The Garmin inReach Explorer looks like fun. I have difficulty getting blue tooth devices to function reliably. My older Garmin GPSmap 64 has a very convoluted process to get maps overlaid but I can do it. I can even overlay google earth pictures. But usually it's more work that it is worth. Another thing to watch carefully when connecting cell phone to gps where there is not signal is battery usage. When a cell phone isn't connected to a cell tower it constantly searches for one, this causes the battery to run down pretty fast. Most phone you can put into airplane mode, keeps it quiet but still allows blue tooth/wifi connections. Zip tie a compass to your pack, cheap backup plan.
Brandt, probably no help, but my dad had vertigo, they found a small benign tumor on his inner ear.
Security in the wilderness. Mostly it's awareness. Lori, you mentioned you didn't know what you would do if a you met a person of ill intent, so you have taken the first step, you are thinking about it. Second step, your plan; essentially you have three responses, run, hide, fight. Running away is always the best option, hiding is pretty good too, fighting is the worst option, but if you have to fight get evil and mean. But your best defense is simply awareness, look at people well before they get close to you.
"A naked man was arrested Saturday after he tried to break into a neighbor’s home. Deputies were called to the 62000 block of Bonair Road in Joshua Tree about 4 a.m. by a resident who said there was a naked man, later identified as William Chandler, 20, of Joshua Tree, outside her house and was throwing rocks at the living room window. When he tried to come in her front door, she met him with a baseball bat. Deputies determined that Chandler was high on hallucinogenic drugs. Deputies had to use force when they arrested William Chandler for investigation of burglary. He was booked into the West Valley Detention Center with his bail set at $25,000."
Edit: Looks like it was east of, and just a bit south of the Josh Saloon.
Greg Oplandwrote: Keep a baseball bat handy by the front door!
"A naked man was arrested Saturday after he tried to break into a neighbor’s home. Deputies were called to the 62000 block of Bonair Road in Joshua Tree about 4 a.m. by a resident who said there was a naked man, later identified as William Chandler, 20, of Joshua Tree, outside her house and was throwing rocks at the living room window. When he tried to come in her front door, she met him with a baseball bat. Deputies determined that Chandler was high on hallucinogenic drugs. Deputies had to use force when they arrested William Chandler for investigation of burglary. He was booked into the West Valley Detention Center with his bail set at $25,000."
Edit: Looks like it was east of, and just a bit south of the Josh Saloon.
Can they possibly postpone the trip a week? She and/or the 6 year old could get tested, but results generally take 5-7 days for active virus tests. Considering diabetes is listed as a risk factor, I would err on the side of caution.
I would also err on the side of caution - particularly since asymptomatic transmission is a real thing.
We just returned from a trip to PA where we tried to be as contactless as possible while traveling (no hotels, gloves/mask etc for pit stops/gas stops, had all of our own food with us) and had masks on (except for eating) while interacting with family (who have also been isolating).
Now we are home in Colorado, and are doing a 7-day strict quarantine, after which we hope to be tested, but realistically will continue to quarantine for an additional 7 days (Colorado Health Dept Recommendations) until we come in contact with my parents.
Perhaps our approach is overkill, but I would rather err on the side of caution than have the consequences of making a bad decision on this and possibly infecting someone.
Dallas Rwrote: The Garmin inReach Explorer looks like fun. I have difficulty getting blue tooth devices to function reliably. My older Garmin GPSmap 64 has a very convoluted process to get maps overlaid but I can do it. I can even overlay google earth pictures. But usually it's more work that it is worth. Another thing to watch carefully when connecting cell phone to gps where there is not signal is battery usage. When a cell phone isn't connected to a cell tower it constantly searches for one, this causes the battery to run down pretty fast. Most phone you can put into airplane mode, keeps it quiet but still allows blue tooth/wifi connections. Zip tie a compass to your pack, cheap backup plan.
Dallas,
The Inreach Explorer+ is a standalone device, meaning it's fully functional without being Bluetoothed to a phone. Since I don't want to carry a phone in the backcountry, that works well for me. It's more cumbersome to text without the phone, but you can. How often do I need to send texts from the wilderness (answer: not often)
Also, the Explorer+ comes with 1:24,000 maps of all of North America preloaded, so you don't have to deal with downloading maps to it. Pretty convenient.
Can they possibly postpone the trip a week? She and/or the 6 year old could get tested, but results generally take 5-7 days for active virus tests. Considering diabetes is listed as a risk factor, I would err on the side of caution.
Thank you Alicia and Erika. I thought it over and cancelled their trip. I made a firm deal that when we drive up to Sacramento in a week or so we’ll make a party of it... go rafting and have a barbecue. And they’ll come up later this summer. Best for all.
Now we are home in Colorado, and are doing a 7-day strict quarantine, after which we hope to be tested, but realistically will continue to quarantine for an additional 7 days (Colorado Health Dept Recommendations) until we come in contact with my parents.
Perhaps our approach is overkill, but I would rather err on the side of caution than have the consequences of making a bad decision on this and possibly infecting someone.
You need to quarantine for 14 days. Getting tested after 7 doesn't really tell you if you have it. You could still be positive after a negative test at the 7 day mark.
You need to quarantine for 14 days. Getting tested after 7 doesn't really tell you if you have it. You could still be positive after a negative test at the 7 day mark.
Exactly - we will quarantine for a total of 14 days, but will still get tested next week. Sorry that wasn’t more clear!
There’s also a really high false negative rate, so..... Kind of makes me wonder why get tested at all.
I'll just say, having had a test, it's a much shorter turnaround now, than it was earlier.
Sorry, Lori! I'm glad the plan B is a good one. It's also tough for the kids, not having "normal" when you are young enough to just be learning those routines away from home! :-(
Hopping around on subjects here. As to personal safety. Dallas, your post was not comforting. Carl, you are right... a twisted ankle and you’re fucked. Sort of two subjects but not.
I stopped roaming about the trails in Auburn because I ran into a naked man jogging with a ski mask early one morning and suddenly realized I could be in big trouble. I could not have outrun him. He trotted on past, but it stayed with me. I certainly was not hiking with a bat.
Also, in that same area there were a number of mountain lion attacks, one fatal, and I had become incredibly vigilant watching the ground around me for lions when someone mentioned “They are in TREES (dummy!)”. So I knew I didn’t know enough.
On my sample walk to Gunsmoke at 7 am the other day, it’s maybe quarter mile tops? But there was no human anywhere and certainly remote from my car. No cell phone. I am trusting that in this beautiful place there are only good intentions and good people.
I guess to the issue of injury the Garmin (inReach+ with subscription) is the way to go. I have it... will review the videos. At the time I found the texting to be clumsy and confusing. Maybe today it will just flow. This all presumes an injury where you can just sit and wait. (I heard J Tree was coordinating with a satellite carrier this year to make communication
A hard fall, snake bite, bee sting ... not sure about these. (With anaphylaxis). I need to beef up my First Aid kit.
But attack. To my knowledge there are no attacking animals here. But there could be an attacking human. Back to the drawing board.
In Joshua tree itself there seems to be quite a mix. We decided to get a home security system mainly because I travel. A young man was murdered not far from here. I’m reading the posts here about crime. My Nextdoor site assures this neighborhood is fine. Tony would probably enjoy a brawl. Probably would be better in a bar.
Lori Milaswrote: I guess to the issue of injury the Garmin (inReach+ with subscription) is the way to go. I have it... will review the videos. At the time I found the texting to be clumsy and confusing. Maybe today it will just flow. This all presumes an injury where you can just sit and wait. (I heard J Tree was coordinating with a satellite carrier this year to make communication
I thought with those devices, you could set up a few "canned" texts that you can send out easily? Stuff like "Everything's fine." or "Totally f**ked, come and get me!"
A hard fall, snake bite, bee sting ... not sure about these. (With anaphylaxis). I need to beef up my First Aid kit.
Not much you can do about a snake bite. The whole "suck the venom out" deal is b.s.
Basically with nobody along, you have to get to your car as calmly as you can and get to the e-phone at HVCG and call the rescue in, then sit quietly and hope for the best. A guy was bitten while out riding a trail in Phoenix (mountain bike - he fell over into the wrong bush), and ended up riding for another 30 minutes to get out to the lot where he could get a rescue going.
Greg Oplandwrote: I thought with those devices, you could set up a few "canned" texts that you can send out easily? Stuff like "Everything's fine." or "Totally f**ked, come and get me!"
Not much you can do about a snake bite. The whole "suck the venom out" deal is b.s.
Basically with nobody along, you have to get to your car as calmly as you can and get to the e-phone at HVCG and call the rescue in, then sit quietly and hope for the best. A guy was bitten while out riding a trail in Phoenix (mountain bike - he fell over into the wrong bush), and ended up riding for another 30 minutes to get out to the lot where he could get a rescue going.
I always carry a compression bandage. Bandage from the site, down the limb. As we know, venom is in the lymphatic system not the blood system. You shouldn't even wash the bite area let alone suck at it as venom at the bite site can let hospital staff know what sort of snake it was.
We agree with the conclusions of the position statement: “The use of pressure immobilization for the pre-hospital treatment of North American Crotalinae envenomation is not recommended.” In the absence of definitive data on much of the pre-hospital management of Crotalinae snakebite, the following recommendations are based on the best available evidence, as well as expert consensus:
Get a safe distance away from the snake.
Remove jewelry and loosen tight-fitting clothing.
Loosely splint or otherwise immobilize the extremity in a functional position.
As a default action, maintain the bitten extremity in a neutral position with regard to the heart. Other potential actions should be guided by an experienced clinician.
Get to a hospital, preferably transported by an EMS provider. In general, supine positioning will prepare providers in managing possible effects such as hypotension and/or vomiting.
Avoid useless and/or potentially harmful interventions, such as tourniquets, incision, suction, cryotherapy, or electric shock.
From another article: "Immediately wrapping the entire bitten extremity with a broad elastic bandage (the “Australian Compression and Immobilization Technique”) has proven effective in the treatment of elapid and sea snake envenomations only. It is only recommended when the victim appears to have suffered a severe envenomation and is several hours from medical care."
We agree with the conclusions of the position statement: “The use of pressure immobilization for the pre-hospital treatment of North American Crotalinae envenomation is not recommended.” In the absence of definitive data on much of the pre-hospital management of Crotalinae snakebite, the following recommendations are based on the best available evidence, as well as expert consensus:
Get a safe distance away from the snake.
Remove jewelry and loosen tight-fitting clothing.
Loosely splint or otherwise immobilize the extremity in a functional position.
As a default action, maintain the bitten extremity in a neutral position with regard to the heart. Other potential actions should be guided by an experienced clinician.
Get to a hospital, preferably transported by an EMS provider. In general, supine positioning will prepare providers in managing possible effects such as hypotension and/or vomiting.
Avoid useless and/or potentially harmful interventions, such as tourniquets, incision, suction, cryotherapy, or electric shock.
From another article: "Immediately wrapping the entire bitten extremity with a broad elastic bandage (the “Australian Compression and Immobilization Technique”) has proven effective in the treatment of elapid and sea snake envenomations only. It is only recommended when the victim appears to have suffered a severe envenomation and is several hours from medical care."
Fair enough. I'm referring to Australian first aid. Maybe it's different for the different species and hence venom? I never considered treatment may be different for different species.
"... There is currently strong consensus that this technique should not be promulgated or taught in areas where non-neurotoxic snakebite predominates. Thus, in North American Crotalinae snakebite..."
From another article: "Immediately wrapping the entire bitten extremity with a broad elastic bandage (the “Australian Compression and Immobilization Technique”) has proven effective in the treatment of elapid and sea snake envenomations only. It is only recommended when the victim appears to have suffered a severe envenomation and is several hours from medical care."
thank you for this, Greg. (and Carl) looks like we'll have to carefully avoid seasnakes around here.
In every way things are getting real. Climbing, navigating, First Aid, personal safety... just an observation that there is a big difference between being the visitor being led by a guide or local, and stepping up to take care of myself.
I've been looking at that Black Diamond Pipedream bag. Carl, you have a Black Diamond Creek 50. Does anyone have a preference for a good backpack specifically for getting your gear to the crag? Mine squeezes in helmet, 2 pairs of shoes, harness, whatever lunch/sugar I need, guidebook... but if I drop in a rack on top of that, it's all just a big jumble. Forget the rope. I sure like the looks of the BD where everything lays out so neatly.
Clip your shoes to the outside of your pack. You can coil your rope and put it across the top rather than inside (most climbing packs have a strap specifically for that). Best yet, get a partner when you’re heading out and split carrying rope/rack!
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