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Subscribe to RSSA woman was rescued from the Utah wilderness after spending four days lost. KSL's John Daley reports.
A hiker who returned to the trail where she took a survival course 40 years ago almost didn't make it out alive. Victoria Grover, 59, nearly died of hypothermia in the high desert of southern Utah over the weekend.
Grover told reporters from her hospital bed on Sunday that while she didn't have food she did have water, and figured that could keep her going for days. "The thing I was worried about was hypothermia -- that that was going to kill me," she said.
A physician's assistant from Wade, Maine, Grover had gone to the trail in Dixie National Forest where she took a survival course at Brigham Young University 40 years ago.
What was supposed to be a six-mile day hike turned into a four-day, three-night ordeal that began when it got too dark for Grover to find her way back.
The next day she broke her leg after jumping a four-foot ledge.
"I really wasn't scared until I stopped shivering," she said, "because that was the point where I thought, 'If somebody doesn't find me pretty soon I'm going to die of hypothermia.'"
The lodge where she was staying alerted the local sheriff when she didn't check out as planned, and a search team found her two days later -- suffering from hypothermia.
So what went through her mind during those cold nights where the temperature dipped into the low 30s and the only warmth she had came from a light poncho?
Besides praying, she also "was dreaming of oranges, which is one of my favorite foods," the Associated Press quoted her as saying. "But there are people who can go for weeks and weeks without food in this world. We have it easy in America."
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btw, where is it that "...people who can go for weeks and weeks without food in this world..."? I want to be one of those people, 'cause they sound superhuman. (Unless maybe she was thinking about bears, not people, when they hibernate. That would be the hypothermia talking.)
Where there is no food people can go for weeks without eating. Fasting is not impossible.
I was part of a fasting experiment at a local hospital, but it was only for five days. That's longer than some people can live without water.
Victoria screwed up. Why? Her
survival skills and
training are 40 years out of
date.
For $149, Victoria could have
carried a SPOT SATELLITE
MESSENGER, which would have sent Emergency EMS
signals to the local sheriff as
to her exact location. via satellite. And if
she paired it with her SMART
PHONE, she could have texted e mail messages to
all of her friends (via the
satellite overhead, not cell towers, complete
with her exact location and
condition, complete with a simple message like I
HAVE A FLAT TIRE...so it can be
used for non-emergency situations).
I have no stock or interest in
SPOT. I live in a very
rural part of Maine where cell signals are faint or
non-existent. And I have
heart problems.
So I merely write this message in
this manner to
ENCOURAGE EVERYONE TO UPDATE THEIR SURVIVAL
SKILLS.
If you remember, last year, in
the Bangor Daily News, there was an
article about a lady who went out
snowshoeing just a few miles from her cabin
with her dogs, got trapped, and
had to hike out without the shoes, luckily
coming home and only losing a
part of her foot to frostbite.
SO FOR THOSE LONERS AMONG YOU,
WHO LIKE TO GO OUT ON
THE TRAILS, carry a Spot Satellite Messenger, which is
now only about $149, and
please, IT WILL SAVE YOUR
LIFE.
Happy and Safe Hiking to all.
PS Here is one link to a Spot
Satellite video, but many
more on on Google or other locations.
PS For those who spend a fortune traveling out west, who don't have the extra money for
a Spot Satellite Messenger, how about informing the ranger before you take your
hike? That's FREE. Tell the ranger, and take a Spot Messenger, and you won't sit
out there for days, missing your insulin, and wondering why your 60 year old
body does not work as efficiently as it did when it was age 20. THIS P.A. who is
beloved by her patients, needs to re-evaluate her survival skills
training!
I wouldn't carry any of those things that you mentioned just for the reason that I would want to spend time alone. Also, I grew up in that area and ranger's aren't exactly climbing out of the woods to meet you. Most times, depending on where you go, you would be lucky to see one.
What is up with your formatting?
I tell people all the time pack a day bag of some simple but essential survival tools. That bag could have held a magnesium striker, lint from her dryer and small baggie of bullion to put in with her metal cup and use to nourish herself and keep warm. If she wanted to, she could have brought a handheld gps, a 8x10 piece of paper with a map of the area she was hiking in. For a pound more - she could have packed 2000 calories in one serving of military style MRE's to go with her water. And for god sakes - where was her knife, 550 cord and signal mirror? She could have sent a signal 10 times beyond her line of sight if she had one. This is about 15 lbs, or less, of survival gear that could have made all the difference. She's lucky to even be alive. But if she didn't survive, it would have been her own fault.
Glad she's alive but its HYPERTHERMIA, not HYPOTHERMIA. Hyper means that she was too cold, hypo means too hot. Both she and the news media got it wrong. Just FYI.
Nope, I got that wrong, and she got it right. Sorry.
How can you be in the medical field and not know that?
An Englishman, a Texan and a PA are lost in the Utah desert. After days without water or food they come upon a lamp half buried in the sand. They rub the lamp and out comes a genie. Since they all rubbed the lamp the genie grants each one a single wish.
The Texan goes first and wishes to be transported back to his house where his pool was filled with beautiful women. The genie claps his hands and the Texan vanishes in a flash of light.
The Englisman wishes to be transported back to his house where he knows his wife will be eagerly awaiting him. Once again the Genie claps his hands and the Englishman vanishes.
The PA sits down and thinks about what she should wish for. Suddenly realizing she is all alone in the desert, she promptly wishes that the Texan and the Englishman were back.
Hypothermia in the desert? Sounds like heat exhaustion in the Arctic.
Deserts aren't characterized by heat, they are characterized by lack of precipitation. The largest desert, in fact, is Antarctica. Even hot deserts can get extremely cold at night because they do not hold heat well.
My guess for a 59 year old woman to fight hypothermia....built in layers, grown over the decades of living in the USA. I have my survival suit on at all times. Thank you McD's, Taco B. and various Buffets.
Remember we do not think clearly when in such situations, especially as more time goes by. Thank God she made it safely.
I think everybody is forgetting she BROKE her leg.
I am constantly amazed at the speed with which the perfect people on these discussion boards pick up and cast the first stone. Almost as if they were carrying around the stone already and just looking for a target, but what kind of people would take joy in kicking people in their moment of misfortune. What kind of person carries the stone seeking a target.....
I'm glad this ended happy, she is alive!
People do crazy things to stay fit because staying fit means longer life. But some people just overestimate their capabilities resulting in death (few cases). Beats the purpose doesn't it?
A 59 year-old taking a hike, by herself, as nightfall makes its presence...I do believe that this was one of the sub-plots that were left on the film cutting-room floor, when they made the Three Stooges movie.
How incredibly S-T-U-P-I-D !
when i was a kid i was so skinny, i didn't cast a shadow-now the sun never gets through
george washington did lie when he cut down the cherry tree. he said popeye did it- he blamed popeye trhat was a lie
Please expect serrious potentialy daingerous situations if you intend to hike alone!!!! If you insist, take your cell phone , extra food, thermal underwear, snakebite kit, pistol an ammo and tactical knife, temp shelter and antibiotics in case of spider bite. mre's can save your as- and water may also come in handy. let someone know where the hell you are going and ETA at home, compass and magnifing glass or magnesium start block.
That sounded like a whole truckload of things to bring on a day's hike. LOL.