Danger has long stalked those who venture into California's desert in the heat of summer. But today, with more people pouring into the region, technology and tragedy are mixing in new and unexpected ways.Read the whole thing. Apply any lessons learned to the wilderness of your choice. Be safe.
"It's what I'm beginning to call death by GPS," said Death Valley wilderness coordinator Charlie Callagan. "People are renting vehicles with GPS and they have no idea how it works and they are willing to trust the GPS to lead them into the middle of nowhere."
"It's important for people to know that only a tiny portion of Death Valley has cell phone reception," search and rescue coordinator Micah Alley wrote in an e-mail. "GPS units are not only fallible but send people across the desert where no road exists."
Over the past 15 years, at least a dozen people have died in Death Valley from heat-related illnesses, and many others have come close. Another hiker vanished last June in Joshua Tree National Park. His body has not yet been found.
These are not just stories of unimaginable suffering. They are reminders that even with a growing suite of digital devices at our side, technology cannot guarantee survival in the wild. Worse, it is giving many a false sense of security and luring some into danger and death.
2/4/11
"Death by GPS"
Don't become over-reliant on technology when you venture into wilderness.
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2 comments:
what does eat lemons in the wild?
That's such a silly shame! Don't they teach map-reading or topography in school anymore? Hell, I even learned to read relief maps in Earth Science class...very tragic that folks would rely so heavily on a gadget. It's only as smart as the humans who programmed it. (Using that logic, I guess maps may be every bit as faulty, eh?)
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