Image: Arizona Department of Public Safety.
Running out of gas. Lost on a remote back road. No cellphone signal, unreliable GPS. Maybe an accident.
It could happen to anyone, but not everyone would handle this desperate situation as well as this 72 year old woman managed to do.
Indeed, her resourcefulness and determination in keeping herself alive, along with her dog, after being “lost, with no gas and no cellphone reception” for 9 days in the remote Arizona wilderness is down right incredible.
via AZ Central:
A 72-year-old woman and her dog survived in the Gila County wilderness for nine days before being rescued by the Arizona Department of Public Safety on Saturday.
Ann Rodgers and her dog survived by drinking creek water and eating berries and plants, according to reports by law-enforcement officials. A weeklong multiagency search ended with a helicopter crew rounding a bend in a canyon to find her waving at them from below.
Rodgers had done her best to guide searchers: She had spelled out “HELP” in sticks and rocks on a canyon floor, hoping to gain attention.
According to the report, Ann Rodgers was running low and got lost while exiting for a fuel station, and then got stranded for more than a week in the vast national forest area between Phoenix and Show Low, Arizona.
The Gila County Sheriff’s Office released this statement:
On April 3, 2016, at approximately 8:00 p.m., the Gila County Sheriff’s Office received a call from the White Mountain Apache Rangers to assist with a missing person. The Gila County Sheriff’s Office, Gila County Search and Rescue, Tonto Rim Search and Rescue, along with the Arizona Department of Public Safety Helicopter responded to assist the White Mountain officials in attempts to locate the victim.
On April 9, 2016, at approximately 5:45 p.m. Ann Charon Rodgers, 72 years old, was located in the Canyon Creek Area. The Arizona Department of Public Safety Helicopter was able to get assistance to her and transport her to a local Hospital to be evaluated.
Image: Gila County Sheriff’s Office
Though the search rescue team worked diligently to find her, it took them a week, and everyday in the harsh wilderness made the challenge for Rodgers that much more difficult.
She found water, and made fire for warm and to attract attention from search crews. She left signs, like the word “Help” spelled out in sticks; she attempted, in vain, to find a ranch she saw, and she attempted to find a spot with a working cell phone signal.
But most importantly, she continued on, in spite of these setbacks.
How did she do it? She had taken a survival training course, and had cultivated skills. As the AP reported:
An Arizona woman lost in the wilderness for nine days says she became desperate but stayed alive because of her survival skills.
[S]he slept in her car the first night and wore several layers of clothing to keep warm […]
She says she survived on plants, pond water and at one point, a turtle. Rodgers says she took a survival course and studied techniques for years.
There a lots of things that could have improved her condition if those supplies and tools had been with her…
But this wasn’t just theoretical, it was real world survival, making do with the environment around you when there is no one else to turn to.
And this woman made it; hopefully you can, too, if and when the situation arises.
Of course, it also offers us some lessons for being prepared for anything.
Here are some links to develop ideas about what to focus on next… and what it might take to survive in a wilderness scenario alone for an extended period:
7 Tips to Keep You Alive and Found in the Wilderness
Survival Skills: How to Find Water In the Wild
The Prepper’s Blueprint: Step-by-Step Guide to Survive Any Disaster
The Number One Knife Skill for Wilderness Survival and Self-Reliance
Teaching Kids How to Survive in the Forest
Wilderness Survival: Preventative Measures and Off Grid Treatment for Deadly Bugs
The One Thing You Need To Survive: “Everything Else Is Just Talking and Wishful Thinking”
Are You Prepared to Survive in the Wilderness Alone? “Natural Shelter, Blend In”
Good for them! They had enough of a mind to get some training. Me personally, I carry enough with me in the truck to last 2 weeks with the means for more. I have been stranded before and it only takes once to get your shit together after that. You don’t even need much, I have covered it before. A case of mainstay bars (30 day supply about 5 lbs.) 4 quart canteens, berkey bottle or other water filter, knife, lighter, space blankets, tape. Just that will get you through a LOT!
Make sure you have a flask of hi-test “clear” with you at all times for cuts and insect bites. You need at least 90 proof for cuts and 120 proof for sterilizing blades or tweezers.
Thats the best advice I’ve heard in a long time lol 🙂
And 100 proof minimum for fire starting.
http://www.survivopedia.com/makeyeastforlongterm/
Or, you can just cut the fuel line in a modern car, put something under it to catch the fuel and turn the key on for a few seconds. The fuel pump will go into a 3-5 second priming mode where it comes on for that time and then shuts down until the engine starts (this is a valuable thing to know if you ever run out of gas and need to prime the system!It usually takes about three priming cycles to start an engine. Less than that and all it will do is crank.). That should give you enough gasoline to start a fire.
WS: the fuel line is plastic? Are you serious?
My comment is awaiting moderation because you would rather allow Nazi’s to post their BS here rather than have the Good Old Boyz Club offended by my use of the F word. Too fucking back Slavo. Good name. I am guessing you chose that name for a reason.
Had one get stuck in moderation couple days back and then disappeared altogether. Tried it this evening and it went through. Sometimes it happens. Its a mystery.
F word = “Federal”
Engines flex in their mountings in order to absorb vibrations, so everything that connects them to the rest of the car needs to have a length of flexible line. In the fuel system this is a nylon reinforced rubber hose, just like it is for hydraulic power steering, air conditioning and a section of the automatic transmission cooler line going to the radiator in most cars. It keeps the metal from fatiguing due to work hardening.
WITHOUT all your big business-made stuff–what can you do with what Nature provides you? That’s what you need to know how to do!
True, but I also need to know how to do things with the materials I have at hand. For me, those materials are things that are manufactured as well as what is in nature. Survival is about being able to use any and all resources at your disposal and since manufactured good will not magically disappear during some sort of apocalyptic event, I plan to know how to use them. Not every skill is needed in every scenario, but have enough knowledge and skills and you can improvise through damn near anything.
While SHTF was breathlessly aggregating the same-lo-same-old from Shemitah Boy, Hodges, and Alex Jones, there was NEWS.
US Navy Ship Encounters Aggressive Russian Aircraft in Baltic Sea
http://www.navy.mil/submit/display.asp?story_id=94170
Recall that this is the same USS Donald Cook that was electronically crippled in 2014 by a Sukhoi-24 equipped with the Khibiny package: http://www.veteranstoday.com/2014/11/13/aegis-fail-in-black-sea-ruskies-burn-down-uss-donald-duck/
The first time the USS “Donald Duck” was pressing Russian home waters in the Black Sea and, after being crippled and limping back to the Balkans, 24 US Navy officers resigned rather than following orders to return to the Black Sea. The second time the “Donald Duck” was pressing Russian home waters in the Baltic. Apparently the bullies didn;t learn their lesson the first time.
“It could happen to anyone …”
Not if they had a lick of common sense. No one trained in survival skills should find themselves, lost and out of gas in the middle of nowhere.
This woman was stupid and lucky to be alive. Where was she headed? Where were her street maps? Her topo maps? Did she tell anyone where she was going, when she would get there, or when she would be back?
This woman VIOLATED all of the basic rules of wilderness exploration and survival. You can’t fix STUPID !!! 🙁
DK don’t be so hard on her, many people now-a-days foolishly depend on GPS for directions, this High Tech item has gotten more people in trouble than you can shake a stick at. A couple of years ago I was antelope hunting in a very remote area in Wyoming and saw three vehicles stranded on a road with ruts deeper than I would attempt to drive in with my 4wheel drive Ram, and it was very greasey. The first car had taken this road following direction on her GPS, she had been stuck for 18 hours and it was cold weather, she then called her boyfriend(can’t believe she had a signal) who some how found her on this road and he was stuck, another truck which turned out to be another hunter had tried to pull them out and his 4 wheel drive unit had went out. I had to drive across sage brush to pull them all out, and I pulled the plastic housing out from under one of the cars dragging them over the sage. This was a very interesting incident, the gal in the first car had a big green and yellow parrot tattoo on her neck and she had purple hair. The point of my story is, never depend on a GPS for directions when in remote country or at night. Trekker Out. Semper Pratus!
I’m a truck driver for 30 years and have never owned a GPS. I still plan my trips the old fashioned way, with a map. I like getting an idea of the layout of the area(s) I’ll be traveling in/too and using reference points. With a GPS, you basically follow an arrow. I’m certain there’s a good aspect to them, but using maps have never failed me. As far as this lady goes, she really should’ve been more proactive. We, in our household, have emergency kits in each car and a rule of thumb is that gas tanks are ALWAYS at least 1/2 full. If you’re doing anything out of normal routine, let someone know where you’re going and about how long you’ll be. I’m glad this woman is ok
Stay quiet Be smart.
You are right, she was lucky and Darwin got cheated.
I see what you are saying, dk.
Normal people in normal times have no business going on excursions off the beaten path, without making necessary preparations. Common sense should be the first rule of taking on a journey by one’s lonesome, especially when that person is elderly.
However; these are not normal times, and the majority of people are not normal thinking people anymore. Most are a few days away from starvation at any given time…if the grid goes down.
Most are a few gps miles from being lost on a backroad that leads to nowhere. Trekker is right about the gps, like garmin,tom-tom, navigation, etc.
The darn things are good for daylight use and for rational thinking folks, but they are not always 100% right.
The wife used to be a financial rep. that closed refi. mortgage loans for lenders that did everything via internet and phone. She had to physically drive to their homes to close the deals.
Sometimes I was able to ride along and had everything already taken care of in relation to directions.
Other times she was on her on and relied heavily on Tom Tom, that sometimes sent her wrong wrong.
Being a person that has no sense of direction with North/South, East/West, she was always behind the eight ball from the get go.
Once i was 2600 miles away, in California, and she called up….lost, in the middle of a 40 acre corn field in North Carolina, at night. She could not get her clients to answer, so she did what comes natural…call the hubby to bail her out, again.
She had gotten in a hurry to leave and had not mapped out her directions via the internet at home and with back-up directions with the client, before leaving.
Here she was in a vulnerable position for a murdering rapist to have his way with her, since she also had left her handgun at home.
This wasn’t the first time this happened, but it damn sure could have been her last.
This story also reminds me of an incident that happened with my friends mother. She had been showing signs of forgetfulness and brief periods of just standing still and trying to remember things but the reality of Dementia/Alzheimer, couldn’t be any clearer, than a few weeks later when she had gotten something at the local convenience store, and after about 45 minutes after checking out, the clerk heard a motor outside, revving up loudly.
He went out and knowing the lady by name, ask what was wrong.
She said she remembers getting in the car but it took her a long time to find where to put the ignition key in. Then she says after she finally got it started, it just would not move.
Still pushing on the accelerator while he was talking with her, he saw that she had failed to put the car in gear.
After helping her to get going, he later called the son and explained what had happened.
They had to take her car away, and her days soon turned dark and required a 24/7 personal assistant/house keeper. Lucky for her, she was a millionaire, and got the best care possible for the remainder of her life. Most of the dementia/Alzheimer, people are not that fortunate, nor have close relatives, or anyone that gives a damn. They are one trip away from driving off into oblivion at any given moment.
About 20 years ago, a friend of a friend also had a wife selling real estate in South Portland, Maine. She went to show a house to a ‘prospective buyer’ and was raped and murdered.
They never caught the murderer. He may well have gone on to do the same thing to other women.
I love it, she survives what many and even most wouldn’t and she’s an idiot.
Shaking my head. Shit happens mr know it all.
Damn DK. Relax. The woman screwed up, but at least she’s ok. Hey, did you ever trip going up steps? I’m bettin you did. Dumbass trips on a step even though you see them right in front of you. Gettin the point?
I get the point. I get everyone’s point. My point, is that she should never have found herself in this position to begin with, and had she followed the basic RULES, showed a little common sense, planned and mapped her trip from the get go, she would not have had to rely upon her survival “skills”.
Yes shit happens. People misstep. These are accidents. Her situation was NOT an accident. It was a disaster of her own making from the start, due to her obvious lack of planning and poor judgment. I will not mention here that she did this alone. 72 years old, looking every day of her age and embarking on this misadventure ALONE.
You can’t fix stupid !!! Darwin was cheated !!! 🙂
You’re right, she took off, telling no one about where she was going via a remote area, having no food bars, jars of nuts other foods, no water. No common sense of basic survival on the road.
Five years laura m and we are now in “harmony” LOL. Its going to be a very strange year !!! 🙂
OK,
This boomer is OK by me. 🙂
I drove from Wisconsin to Missouri during the dead of winter and got teased when I arrived at my destination as someone helped me “get my bag from the car”. I also had two weeks of food, firewood, shelter, spare gasoline, water, cast iron pan, etc–basically, I had packed the back of my car as if I was going to do two weeks of winter camping. Then to that, I added my little duffle bag of “stuff” like toothbrush, deodorant, etc. I had more “survival supplies” with me than the actual stuff people normally take in a suitcase for a trip 🙂
Funny, why did she leave the car? It is big, it is on a road. It is shelter. It has a battery, fabric, and probably a tool set. Why did she drive till she ran out of fuel and not double back? Most newer phones have GPS and don’t need cell towers. Lots of questions. Glad the woman is OK.
relik, good question. The only thing I can think of is they thought help wasn’t far away and decided to hoof it. I guess it all depends on the situation. If I was lost and out of gas and had no preps I would probably wait it out in the car. If I knew where I was and figured I could reach help I would hoof it with whatever I could carry. One time I got stuck in the snow with my gf in the afternoon on the way to my cabin. It was only about 5 miles away but I stuck it out in the truck through the night because snow sucks and it was cold as hell. The next morning by a huge stroke of luck a county front end loader came by clearing the road for a medical emergency someone up there was having. If I had decided to hoof it I would have been screwed lol. Good thing I had 2 tanks of gas and a cooler of beer and food 😛
I saw her on TV , she may not be all there , just sayin .
But at least she had the survival instinct !
She did well for her and her dog .
Hammer, got to give her credit, she made it home. That is what counts.
She may not be all there, but she had enough gumption to survive.
I bet she grew up country.
I am going thru that with my mom, not fun, but she seems to be getting better.
The devils one has to contend with in life.
Be well all, and research your family, you might find the precurser of what YOU might get in time…
Probably left to find water, food source, firewood, etc.
My Bad…….
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfSLuEj99d0
G. Ginger or Maryann???
Universal question.
Maryann for me, but I am just a dog on a chain on the porch…
Eyes open, what fear???
I pick both! Sugar and spice ya know lol. I’m on the porch with ya man lol. Funny how some subjects bring songs to my mind ha ha. Ya I have a wierd sense of humor (I know you like it) 😛
My better half says you can look at the menu, you cannot order.
She has a great sense of humor too.
But both, you are thinking outside the box…
I need more neighbors like you.
I agree lol 🙂
Guys, they are getting old.
Mary Ann for sure! Glamour turns me off, so I never found Ginger all that hot. She seemed like a high maintenance irritation to me instead of someone capable of being a practical human being. Then again… we are discussing a silly, 50 year old sitcom…
I’ve never heard of a guy that would choose Ginger. Everyone favors Mary Ann; she’s not just hot, she is also friendly and unpretentious. Ginger seems aloof, self-centered, and high maintenance. She’d probably have all your coconuts by the end of the week…
Why? Every Real American can sing that dong by heart. And now it’s true I do know everyone on the Minnow and forgot who is PM of Canada.
If memory serves, it’s Stephen Harper, but I could be wrong…
Stroud the Survivorman said it is very common for people NOT to go back the same way they came but instead to go forward and really get lost. My truck has a compass built into the rear view mirror. Turn the accessory on and see the direction the truck is pointing and then turn around and go back the opposite.
Yea, people are prone to making rash decisions in the heat of the moment.
If they slow down and think rationally about the situation, then a common sense plan should come into play.
First of all, if they know the large scale area somewhat, and know there is a creek,river, or lake, in a certain direction, then that should be the first course of action to make it there.
If they know of a habitation upstream, then head up stream.
If they are not sure, then heading downstream is always the best course of action since most larger areas of flowing water will have a connection to people at some point.
Traveling with flowing water always make the best sense. At least along the way there will be feeder streams that will have cleaner water with springs for drinking.
Lost in a big swamp area without any sense of direction of habitable land, then they are up shit creek and the beavers ate the paddle.
glad granny is ok
but
I have one STRICT rule when traveling
when the gas gauge hits half full
I start looking for a gas station
If she took actual survival training, they forgot the most important things, to tell her directions of N,S, E and W, and stay with her vehicle or walk back to where she came from on the road, or mark her trail when she searched for water…duh. She must have watched a TV show like the Kardashians.
Good one granny. You did good.. this goes to show that shtf strikes when you least expect it..
Aka,
HCKS.
I carry a picket knife at all times and rope so that I can make bows and arrows and spears to hunt and protect myself from black bears and and other elements.. my only concern about the jungle is water filtration. Because if you don’t have fire, your phucked.. I have lots life straws and keep one on me at all times.. never know when you have to use one if your caught in shtf…since the elites are running the hell shitcago.then we must take notice..
HCKS..
Water, water water will decide if you live of die..the longest I EVR lasted was 3 dates without it and I almost passed out..
HCKS, I just carry a 9mm, it’s a lot easier lol.
Speaking of pocket knives, I recently got a Kershaw model 1970 with 3 inch blade (legal here to carry concealed). It is just a plain blade with no serrated bullshit, nice and thick and holds an edge very well. In fact I have used it quite a bit and still haven’t sharpened it. Has a clip, opens super fast, great design, 23 bux on ebay. If you want a pocket knife with good quality and durable that holds an edge and won’t hurt your wallet check into one 🙂
G:
Picked up a 2 bladed pocket knife bout 4 ” blade made by K-BAR never thought they made anything like that. Best part is I got the knife and an old zippo in working condition for one of our Canadian Voyager silver dollars a common year 1966. Good finds are where ya get them.
Hcks
What is the black bear population in Texas ?
Are they trophy size bruins
You took the words out of my mouth! I recently was traveling in West Texas and came across a sign that said ‘bear creek’. The thought did go through my mind questioning when was there a time when there were bears in Texas? There must have been a time. What a surprise!
There used to be bears in Texas, but I killed them all with my BEAR hands lol….
there still is bears in Texas, they keep a close eye on them last i heard the number was around a dozen they are in the big bend area, you can check it out yourself if you wish. prior to that i did not know there was any in Texas either.
Lol actually I Googled it to my surprise yes there is a return of the black bear into ne Texas. Wow who knew.
I’d like to know if they hibernate or not ?????????
Man that’s f,ed up.
Dammit, don’t make me go back down there lol :@
If things have gotten so bad that a person needs to carry a pocket knife around in fear that they may have to wittle out a damn bow and arrows to fend off bears….
then that person proley needs to be in a safe room somewhere, or just go ahead and drink a jug of the laced kool-ade, and be done with it.
Just sayin’
Was she on a “spirit quest” or something? She looks pretty fit for 72 years!
If it was 30 years ago I would apply to be her dog.
Sounds like she had her head on pretty straight, other than how & why she got into initially becoming stranded.
Burning a spare tire on a windless day, if any, might could be seen for miles by air searchers once search commenced.
Glad she made it, hate bad endings.
news bulletin from Captain Obvious
you have to be an idiot not to see this coming
New Shock Report Shows Muslims Building a “Nation Within a Nation,” Bringing Sharia Law to Britain
h ttp://www.thedailysheeple.com/new-shock-report-shows-muslims-building-a-nation-within-a-nation-bringing-sharia-law-to-britain_042016
say good bye to Britannia as she sinks below the waves
a first world country well on its way to becoming a third world pest hole
Hey Satori …Kiss my ass, you hatemongering POS ! How is the weather in Tel Aviv anyways ?
sorry Vic
just posting a story
if ya don’t like the FACTS
don’t blame me
if you have FACTS of your own
by all means lets hear them
after all this is the place for an open discussion
so your choice is clear
you can hurl insults and name call
OR
OR
you can post facts of your own and people can decide for themselves
care to comment there Vic ???
60-Year-Old Christian Woman Publicly Caned In Indonesia For Breaking Sharia Law
ht tp://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/christian-woman-caned-in-indonesia_us_570ea448e4b0ffa5937e0482
I’ve got a comment
F_CK sharia law
Since we are talking survival and folks not paying attention , Briton is lost, they have not checked the fuel tank or their road maps. Just like Sweden, and the US is on the fast tract to following idiots over the cliff.
Some have said “she might not be all there.”
You wonder just how many politicians (running and elected) are not “all there”.
If you WANT to “be there”, then you best get right with your God, every day, and prep like heck in between expecting the crap to hit the fan the very NEXT day, or even that very night.
One day the power and ‘net will go, the liberties and freedoms will go, and the food will go as foreign soldiers, already here, “help” implement martial law.
Martial law will come either when they pull hanky panky to stop a rightful nomination OR when the circulating meteor that both visionaries AND scientists have talked about hits outside Puerto Rico at 2:00 a.m. causing an East Coast Tsunami up til Maine 50-miles inland and triggering a volcano in Mexico which will set off the San Andreas fault line.
You didn’t think they WEREN’T telegraphing what is coming when they put out that San Andreas movie, did ya?
Of course, Planet X, captured on film at YouTube by a woman on the beach on the Pacific Coast could be the Martial Law trigger, but in my view, it could wreak such havoc globally that there might be no law period.
No wonder the government and the elite have built such elaborate underground cities.
But as one poster stated, no one can hide from Jesus Christ when He comes back.
And for those who do not believe in God or Christ, know one thing: you have free will (and always will) and when you are confronted with the Truth, if you still choose not to believe then you are automatically consigning yourself to a place called Hell.
Hell, like free will, is real, if you research it. Choose wisely.
– the Lone Ranger
Noooooo….. not MAINE !!!
Surely there must be some way to stop the tsunami right around northern Massachusetts…..
Hmmm sounds just like something I heard before…. “You are with us, or you are with the terrists!” That ain’t much of a free will choice is it? Hell must be fookin packed with all the people through history that never heard of jesus dammm! Talk about the Crusades! I drink Olympia beer, is that like holy water from mount olympus? I hope so because I hate crowds (like the one in hell). There is a universal intelligence that permiates all, you call it god I call it the creator, your perception of it is ruled by man made laws not truth. Yours makes you a slave, mine sets me free. Good luck with following the masses of sheep, I can think for myself and govern myself and be responsible for myself thank you 🙂
Come back, genius, when the jungle juice has worn off your brain. None (of your points) is cogent. You make it clear you do not believe in a “god” now you clarify it and call Him by a synonym. You speak with very forked tongue, my friend!
Look, you can’t have it both ways.
Put another way, people who live in glass houses, shouldn’t throw stones because when one gets repelled you sure talk incoherently.
I don’t dislike you or put you down. But if you can’t stand the heat, you can’t stay in the kitchen and expect not to sweat!
– the Lone Ranger
A Country Girl Will Survive!!!!!!
Sgt.
the real lesson to be absorbed is how stupid she is in the first place.
driving long distance across empty land- low on gas. turns off highway into deserted desert instead of staying on the highway where she wouldnt have been out of touch.
she needs a public flogging.
and take her back out there and let her walk home.
Not too smart a woman if:
1) she got lost
2) had no water or extra food in the car
3) out driving back roads without being prepared with SOMETHING other than blind luck.
Too many oddities… what kind of wild berries was she finding near Showlow AZ in April…juniper? No doubt they were nice, juicy and ripe…in April. What kind of non-native turtle did she catch, kill,cook, and eat there? Painted, red-eared slider,softshell? This fairly reeks of attention-getting con.
This event carries with it all resemblances of a faked story. I’m not buying it.
The Entire Status Quo Is a Fraud
ht tp://www.blacklistednews.com/The_Entire_Status_Quo_Is_a_Fraud/50478/0/38/38/Y/M.html
and no real solutions offered
because there are none
burn it down and start over ???
Cruz calling out Trump for mafia connections. That takes a lot of nerve. Did anyone else read the article about Cruz’s father Rafael being in the same photo as Lee Harvey Oswald in New Orleans handing out flyers prior to the event in Dallas in ’63? I forget where I read it. It’s widely known that Oswald was a CIA operative, on their payroll. So was Rafael Cruz who was also present in Dallas on that JFK demise day. Another one of Poppy Bush’s minions. No matter Ted is not a natural born citizen, just like Obama whose past has been sealed from public scrutiny.
Without any smidgen of a doubt Oswald was a patsy as he claimed.
In order to avoid confusion:
Aspartame (sugar substitute) is bad.
Turmeric (spice) is good.
This lady looks pretty good for 72 years old.
“Surviving” WITH gas and WITH cell phone reception is the real miracle! She was rescued by Nature until recaptured by “law enforcement” and returned to the zoo we call “civilization”.