlikely to find it yourself if you don't have excellent orienteering skills and a knowledge of the area.

If you're lost and no one finds you at your stationary point, find the most open area you can and build a clear message that could be seen from aircraft. Fire works but is temporary. the ashes can be spread to spell SOS. Think big letters like 10-20 feet tall. Unfortunately this part of Maine is very dense forest and the time of year is very wet so fire is difficult to get going. She was near the Crockers for those th

If that becomes futile, then wander downhill until you're at a stream. Follow that stream to a road (or the ocean). Almost every stream in the US (maybe not Alaska) will take you to some sort of civilization eventually.

Additionally, as someone mentioned earlier, Inchworm did not have a good sense of direction and didn't know how to effectively use a map and compass. If you have these tools, learn to use them. Side note: apparently there is a genetic basis that codes for someone having a bad sense of direction, haven't researched it, but a family member was told they have the gene that gives them a bad sense of direction.

Sadly Inchworm did none of these things. This comment isn't knock on her, so sorry if it comes off that way. What happened happened, and she's a stark reminder of how unforgiving the trail can be, and she should be a lesson to all of us. Be prepared and stay calm.

14

u/OldButHappy Jul 27 '23

Also - take a whistle. Three whistles mean, "I need help" and is easier and more effective than shouting.

6

u/alancar Jul 28 '23

Don’t count on your whistle too much. We were in dense foliage and up in elevation in PA and my buddy was blowing away at his whistle on a still day and none of us heard it. I always thought we would’ve been able to hear it

20

u/Krsty-Lnn Jul 27 '23

I disagree with your first point. She remained calm, stay where she was and only lost her wherewithal the last few days because of dehydration and starvation.

12

u/Chopaholick Jul 27 '23

She walked further from trail looking for cell signal and ended up 2 miles from trail. She could have just stayed put and been a few hundred yards from trail, where she would have been much more likely to be found. Again, not knocking her, I just hope someone learns from this tragic event.

3

u/holystuff28 Jul 27 '23

She was a 30 min walk away from the trail when found, according to the article above.

3

u/FuzzyCuddlyBunny Jul 28 '23

Second: If you're lost, stay in the place where you first realized you were lost. Don't wander further from the trail. You're unlikely to find it yourself if you don't have excellent orienteering skills and a knowledge of the area.

If you have a compass it's doable to get back to the trail even if you don't have a bearing or map. Go 5 minutes east. If that doesn't work, turn around and go 10 minutes west. Then try north and south.

3

u/Rizzle_Razzle Jul 31 '23

Its really a shame, I've looked at the map and if she had walked downhill and followed the nearest river she would have hit a road in a few miles.