Tread Lightly and Carry a Big Bag of Batteries

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We're part of nature wherever we are, and even when we're prepared for contingencies, the unexpected occurs. Hurrah for this. What we really need is the ability to sense clearly, deal with changing reality, and adapt.

A few years ago Amy Racina was out for a two-week solo hike in a remote area of King's Canyon National Park in California when she fell from a cliff, shattered a knee and hip, then spent four painful days and nights alone. In her book Angels in the Wilderness (Elite Books, 2005), Racina describes how she determined to 'scooch' her way to safety, and how she arduously made her way a hundred yards or so along a stream, putting her in a position to be found and rescued.

Today, mended and hiking alone again, Racina travels light, as she's done since long before the idea of lightweight backpacking became today's industry of 'ultralight' gear. Now, though, she goes equipped with a personal locator beacon, a device that sends a signal via satellite in case of emergency. Still, she's wary of high tech gear. 'It seems to me that many of the electronic gadgets may prove helpful occasionally, but provide only the illusion of continual security,' she says. 'Electronics are not a substitute for common sense, wilderness savvy, basic knowledge about the human body, and using your brain in an unexpected situation.

'Electronic devices cannot think or solve problems, and they are subject to many kinds of failure. Anything with batteries might run out. Any electronic device that is not 100 percent waterproof could fail if it is soaked in a stream crossing, a flash flood, or a sudden downpour. They can be lost or dropped. Most communication devices have spotty coverage, at best, and can fail for a wide variety of reasons.'

Sometimes, though, they work. In February, three climbers on Oregon's Mount Hood were rescued, thanks largely to an emergency beacon, after they fell and were stranded in a snowstorm. One of the climbers said he'd felt well-equipped for winter climbing -- and he wasn't referring to rope, axes, and crampons, but to cell phones, global positioning gear, and locator beacons.

Are people today 'the tools of their tools,' as Thoreau wrote more than 150 years ago? To the degree that technology aids human awareness, that it augments and extends abilities without concomitant loss of native knowledge, the answer is no. Technology may be appropriate. But if we give up our innate sensibility and rely on machines to do our thinking and sensing for us, we're lost.

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