Primal Fear: The Psychology of Being Lost

[Aaron Zagrodnick]

I was hiking back on the stretch of the Buffalo River Trail in Arkansas I had spent most of the day exploring when unexplainably, unexpectedly and stunningly, I was lost. The trail was just simply gone. One moment, I’m trekking on it, the next moment, it had disappeared. On the weekend following Thanksgiving, most of the Ozark trees had surrendered their leaves. The Ozark Mountains and the Buffalo River Trail were smothered with the gold, red and browns of fallen carpet. I remember thinking just an hour before how the trail was only discernible by the flattened and tramped leaves from hikers before me. I had thought about how easy it would be to wander off the trail and into the primitive wild. And, I had done just that...

Heide Brandes on the mental aspects of being lost, read the full article below in Issue 6:

Primal Fear: The Psychology of Being Lost

Issue 6 Page 1

[OrionTheHunter]

It is so true how your mind plays games and always allows fear to take over.

This story made me think...at what point do you say ok I'm spending the night!? In this case she roamed around off trail trying to find her way and lucky for her she did. When do you stop roaming? When do you sit and wait for help? Even if the trail is just a few feet away but you dont know it.