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Two California hikers found a family's message in a bottle and helped save them

cnn.com

11–20 of 99 posts

Re: Two California hikers found a family's message in a bottle and helped save them

#11
post #2

I really enjoyed this story. However I did struggle on one part: > Whitson, his 13-year-old son and girlfriend, Krystal Ramirez, had decided to spend Father's Day weekend backpacking the Arroyo Seco River. It took me longer to parse this sentence than I should perhaps admit to. The first couple of reads lead me to believe his son and girlfriend were the same person.

Nice place for an Oxford comma.

Just an fyi, Oxford comma only applies to lists of 3 or more. I think this is just a dangling modifier.

Re: Two California hikers found a family's message in a bottle and helped save them

#12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nice place for an Oxford comma.

Just an fyi, Oxford comma only applies to lists of 3 or more. I think this is just a dangling modifier.

This is a list of three: Whitson, his son, and his girlfriend.

Re: Two California hikers found a family's message in a bottle and helped save them

#13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nice place for an Oxford comma.

The Oxford comma isn't the issue here. The issue is that "his" binds both son and girlfriend, and therefore needs an "and" in front of it. It's not grammatical as is.

It would still read perplexingly. The Oxford comma isn't a tool for the inept; rather, the ept.

Re: Two California hikers found a family's message in a bottle and helped save them

#15

This reminded me of this real life story of trying to find a German family that got lost in Death Valley. It's a tragic story but I found very interesting how this person tries to piece together what happened. It's a long but worthwhile read. https://www.otherhand.org/home-page/search-and-rescue/the-hu...

Discussions:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12019567

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19263057

Re: Two California hikers found a family's message in a bottle and helped save them

#17

This reminded me of this real life story of trying to find a German family that got lost in Death Valley. It's a tragic story but I found very interesting how this person tries to piece together what happened. It's a long but worthwhile read. https://www.otherhand.org/home-page/search-and-rescue/the-hu...

It is a fascinating story and the persistance of the author in trying to find the family is remarkable but its totally different than this story. The Germans were completely unprepared for their adventure without the correct clothing, not enough water, and apparently little or no knowledge of where they were going or where they were. The family in this story were prepared, knew exactly where they were going and where they were. They just ran into some bad luck but kept calm and did precisely the correct thing. The Germans were responsible for their own situation and paid the ultimate price.

Re: Two California hikers found a family's message in a bottle and helped save them

#18

This reminded me of this real life story of trying to find a German family that got lost in Death Valley. It's a tragic story but I found very interesting how this person tries to piece together what happened. It's a long but worthwhile read. https://www.otherhand.org/home-page/search-and-rescue/the-hu...

It is a fascinating story and the persistance of the author in trying to find the family is remarkable but its totally different than this story. The Germans were completely unprepared for their adventure without the correct clothing, not enough water, and apparently little or no knowledge of where they were going or where they were. The family in this story were prepared, knew exactly where they were going and where…

I think this is almost a phenomenon. Europeans have trouble imagining the vastness and untouchedness of American national parks.

In Europe almost all hiking trails are close to civilization and well-marked. If you expect the same in America you're in for a surprise.

Re: Two California hikers found a family's message in a bottle and helped save them

#19
post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is a fascinating story and the persistance of the author in trying to find the family is remarkable but its totally different than this story. The Germans were completely unprepared for their adventure without the correct clothing, not enough water, and apparently little or no knowledge of where they were going or where they were. The family in this story were prepared, knew exactly where they were going and where…

I think this is almost a phenomenon. Europeans have trouble imagining the vastness and untouchedness of American national parks. In Europe almost all hiking trails are close to civilization and well-marked. If you expect the same in America you're in for a surprise.

I just returned from a three week RV trip to some of the national parks out west, including Death Valley. Two of the things I noticed were (1) Europeans outnumbered Americans in the RV parks and (2) Europeans seemed far more inclined to break the national park rules. At one point we were in a guided jeep tour in Canyonlands which is some seriously treacherous driving on cliffside switchbacks. An Escalade sped by us at one point and we were all like WTF these people are insane...it's a cliff!! We caught up to them at an overlook (the Thelma and Louise Overlook) and our guide got out to scold them. He came back and was like, "No surprise, they're Italian." He went on to explain that 90% of the issues they see with people acting recklessly were Europeans who didn't seem to comprehend how dangerous these places can be.

Re: Two California hikers found a family's message in a bottle and helped save them

#20
post #19
post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think this is almost a phenomenon. Europeans have trouble imagining the vastness and untouchedness of American national parks. In Europe almost all hiking trails are close to civilization and well-marked. If you expect the same in America you're in for a surprise.

I just returned from a three week RV trip to some of the national parks out west, including Death Valley. Two of the things I noticed were (1) Europeans outnumbered Americans in the RV parks and (2) Europeans seemed far more inclined to break the national park rules. At one point we were in a guided jeep tour in Canyonlands which is some seriously treacherous driving on cliffside switchbacks. An Escalade sped by us a…

In fairness, Italians have a reputation for driving dangerously when they know the territory, too.
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