Where is Puppychow?

At 5:41pm PST last Friday that is one of the questions I received from a surprise phone call from the GEOS International Emergency Response Coordination Center. It took me by surprise. Sam had left me his Spotwalla track to follow with a comment about going to Oregon for the weekend but I had no idea I was his Emergency Response Contact. What followed was a two hour series of constant phone calls as Local Search and Rescue, CHP and Siskiyou County Sheriffs were called into action to find a lost rider who had issued a 911 emergency signal from his SPOT device.

He was found on the side of the road near Medicine Lake, CA approximately 2 hours later after hitting a deer (if anyone here cares to know). He was injured, had been unconscious and required medical attention. A group of common friends who were "Local" were called into action and Sam was met at the hospital with people who were responsible and cared about what was happening to him. They also mobilized a separate team to retrieve his motorcycle and belongings - should we ALL be so lucky when the unavoidable happens to us. This story fortunately has a happy ending, but it is not always so.

Having been in such situations myself and knowing many who have not fared so well (there is whole "garden" of rocks near Gerlach, NV that memorializes those who have not been so fortunate)I know only too well that he is awful lucky to learn a difficult lesson.



Last night, I was feeling good that all ended so well. He was safely at home and moving on with life, starting to recover from his injuries and scoping out the damage to his motorcycle. That is when I found out during casual conversation for the first time that this was not a solo ride but rather a rather large RTE activity. He was with other riders, he was supposed to be sharing a room with a person in Klamath Falls, less that 75 miles from where he crashed and nobody thought to ask the question:

************************ Where is Puppychow? ******************************

The people I spend my riding time with are a different breed - Long Distance Riders have more experience with this sort of Emergency, they recognize when someone is not where they are supposed to be - they WILL go out looking for missing riders, notify authorities and not just pretend nothing happened with a missing rider. We KNOW that a missing rider is an emergency situation that needs immediate attention - we are the ones who plant those memorials and recognize them each year at our own formal ceremony.

I don't know who was with Puppychow, I do not know the specifics of what information he had given people. I do know his route was known to the riders (more information than I or any of the emergency responders had). I do know that there were others on that road with him, and they are list members here, I do know that they failed to perform the basic requirements of keeping a group together (when the rider behind you is not insight upon making a turn, you STOP until they can see you make that turn - if that happens all the way up the line eventually the leader stops and regroups the riders). I do know that he would still be out on that road if not for me.

Puppychow bears much of the blame here and is going to get a full earfull from me when I get the opportunity as he made a series of mistakes putting himself in that situation, but there are others here who have some splaining to do also. I just cannot believe nobody thought to ask the question I was asked - "Where is Sam". Nobody thought to retrace that road when there was a missing rider at dusk (a remote road that is one of the most deer infested in the whole country - and believe me, I know), nobody wondered why he did not show up at his reserved hotel, nobody thought to check on Sam and find out he was hospitalized, you all just kept on going.

Glad you all had such a great weekend - It could have ended VERY differently.

Brian R.

Brian R said:

. . . they failed to perform the basic requirements of keeping a group together (when the rider behind you is not insight upon making a turn, you STOP until they can see you make that turn - if that happens all the way up the line eventually the leader stops and regroups the riders).

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Thanks for the post, Brian. This promises to be a learning thread. I wasn't on this ride (left for La Pine @ 3:00 am the next day via another route), but there may be more to the story and the errors, including Sam's as you note, that led to this dangerous disconnect. It appears that his riding companions DID turn around looking for him. See end of this post: Tom's post #39

I quoted the excerpt from your post because I, too, have had some issues with the failure to do what you suggest, or at least to stop often enough to have some idea about where an accident might have happened if the trailing bike doesn't show up. Two bikes in a big western state with lots of space and few people. If you run way ahead, leaving us only to meet at that night's destination that is hours ahead, and something happens to me and my pillion GF out here, no one will know about it to begin a search for hours.

Whether there is blame to be shared in Sam's case or not, you've articulated the very reason I won't do that. This Monday, in fact, after returning from the OR RTE on Sunday, I rode a 200 mile loop here in the Sierras with a relatively new rider. Before we took off, I told her I would do exactly that -- if I get ahead in the twisties, you can count on me waiting when you get out of sight; I will not run off and leave you. I wasn't hammering it, she did an admirable job on her RT, and I really only had to slow a couple times. But this really should be a part of the protocol, especially when you're miles away from home and ready support.

Glad you were there for Sam, Brian.

Both of you are right on. I occasionally lead groups of riders, anywhere from two to twelve or so. One thing I always make clear before we leave is that WE WILL NOT LEAVE ANY RIDERS BEHIND. Check your mirrors, slow down or stop at any change of course, and slow down on the straights. Not only does this keep the group fairly organized, but it can prevent a less-experienced rider from trying to make up the difference with the throttle on the straight sections. That will only lead to that rider ending up in the ditch or the grill of a truck. I was that guy when I was young, and I've seen that guy since. It can ruin the day for everybody involved.

Good on you, Brian, for going to find our fellow downed rider, and for the friends that helped gather his gear and are helping him in his recovery.

Heal fast, Sam, and good luck on your recovery.

Puppychow was in a group with myself, Russ, SacramentoMike, Jamie, and Phil (6-riders). (Four of us had GMRS: myself, Russ, Phil and Jamie). As you note, we were in the Medicine Lakes area which has no phone or internet service, and therefore no way to know that Sam's Spotwalla had started to send a distress. In fact we never saw a distress signal but rather that his progress had stopped, and we didn't know that until we were in Klamath Falls.

We were heading north on Medicine Lake Rd (forest road 49), and I was navigating in the lead using GPS. As we passed Forest Road 97, Jamie radioed "That was our turn". I continued another 5-miles believing the route was correct, when the pavement ended here. Several in the group were uncomfortable with proceeding on dirt so it was decided to return to USFS Road 97 (Tionesta Rd) which goes east to Hwy 139. We stopped at 41.611083,-121.607334 where I took the picture of the lava beds and made sure all were together. Russ then took point with me following. I think I was followed by Mike, Jamie, Phil and Sam. Upon arriving at Road 97 We stopped and seemed to have everyone. As we proceeded up the road, Jamie realized we only had five riders and radioed Phil in the back whether there was anyone behind him. Phil indicated he WAS there, but he had not seen him make the turn. We immediately returned to the intersection of Medicine Lake and Road 97.

We decided to backtrack to the dirt road. Mike, Russ and Jamie remained at the intersection, Phil went ahead, and I followed at a distance to relay radio between Phil and Jamie. Sam was not found in that re-trace. Unknown to us, he had proceeded south to pick up Harris Springs Road and then out to Hwy 97 which is the thoroughfare that goes to Klamath Falls. His collision with the deer occurred about 2-miles south of our position, but there was no way to know. I assumed that if he had traveled south, he would not be possible to catch, and so I wanted to proceed on Hwy 97 and turn north into Lava Beds Nat'l Monument and get to Klamath Falls. Sacramento Mike and Russ decided to retrace back to the dirt road and carefully look for a rider off the road. They ended up taking the dirt 12 miles to Lava Beds and arrived in Klamath Falls before us.

When we all arrived in Klamath Falls at the Hotel, Russ had pulled up Sam's Spot location. No distress signal was seen, but his position was stationary. Within a half-hour we had phone messages about the accident and spoke with Sam. It was a relief to know he had gotten help and was being treated and his bike was being collected.

Everyone in this group felt terrible about the situation, and we all question to this day what we might have done differently...what Sam might have done differently. We screwed up by not keeping everyone in the group in sight. Phil was the person ahead of Sam who had taken the sweep position. Phil was new to group riding protocols and while he had a radio, did not hold back to keep the sweep in view, but we are all responsible for not taking a careful count at the intersection where we turned east. In all, we spent over an hour searching in the wrong direction, before continuing on our routes.

I'll leave it to others to speculate what we might or should have done differently. Clearly, had we searched south, we would have found him. Had Sam remained at the intersection where he lost track of us or stayed in sight of the group, he would have been rejoined almost immediately. Had Phil noticed the person behind him was missing and radioed that, we would have waited. A lot of coulda, shoulda, woulda, and none of us are feeling any better that the outcome was bad, and could have been worse. I'm a strong believer in radios so everyone knows what is going on, but for those that don't have them, they are completely in the dark about the group's intent or changes of direction. It takes no time at all to be lost once you are out of sight. Stay where you are...we'll be right back.

I talked with Sam a little while ago before this thread was posted. I'll be going over to visit tomorrow. I have and will apologize for anything I might have done differently to change what happened. I would ask that the forum use this thread constructively, rather than to blame, recognizing there may be plenty to go around.

I'm glad that we are still talking about Sam in the present. It is always easier to see things clearer in hind sight.

One big take-away from this is how good it was that Sam had a SPOT and could broadcast a 911. How would this have turned out if he hadn't been able to help himself? There is always the post event coulda, shoulda, woulda analysis. Everyone here should use this as a teaching moment.

Sending a Get Healed Fast to Sam and an attaboy for having the SPOT with emergency capability based on his riding style.

Very much appreciate the clarifying explanations. When I first heard this was a group ride I exploded then after a quick nastygram to one of the forum moderators decided I better look deeper and see what may have actually happened and then count 10 before responding. (so I slept on it)

I also have subsequently heard that AJ (who I have actually met once in Albuquerque with RenoJohn) also notified authorities from Klamath later so I think you guys did what you could or should have. I would expect that from him, an experienced LEO (if I have the right guy).

I also have a long explanation about SPOT 911 that I rather not get into. Lets just say they DID NOT have all their shit in one sock, and with this further explanation they definitely did not (they had wrong location) according to what was just posted. Still, to their credit they DID get on top of it and at least get out search and rescue. Furthermore, Sammy did not have Spotwalla showing his 911 pings (not sure their is a setting for that on Spotwalla). I should have had his actual SPOT page and did not.

An improvement to protocol (and I know it is difficult to follow this stuff when all is aflutter) is:

1. Most experienced riders - Lead and Sweep. Inexperienced riders often want to ride sweep, do not let them.

2. Lead and sweep should have comms if possible.

3. Everyone should be aware of their position in group and who is behind them - then never make a course correction without the rider behind you in sight to see the change. All the riders should know this basic rule.

4. Everyone should be aware and the group should set interim meeting points.

For those with SPOT. Make sure your emergency contact knows they are your emergency contact. Make sure they have access to your actual SPOT page, not just a Spotwalla trip page. Make sure they have your basic information (cell #, age, ssn, bike description). Leave them with your planned itinerary when you send them an email indicating your intention to take a trip.

There is really no practical way for a group to be able to communicate with an emergency contact - but that emergency contact (like me) had the information that Sam's last location was south of FR 97 and could have informed you of that - that is EXACTLY what I told Siskiyou County Sheriffs (contradicting SPOT Emergency personnel to their dismay when they finally got their phones sorted out and reconnected with me).

Thank you all much for the honest responses.

Brian, I still don't know the position where the accident occurred. Can you clarify? If you center on the location in Google Maps and right click what's here, you should pull up a coordinate.

All your points are well taken, and as with most incidents, ours did not have a single thing go wrong, but rather a series of mistakes. We own em. I will assume responsibility as the most experienced ride leader, even though at the moment I was riding second in line. Puppychow on sweep was probably the other most experienced rider, but had no com. I'm a bit vague on exactly how he fell behind, and my conversation with him didn't bring much enlightenment, but then again, Hydrocodone is like that.

Great to see that this has been a very constructive post so far.

I would just like to support Ionbeam's endorsement of the benefits of SPOT. Yesterday in East Yorkshire a rider was found after spending 3 days injured in a 6ft ditch following a motorcycle accident. If he had had SPOT then he would have been found quickly.

Here is a link to the story https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-humber-19635910

While the facts of this story are very different to Puppychow's, I thought I would add this scenario of having an accident while riding alone to the teaching scenario's. As in flying, it is imporatnt to fave a flight plan that you communicate to others.

Some people may be wondering who Brian is and why he was driven to post strong words about this incident involving me. Brian is my "Dad". He is family, as close to and in many ways even more so than the family I was born into.

I am certain many here on the forum are fathers, and I am also certain any father would dread receiving a call from SPOT emergency services regarding their son. I put Brian through hours of turmoil, uncertainty, frantic calls and coordination with local search and rescue and law enforcement as well as common friends in the area, and given the remoteness and desolation of the location and the inability of local search and rescue to determine my location and find me (SPOT had signaled incorrect co-ordinates/information, I was not where SPOT was saying I was at), he was quite possibly fearing the worst.

He was of the impression that I was traveling alone through such desolate but rodent infested country, and of course he was furious at my apparent stupidity for doing so, but you could only understand his shock, dismay and pain, when he discovered that I was actually riding with 6 other riders and felt I was more or less 'left behind'. He didn't have all the information as he had only been talking to me, and the fault for which lies solely upon me, in my current Hydrocodone induced loopy state over the past few days, I did not/may not have had or remembered or mentioned all the details, and quite frankly while I had communicated with others who weren't there, I hadn't talked or emailed with anyone in that particular riding group which went to Medicine Lake till today.

There have been some really painful knocks pounded into me this weekend. Caused by costly mistakes, which I don't think I will forget, nor would I repeat those mistakes. Yes, of course material and monetary damages are costly and it appears they will be, as for insurance purposes, deer strikes are not collision coverage, but "comprehensive" - which I do not have, but I digress. The real hurtful knocks were the physical ones and then again even more so the emotional ones. Not just what I suffered, but what some of my nearest and dearest friends had to endure on my account.

I am lucky to be alive, doesn't quite cut it. After the mass confusion which ensued post dirt-road turn around, the group headed back south. I realize now that the only communication that was occurring was on radio (which I didn't have), and I had no idea what the plan was going forward. I should have cornered one of the lead riders to figure out what the plan was or planted myself in the middle of the ride group, which I am usually loathe to do, but which might have been warranted. As it ended up I was riding sweep again and I tried to keep the last rider in sight, but the group was moving briskly and I felt like I was playing "keep up/catch up" on this narrow one lane road (esp. after we had all just recently stopped on this same road because a fawn was sighted), which eventually led me to lose sight of the last rider. I kept riding for some time hoping I would see them again, not realizing they had turned off and started to wonder if we were now backtracking and retracing our steps back to Harris Springs/Hwy 89. Then, miles away from any signs of civilization on a desolate road with hardly if any traffic, going approx 45 mph, I come around a slight curve with overgrowth on the side of the road, to be greeted by a buck, a fairly good sized one with antlers if I remember correctly. I kind of remember 'feeling' the impact, but nothing of what ensued afterwards, till I was picking myself off the road. I remember I wasn't feeling any pain at the moment, I must have stumbled around and found the bike, because I retrieved the SPOT beacon and set off the SOS message. Upon reflection, I am not sure how wise it was to have the SPOT device on the bike and not on my person. Obviously, I had been separated from the bike after the impact (in some ways that might have been a good thing that I wasn't pinned under or impacted by the bike after) and the bike had slid over 67 feet into a ditch on the side of the road. I have no recollection of where I picked myself off of the road relative to the bike and if I got up immediately or if it was sometime afterwards, regardless if I had been immobilized, I could have ended up laying there on the road for who knows how long and for who knows who or what to find me.

By an absolute stroke of luck or divine intervention, I was found by a couple of BMW riders, who stopped and checked me out as one of them was ski patrol. They were trying to determine the best course of option as we weren't certain at that time if SPOT was sending an SOS beacon. This was when two other angels arrived at the scene. We waited a little more while for the signs of approaching sirens and on the absence of which, it was decided that they will re-arrange their luggage and give me a ride towards Hwy 89, if help was coming it would be coming from that direction. They gathered up what they could of my gear and luggage and ~24 miles or so later we found ourselves at the Bartle Lodge and called emergency services for help. The local search and rescue apparently already knew of my incident from the SPOT device, but due to the incorrect information relayed by the SPOT device had not been able to locate me, when we made contact from Bartle Lodge the services were re-directed towards me. We, then also contacted Brian on the phone, as well as the local friends who Brian had already been touching bases with, who then corralled the troops to retrieve my bike and belongings and meet me at the ER and then take me to their place and nurse me for the next 3 days. Just before the ambulance arrived, I also received a call from AJ (HotRodZilla), who had put his trooper hat back on and pinpointed my location from the local sheriffs, it seems he had been working the phones and had gotten in touch with local law enforcement when I had not shown up at Klamath Falls when everyone else had.

It took me over 3 hours to type this, but before I go take another one of my Vicodin induced naps here in a minute, I will thank my friends, my family, and my angels (including my family) who appeared when I needed them and the angels who take care of things for me and took care of me in my time of need. May everyone be blessed with friends such as these! I am indeed very lucky! I am also thankful to everyone who reached out with sympathy and concern and for continuing to check on my well being and wishing me well. Very much appreciated.

And Brian, you have been my emergency contact for a few years, if there is anyone I can completely trust with my life, not just in a crisis situation, but pretty much any given day, it would be you. I am sorry for what I put you through this past weekend, I know I deserve the proverbial neck wringing that I will receive when I am within reach, but quite honestly if I found myself in a quandry and my life depended on it and there was just one person who I could count on to rescue me. Without a doubt, it would be you. Hats off to you Brian and can't say it enough or often enough! THANK YOU!!

Glad you are OK... wishing you a Speedy Recovery!

Thanks for sharing your story and words of wisdom.

Just WOW, Sam! Wish there was something I could do for you from down here! If there is, just holler! So glad you're alright, at least alright enough to be responding on a forum.

Welcome to the Deer Strike club.

There will be a lot to learn about this as you get up and around and are willing and able. I have lots of questions in my mind, mostly about SPOT issues. Hopefully some answers can be determined in due time.

Stay rested, my friend!

Nothing pithy, nothing cute, just a sincere message of gratitude that all is well(kinda). Heal fast Sam.

Mark

Thank God it didn't end worse; hope your injuries aren't severe and you heal quickly.

Good to hear yer more or less okay puppychow. Sounds like you've got some very good friends there

puppychow said:

Hats off to you Brian and can't say it enough or often enough! THANK YOU!![/font]

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Wow, sorry to hear this story. Good thing you had watchful eyes at work. Glad you are mending Sam.

That's a lot of info to digest.

I will thank you for posting the info on your spot carrying location. I've seen many arguments regarding whether to keep it on your person or on your bike, but not too many folks who've had to push the button. I know folks are worried about getting hurt by something in your pocket but I'd hate to be immobile and not able to get to the device, knowing all the while it was there. Thanks for sharing your story and your thoughts on the subject.

In the end, sounds like you had just enough good luck to overcome the bad luck. Glad you are able to ride another day and that you've got your dad looking out for you there.

The bucks are in full swollen-neck, too stupid to do anything but find a doe mode right now. Sorry you collected one Sam. Heal well.

+1 to all of the well wishes to you Sam! Don't beat yourself up too bad brother, concentrate on getting yourself healed up for now. There will be plenty of time for Monday morning quarterbacking on down the road. Know that we are all just thankful you are well enough to tell the tale and hopefully we all learn what we can from your unfortunate experience. There's no way to know bro' but you being around to share your experience probably will save countless lives in the years to come. Thanks for sharing it with all of us and Godspeed on a fast recovery!

gixxerjasen said:

I know folks are worried about getting hurt by something in your pocket but I'd hate to be immobile and not able to get to the device, knowing all the while it was there.

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Learn from my mistakes...please don't make the mistakes that I did!

Thing is, strapped securely around or in a pocket on the top (not on the outside though, obviously ) of your forearm is probably the best place for the SPOT device. In the past I have had it strapped to the top of my left bicep, but seeing as to how my shoulder area took the brunt of the trauma in my accident as discussed later, I would imagine that if the SPOT was strapped there it would either been damaged or contributed to the damage to my shoulder area. Besides on the bicep so close to your fragile ribs, a hardened plastic box in proximity of your ribs just sounds like a bad idea to me, take it for what it is worth!

In retrospect with full 20/20 on the events which transpired, if I had been badly injured and immobile on the road, there was no way I would have been able to figure out where the bike was to get to it and activate the SOS signal. Not that the SOS signal did a whole lot of good in this particular case, yes it got the ball rolling with search and rescue, but I heard they were having all sorts of issues with the SPOT service just about the time that I really needed them to be on the ball! I just got very lucky I found some good Samaritans on motorcycles to come to my rescue the old fashioned way, of course rescue was already on full alert and relatively close by and was able to rush to me once my location was reliably pin pointed. It also doesn't mean SPOT would be a failure every time. I would never ride without it, haven't ever left it behind in the past couple years since I bought it and will never ever be without it or something similar or better ever no matter what ride I go on.

Of course, as is usually the case, I was not entirely without fault in the SPOT fiasco. I had NEVER paid attention to it, but if you pay close attention to the SPOTWALLA trip setup page you will see what you see an image of below:



You notice options for displaying "Tracking", "OK", "Custom" and "Help" messages. Do you notice what is missing?

Yes! You are missing what could possibly save your life!! Gosh darn it, how could I have been so careless and stupid? There is no option for SOS (HELP IS NOT SOS guys!!) and all this time I NEVER noticed. The humanity!!

I sent Brian the spotwalla link and posted it here for the group ride also, you guys could see my last known location from the "Tracking", but SPOTWALLA DOES NOT SHOW THE SOS MARKER/INDICATION. I REPEAT SPOTWALLA DOES NOT SHOW THE SOS MARKER/INDICATION! PLEASE KEEP IN MIND!!

I am lucky to be alive!

So while, my emergency contact had the link to my Spotwalla, he did not have access to my findmespot.com tracking page, which clearly shows the SOS marker going off for 40 minutes!! Moreoever, and to top it all of it was not at my last known "Tracking" location. I don't know how this works or why it was different, just trust me when I say this. Last known "Tracking" location may not equate the location you send your SOS beacon from! Rider beware!! On my findmespot.com page, I see the SOS beacon going off for 40 minutes quite some ways south of what was my last "Tracking" location. I have no idea what caused SPOT to still report an incorrect location for my SOS beacon, whether it was related to the system/server issues they were having or what not. all that is pure speculation, but the main takeaway from this is what Brian has already mentioned.

MAKE SURE YOUR EMERGENCY CONTACT HAS FULL INFORMATION/ACCESS TO ALL YOUR SPOT LOCATIONS/MESSAGES!

I am lucky to be alive!

I was going to post some more about my injuries from the accident, my choice of riding gear and how they fared, but I am getting tired and I am a bit emotionally wound up at the same time, so I will save it for tomorrow.

Hope you guys can learn from my mistakes, and do not repeat them yourself, if some good can come out of some bad which happened to me, then that would be, well a good thing I think!

Be safe and ride safe you guys!