Georgia state parks: How to avoid trouble

“I have people come up to me all the time and ask me what they should be concerned about,” said Bill Tanner, superintendent at Amicalola Falls State Park, about 70 miles north of Atlanta. “Inevitably I say: ‘Where do you live?’ You’re so much more at risk there.”

Georgia’s 63 state parks and historic areas have more than 10 million visitors each year, according DNR officials.

Logs kept by park officials have 2,845 records of various types of incidents in the 13 months from July 1, 2008 through July 31, records show. About one-third were traffic related and about a quarter involved various types of disruptive activities, such as issues with noise, alcohol use or unruly pets. Just 2 percent of incidents in the log were crime reports, mostly thefts.

The rest were a hodgepodge of events, ranging from people who lacked park passes to reports of littering or plant poaching or accidental injuries.

Incidents that potentially endangered people often involved risks of their own creation, such as illegally entering hazardous areas, hiking off established trails or swimming where they shouldn’t. Others involved simple accidents: tripping and falling, bicycle or boating mishaps or health problems.

Dozens of times a year, park visitors get seriously lost. At least 45 incidents involved search and rescue efforts, the data show.

“A lot of these are folks who just really are not prepared to be hiking in the woods,” said Tanner. “They haven’t gotten a map. They haven’t done their research.”

That’s what happened with the family who had to be rescued near Springer Mountain in August 2008, search and rescue reports show.

The couple and their children, ages 10 and 14, parked at the Amicalola Falls visitor center and set off around noon on what should have been a one-mile hike to the falls. Instead, they hiked 12 miles, ending up on a deserted gravel road.

Despite spotty cellphone coverage, they managed to call for help around 6:45 p.m. — just as the National Weather Service issued a severe thunderstorm warning. Because of the approaching storm, rangers drove out and picked up the family.

In February, two hikers needed help getting out of F.D. Roosevelt State Park in west central Georgia after they ended up on a trail after dark and feared getting lost.

The mother of one of the overdue hikers reached her son on a cellphone and learned they’d built a fire to stay warm. After a call to 911, a search team member reached the hikers around 11:15 p.m. and returned them to their car.

Last October, a 23-year-old woman got into an argument with fellow campers at Amicalola State Park and stormed off without a flashlight. By the time she dialed 911 on her cellphone around 9:30 p.m., she said she was lost and scared. Park staff tried repeatedly to call her back, but couldn’t reach her. So they began contacting the park’s campsites to find out whether anybody was missing. Around 11:30 p.m. the woman returned the rangers’ calls to say she was back at the campsite with her friends.

“Cellphones have saved peoples’ lives,” said Tanner. “But the public has become too dependent on that cellphone, instead of being able to deal with their own quasi-emergency. The cellphone may not work. They typically don’t work here. And we don’t normally — if there’s not an injury — run a trail taxi service.”

The state can charge park visitors for the cost of a search and rescue if the incident involves some sort of violation — such as drug use or failure to have a permit. But most searches don’t involve any violation, and many are handled quickly, said Tanner.

More than 80 of the incidents in the logs involve injuries, mostly trips and falls.

At Fort Yargo State Park, several people suffered injuries while bicycling on trails. On April 25, medics were called after a man on a mountain bike flipped over the handlebars and possibly broke his clavicle. The next day, a woman who jumped too high with her bike crashed, scraping up her face and causing a swollen lip.

A 9-year-old boy who picked up a bat tangled in some fishing line was bitten on the thumb in July at Amicalola Falls. Park officials gave the boy’s father information about the risk for rabies and urged that the child see a doctor. At Tugaloo State Park, a woman was bitten by a copperhead snake in July 2008.

The incident logs record three deaths — all in July 2008.

One person died of natural causes at Richard B. Russell State Park. An 18-year-old man drowned while swimming at Webster’s Ferry area in Red Top Mountain State Park.

The third death involved a 46-year-old North Georgia woman whose body was found at the bottom of a cliff in Cloudland Canyon State Park. A massive search involving park officials, law enforcement, search dogs and helicopters was launched after the woman hadn’t shown up for work and her car was found abandoned in a parking lot at the park.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation ultimately ruled her death a suicide, said spokesman John Bankhead. But the search for a missing woman in a wilderness area initially drew comparisons to the January 2008 search for Meredith Emerson.

Emerson met her killer hiking in the Chattahoochee National Forest, federal land adjacent to Vogel State Park, noted DNR spokeswoman Kim Hatcher.

The federal government’s National Park Service oversees several parks in Georgia. While detailed incident reports weren’t immediately available for them, federal crime data indicate theft is the biggest issue.

Experienced backpacker Haley Barlar, 17, said Emerson’s death has caused some people to be unnecessarily spooked. “The trail community is really, really good. If you see someone creepy, you just stay away from them,” said Barlar, who had hiked along the Appalachian Trail and camped overnight with her mother, Nancy, before arriving at Amicalola’s visitor center last Sunday.

The Barlars, who live in Fayetteville, said they felt safe because they knew what they were doing: They planned their trip and traveled together. They had appropriate gear, food and water.

But along the way they encountered other hikers who weren’t so prepared.

The vast majority of park visits are uneventful. And with a little planning and a few basic items, even more people would stay out of trouble, Tanner said.

“People need to remember that they are responsible for themselves — whether they’re in a park or on the side of [Interstate] 285,” Tanner said. “Government can’t be everywhere. We’re here for the true needs that are beyond the scope of the individual.”

Tips for safe hiking

● Avoid hiking alone for safety and to have someone to help in case of an accident or medical emergency. If hiking alone, pick a well-traveled trail.

● Tell someone where you’re going and when you’ll return. Then make sure to let them know you’re back.

● Even if just on a short day hike, carry basic items in case the unexpected happens and you’re delayed: A trail map, a large garbage bag that can be used for shelter or to stay dry in the rain, water, snacks, small flashlight or glowstick, a whistle to signal for help, waterproof matches, a bandanna to use as a signal and a first aid kit.

● Don’t climb on waterfalls and stay on marked trails.

● Don’t count on cellphones or GPS devices to work in wilderness areas.

● Talk with children about what to do if they become lost. Tell them to “hug a tree” and stay put so they don’t wander further. Let them know that they shouldn’t hide from people, and possibly dogs, that might search for them.

Source: Department of Natural Resources

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Read the incident logs for Georgia state parks at www.ajc.com/go/crimereports.

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