Did they call you, or did you just stumble upon them?
Comment on Hikers rescued after following non-existent trail on Google Maps
mob@sopuli.xyz 11 months agoTwice I’ve had to find people I know heatstroking out on trails in the mountains. I found them due to dropping pins and being able to follow the trails they’ve followed on Strava or Google Maps or whatever.
They probably would have went up there without trails being on Google maps, but I probably would have been bushwhacking to find them if I couldn’t see the trail networks to know where they went.
I vote against removing trail maps. Hurts the good just as much, or more, than it tries to mitigate the bad.
Syd@lemm.ee 11 months ago
mob@sopuli.xyz 11 months ago
They called me. The area they started feeling squirrelly in is pretty much my “backyard”. If they were in serious trouble, they would have contacted S&R, but in a rush I can get to any peak relatively quickly. You’d be surprised with how fast someone can recover from exposure/minor heat stroke with just some Gatorade, shade and water poured on them
Might not be the recommended method, but it has a 2/2 record for me so far ha
Maggoty@lemmy.world 11 months ago
The agency in charge of the area should have reliable trail maps available online.
mob@sopuli.xyz 11 months ago
So, the proposal would just to make it more difficult to access trail maps? Seems like that wouldn’t be advantageous in scenarios like mine.
Maggoty@lemmy.world 11 months ago
I don’t what country you’re in but in the US it’s not a proposal. They absolutely have these maps available for free online and at visitor/ranger stations.
Buddahriffic@lemmy.world 11 months ago
Yeah, I am fully against designing things to be easiest for the lowest common denominator. Add information to educate people, offer guides and other resources, but if someone takes the rope of freedom and ends up wrapping it around their own neck, that’s on them. We don’t need to redesign ropes or ban them so that they can’t be wrapped around necks.