View Full Version : Missing Hiker
Ladytrekker
06-08-2015, 08:15
http://cadescovelovers.blogspot.com/2015/06/missing-hiker-jenny-bennetts-car.html
This has been posting on Hike the Smokies. Hoping for a positive ending.
Ladytrekker
06-08-2015, 08:23
30914
Pic of woman that is missing.
billnchristy
06-08-2015, 08:29
Man, I hope she turns up, it will be hard to find her because she clearly doesn't just stick to well blazed trails. I looked at her blog for a bit and she is very experienced, but if she was out by herself doing what she does, then who knows what could have happened.
I think it certainly should be a reminder to leave an itenerary with friends/family, and in the car, especially if you are off the beaten path.
FlyFishNut
06-08-2015, 09:30
I read some of her blog also and she sounds really capable and careful. She talks about navigating with her map and compass and estimating where she will pop-out in reference to the trail she is looking for and where she ends up punching out of the rhodo - she just sounds seasoned and proficient.
In her blog she repeatedly talks about her decision making processes about crossing streams and choosing routes and she really errs to the side of caution, siting her fitness level and dangers of fast water which make me hopeful for her well being.
I wish I had the flexibility and time to go up and help look for her, and I really hope this turns out with a happy ending.
Ladytrekker
06-08-2015, 11:31
This was just posted by her brother not good.
A body has been found that matches Jenny's description in the area that they were looking for her. A team of investigators is being sent in to positively identify the body and determine what happened.
Ladytrekker
06-08-2015, 11:36
http://cadescovelovers.blogspot.com/2015/06/body-believed-to-be-that-of-missing.html
illabelle
06-08-2015, 11:37
How sad. :(
I'm still at the entrance of greenbrier right now as I've been here for work...
I knew Jenny and had hiked with her before.....
she was easily one of the strongest hikers I've ever been with...
she loved off trail hikes and knew how to use a compass, map, altimeter and her skills and knowledge.....
She was not the average hiker....
she was found about a half mile above campsite 31 which is near the start of porters creek manway..
she and a group of other hikers (none with her on this trip though) were known to explore the drainages of Leconte....
FlyFishNut
06-08-2015, 16:45
TNhiker - sorry for your loss. She sounds like she was a wonderful person and a passionate and capable hiker.
I also just heard on NPR that two hikers, a mother and son are missing on Clingmans Dome.
FlyFishNut
06-08-2015, 16:47
Just googled this: Mother and son found and safe.
http://www.wbir.com/story/news/local/2015/06/08/mother--son-missing-after-hike-at-clingmans-dome/28685553/
Water Rat
06-08-2015, 18:53
Just googled this: Mother and son found and safe.
http://www.wbir.com/story/news/local/2015/06/08/mother--son-missing-after-hike-at-clingmans-dome/28685553/
The original post is about a single female hiker. Unfortunately, it did not have a happy ending. Happy to hear the mother and son were found safe, though!
Water Rat
06-08-2015, 18:54
Oops! Just read your post prior to the last one.
so sorry for her family and friends!
TNhiker - sorry for your loss. She sounds like she was a wonderful person and a passionate and capable hiker.
I also just heard on NPR that two hikers, a mother and son are missing on Clingmans Dome.
yes..............there were two separate incidents this past weekend----jenny and the mother/son who got lost........
also, thanks........
i should note-----ive hiked with her once (the way it reads seems like she was a regular hiking partner of mine)......
but, we exchanged a bunch of emails over the years and i have the absolute highest respect for her.......
she was a wealth of information on the park both official and non official trails..........
and while she was older than i am, one would never have noticed.......
very strong hiker who outpaced me at every corner..............
i hate to use the old cliche, but its true----she died doing what she loved..........
i hope to hear more details in the next couple of days.......
rocketsocks
06-08-2015, 22:07
I'm still at the entrance of greenbrier right now as I've been here for work...
I knew Jenny and had hiked with her before.....
she was easily one of the strongest hikers I've ever been with...
she loved off trail hikes and knew how to use a compass, map, altimeter and her skills and knowledge.....
She was not the average hiker....
she was found about a half mile above campsite 31 which is near the start of porters creek manway..
she and a group of other hikers (none with her on this trip though) were known to explore the drainages of Leconte....
Sorry to here this, condolences to you, the family and friends.
My condolences to the family.... so sad to lose a loved one..
for some good reading, her is jenny's blog..........
https://streamsandforests.wordpress.com/
PatmanTN
06-09-2015, 07:16
TNHiker,
This is a huge loss and I can't stop thinking about it. I never met Jenny but intended to. Her adventures have inspired me for years and I've followed in her foot steps on several trips. I have tremendous respect for her and have always held her in highest regard. This is awful.
I've been following this story and reading Jenny's Blog ever since the story broke. I can only begin to feel the pain her family and friends must feel. I'll be very interested to get details of what happened. So far all that has been said is that wild animals were not responsible. I think most people on this forum figured that.
peakbagger
06-09-2015, 08:15
I used to hike with Jenny up in the whites. She was a hardcore off trail hiker and we did several that qualified as hardcore. She had retired recently and had decided to move north again to Vermont and I had re sponsored on VFTT.org.
Did they say what happened to her or is it too soon to find out? Natural death or bear attack
Did they say what happened to her or is it too soon to find out? Natural death or bear attack
i hope to find out more information sometime this week..........
but, it was definitely not a bear attack.........
my guess-------and its just a guess----------she slipped and fell...............
but, again, i hope to find out more this week (if not today)........
rocketsocks
06-09-2015, 14:31
i hope to find out more information sometime this week..........
but, it was definitely not a bear attack.........
my guess-------and its just a guess----------she slipped and fell...............
but, again, i hope to find out more this week (if not today)........Could very well be, that is the number one statistical accident of hikers...falls
peakbagger
06-09-2015, 16:51
Her type of hiking would have scared off most on trail hikers. The recommended equipment is eye protection, knee pads and leather work gloves. Its easy to get in trouble while bushwhacking, especially solo there are frequently holes covered with loose duff, dense rhodo and briar thickets, rotten trees to walk over and rocky streams to hike up. Its an acquired taste, most hikers never acquire it but for the small majority that do, it becomes borderline addictive. I carry a PLB when I do it these days but to purists even a PLB is cheating.
Could very well be, that is the number one statistical accident of hikers...falls
yes, and she was found down near the creek...........
so, im guessing----and just a guess-----she was trying cross, and slipped and fell............
as of 5 pm EST---i have not heard anything........
Peakbagger or others who may know, just how does one go about learning how to navigate off trail? And I don't mean by using a Garmin, but by compass and map. Are there classes? How hard is it to learn?
mrcoffeect
06-09-2015, 19:05
Peakbagger or others who may know, just how does one go about learning how to navigate off trail? And I don't mean by using a Garmin, but by compass and map. Are there classes? How hard is it to learn?
NOLS (National outdoor leadership school) has an excellent book called "wilderness navigation" it is a good book to get you going in the right direction;).
Sarcasm the elf
06-09-2015, 19:10
Peakbagger or others who may know, just how does one go about learning how to navigate off trail? And I don't mean by using a Garmin, but by compass and map. Are there classes? How hard is it to learn?
My skills are somewhat limited, but the way I learned was to find a fellow hiker who was skilled in back country navigation and have him show me the basics. After that it involves a lot of practice to get proficient and gain experience. In my case I ended up meeting a fellow WB member for an offtrail hike in the catskills.
Slack-jawed Trog
06-09-2015, 19:26
The body of the missing hiker has been confirmed as Jenny B: http://www.wbir.com/story/news/2015/06/08/hiker-missing-in-gsmnp/28678953/
Condolences to her friends and family.
4eyedbuzzard
06-09-2015, 19:36
yes, and she was found down near the creek...........
so, im guessing----and just a guess-----she was trying cross, and slipped and fell............
as of 5 pm EST---i have not heard anything........ I read one report (sorry, no link) that stated authorities had basically said it was not suspicious nor were there signs of any animal attack. So, no foul play. Perhaps a fall, but also likely are a heart attack, stroke, etc.? We are all but one heartbeat away . . .
peakbagger
06-09-2015, 21:04
Peakbagger or others who may know, just how does one go about learning how to navigate off trail? And I don't mean by using a Garmin, but by compass and map. Are there classes? How hard is it to learn?
Off trail navigation isn't rocket science. The quality of maps have improved significantly with most of the US available in the 7.5 minute series. 7.5 minute is a nice format detailed enough for good terrain coverage but large enough that you don't need a lot of maps. The standard for learning compass use is this book http://store.silvacompass.com/accessories-be-expert-with-map-compass-book. With adjustable declination on most compasses, there is no need to correct for declination so its even easier to use a compass these days. If you look around local outdoors places sometimes offer course and I see Meetup groups on occasion listed them.
Once you have the compass down, then you use Google Earth to get the latest aerial photos and you are good to go. Jenny was a long term member of the Smoky Mountain Hiking Club that used to offer group bushwhacks on a frequent basis. If you go on a couple of those events and participate, it clicks pretty quick. Due to the undergrowth down south the club apparently seeks out slides and terrain disturbances intentionally to bypass undergrowth. Up north in Maine and NH its learn by doing, basically try to stick to mature growth and avoid the spruce/fir blowdown patches that infest the summit ridges. A hiker can read about it but its learn by doing
Of course I really don't consider someone fully qualified until they are comfortable doing solo bushwhacking. Its risky but it adds a lot more challenge. With PLBs as an emergency backup it is somewhat less risky. The ultimate payoff is that I can reasonably pick a summit and climb it without needing a trail. In the whites there is a of logging history forgotten about in the woods and its always interesting to encounter this history inadvertently. Jens recent posts on VFTT definitely were that she wanted to go the out of the way places that others don't go.
I had to learn how to use a map and compass in the Army. Its not that difficult. One gets motivated to learn when one's meal is waiting at a certain point and a certain time. Don't make it there on time and you go hungry.
Peakbagger or others who may know, just how does one go about learning how to navigate off trail? And I don't mean by using a Garmin, but by compass and map. Are there classes? How hard is it to learn?
Sgt Rock has a pretty good link (below).
http://hikinghq.net/compass/compass_nav.html
rocketsocks
06-09-2015, 22:53
Sgt Rock has a pretty good link (below).
http://hikinghq.net/compass/compass_nav.htmlYup, it's meat and potatoes navigation.
vamelungeon
06-10-2015, 05:31
I have a copy of this, you can find them very cheap and it is IMHO the best on the subject. http://www.amazon.com/Be-Expert-Map-Compass-Orienteering/dp/0020292651/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1433928617&sr=8-2&keywords=expert+map+compass
FlyFishNut
06-10-2015, 07:34
I have a copy of this, you can find them very cheap and it is IMHO the best on the subject. http://www.amazon.com/Be-Expert-Map-Compass-Orienteering/dp/0020292651/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1433928617&sr=8-2&keywords=expert+map+compass
What a cool little book - I'm definitely going to get that to brush up.
I've been bushwacking for decades not for the sheer joy of it, but to get to sought after flyfishing spots where I thought no one had discovered or was too tough to get to (most fisherman are lazy hikers).
Known as "blue lines", I'd study maps and through piecing together contour lines, drainages, elevation, etc I would try and discern if a blue line might be one that would regularly hold fish. More often than not, I'd find a beautiful spot with some really small trout - and in retrospect everything I saw on the way TO the spot was half the reward.
The next time I set out on one of these wild goose hunts I will think of Jenny, and her spirit of bushwacking. There is sum'n special about getting off the beaten path and seeing nature untouched except by wild tracks or mother nature's flood or blowdown.
illabelle
06-10-2015, 09:29
There is sum'n special about getting off the beaten path and seeing nature untouched except by wild tracks or mother nature's flood or blowdown.
As I walk a trail in the Smokies, I sometimes look off trail at some spot way down the side of the hill, and wonder how long it's been since a human being has stood there - if ever. Almost all of us stay on the trail, a trail that may have once been used by settlers, or by hunters/trappers, or still earlier by native Americans. We all may have looked at that spot down below and never touched it with our feet.
As I walk a trail in the Smokies, I sometimes look off trail at some spot way down the side of the hill, and wonder how long it's been since a human being has stood there - if ever. Almost all of us stay on the trail, a trail that may have once been used by settlers, or by hunters/trappers, or still earlier by native Americans. We all may have looked at that spot down below and never touched it with our feet.
Bingo! That's it exactly. When I read Robert Morgan's book about Daniel Boone, and especially Stephen Ambrose's stellar book on the Lewis and Clark expedition, I am always stunned about how in Hades they could walk through forests, cross rivers, and all that in uncharted territory, often sketching a map in the very process. Neither book tells how those people were able to do it and then find their way back to camp or home. So like Illabelle, I stay on the trail and wonder what's down there. I'd like to change that, though, and I'm sorry for getting this thread somewhat off track. I admire the lady's courage to go off trail and I'm very sorry that she passed.
a brief update.....
this is coming from the Park--
they have ruled out foul play and animal attack-----however they are going to wait til the autopsy to come back to make the cause of death official..............autopsy is expected to be completed within 12 weeks..........
swisscross
06-10-2015, 12:34
a brief update.....
this is coming from the Park--
they have ruled out foul play and animal attack-----however they are going to wait til the autopsy to come back to make the cause of death official..............autopsy is expected to be completed within 12 weeks..........
12 weeks? Is that a normal time frame? Seems long.
So glad it was not foul play...hate hearing about those.
swisscross
06-10-2015, 12:34
a brief update.....
this is coming from the Park--
they have ruled out foul play and animal attack-----however they are going to wait til the autopsy to come back to make the cause of death official..............autopsy is expected to be completed within 12 weeks..........
12 weeks? Is that a normal time frame? Seems long.
So glad it was not foul play...hate hearing about those.
FlyFishNut
06-10-2015, 12:56
TNhiker - someone said something about stream crossing or a fall - was she in the water? Or was she just near the creek?
I'm reminded (for any of you trail runners) of Caballo Blanco and how he went for a run and his heart stopped. He was doing what he loved also, which for me I wouldn't view that as a bad way to go, although Jenny was taken from this earth too soon - I would bet if she knew it was her time she would choose to have one more hike.
12 weeks? Is that a normal time frame? Seems long.
So glad it was not foul play...hate hearing about those.
thats fairly common........
the labs are usually backlogged.......
they will send blood and what not out to get sampled and thats what takes the longest............
TNhiker - someone said something about stream crossing or a fall - was she in the water? Or was she just near the creek?
I'm reminded (for any of you trail runners) of Caballo Blanco and how he went for a run and his heart stopped. He was doing what he loved also, which for me I wouldn't view that as a bad way to go, although Jenny was taken from this earth too soon - I would bet if she knew it was her time she would choose to have one more hike.
that's what we reported and thats what i have said on this forum----that she was found near a creek.........
i stress the word "near" as they havent released any other details about that (as in, if she was in water or what not).......
and ive said it was my guess----and just a guess-----that she slipped and fell.........
until the autopsy comes out, i dont think i will have any more details.......
however, if i do, i will pass along.........
iAmKrzys
06-10-2015, 21:52
Are there corral snakes in that part of the Park or anywhere in the Smokies?
No it's too cold for Coral snakes in the Tennessee mountains.
Are there corral snakes in that part of the Park or anywhere in the Smokies?
and besides snake handling preachers-----i dont think we've had a snake bite death here in years......maybe decades......
and to be honest----while it does happen in the Park----snake bites are very rare....
there was one about a month ago in the tremont area and while i never heard details, i have a feeling the girl who was bit tried to pick the snake up...
dont quote me on that...
also, if someone is bit----survival is fairly easy...
mainly the only people who die of snake bites in tennessee are snake handling preachers (i think we've had 3 die in the last decade) who are bitten and then dont go to the hospital because they think they will be cure by whatever........
and they arent----they usually die......
Tipi Walter
06-17-2015, 09:08
TNHiker,
This is a huge loss and I can't stop thinking about it. I never met Jenny but intended to. Her adventures have inspired me for years and I've followed in her foot steps on several trips. I have tremendous respect for her and have always held her in highest regard. This is awful.
Back in May 24 2012 I was pulling a 22 day BMT backpacking trip and was going south from Moss Gap and Sandy Gap and passed thru Tate Gap and beyond to Cantrell Top when I ran into Jenny and posted this in my trail journal---
ENDLESS STREAMS AND FOREST
"A woman dayhiker passed me 20 minutes ago and she's pulling a dayhike from Unicoi Gap to Cantrell Top and back and will write a wilderness report on her blog called Endless Streams And Forest, something I'll have to look up when I get back. I said to her, "As soon as I find a level spot I'm camping!" and I meant it. I'm carrying water from Tate Gap but it's wasted effort as I passed 2 springs before Peels Gap and there's probably another right ahead on the ridge top. Let's eat some sorrel and keep moving."
And she wrote this in her blog---
"After stopping for a rest and something to eat, I turned to retrace my steps. Below Cantrell Top I encountered a backpacker who said he was doing a 22-day trip ending at Little Frog Mountain Wilderness (but he was not doing the whole MacKaye Trail). He cheerfully carried a gigantic pack that looked as though it weighed at least 50 pounds. I have the impression that you carry more food with you than on a comparable trip on the AT because of the lack of resupply points."
Never got a pic of her though.
See---
https://streamsandforests.wordpress.com/2012/05/25/unicoi-gap-cantrell-top-and-joe-brown-highway/
iAmKrzys
07-08-2015, 21:46
Was there any more news as to what might have happened on Jenny's last hike?
Not as of yet...
i was supposed to meet up with a PIO today for work but it fell through..
I may call tomorrow
scrabbler
08-05-2015, 09:02
Any updates on this?
The autopsy report showed a high level of diphenhydramine. She must have had allergies and and was over medicating. Hypothermia was also given as the cause of death.
http://www.local8now.com/news/local/headlines/Final-autopsy-report-for-hiker-Jenny-Bennett-shows-hypothermia-overdose-323446701.html
I didn't see the post by Tnhiker. This can be deleted if need be.