January 6, 2009

Even Experienced Hikers get lost - The Kekekabic Trail

Anyone could get lost on a hiking trail especially when the parts of the trail is masked by blown-down trees and fire. It happened to two experienced hikers on the Kekekabic Trail and the lack of trail markings were to blame for the incident.

Dozens of rescuers and volunteers joined the search including 4 aircrafts. In the end the hikers were found safe, but this is not the first time anyone got lost on the Kekekabic Trail. In 1970, a skier lost his way and died of hypothermia.

Following the latter incident the Forest Service marked the Kekekabic by tacking small, blue diamond-shaped signs to trees but nearly all the signs are gone now, and Forest Service officials have been reluctant to replace them.

Hiking clubs have renewed their appeal to the Superior National Forest officials to make the Kekekabic trail easier to follow.

The problem is, rules governing the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness prohibit signs and many other man-made objects.

However, Forest Service officials acknowledges the fact that the overgrown condition of Kekekabic presents a public safety issue and are willing to discuss a possible compromise.

The 2006 Cavity Lake fire didn't help matters. The forest burned down to bare rock in many places and with no tree canopy, the terrain and landmarks are obscured by overgrowth.

The argument has been made that in order to go back to the basics of the wilderness, you need to remove all signs of the presence of man and placing signs take away the experience.

While I agree that the wilderness should be kept looking like the wilderness but looking for lost hikers with helicopters and dozens of people are more disruptive than putting a few signs on the trail.

An option would be to publish satellite GPS coordinates to assist hikers with GPS devices. Some hikers have proposed using cairns - conical piles of rocks like those that have been to mark pathways for thousands of year.

Officials are working hard to come up with a solution to prevent hikers from getting lost and endangering their lives again.

The full story can be found at http://www.startribune.com/local/37071654.html?page=1&c=y

Tags: Aircrafts, Blowdown, Blue Diamond, Border Country, Boundary Waters Canoe Area, Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, Bwca, Cairns, Cavity Lake Fire, District Ranger, Explosive Growth, Federal Wilderness, Forest Officials, Forest Service Officials, Gps Devices, Gunflint Trail, Helicopters, Hikers, Hiking Clubs, Hiking Trail, Hiking Trails, Kubik, Mile Footpath, Northeastern Minnesota, Public Safety, Rescue Helicopter, Rescuers, Safety Issue, Satellite Gps, Shaped Signs, Skier, Solut, Superior National Forest, Trail Markers, Tree Canopy, Underbrush, Wacko, Zealots