I got lost in the woods (sorry, long)

[Starfish]

So glad you are OK!

I am currently reading a book called Panic Rising. It is a bunch of short, true accounts of people in a variety of locations and conditions who got caught out in bad conditions through a variety of circumstances...and all made it home. It is not a preachy book at all...just a very good book to remember just how fast the natural world around us can change, even when we are close to home and the weather is perfect when we start.

It is an interesting book. Good cautionary tales, and kind of neat to read about regular folks making it out of all kinds of things.

[nancy sv]

Holy cow!! that is one scary story! I'm glad it turned out all right in the end.

[Duck on Wheels]

Wow! What an adventure! Glad it ended well. Glad the other dogs were with you (can help stave off both panic and cold!).

[snowtulip]

Thanks for the post and I am soooo glad you are all ok! Like everyone has said, it's good to read as a reminder. I just go out for a "bit" all the time and forget how quickly things can change.

[Geonz]

Your harrowing hours are a good wake-up nudge for all of us.

[uforgot]

Holy cow! You were lost in Dittmer!!! It is soooooooo wooded there. You could go forever and not see a road or house back in there. Did you have a cell phone? I imagine the signal may be iffy in parts. And that snow we had was unreal. My son saw his friend flip his truck on the road. (Friend was fine). It just dumped. Did the snow hit before you were found? So glad you are okay!

I have a Garmin GPS. It's the Venture CX. Fairly inexpensive and it has a backtrack feature. I got it because I got lost on the gravel roads here. One for the dogs sounds like a good idea, though. Whew...that must have been scary.

[fastdogs]

It was near Eureka, a little place (not even a town) called hoene springs. If you look on google maps at meadowbrook valley in eureka, you can see the wooded area between HWY W and john mckeever road. I would love to know the route I took.
I don't think I'm getting the forerunner I wanted for Christmas. But I bit the bullet (charged up the credit card) and ordered the dogs (two of them, the younger ones, the troublemakers) gps collars. The handheld reciever is a regular gps, so it'll have to do for on the bike as well for now, just carry in my handlbar bag. The thought of one of them lost is more than I can stand. It'll be useful when I go hunting in wyoming after jackrabbits, so might be fun to play with.
No cell phone on me. It was during the day, and was snowing pretty good the whole time. I need to just carry a fanny pack with me no matter how short the walk, whenever I've got the dogs along or go off by myself, and carry the cell phone, gps reciever, and maybe even something to start a fire as was suggested. Sounds like overkill till I remember being out there. I just heard on the news a father and three kids were just found after being lost in the woods for three days- they went to cut a Christmas tree and got lost. Don't know where it was though.
vickie

[uforgot]

I know where Hoene Springs is. There are, what, 3 houses and one curve on W there? Lots of hills and Big River. When I moved to Belle, my dad insisted I not take Hwy W home because if I broke down I would have to walk and walk to find help. Were those ridges the ones overlooking Big River? Man, you did some climbing, didn't you? And you WERE in that snow. That was the weirdest storm. So fast. Guess you never know.

Have a Merry Christmas, Vickie, so glad you are safe!