Mystery of missing Appalachian Trail hiker still vexes wardens, locals one ... - Bang

[Turtle Feet]

.... there's definitely a pink elephant in the room here.

[T.S.Kobzol]

The bog idea is dumb. Yes I have been to that section many times.
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[rocketsocks]

.... there's definitely a pink elephant in the room here.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/defin...n%20the%20room

[rocketsocks]

http://www.urbandictionary.com/defin...n%20the%20room

http://www.urbandictionary.com/defin...n%20the%20room

[joshuasdad]

I hiked the section a week after she went missing. A bog seems very unlikely. Foul play is very possible at this point, although certain terrain is so severe (especially near Sugarloaf), that it is nearly impossible to search completely. I saw the North Woods Justice episode on the search ("Lost and Found"), and the difficulties of searching this section are set out well.

[Traveler]

If she was Abducted they would have been a trace something left behind, an abductor would not be interested in her gear just her so their for they would have been something found by now, since they was no trace of gear or foul play, she either walked into an BOG or simply walked off the trail and walked away from her life and she is know some place in the world starting a new life, some people have been known to simply walk away from their lives. and no i really don't think she was abducted.

For what its worth, I tend to agree with this. Absent any signs of violence or bits of gear its more likely the hiker kept her gear with her. A lot of people have wandered off trails, many of them having a great amount of experience, only to fall into rock jumbles, bogs, get rim rocked on ledges, take a fall, drown, succumbed to hypothermia or disappear and start a new life somewhere. Given the history of the trail the higher percentage of life threatening events are from nature, not man. Though the possibility exists, the probabilities suggest a natural hazard was encountered as opposed to an abduction.

[John B]

...A lot of people have wandered off trails, many of them having a great amount of experience, only to fall into rock jumbles, bogs, get rim rocked on ledges, take a fall, drown, succumbed to hypothermia or disappear and start a new life somewhere.....

I don't recall reading of anyone vanishing while hiking the AT. Would you please provide a brief list of names, etc? I'd like to read more about such instances.

[yerbyray]

I don't recall reading of anyone vanishing while hiking the AT. Would you please provide a brief list of names, etc? I'd like to read more about such instances.

South Carolina Gov. Sanford vanished into thin air but he materialized later.

[rickb]

(t)he probabilities suggest a natural hazard was encountered...

You don't need to go far to find an example. In 2011 an AT hiker from Long Island was hiking alone just north of the Bigelows and was killed after he fell and hit his head. Since that happened right near the trail other hikers came upon his body relatively quickly, but such bad luck could happen anywhere.

[Don H]

The guy who died in 2011 was near Long Falls Dam Road on the AT when he collapsed or fell on the trail and died. Initially it was felt he died from a head injury because of trauma but I don't recall ever hearing an official finding on the cause of death. I talked with someone who came upon him before help arrived. They told me it was not on a rough or difficult part of the trail.

[Gray_Ghost]

He died from a heart attack.

[Don H]

That's what I though but I never read that anywhere. Do you remember his trail name?

John B asks a good question which I have asked before and no one has answered. Has any AT thru-hiker ever just disappeared from the trail never to be found?

[RED-DOG]

What i am about to say will start a lot of arguements but i don't care some one has to say it. This lady will probably NEVER get found just too much time has past with NO Evidence. This was really hurtful for me to say.

[ChuckT]

I wish that I never hear another far-out theory of what happened to this poor wonan. Even alien abduction was theorized. Good grief. Isn't it enough to say that she disappeared thru misadventure?

I am not a heath care professional but I can easily see a circumstance where she had an episode that left her disoriented and she fell/wandered off trail and won't be located by our cyber enthusiasms. Give her some peace.

[RED-DOG]

The Administrator needs to close this thread.

[Gray_Ghost]

I can't remember his trail name. He was from Long Island, where I was living at the time, it was mentioned in the local newspapers as a heart attack. I can't find anything now from the Long Island papers, but here is an article from the Maine newspaper.

http://bangordailynews.com/2011/08/1...s-unexplained/

That's what I though but I never read that anywhere. Do you remember his trail name?

John B asks a good question which I have asked before and no one has answered. Has any AT thru-hiker ever just disappeared from the trail never to be found?

[Turtle Feet]

The Administrator needs to close this thread.

lol.... cracks me up - "you've" had enough, so the admin is suppose to close the thread. How 'bout you simply stop checking in?

[Turtle Feet]

OK, so as for John B & Don H's question....

There are plenty of AT experts here (I mean that in every good sense of the word), so with all our collective knowledge - has there ever been a documented case of a hiker vanishing without a trace from the AT???

[imscotty]

OK, so as for John B & Don H's question....

There are plenty of AT experts here (I mean that in every good sense of the word), so with all our collective knowledge - has there ever been a documented case of a hiker vanishing without a trace from the AT???

Well, case of Paula Weldon comes to mind...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paula_Jean_Welden

[Traveler]

I don't recall reading of anyone vanishing while hiking the AT. Would you please provide a brief list of names, etc? I'd like to read more about such instances.

The AT is but one of many long distance trails that people have gone into and not recorded coming off of. A link of some of these instances can be found on Wiki (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...d_mysteriously). I don't think the ATC keeps a record of these events or the deaths on the trail, that would be something you'd find in local papers. Some 120 people have died or are still missing on Mt Washington NH alone over the past 100 years. Serious business out there, with perhaps a bit of monkey business if you consider the disgraced Governor of SC who went hiking on the "ol' Appalachian Trail", only to encounter pesky Argentinian nationals who lured him into a life of tawdry sex and deceit.