Thread: Lost in the bush

Post from @Strummer
Nothing too bad/exciting...was hunting solo in a remote spot on Stewart Island/Rakiura. It can get very tight bush in places, and creeks don't always run to the sea. I was trying to head back to the hut. I'd been walking for a bit (I'd been distracted by watching a kiwi playing around by my feet) when I thought "hmmm, I'm not sure where the coastline is any more, and I have no bearings". The forest was very thick with a closed canopy and I couldn't get any GPS signal through it. It was cloudy and I couldn't see the sun through the trees either. My pulse started quickening as I realised I was bushed. I sat down, took a breather and tried to keep calm. My watch has a compass so I slowly used that, with the topomap on my phone, to figure out roughly where I was. Turns out I had been going in totally the wrong direction for the past half hour. It wouldn't have been a total disaster, as I was on a peninsula and would've found the coast eventually, but it was enough of a fright to focus the senses!

Looks like the thread doubled up when I made it or when i tried to edit I made a new one. I have copy and pasted strummers story here

Yes I've spent three unexpected nights out now. I've discovered the hardest part of spending a night out is accepting that it's going to happen. The first two nights I spent out I walked, faster and faster, trying to get back to the hut until it was completely dark and I was stressed and sweating. A cold, miserable night was the result.
The third time I accepted a half hour before dark that I was not going to get back to the hut and spent the time collecting firewood and getting a fire going. I had a reasonably comfortable night even though it rained.

Was at piropiro flats a few weeks back with a school .group. there was also a Hamilton nzda hunt on. One of the guys was hunting off the timber trail . At one point he saw something standing out in the bush. It turned out to be a lady cyclist standing there with a roll of toilet paper in her hand. She had gone off for a dump and couldn't find her way back to the track. Lucky he turned up

Originally Posted by Backcountry Bob

Yes I've spent three unexpected nights out now. I've discovered the hardest part of spending a night out is accepting that it's going to happen. The first two nights I spent out I walked, faster and faster, trying to get back to the hut until it was completely dark and I was stressed and sweating. A cold, miserable night was the result.
The third time I accepted a half hour before dark that I was not going to get back to the hut and spent the time collecting firewood and getting a fire going. I had a reasonably comfortable night even though it rained.

Good to take that time to prepare I see. Time much better spent preparing

Haha classic, I’m sure I read on here someone got lost taking a dump in the middle of the night one time, can’t remember who it was though! @Chur Bay