# Ill prepared but alive



## JustCliff (May 21, 2011)

Even without the strange weather up that way this year, I would think that they would have some basic gear.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - A family of three huddled on the edge of an old-growth Oregon forest for six days, lost and cold, unable to signal search helicopters flying low and slow overhead.

Without food, water or even warm clothing, Belinda and Daniel Conne, along with their 25-year-old son, Michael, survived by drinking water from streams and taking shelter in a hollowed-out tree.

http://news.yahoo.com/ore-mushroom-pickers-found-alive-6-days-213717431.html


----------



## Jezcruzen (Oct 21, 2008)

I read the account of the search on Drudge this morning. Frankly, it sounded as if the Three Stooges got lost together. 

In six days, in an area crisscrossed with logging roads, not one of the three could signal search aircraft? No evergreen boughs laid in an "X". Not the flash from a soda can? No smoke?

Their coats were found in the Jeep. Other "clothing" found in the woods. They wouldn't stay in one location.

These people should be sent back to Oklahoma!


----------



## The_Blob (Dec 24, 2008)

Jezcruzen said:


> These people should be sent back to Oklahoma!


HEY!  I happen to KNOW people from OK... and they DON'T WANT them either! :lolsmash:

Coming soon, *The Darwin Games*, ask your cable provider for channel(s) and time(s).


----------



## TimB (Nov 11, 2008)

*Some people...*

I really don't know what to say other than they were extremely lucky. I take a fanny or day pack with me even on a casual hike up one of the trails from the campground. You never know what might happen. 

Tim


----------



## AlabamaGal (Dec 27, 2011)

I read one of those articles to the BF so he can stop teasing me about the fact that I take a knife, compass, water, etc. on even short day hikes.

Actually, they DID do the first few critical rules of survival. They stayed together, found shelter and water. That they could find nothing to eat says that they were typical city folks and didn't realize they were surrounded by edibles other than rare and elusive mushrooms. However I'm still stunned that they dropped clothes and soda cans (seriously bad juju for respecting our open space) but were helpless to signal the helicopters they saw.

The real shock is still in the future for them: when they get the *bill* for the search and rescue!


----------



## oldvet (Jun 29, 2010)

AlabamaGal said:


> I read one of those articles to the BF so he can stop teasing me about the fact that I take a knife, compass, water, etc. on even short day hikes.
> 
> Actually, they DID do the first few critical rules of survival. They stayed together, found shelter and water. That they could find nothing to eat says that they were typical city folks and didn't realize they were surrounded by edibles other than rare and elusive mushrooms. However I'm still stunned that they dropped clothes and soda cans (seriously bad juju for respecting our open space) but were helpless to signal the helicopters they saw.
> 
> The real shock is still in the future for them: when they get the *bill* for the search and rescue!


I guess folks like us will never really understand the mentality of someone that sets out on a trip (especially in winter) without any thought given to what could happen or taking any precautions, like survival supplies. When we were stationed in Alaska and way before we got serious about prepping, Ada and I at least had sense enough to carry emergency gear with us everywhere we went.


----------



## AlabamaGal (Dec 27, 2011)

oldvet said:


> I guess folks like us will never really understand the mentality of someone that sets out on a trip (especially in winter) without any thought given to what could happen or taking any precautions, like survival supplies.


In all fairness, I've done some really stupid stuff by not thinking, and I managed to get away with it. Who hasn't been an idiot from time to time? But I outgrew it long before I was old enough to have a 25 year old son.

Of course saying that virtually guarentees I will do something very stupid in the near future.


----------



## partdeux (Aug 3, 2011)

AlabamaGal said:


> Of course saying that virtually guarentees I will do something very stupid in the near future.


I've never done anything stupid :dunno:

BUT, I'm not nearly as stupid as my two daughters... there's some stupid ass kids. I know they weren't raised to be that stupid {sigh}.


----------



## JustCliff (May 21, 2011)

partdeux said:


> I've never done anything stupid :dunno:
> 
> BUT, I'm not nearly as stupid as my two daughters... there's some stupid ass kids. I know they weren't raised to be that stupid {sigh}.


Dang!

Glad I can't say that!


----------



## oldvet (Jun 29, 2010)

AlabamaGal said:


> In all fairness, I've done some really stupid stuff by not thinking, and I managed to get away with it. Who hasn't been an idiot from time to time? But I outgrew it long before I was old enough to have a 25 year old son.
> 
> Of course saying that virtually guarentees I will do something very stupid in the near future.


I have never done anything that stupid in my life.....well maybe I have told someone something like I just said and expected them to believe it.  Yep we all have had our share of common sense lapses from time to time, it's that just mine seem to be a bit more frequent and ........ What was I saying? Oh yeah I remember now it was about a family driving around in Oregon for a couple of days this Winter looking for a place to either pee or fish. No wait someone found Bigfoot didn't they. I think I need a nap, Honey have you seen my blankie?


----------



## Viking (Mar 16, 2009)

They were mushroom gatherers, of course they didn't say what kind of shrooms. The low mountains in Oregon can be very dangerous, a number of people have died getting stuck in a pile of snow in a shady curve of a road that was otherwise clear of snow or started up one of the roads that go from the I-5 corridor over the coastal mountain range to the coastal highway only to get stuck in a snow storm. Most of these people weren't even prepared to get stuck on the freeway. Anytime we go out in the mountains surrounding our home, food, water, firearms and blankets are taken. Anytime we go to the surrounding towns off of I-5, same things are taken. People have become far too complacent in thinking that their vehicles are a safe place to get them from point A the point B and often only dress minimally, sneakers and a light jacket. As far as being seen by a helicopter, some of the forests are heavily treed, steep and have little or no clearings. I'll give them the benefit of doubt on that one but I really think it was a dumb thing not to be prepared for sudden weather changes at this time of year.


----------



## BillM (Dec 29, 2010)

*Now Just*

Now just imigine a couple of hundred thousand all helpless and wandering the roads fields and city streets and no one even looking for them !


----------



## gitnready4it (Dec 27, 2011)

BillM said:


> Now just imigine a couple of hundred thousand all helpless and wandering the roads fields and city streets and no one even looking for them !


Now that's a scary thought!:shtf:


----------



## Jezcruzen (Oct 21, 2008)

I've been on the other side of this equation. Over a period of six days, a lot of folks put their own safety at risk looking for these people. Ground crews, flight crews... While this was going on, limited resources were used up and not available elsewhere they may have been needed. Seldom is the $ cost $ of a search operation considered. Keeping a helo in the air even an hour would break my budget.


----------



## Tirediron (Jul 12, 2010)

People think it can't happen to them, A few years ago a couple from Quebec got lost somewhere in the Rockies and one of them died before they wre found, the survivor had the gall to sue SAR , in my opinion that A hole and the lawyer who filed the suit should have been horse whipped.:rantoff: only a mild highjack


----------

