...and what if nobody came along?

[Gologit]

These stories usually point out somebody's boneheaded mistake and this one isn't any different. This really wasn't much of an accident and not even close to a fatality but it brings home the point of letting someone know where you are when you're working alone.

A couple of days ago I was punching out an old road to a waterhole with my D-6. Some of my ground borders a fire and I wanted to make the water available to the tank trucks.

Some of the fire had gotten down close to my line so I was cutting a few breaks, too.

Nobody was around for miles and I wasn't working even close to where I'd started out in the morning. But...what the hell. I knew where I was, and that's all that's necessary. Right?

Just before dark I stopped to take a break and while I was climbing down I slipped and fell. I tumbled off the Cat and down over a bank. I've always been kind of a tangle-foot but this set some kind of record I think.

I stopped skidding and bouncing when I got to the creek. I had all my arms and legs but I'd lost my hardhat, glasses, cigarettes, matches, and the new ink pen I'd swiped out of the office the day before.

I couldn't stand up without hurting so I crawled back up the bank to the road on my hands and knees. Very slowly. On the way I found my hardhat and glasses but never did locate my cigarettes, matches, or that pen either.

I got back up to the road just after dark and since I couldn't pull myself up on the Cat and my pickup was five miles away I just laid there. Thinking.

About two in the morning the neighbor came by. He hadn't seen me drive by his place on the way home so he figured I might be broke down or in trouble.

He took me to town and I got patched up. It wasn't bad. A couple of broken ribs, a sprained ankle, a dislocated shoulder, and I lost a little hide here and there.

The point is, I think, that if I had been hurt bad, cut up or maybe a compound fracture, I would have laid out there and bled out before anybody knew I was even in trouble.

So...let people know where you are. Tell them when you think you'll be back. If you head off someplace different stick a pie plate or some ribbon on a tree...paint an arrow on a rock...anything will do to start them tracking you.
Don't be so iron-headed independent that you think it can't happen to you. It can...and maybe you won't be lucky like I was.

 

[Ironbark]

Glad you are OK Bob....wish you a speedy recovery. Sounds like your neighbour is a top guy.

Had a similar experience myself a few years back. I was walking alone in the far North West of Scotland in December. I was about 4 hours walk from the nearest road when I slipped and fell on some ice. Luckily my pack took most of the impact and I was just badly bruised, but had no broken bones. I was able to walk off in the dark.

I had (and always do) left a route card back at base.

Take care out there folks.

 

[Saw Bones]

Glad you made it out.

My wife always wants to know when I will be back and where I am. At first I thought it was a little too much. But I have gotten into the habbit of letting her know where I am and when I expect to be out.

Very good point. Hope you feel better soon.

 

[TimberMcPherson]

You have good neighbours, next to family and a dog its the greatest asset a man can have (wife comes a close 4th) if you pm me his email, id like to thank him for being a great human being.

That situation comes under the 6 P's Prior preparation prevents pi$$ poor performance.
If it works out your ways (big if sometimes), keep a cell on you, and I mean on you. Mine straps to my arm and has never fallen or been ripped off in 4 years of having it climbing, riding bikes etc. A fox40 whistle on the keyring might be good plan. But when working by yourself, let someone know where your going to be and when your expecting to be home.

If your working in a multi trail area, mark the earth where your heading, even if it just means pulling the handbrake or doing a turn skid to show which way youve headed. if you come out of the area, do a second skid to show youve been back. We used to use this system when having a number of machines travelling forest roads. We would generally do a skid on the side of the road off the wheel track at intersections and road forks so it wouldnt be wiped out by other vehicles. Doesnt take much practice to be able to figure out how what vehicle or how old skids are either.

Glad your okay.

 

[turnkey4099]

What Timber said. My CP goes on my belt before I leave the house and doesn't come off until I am back. Saved my day a couple times with vehicle trouble out in the bush, no medical disaster...yet...knock wood.

I also leave explicit 'how to get there' instructions on a sheet at the computer. Not so much for my wife but so she can give them to the 911 people in case of need. My current sheet as follows:

Go N on 195 to Trestle Creek, turn L (west) on Thornton bypass, go 3/4 mile and the PU will be visible in the grove of Willow to the left. Follow my track in through the wheat field.

Harry K

 

[Urbicide]

Bob, I'm glad to hear you are ok. You are one of my favorites here and I sure would hate to see anything bad happen to ya. Try not to laugh too hard the next couple of weeks.

Take care young man!

Vince

 

[046]

talk about lucky and fortunate to have such a good neighbor!

glad you made it out of there alive... could have been much worst!

 

[slowp]

If I could, I'd print this off and take it to a couple I am good friends with. I was audience to an argument about this. She was down with the tractor raking hay. I had come out to let my dog play with theirs, and let me be lazy.
The husband was at the house, asked if I'd seen her. I said not since I saw her heading to town about noon. He figured she might be taking a little bit longer--she is good at visiting. We waited, no signs. Finally, we both heard the tractor. We walked down and she came along with the rake, stopped, and started chewing him out for not checking. (I am Sweden and Switzerland, I stay out of the argument). She had had trouble with the rake and had been working on it and needed help. His reply was that she needed to at least leave a note so that when he got home from work, he'd know where she was. Cell phones do not work there. I threw some pieces of bark for the dog to fetch....I do not think they came to a solution. Their pickup was in kind of plain sight, but I'd driven by because I was concentrating on teaching the new used dog to ride in the back of my pickup. And so it goes...

I can't find anybody to go with me today to teach the new used dog how to ride in a double kayak. So, I've let them know I'll be gone, and I'm heading up to a shallow lake. I'lll probably stop by their house on the way back. Cell phones don't work much of anywhere away from the main highway out here.

 

[Bermie]

Great story and I'm VERY glad it had a good outcome, other than your bumps and lumps!

A slight derail, but it all adds up to how people can find you in isolated areas with limited or no cell phone coverage, other than the leaving a note, or blazing a trail...

Its called the SPOT satellite message system. It is a unit a little bigger than a cellphone, it costs $146 bucks, plus $50 activation fee.
My hubby just used one on his transatlantic voyage, in an 18' dinghy with a 9.9 hp outboard, Bermuda to Newport RI and back!!! I could log in to the internet and see where he was literally every 20 minutes. It also has a 911 feature, you press the 911 button and via satellite it links to the nearest 911 network and help can be dispached with satnav location accuracy. They also log into your account where you list personal details, medical notes (if necessary) contacts etc. If the 'situation' is not life threatening, it has a 'send help' mode that emails a list of contacts you put in. It also has a 'check in' mode that you just use to send an 'i'm ok' message to your contact list whenever you want.

So if the situation is out there where you need a contact method where cellphones dont have coverage...google SPOT.
I know, how did we all make do before electronic gagets, but I like this one.

 

[stihl sawing]

You have a good neighbor, Glad your here to tell the story. Broken ribs are really painful. Hopefully they got you some pain relief. Take it easy and let it all heal up. Glad ya wasn't seriously injured.

 

[oldirty]

get better big dog. very glad to hear it turned out the way it did.

 

[bendtrees]

Too bad about that pen and smokes. My wishes for a speedy recovery.
Sometimes I go out solo to a local climbing area that is not well known or frequented. There is one post-it-note on my fridge, it has the names and numbers of three climbers who know the area and are capable of finding me quickly. Our devoted, hardworking, well intentioned S&R guys have no business trying to get me up there. Now, all I have to do is tell one reliable person my plan, and I'm off. Don't forget, there are many more fine office pens out there just waiting to find there way into your pocket! (I too have this habit)

 

[Urbicide]

Great story and I'm VERY glad it had a good outcome, other than your bumps and lumps!

A slight derail, but it all adds up to how people can find you in isolated areas with limited or no cell phone coverage, other than the leaving a note, or blazing a trail...

Its called the SPOT satellite message system. It is a unit a little bigger than a cellphone, it costs $146 bucks, plus $50 activation fee.
My hubby just used one on his transatlantic voyage, in an 18' dinghy with a 9.9 hp outboard, Bermuda to Newport RI and back!!! I could log in to the internet and see where he was literally every 20 minutes. It also has a 911 feature, you press the 911 button and via satellite it links to the nearest 911 network and help can be dispached with satnav location accuracy. They also log into your account where you list personal details, medical notes (if necessary) contacts etc. If the 'situation' is not life threatening, it has a 'send help' mode that emails a list of contacts you put in. It also has a 'check in' mode that you just use to send an 'i'm ok' message to your contact list whenever you want.

So if the situation is out there where you need a contact method where cellphones dont have coverage...google SPOT.
I know, how did we all make do before electronic gagets, but I like this one.

Here you go:

http://www.baileysonline.com/itemdetail.asp?item=SPOT+1&catID=848

 

[joesawer]

Glad you made it out, and wish you a speedy recovery.
I fell down lat week and hit a boulder that had shifted away from the soil and left a crack about 1 foot wide and 5 feet deep. My glasses and hard hat wound up in the crack with me piled up against the boulder above the crack. It is a good thing that they fell into the gap, because my saw and ax and some wedges where scattered down the hill to the creek. I kind of looked like a ski crash. I would have never found my glasses if they had fallen down the hill in all the sliding debri.
I managed to finish out the week, but took off this week. Went to the bone cruncher today. My back was out in two places and my left hip was out. No wonder I was hurting.

 

[2dogs]

Dang Bob I just read this. You shoulda said something when we were posting about dozers the other day. I am glad you made it out alive. How's the shoulder these days?

A very good friend of mine was on a vacation with his new Hummer and his ex-wife. He got up at night to water a bush and walked off a cliff. His ex didn't know anything was wrong and slept through the night. She found him unconscious laying on the rocks. He had to be medivacted out and now he looks and talks like he had a mild stroke

 

[secureland]

Here you go:

http://www.baileysonline.com/itemdetail.asp?item=SPOT+1&catID=848[/QUOTE]


I know GPS has problems in wooded areas, I'd like to know if this does.

 

[Bermie]

With the SPOT you are supposed to have as clear a view of the sky as possible, when my hubby used his on the boat it was mounted just inside the cabin facing across the boat, the cabin was just over 1/2" of fibreglass and foam core, and the back was open to the outside.
We had regular hits coming into the website, every 20 minutes, so some obstruction does not seem to be a problem.