Benighted on a Bushwalk

Around midday on Thursday, 28th July in 2016 a male visitor (32) on a day trip to the Blue Mountains decided to set off hiking from the Conservation Hut at Wentworth Falls into the remote Jamison Valley during the depth of winter.

While hiking, he reportedly injured his ankle, possibly along one of the lower Jamison Valley tracks such as National Pass.  By the time it was getting dark and so increasingly difficult to see where he was going, he then decided at 6:30pm (dusk down in the valley forest) to phone Emergency Triple 0 Service for remote emergency rescue.

This is the visibility at night in remote Bush with no torch.  ‘Pitch black pace’ is less than 1m per minute, and the compound injury and lost factor is exponential.  So stay put when benighted.

 

That he had mobile (cell) phone reception was lucky and probably due to his choice of  using the Telstra mobile network which offers superior coverage in regional areas of Australia than other competing mobile network providers.  Telstra currently remains the preferred mobile network in the regional Blue Mountains.

Nevertheless, it was likely too dark by then for a rescue helicopter search of the dense rain forest down in the valley. The NSW Ambulance Rescue Helicopter Base is situated 32nm (60km) east of Wentworth Falls at Bankstown Airport, so the operational response time from despatch of the Triple 0 request to arrival on scene would be about 30 minutes.  Last light at Wentworth Falls in winter is 8:30pm above the escarpment, but about 2 hours shorter down in the deep rainforested Jamison Valley.  So a helicopter arrival ETA of 7pm at best would not have had sufficient daylight to conducted a search of the valley. The injured hiker simply left it too late in the day for a helicopter rescue.

Local Blue Mountains Police Rescue undertook a ground search up with volunteer support up until 12.30am (midnight), however without success.

So the injured man became benighted* in freezing winter conditions and reportedly without any food, adequate clothing or camping equipment.

The search resumed at 7am the following morning at 7am (time of first safe navigable light in the forest valley), supported by a rescue helicopter.  Police Rescue and volunteer searchers found the injured man at 8.40am with his ankle injury and was suffering from hypothermia.

He was an independent bushwalker, hiking by himself, without food or camping equipment or likely any map, compass, first aid gear, torch or an emergency personal locator beacon.  It is also likely he told no-one where he was going, didn’t know the area and had little if any hiking experience.

It is also likely that he didn’t know where he was going, no plan, no timeframe, no known half way point to gauge a wise return and no knowledge of the timing of last light during winter (8:30pm at the top of the escarpment, but 6:30pm deep in the Jamison valley below, where he likely went).

Injuries can happen to anyone, and ankle and foot injuries are one of the most common injuries to any hiker – both inexperience and experienced – rolling ankle, sprain, strain, stress fracture, Plantar Fasciitis (heel pain).

Once a hiker cannot hike due to injury, illness, the onset of darkness with no torch/headtorch, becoming lost and not bushcamp prepared, or due to any other reason – this must trigger an emergency to the event.  It is good governance.

It is a typical scenario that gets played out many times every year in Blue Mountains national parks.  One can’t prevent ignorant decision-making or foolhardy behaviour by visitors to the Blue Mountains Region.  However, the government authority responsible for proper management and usage of the national parks is the New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service.

*BENIGHTED DEFINED

The English Oxford Dictionary defines benighted (an adjective) as either being overtaken by darkness, else also being in a state of pitiful or contemptible intellectual or moral ignorance.  In remote Bush after dark the first definition can lead to the second, since becoming benighted is generally unplanned forcing a hiking group to be so-caught out in a remote location and so having to camp, often with inadequate kit and provisions.

A landscape characteristic of the Blue Mountains plateaued is that the valleys and gorges below the plateau get darker earlier than on top of the plateau since the sun’s rays typically stop shining into theses valleys and gorges a few hours before sunset on the plateau top.  This causes twilight to occur a few hours earlier in the valleys and gorges, which heightens the risk of hikers becoming benighted.

The antonym in this second definition is “enlightened”.  Independent inexperienced hikers to the Blue Mountains Region would indeed be enlightened by sourcing a local professional hiking tour organisation such as Nature Trail, and so avoid risking injury, becoming benighted, hypothermic, stressed or worse.

A happy hike is not on a whim.  We always recommend hikers carry a headtorch (or two) in their pack with spare batteries to suit and pre-check the serviceability.  Each Nature Trail day hiking tour is designed with a route and schedule to finish at least 3 hours before sunset.