I came across this story while researching two way radios for my truck. In July of 1996 a German couple and their two boys disappeared in Death Valley National Park. They were visiting the area as part of a trip to the southwest US. Their rental van was discovered three months later in a designated wilderness area. What made this story interesting to me is the story of the discovery of their remains.
Here is WonderHussy’s version of the story.
But the real interesting part of the story is told by Tom Mahood, the person who figured a plausible solution to the mystery. Here is a link to the search documents. Of interest to me is Tom’s rational theory of the events leading to their deaths.
I find this of interest because I spend a great deal of time out of contact with the world and Tom posits that a series of rational decisions lead to their demise. While I would not make the same decisions that lead to their demise, I’m paranoid of damaging rental cars, I might make other rational decisions that lead to the same outcome.
I was particularly struck by this observation: “At this point they entered into a survival situation, but may not have fully appreciated that fact.” As travelers into the wild it’s best to recognize the point at which a situation changes from normal to dire.
I see this story from eastern Oregon. we’ve just gone through a fairly heavy snow dump here on the west side of the Cascades. It was much worse on the east side. When did Jeremy realize that he had entered a survival situation? He obviously wasn’t prepared to move through that much snow.
Since he left no word of where he was going and when he would return–basic survival preparedness activities–I surmise that he didn’t have any idea of the severity of the coming weather front. In Jeremy’s case it all turned out well. He and his dog were rescued in good condition. Needless to say, this isn’t always the case.
Here is another case, this one from southern Oregon. Three men on snow-bikes (the motorcycle version of a snowmobile) were out to have fun in the unusually heavy snow, get lost and spend the night in a snow cave. In their case they are prepared, heave the where with all to phone the sheriff’s rescue line and keep themselves warm until they are found. I surmise that they recognized when the situation exited normal life–admitted they were lost–and were prepared for the consequences.
I’m not advocating that people stop doing the things they like. I’m advocating that people take some initiative in planning for bad outcomes. Admit that life rarely goes as well as we would like and prepare to be handed a raw deal. Leaving word with a loved one of your plans isn’t a weakness. But if you can’t do that then ensure that you have a communications link. That’s what I was looking for when I came across the German’s story.
I was looking into acquiring a radio for my truck. Specifically a Kenwood TH-D74. One of it’s features is supporting APRS, a system providing real time tracking without a subscription. I don’t know enough about APRS to know if it will do what I need it to do, in the area I need it to do it, but it might.
The concept behind APRS is a transmitter sends GPS coordinates to a repeater that transmits them to a central location via the internet. Someone with an account and your password can then look up the track and find your most recent location. If you don’t make your deadline then searchers will at least have your last recorded position–time stamped.
Regardless of communications go prepared. In the desert take water. In the snow take warm shelter. And enough food for a few days. After all, it’s the smart thing to do.