I may have to re-think this whole topic/discussion, Harvey.
I was not at altitude, nor did I even have to put forth any physical effort, yet, I could not make a simple decision as whether to turn left or right on a very simple course (after 5 minutes, I could not remember how to backtrack to begin at the house that I had departed) Quite frankly, I was getting ready to pull over and knock on someone's door for assistance.
How did this all happen? I ate an early dinner and fell asleep soon after (not feeling 100% from excessive exercise all week) I overslept breakfast & had to make a meeting that was only supposed to take a short time. At 1:00pm (20 hrs after my last meal), I left the meeting feeling fine, until I entered the "Labyrinth".
My basic decision making skills were shot.
Applying this whole episode to the trail leads me to believe that yes, something very bad can happen to a seemingly rational individual under somewhat "normal" conditions shambling along not in the backcountry, but a trail.
For a little history, I have a reputation for being able to go inordinate amounts of time without eating, but it looks like I hit the wall(unintentionally) at 20hrs
