Old-fashioned skills save woman lost in Grand Canyon

An American woman stranded alone for five days alone in the Grand Canyon has credited her survival to the skills she learned as a Girl Scout.

Amber VanHecke ran out of petrol on the drive to a Native American reservation after Google Maps sent her down a road that didn’t exist. In an isolated spot and in scorching heat, the 24-year-old had no mobile phone signal but was found because of the smart moves she made to keep herself alive.

VanHecke had packed plenty of food in case of the worst, and her scouting skills told her to make sure she rationed it.

“I had prepared for it, and I just didn’t expect it to happen to me, and you never do I guess,” VanHecke told The Dallas Morning News.

She also put white rocks on the ground that spelled out ‘help’ in big letters so her car could be spotted by the aircraft she saw occasionally passing overhead, and, after she was missed by a truck during the night because the driver didn’t see her, placed a barricade in the road so vehicles would slow down.

She explained that she used her Girl Scout skills to start a signal fire but found  that “everything was so dry, it burned too clean” to be seen from a distance.

So to eke out her food supply, she used the hot sun on the dashboard of the car to cook instant noodles. 

Finally, five days in and with no rescuer in sight, she became desperate enough to risk walking 11 miles until she could get a tiny phone signal, and used that to call emergency services. Although the call quickly dropped out, it was enough for her location to be pinpointed and a subsequent air search spotted her help  sign.

She told her full story on Facebook.

Did you learn any useful skills in Boy Scouts or Girl Guides? Would you remember them if you needed them in an emergency?