When You Find My Body ....

[DrNed]

Story of woman who survives for weeks after being lost.

When you find my body please call my husband.

 

[Dan_85]

I was thinking about posting this here. It's a really sad story, but am I the only one thinking that something doesn't add up here?

Everything i've read suggests that this lady was "an experienced hiker", yet i'm struggling to wrap my head around how an experienced hiker gets lost a few miles off trail and is unable to relocate the trail (or any trail/road etc) in 4 weeks before passing away. Wouldn't an experienced hiker have, at least intermediate navigational skills? Wouldn't you, as a last resort, set up a base camp and head out one day several miles north in the hope of finding a trail or a road? Failing that, return to camp and head out the next day south, east, west etc.

Am I being unfair? I've never hiked the AT or in that area of the country at all so maybe i'm underestimating the terrain. I've seen a few AT hikers describe that woods in that area as "incredibly deep, dark and oppressive" so maybe i'm being harsh. But still, something doesn't seem quite right. Anyway, may the lady rest in peace.

 

[Laura]

Kinda wondered the same thing myself, but I've never hiked the AT before, either. 4 weeks seems like it would be long enough to cover a few miles in all directions, and the odds of finding the trail again seem pretty good by doing that. But again, I'm writing from 3,000 miles away......

 

[LarryBoy]

I've got a slight personal connection to this story. I hiked from Georgia to southern Maine 2013, and was probably within a few days of running into her (before she got lost) when I got off the trail to start a job. Friends who had fallen a few hundred miles back from me knew her, and actually if you watch the TV special on it, my buddies Rash and Punkie Pie are interviewed.

All that to say - this was an event that shook the trail community deeply. Tons of hikers put their hikes on hold for days, even a week or two, to search the woods for this poor woman. I think the closure is important, obviously for the family, but for the hiking community too. The trail community is like a small town - whispers and rumors and mysteries are abundant and it's comforting, in a sense, to have the clarity.

With respect to the specific circumstances - If I recall, the area just north of Oberton Stream is not very well marked and, as it's been said a million times, it's pretty thick and brushy there. I can easily see how someone would get off-trail and not be able to find the trail. When we talk about covering a mile in any direction, that's simply not possible. It's too thick in Maine, not to mention that you won't be able to walk straight without a compass. And on top of that, it's very steep.

I'm acutely aware that I'm not in her shoes and, Lord willing, will never be in her shoes, so I do speak with some reservation. With that said, a few things do come to mind:

1) An experienced hiker is not necessarily a skilled hiker, particularly on the AT. Thru-hikers learn a very narrow skill set based on the challenges that confront them. My buddy hiked the AT and had a blast. He also can't read a map. As in - he literally wouldn't know what to do with a map if you handed one to him. It's very possible that Inchworm didn't know the first thing about navigation.
2) She didn't need to know anything about navigation - under normal circumstances. You don't need to know how to navigate to hike the trail. You don't need a map or compass - and nobody brings one.
3) It sounds like she missed some opportunities to increase her chances. She was in the Oberton Stream drainage. If she were to simply head downhill, she'd run into the stream or at the very least, the old railroad grade on the north side of the stream. From there you have a 50/50 shot at finding the trail, and if you don't find it after a couple hours, you simply turn around and go the other way. They also say that she was in a sheltered location while there was a higher visibility location nearby.

I say this with as much gentleness and respect for the dead as possible: there are a lot of people who, though they have walked thousands of miles on the AT, simply aren't equipped with a sufficient set of outdoors skills to handle a very difficult situation. It's very possible, given the the evidence that I've read and the correspondences I've had, that Inchworm might have been among those people.

This possibility in no way detracts from the sorrow of the event or the pain that those close to her feel. I think most people connected with the outdoor community will be moved by this story - where prayer is one of the few appropriate responses. RIP Inchworm.

 

[LarryBoy]

If I may, I'd like to share a personal anecdote as well. Last year, I hiked a section of the Hayduke Trail from Moab to Hite. The Hayduke is not a trail at all; it's a route that exists only on a map.

I was hiking cross-country, southwest of Beef Basin, headed toward the Dark Canyon area. I was bushwhacking in an extremely remote area through scrub oak. My maps were on a lanyard around my neck - until they weren't. They were gone.

Gone. And I couldn't find them. I searched for a long time, trying to fight a twinge of panic. I couldn't find them anywhere. I had no idea how long ago I had lost them.

Fortunately I had more or less memorized the maps. I knew that I had to head generally southwest, over some ridges and down into a major canyon system, from whence I had to climb out of and across a ridge to the rim of Dark Canyon. I could use Dark Canyon itself as a backstop, as I couldn't possibly overshoot it as long as I headed south. From Dark Canyon, worst case scenario I could find people and hike out with them.

And I had one important piece of information - a GPS track of the route on my phone. No map or anything, but at least I had a squiggly line on a blank screen. I didn't have a solar charger, but as long as I kept my head and used it sparingly, I could at least make sure I was somewhat on-track. Needless to say I didn't take too many pictures until I was on the beaten path again.

It ended fine, due to a combination of my experience, God's grace, and that squiggly line on my phone. It could have ended differently for a multitude of reasons. Before I'm too critical of the choices and decisions that led her to the point of withering away in the woods, I better take a look in the mirror. And yes, I do always bring a backup copy of my map set to stash in the bottom of my pack now.

 

[DrNed]

If I may, I'd like to share a personal anecdote as well.

Thanks for making it real ..... and thanks for getting my heart beating early in the morning!

To those interested, read the NY Times & Washington Post articles they provide a little more info.

 

[John Goering]

If I may, I'd like to share a personal anecdote as well. Last year, I hiked a section of the Hayduke Trail from Moab to Hite. The Hayduke is not a trail at all; it's a route that exists only on a map.

I was hiking cross-country, southwest of Beef Basin, headed toward the Dark Canyon area. I was bushwhacking in an extremely remote area through scrub oak. My maps were on a lanyard around my neck - until they weren't. They were gone.

Gone. And I couldn't find them. I searched for a long time, trying to fight a twinge of panic. I couldn't find them anywhere. I had no idea how long ago I had lost them.

Fortunately I had more or less memorized the maps. I knew that I had to head generally southwest, over some ridges and down into a major canyon system, from whence I had to climb out of and across a ridge to the rim of Dark Canyon. I could use Dark Canyon itself as a backstop, as I couldn't possibly overshoot it as long as I headed south. From Dark Canyon, worst case scenario I could find people and hike out with them.

And I had one important piece of information - a GPS track of the route on my phone. No map or anything, but at least I had a squiggly line on a blank screen. I didn't have a solar charger, but as long as I kept my head and used it sparingly, I could at least make sure I was somewhat on-track. Needless to say I didn't take too many pictures until I was on the beaten path again.

It ended fine, due to a combination of my experience, God's grace, and that squiggly line on my phone. It could have ended differently for a multitude of reasons. Before I'm too critical of the choices and decisions that led her to the point of withering away in the woods, I better take a look in the mirror. And yes, I do always bring a backup copy of my map set to stash in the bottom of my pack now.

I'm another one who spends a significant amount of time memorizing the route beforehand. I carry a hard copy map and the GPS with an extra set of batteries but always secured in the pack. But I suspect that is relatively common with all of us who spend a lot of time off-trail.

I read inchworm's saga in the local paper this week and had the same thoughts expressed in the above posts. Lost for an entire month and found 3000' from a trail? Ignorance may be bliss, but it obviously can get you dead. Not only did she apparently lack appropriate navagation skills, but also apparently had minimal or no survival skills.