It's Not a Walk in the Woods When Someone Gets Hurt or Dies

This is what I have been trying to explain to those planning to hike the Appalachian Trail and to Appalachian Trail hikers. It's NOT a walk in the woods, it's a DANGEROUS endeavor. And it may be 'the last thing you do.'

Searchers Puzzled Why Hiker, Geraldine "inchworm" Largay Vanished

Wardens Narrow Search Area

Read the articles and look at the photos in the second article.

When you hike the AT or any trail, you take your own life in your hands.  YES, I love hiking and backpacking, and YES, I am well aware of the dangers.  Do I want it to be 'the last thing I do in life?'  NO!  One of the many reasons I got off the Trail when I was hurt was so that I would not push myself while in pain and make a regrettable decision.  You may decide to ruin your health over a hike, but I didn't.

Some will comment, if it turns out that this woman has died on the Trail, that she 'died doing what she loved' and I will ask 'REALLY?'  Don't you think she'd have rather died at a later date?  Don't you think she had other things she was planning to do before she died?  What about her husband?  Do you think he wants to remember his wife 'died doing what she wanted to do' rather than their living a long happy life together?  What about her children, grandchildren, family and friends?  Do you not think that ALL of them will be second guessing themselves for the rest of their natural lives for not saying something that might have saved her life?  "Take another day off, you're tired" or "Don't worry about any deadlines" or "If it gets dark, just stop and camp beside the Trail" or "Carry those maps, even if they weigh 6 extra ounces, they may come in handy" or "The AT can be confusing around all those snow-mobile and backwoods and ski trails, be sure to check your maps and blazes often."  And what about the rescuers?  Their time, effort, expense, and then the trauma if they find her dead?   It's not all about that Romanticized Version of Dying on the Trail.

Resign from the Mystic Order of the Appalachian Trail and come live in reality.

What are you going to say to Geraldine's distraught family?  "Well, at least she had fun before she died?"  I doubt that will help them come to closure.  And I personally think it is very unkind and selfish if that's your first thought.

My first thought is ...

Dear God, Geraldine has been missing for over a week, please help the rescuers locate her or her body.  Please be with her family and comfort them.  Please help open the eyes of the hiking community to the reality of the dangers of hiking.  Please help everyone to be more honest and truthful in reporting about their hikes, especially their Appalachian Trail hikes.

Photo from front porch

Mom asked for a clearer photo. 

If you look carefully you can see the barn. 

Nostalgia and Peace

Since my last post, a lot has transpired. 

My hike was cut short by my knees and then my camping trip to the Shenandoah Mountains was shortened by a day due to sub 28* weather.  I returned to my Mom's apartment and was there for my Mom exactly when she needed me. The timing was impeccable -- as if orchestrated by an Unseen Force.  My brother spent time sharing with me, which was inspiring and good.  I got to go kayaking on the Monacacy River with him and his family -- trip planner was my niece -- and had a great time. 

While at my Mom's my Best Friend from North Georgia called. Her tenant had moved out and her Cabin in the Mountains was available if I wanted to rent it.  I said I do!  

So on July first, I got a second chance to live in the North Georgia Mountains. Not everyone gets an opportunity to return to a pleasant place to live.  I'm sitting on the porch as I write this -- night noises, crickets, rain dripping from trees, sky mellowing into night, lightening bugs.  Earlier, BFF's dh [dear husband] brought me a handful of fresh blueberries from the garden beside the cabin.  I'll put them in my oatmeal in the morning. There are apples ripening on the tree beside the blueberry bush.  

I'm surrounded by pines and hardwoods.   The horse pasture is just beyond the trees and the barn has faded from sight  and blended in with the trees beyond it. 

Hymns are playing on my CD player. 

I opened one of my AT Hike Maildrop boxes [I have 5 more to open] and put the food in the cupboard. It was the Port Clinton, PA, box -- I expected to be there on May 23.  That seems like a lifetime ago. And in a sense, it was. Do I regret salvaging my knee and getting off the Trail? Honestly -- no.  I've had plenty of time to search my heart -- I have looked at my answers to Zach Davis' questions [Appalachian Trials - see previous posts] -- I've reflected, I've pondered, I've prayed -- and I have no regrets.  I believe I have learned what Dad wanted me to know when he told me to hike the Trail.  And I am still learning.  

Tonight, I am in that place of peace and contentment.  Everything is not "perfect" in my life, by any means.  I wax nostalgic about my kids and grand kids and great grandson -- I wonder how they are. 

Ah, the music has stopped and the rain has started -- perfect timing to bid the reader a gentle goodnight for now. 

Porch in the daytime. 

Happy Father's Day

Photos of my Hike

Photo album from my Hike in May with comments on the photos.

Doesn't seem possible that my hike is now 'on hold' but that's the way things happen.

In the long run, it's turned out to be good because a mountain cabin has become available and I'll be moving from TN back to GA in July.

Thank you to everyone who has followed this blog.  There will be more adventures this summer.  How many will include backpacking is currently not known, but I am hoping my knee will heal enough for me to get back on the Appalachian Trail and the Benton MacKaye Trail.

I will be hammock hanging this time, though.

July 18, 2004: Unprepared Hikers Burden Baxter Park Staff

This is only one article from 9 years ago (there are many more current articles) and it does not describe the complete incident.  Surviving to tell the story turns a life-threatening event into an exciting adventure.  I wonder how the "adventure" would have been described if, during the 32 hour ordeal, one or more participants had died?  

Turning a near tragedy into an exciting hike is an example of what I now call: "The Mystic Order of the Appalachian Trail" -- whose sole members are those Appalachian Trail hikers who survive life-threatening and risky experiences while hiking the Trail which get translated in their telling into an "heroic and challenging adventure" merely because none of the participants succumbed to any of the many dangerous situations they and the Trail placed them in and who have sworn themselves never to reveal the true dangers and their near-fatal instances while hiking the Trail. 

Someone will want to comment that "you could die in your bed or on the Trail; I choose the Trail." Fine and good, but please be considerate of others and do not place your rescuers in danger. If you have a Trail Death Wish, do not carry a "Spot" or satellite phone and do not use your cell-phone when you place yourself in a life-threatening situation or when you injure yourself because you chose to place yourself in harm's way.  Calling for help to get yourself out of a predicament on the Appalachian Trail which you chose to place yourself in is the height of Trail Hypocrisy! Take responsibility for hiking the Trail and do not expect others to bail you out because of your lack of adequate gear, planning, preparation, or physical health or ability. 

Just because the Trail is "there" and you think you have a "right" to hike it, does not give you permission to take risks and then expect others to rescue you because you choose to "die on the Trail rather than at home." No, you do NOT choose to "die on the Trail!" You choose to have someone, Park Employee, Ranger, Volunteer, Rescue Unit, another hiker, come save you so you can "die at home."  Be honest -- or refuse to call for rescue -- do not be a hypocrite! 

Quote: The park doesn’t require reimbursement by those rescued. Caverly suggested to the trustees that they might consider it in the future to apply to individuals "who say they have a right to go" hiking in hazardous weather conditions. End Quote. 

By Phyllis Austin, Maine Environmental News (www.meepi.org). 10/25/04

On the night of July 18, 2004, rain and fog shrouded Katahdin, and three women – one of them 81 years old – hovered in the dark on the mountain’s high plateau.

Loretta Copeland of Ocala, Florida, was so tired from the 5.2-mile hike up the Hunt trail to the 5,267-foot summit that she couldn’t make it back down. Her 65-year-old companions, Nancy Keegan of West Palmetto, Florida, and Patty Faith from Altoona, Pennsylvania, were not able to leave her. A lone hiker who happened to come across the trio, decided to stay with them for support.

The rangers at Katahdin Stream campground were notified by returning hikers that Loretta Copeland needed help. Searchers proceeded up the trail for two-and-a-half hours. At 11 p.m., they still hadn’t found the women and turned back because the weather made it too risky to continue.

Rangers were enroute again by 7 a.m. When they finally located the women, they placed Copeland on a stretcher. The evacuation off the mountain took six hours. Copeland was transported by ambulance to the Millinocket hospital and kept overnight for observation.

...

The search and rescue efforts were highlighted by park director Buzz Caverly at the October 15 [2004],meeting of the Park Authority because "it was amazing" to have people in that age category on Katahdin. "Older people decided it was time to conquer Katahdin, without realizing you don’t conquer the mountain," he observed.

Dan Martin, one of the authority’s three members and head of the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, responded that his agency is "seeing the same thing" with search and rescue of more older people outdoors. "These are people in their 70s, 80s, early 90s," he said. "They give out . . . are ill-prepared." 

...

"People look at Katahdin as a piece of cake [to climb]," Caverly told the park trustees at the fall meeting at Kidney Pond. But the mountain is formidable, and hikers of all ages should take it seriously and follow "good Boy Scout rules," he said.

( I contend that it is "The Mystic Order of the Appalachian Trail" and the books and Trail Journals and web-blogs which are at least partly responsible for this false and dangerous assumption that Katahdin is "fun" and a "challenge" rather than a more accurate description: formidable and life-endangering, even for healthy and prepared hikers. Hiking the Appalachian Trail is not a "walk in the woods" but is a physical and mental undertaking. Everyone who dreams of becoming a "2000-Miler" or Thru Hiker is encouraged to take an honest inventory of his/her skills, abilities, health and age. Hike Your Own Hike and, as Francis Tapon wrote: find out what that phrase means in your life. )

Read more about the difficulty and dangers of hiking Katahdin and the Whites here: http://www.meepi.org/files04/pa102504.htm

Coosa Converts

This is my new Hennessy Hammock Backpacker Asym.  Found the "sweet spot" and slept well. 

I can't believe I converted from Bivy to Hammock!

I'm at Big Meadows Campground on Skyline Drive. Tonight I'm eating at the Lodge --- wanted a steak, ended up with Roosevelt's Fried Chicken dinner. If you don't know the story of how he reniged on the Government promise (both President Coolidge and President Hoover decreed it in writing!) to allow the residents of the Shenandoah National Park to remain on their land --- read up on it! Broke my heart --- 450 (or more) families had the property they bought and paid for stolen from them by the Government of Franklin Delano Roosevelt!  The Federal Government thanked them for their "sacrifice" --- that's what they call it when they victimize citizens I guess. 

PS -- Spotswood Dining Lodge --- 2 or 3 stars --- burned chicken and cold sweet potato fries.