Monday, September 10, 2012

Ever Been Lost?

Back in my sailing days, so long ago it barely seems possible, when I sailed my 23 foot sloop off the unforgiving Coast of Maine, I heard the following:  There are three kinds of sailors: those that have run aground, those that are about to run aground, and those that lie.  I was the first type of sailor.  I'd had the boat less than a year when I misinterpreted a chart and slammed the boat's keel into one of Maine's many treacherous underwater granite ledges.  I never did it again. Came close now and again, though.

But I wonder if the same applies to hikers?  Are there three kinds of hikers: those that have gotten lost, those that are about to get lost, and those that lie about getting lost?  So I thought it would be fun to put a poll out there on the subject.  I've not done a poll in a good long while, so what the heck?

Even such a luminary as Daniel Boone could get lost, although he had a slightly different take on his experiences in the trackless wilderness of Virginia and Kentucky.  When asked if he had ever gotten lost, the intrepid outdoorsman reportedly said, "No, but I was bewildered for three days once."

Me?  I've never been lost in the woods.  Nor have I ventured into trackless wilderness.  I've probably been bewildered for a bit now and then, of course.  And maybe I am in that second group of hikers: those that are about to be lost.  But that is why I carry a compass and a topographic map, and also my trusty GPS (something that didn't exist when I would sail the "Snowbird" in Casco Bay).

How 'bout you?  Ever been lost?  Ever been bewildered for three days?

2 comments:

  1. No thank goodness I've never been lost, not in the woods anyway.
    I have gotten a bit off course when learning all the new paths where I live, but didn't take long to figure out where I was. : )

    Now in the car it's a different story. I can get lost in no time at all doesn't driving.

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  2. Deinitely lost in a car - very true. usually in an unfamiliar large city after dark, no clue where to find where I need to go.

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