Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Backpack Hunting I hit 911 on the SPOT

Fellow backpackers,
I had a whale of a weekend! Saturday morning I woke up early and drove 100 miles to the remotest portion of Rabun County, Georgia to explore into a roadless, trailess mountain in North Carolina called "Little Bald" topping out at just over 5000ft. I had studied the route/maps/topos for weeks in anticipation. It was the next mountain over from "Dicks Knob", a mountain that has the distinction of being the third highest in GA, and one on which I've camped many times. I knew the brush was bad, but I wanted to explore, and so I planned the trip.
Saturday morning, I left the Chevy Avalanche at the end of the marginal trail at about 7AM/26F and headed up "Dick's Knob" (hey, I didn't name it), planning to make "Bear Gap" then on up "Little Bald" in North Carolina. I didn't know what to expect on this new-to-me destination, but the entire trip was almost solid rhododendron/mountain laurel.....a brush busting extravaganza (did tear up the Osprey and solidly bruised both shins, knee to ankle!), but finally made the top, and what do you know, there was a tiny bald/sandy spot about the size of an olympic pool. I collected firewood, set up the tent, and assessed the remaining water....I was good to go.

It began sleeting about two hours before dark (forcast hadn't called for precip until late Sunday), so I wrapped up the fire-thang (caveman TV) and hit the tent. As aside, my ortho doctor had injected steroids into my left shoulder, and man I've never slept so well on the ground with that thing not hurting me!
The next morning, about 4" of snow, heavy fog and wind greeted me after my in-tent breakfast....I couldn't see five feet at some times. I thought the trip off the top might take longer because of the weather, so I got started early, maybe 8am. I made two bad decisions at this time. First, I thought I'd try to skirt around some of the nastiest brush, and come down a little different way, second, to ease my constant referencing the Garmin 60Map, I decided to let it dangle from my wrist, around the gauntlet of my glove. Well, it wasn't long till my laurel avoiding strategy had me way off course, and in the process of correction, I slid off a rock face, snagged the Garmin on a rhododendron on my way down, snap went the strap, and off went the GPS down a deep snow-slope. I spent an hour holding my self onto the side of that slope by the brush searching for the Garmin, to no avail. I managed to find my cell phone and called my wife, and actived the "all's well" button on my new SPOT which would give her my coordinates on Google Maps and she could tell me which direction to go (remember I'm in fog/snow and totally the worst brush you can imagine, sprinkled in with a few sheer drop-offs). Then I lost connection with her and it's around noon, about 25 degrees, and I have about an hour of cell phone battery left, and I'm Lima-Bravo-Sierra (Lost Bigger than Shet). Assessing the situation, I figure I could comfortably make another night out here if I had to, so I'm not panicing. After thinking long and hard about it, I hit the 911 button on my SPOT, and started heading down hill. Soon I was at a stream, which though incredibly rough, was probably a reliable way out. Well, I followed that thing for hours until I spotted a hint of an old road-bed. Eureka! I followed that old road bed for a couple more hours until I dropped out on a maintained gravel road. A nice couple gave me a ride back to the road that my truck was up, although a couple of hours walk away, I was found. That's when I ran into the SAR people that my wife/SPOT/state police, etc had called in. They were glad to be able to stay in the truck, and they gave me a ride as far as they could into they woods, and got stuck themselves, and had to send me on foot at dark to my truck. We all made it down in one piece.
I'm resolved to learn something from all this, but right now, I'm trying to make nice with the wife to get back in her good graces. I'll try and post some pics when I get home.
Don

Sounds like a good time, doc! Glad you made it out safe.

I've known few nicer feelings that getting out of a potential tight spot. Here's hoping the wife smoothing goes well.

Thanks for sharing, I'm getting antsy from too much indoors time, and outside adventure tales help.

Carl

Glad you made it safely home. A few things I am curious about, is how well SAR were able to 'track' you? Did they know where you were at or only where you signaled for help? How much, if any, that will cost you?

Wow! Thanks for having the guts to post this straight report. We're all gonna learn a ton from this. You make a fine tester, Sir!

Glad you made it out. Those moments in time where you mind goes crazy is what keeps me young. I'm seriously considering on getting a spot. But have a couple questions. First, did they assess if you were in a real emergency and take any action (meaning warning/fines/just glad you were safe). Unless the rescue folks needed a training mission that period, I don't think I would be happy in their shoes on what you explained to us. You were able to walk out on your own feet, could have spent another 24 hours in the bush with no problems and had no life threatening issues.

Second question - when you hit the 911 button, does the unit go into tracking mode so they could follow you around the mountain for a 1/2 day?

Did you find any good deer or turkey sign?...javascript:%20void(0);just kidding, glad all turned out well for you. Rhododendron can be unbelievably thick. I have seen some folks go crazy wanting out of it and they were in a lot better situation than you were in. take care.

I, too had reservations about wasting the time of rescue people, and my possible expenses incurred, and was aware after awhile that I was likely going to make it out by dark; afterall, Georgia is one of the original 13 colonies and is heavily populated, and even spots you think are remote, probably have logging roads and old farmhouses from generations past. Maybe I over-reacted, I still haven't decided. I do know that had I not gotten out by dark, the rescue folks would have been called by the Mrs!

I have not been informed about any costs to me, and the rescue guys didn't roll their eyes, or act in the least bit put out. The were very glad I think to not be on foot out on those mountains at dark in the cold and snow. The costs were: 1) two deputies time for about two hours; 2)gas/wear and tear on a Ford Ranger rescue vehicle.
I guess that if multiple helicopters did a grid search for several days, that would be a different story. I do have insurance for such (actually I think SPOT offers it).

nclonghunter, actually I saw a bear and saw lots of hog sign and some really cool waterfalls.

One other thing before these pictures upload. I did describe my condition, plans and resources to my wife to convey to the SAR folks so they could decide upon the appropriate action. And, the SPOT continuously sends out signals.
Don

The cell phone? The GPS? The SPOT? This seems like you are leaning too much on the electronics. You panicked and hit the "get my butt out of a jam" button. It turned out that you relied on yourself and got out. Glad it worked out for you and you got out. How did we ever survive ten years ago?

doc, glad to hear you made it out OK, all's well that ends well, so I can say this.....too bad there was no "Beaver Hollow" up there.....

Glad you made it out, Doc. As those who have lived/hiked in the Appalachians, mountain laurel thickets are hell to move through and quite easy to lose your bearings in.

I chuckled when I saw this sign and thought of how off course the poster was. According to my GPS/maps/terrain this sign was about a quarter mile inside North Carolina. Little did I know it was I who needed to worry about being lost.



Nearing my destination, I find that someone has been here before me.



The bald that got the mountain it's name.



Home sweet home



Sunday morning, brrrrrr



Getting started on the way down

[img]http://docdb.smugmug.com/photos/458134140_TRxTv-L.jpg[/img]

Really cool waterfall on Mill Creek (my waterway out of there)

[img]http://docdb.smugmug.com/photos/458141212_3yhAm-L.jpg[/img]

Hours spent in brush like this

[img]http://docdb.smugmug.com/photos/457977509_2d4TM-L.jpg[/img]

Surveying the damage to my shins

Yup...

Someone always takes this course when I post with all my techno-gizmo's. I'll just tell my next patient that I'll skip the CAT scan (I don't believe in and don't want to rely too much on technology after all)....we'll just open 'ya up! Seriously, though, how far back does one need to dial back technology? My feelings are that unless you go back to the Cherokee Way(a bow, a knife, buckskin and a flint) that ended in the 1830's, you are relying on modern technology, and every man just has to decide for himself how much is too much.

Thick brush like that can really test ones patience and it is very hard on gear.

One thing that looks fishy here ? there are no bullet holes in the hunting/boundary signs -very odd !

ole mike,
that was fishy.....it was waaay back there, maybe others hadn't gotten there yet?

docdb,

Thanks for sharing and great pics by the way. Thinking about a spot myself to keep my wife happy when I am hunting alone. Some of the places I go if you slip and break something it is a long way to crawl for help. Always vigilant, always careful but sometimes..... feces occurs! And where I usually hunt there is no cell service.

Technology isn't bad at all. Sure would hate to go back to the old ways of doing a lot of things!

You must have been really lost.......everybody knows it never snows in Georgia.

I'm with you doc....I like my gadgets too.......but can still do it the "old way" if need be.

I think now in retrospect, that I probably did not need to call out the calvary. Probably should have tried to get elevated to get cell coverage if possible, let the wife know the degree of SHTF, and start doing what I did (walk downstream till I meet someone helpful). Now, a fracture or wet/cold or no water/food, that's another story.

The last thing the grey-bearded tracker/local dude that's BTDT said to me was, "OK, friend, next time you're up here, give us a holler, and we'll show you around some". He said it like he meant it in a neighborly way.

Don