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Post Info TOPIC: Getting lost in the bush.
Muzzlehatch


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Getting lost in the bush.
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I was just having a play with my new handheld GPS. A Garmin 72 - no maps b/w screen - cuppla hundred bucks. I also have a magnetic compass. The sky is all hazy and I thought I might point out a trap for young players. (That should read ALL players )

Wandering off in the bush it is so easy to get lost, especially if you are travelling solo. It is very deceptive. As a young bloke in Tasmania and Victoria I spent days solo hiking often of the track and had myself thinking I could never get lost.  In those states there is always some discernible topography. In Western Australia the bush is uniform in appearance and, if the sun gets obscured by featureless hazy cloud, you can have absolutely no idea which direction you are even facing. It is the weirdest feeling - suddenly your gyros topple and you have no clue where you are and what direction is what.  Tracks often branch out and join up with animal tracks in the sand and scrub. You can be stoney motherless lost in a heartbeat.

Always switch on the GPS and mark your vehicle coords before going ANYWHERE out of sight of it. Have a plan B worked out how to pick up the road in and your rough distance if your GPS conks out and you need to fall back on the compass.

Take Care !!



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hako


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I cannot agree more Muzzlehatch - we got lost for 4 hours out near Norseman and were starting to get worried as were our travelling companions! We take a 2 way with us now....should replace our GPS as batteries only last 10 minutes. Thanks for the reminder.
Regards

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Denis

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Toowoomba.
The Phantom


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If you get lost that easy, maybe best to stay home by the fire.

 

The Phantom



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Santa


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The Phantom wrote:

If you get lost that easy, maybe best to stay home by the fire.

 

The Phantom

I tend to agree Phantom.

Way too many people head bush without even basic navigation skills, simply rely on the GPSconfuse

Always have a decent map of the area your in, and, know your location to within a kilometer or so, the rest is easy.

I've known people who get lost in a supermarket car park, others seem to be able to be able to find their way no matter what.

If you get lost easily I suggest you stay on the beaten track, even if you have an EPIRB and activate it, it's going to put a lot of people to a lot of trouble and expense locating you.no

 



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Santa.

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iana


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Well guys I used to do bush walking in NZ. I was told a very important thing to do was to stop often turn around and look back at where you have come from. When it comes to heading back, this is the view you need to remember. If you don't look back the return track will look totally foreign.

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Baz421


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Agree Muzzlehatch.

As kids we used the sun and some local knowledge to find our way around generally but we had some landmarks.

Agree with GPS AND backup ie how to get back to a track or fence line as a fall back.

We used to teach RAAF reservists in the NT how to navigate in the bush and it's true some take to navigation like ducks to water and others really struggle and get lost turning 180 degrees. As an aside I led some recruits who were dumped in the bush with me, climb to a hilltop, do a resection before dark and march straight back into camp (4 hours in the dark and 10-20m off track) on a very dark night where the lead person marched 10 metres and we followed as a group in single file and then the procedure was repeated,,, it gave them the best confidence boost ever.

Agree a map should be carried if really going bush but whether you need a 1:50000 or 1:250000 can depend on the country/features and your expertise.

I have the 1:250000 NATMAP on laptop and can print off the pages if required so we have the basic features in case of emergency.

 



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Baz421


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iana wrote:

Well guys I used to do bush walking in NZ. I was told a very important thing to do was to stop often turn around and look back at where you have come from. When it comes to heading back, this is the view you need to remember. If you don't look back the return track will look totally foreign.

Yep bloody good advice,,, I do that too. 



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Muzzlehatch


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That's why the peneplain scrub in WA Yilgarn / goldfields is so deceptive. There is no features and no topography.  A map is not going to help you. I spent some years doing Geological survey work in that bush. When the sun is out with practice you can tell the time to within 30 mins and tell North to 10 degrees.  When it hazes over you just lose that reference totally. It can bite you on the behind.



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ROAD RUNNER


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Jack Absolam says in one of his wise books to always boil the billy first when in strife then have a good think over a cuppa-------probably makes a lot of sense

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Peter_n_Margaret


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Muzzlehatch wrote:

That's why the peneplain scrub in WA Yilgarn / goldfields is so deceptive. There is no features and no topography.  A map is not going to help you. I spent some years doing Geological survey work in that bush. When the sun is out with practice you can tell the time to within 30 mins and tell North to 10 degrees.  When it hazes over you just lose that reference totally. It can bite you on the behind.

Agree entirely.

We have walked trough country where you could be 50m from the vehicle and not be able to find it without a compass or GPS.

Like these walks, for example....

http://confluence.org/confluence.php?lat=-22&lon=123

 http://confluence.org/confluence.php?lat=-22&lon=122

Comments like... If you get lost that easy, maybe best to stay home by the fire.

....demonstrates an extraordinary arrogance and that is exactly what gets people into trouble.

Cheers

Peter



-- Edited by Peter_n_Margaret on Thursday 10th of September 2015 01:29:33 AM

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Muzzlehatch


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IMG_0148.JPG

This spot is about 100 kms North of the Fraser Range and 200 kms South of the Transline. !50 kms North East of Norseman. It is a clearing and the visibility where the bush is dense will go down to 20 metres. It is on a peneplain where fire and flood periodicly kill the trees and saplings and sucker patches along with dead branches alternate randomly. There is probably about 10 metres elevation  in the surrounding 20 kms radius. i.e. There is no horizon. If you lose the sun as a reference through low hanging stationary cumulostratus I defy anyone to walk a straight line in this kind of scrub.

That confluence.org project looks really interesting Peter - I will check it out. Cheers !!



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03_Troopy


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Even the trees can sometimes give you an indication of direction. In that pic muzz, the trees appear to predominantly grow to one side (to the left) . Two main reasons trees grow like that is prevailing winds and sunlight. If it is an area that isn't affected by winds so much, sunlight will determine the direction more. Although it may not necessarily give you a compass heading, if the vegetation is consistent, it can give you a reference for a straight line. You said that is a clearing in normally thick bush though, where it isn't as simple as that, unfortunately.

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The Phantom


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Comments like... If you get lost that easy, maybe best to stay home by the fire.

....demonstrates an extraordinary arrogance and that is exactly what gets people into trouble.

 

No arrogance whatsoever. I know people that would get lost if they had to walk to a thunderbox dunny.

If you are one of them, stay home. Simple.

 

The Phantom



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Santa


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The Phantom wrote:

Comments like... If you get lost that easy, maybe best to stay home by the fire.

....demonstrates an extraordinary arrogance and that is exactly what gets people into trouble.

 

No arrogance whatsoever. I know people that would get lost if they had to walk to a thunderbox dunny.

If you are one of them, stay home. Simple.

 

The Phantom

I'm with you on this one Phantom.

It's a matter of knowing your limitations, if your the type who gets bushed easily, don't place yourself and others at risk.

Not saying stay at home, however, I would suggest not venturing off the beaten track.



-- Edited by Santa on Thursday 10th of September 2015 01:25:05 PM

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Santa.

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Cupie


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I wonder what it is that makes some people able to get about without getting bushed but others seem to have little sense of direction.

I am one of the former and have always seemed to know exactly where I am in the bush.  As a young fellow I used to wander about in unfamiliar territory with a gun & a dog chasing pigs & the like, often alone, and would always be able to head directly back to camp without hesitation.  This was often done in heavy brigalow or liginum country and I would usually emerge within a hundred meters or so of the camp.

When I wander around an unfamiliar city I can usually go directly back to my start point without difficulty, though I did 'loose' my car in a Canberra shopping center once & found it just in time to thwart the parking inspector.  Terrible feeling to loosing your car in a shopping center.  (I'm never lost .. the car is sometimes!)



-- Edited by Cupie on Thursday 10th of September 2015 11:04:37 PM

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hako


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The Phantom wrote:

Comments like... If you get lost that easy, maybe best to stay home by the fire.

....demonstrates an extraordinary arrogance and that is exactly what gets people into trouble.

 

No arrogance whatsoever. I know people that would get lost if they had to walk to a thunderbox dunny.

If you are one of them, stay home. Simple.

 

The Phantom

 

Wow...I'd love to be perfect. Love those throw away lines as well. Love to be someone who just knows it all, never stuffs up and most importantly never would be man enough to admit it.

Sometimes I wonder about my fellow man.

Good Luck.

 

EDIT  the OP posted excellent advice on using a GPS to stay safe - why do people have to try and score points at trying to put people down. 



-- Edited by hako on Thursday 10th of September 2015 08:35:22 PM

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Denis

Ex balloon chaser and mercury measurer.

Toowoomba.
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