Uhhh it was the books fault!
Posted: January 28, 2010 Filed under: Search and Rescue (SAR) 1 CommentYour little brother was not around so obviously it was the books fault.
Here we go with another you have to be kidding me. If you do not have enough brains to figure out a guidebook, you should not be leaving the city, with or without a guidebook. In an article, Guide Contributes to Hikers Becoming Overdue the reporter bought the story told by four lost hikers that blamed their lateness on their guidebook. The guide book said the hike could be done in 16 hours. The group could not navigate the drops and swims and took a lot longer prompting friends to call for SAR.
The books described boulder hopping and deep-water pools. You do not know what that means, but you do know you can do the hike in 16 hours. When that goes wrong instead of admitting you don’t understand the guide book, you just blame the guidebook.
Do we need a test before you can buy guidebooks now?
See Guide Contributes to Hikers Becoming Overdue and YCSO: Hikers found after misleading guidebook gets them lost.
Thank heavens Search and Rescue is free!
Recreation Law 
Um, Jim, the article actually says that they recieved the beta on the hike from a guide, not a guide book. In fact, it says specifically that they did NOT consult a book.
In a “similar” incident on the Middle Fork of the Salmon in Idaho last summer (maybe the summer before) a hiker died from a fall while attempting a hike he saw in a guide book. The book claimed it was an moderate hike, but that was it. No MF guide I've talked to since had even heard of said hike.
It seems to me that the real problem here is that we have people presenting themselves as experts and offering information to the public that is incorrect. What's worse? An accurate book that is misinterpreted or misread (which can be easy to do) or bad information being given to folks. I think the under rating of everything from hikes to rapids, which is happening in lots of sports, is responsible for more accidents than anything else. Experts need to remember that the folks taking their advice may not be the same caliber of athlete as themselves. Just because it's easy for an expert kayaker to run a class V drop doesn't mean that rapid should be considered “easy”.
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