View Full Version : Missing AT hiker
somers515
06-05-2017, 19:55
Not a lot to go on, hope they find him soon.
http://nypost.com/2017/06/05/hiker-goes-missing-on-the-appalachian-trail/
Slo-go'en
06-05-2017, 22:28
Hasn't been heard from in a week. That's not good.
chknfngrs
06-06-2017, 07:31
Not good. Not a Thru Hiker per se, but an annaual sectioneer per the information available
Mugthumper
06-06-2017, 14:26
If you go to the Twitter account of the Vermont State Police's they made this announcement on June, 4th.
Vermont State PoliceVerified account @VTStatePolice (https://twitter.com/VTStatePolice) Jun 4 (https://twitter.com/VTStatePolice/status/871510149269159936)More
Law enforcement is reporting that 49-year-old Brett Sposito has been located safe.
However, other outlets as recently as today are still reporting that he is missing.
4eyedbuzzard
06-06-2017, 15:11
If you go to the Twitter account of the Vermont State Police's they made this announcement on June, 4th.
Vermont State PoliceVerified account @VTStatePolice (https://twitter.com/VTStatePolice) Jun 4 (https://twitter.com/VTStatePolice/status/871510149269159936)More
If the police made contact and he is okay, that's about all the public info (contact date, time, and status) that would be available without his consent. Could be something as simple as his phone isn't working. And sometimes people don't want to be "found", even (or sometimes especially) by their family.
Law enforcement is reporting that 49-year-old Brett Sposito has been located safe.
However, other outlets as recently as today are still reporting that he is missing.[/QUOTE]
somers515
06-06-2017, 15:39
If you go to the Twitter account of the Vermont State Police's they made this announcement on June, 4th.
Vermont State PoliceVerified account @VTStatePolice (https://twitter.com/VTStatePolice) Jun 4 (https://twitter.com/VTStatePolice/status/871510149269159936)More
Law enforcement is reporting that 49-year-old Brett Sposito has been located safe.
However, other outlets as recently as today are still reporting that he is missing.
Thanks Mugthumper - nice find and that's good news! I guess perhaps a malfunctioning cell phone or miscommunication between husband and wife led to a false alarm.
Slo-go'en
06-06-2017, 15:49
Well, if he was found in Vermont, cell coverage is really poor in western Mass and southern Vermont. That could explain it.
So the guy goes a week without contacting his wife. I'd bet this is his last section hike.
ScareBear
06-07-2017, 07:22
Not a lot to go on, hope they find him soon.
http://nypost.com/2017/06/05/hiker-goes-missing-on-the-appalachian-trail/
It was a two week trip. Was it ever made clear how much longer he had to hike when his wife talked to him on May 28? And, where was he found? Isn't Dalton in the opposite direction from Sheffield to Mount Washington, NH?
Dude was going to hike that 300 miles in 14 days? That's only about...oh...150,000 feet of elevation change...LMAO...
I want to know where in Vermont dude was found and how many days it took him to get there. Something is off about this entire story...
chknfngrs
06-07-2017, 07:31
Is the AT still the place to disappear, per se? Seems too popular, too played out. I agreee that there is more to this, but, I'm moving on. Hope all those directly involved find what they need
Isn't Dalton in the opposite direction from Sheffield to Mount Washington, NH?
nope.
Dude was going to hike that 300 miles in 14 days? That's only about...oh...150,000 feet of elevation change...LMAO...
its a tough hike but since he is a section hiker i would assume he isnt taking any zeroes. also consider "2 weeks" might really mean until he gets there which is usually about 2 weeks (ie it could be 16 or 17 days) and you really arent talking about fantasy land stuff at all. hard, but i bet dozens of people, if not hundreds, pull it off every year. 16 even days of hiking is 21 MPD. if he is a strong enough hiker to average that then he can probably do 25 across all of MA and a big chunk of VT and pre-glencliff NH and then drop it down to the high teens in the whites. glencliff to mt washington is what, 60 or so miles? everything before that is not consistently difficult and at times fairly moderate to easy.
really not impossible at all. very doable in fact, especially if he does it every year. (why someone would repeatedly make that hike seems odd to me, but not suspicious).
ain't like he was claiming he was hiking mass to katahdin in 2 weeks or something.
peakbagger
06-07-2017, 10:27
We just got off a really crappy stretch of weather, I expect the trail was more water and mud than dry. Temps were also below average.
We just got off a really crappy stretch of weather, I expect the trail was more water and mud than dry. Temps were also below average.
which may explain the communication issues (water logged cell phone?) more than cast any sort of suspicion on his endeavors.
i got haled on in the smokies two weeks ago. didnt knock me off schedule and i did 20MPD consistently through it.
TexasBob
06-07-2017, 17:31
So the guy goes a week without contacting his wife. I'd bet this is his last section hike.
Assuming he is still married after he gets back.
ScareBear
06-07-2017, 20:09
nope.
its a tough hike but since he is a section hiker i would assume he isnt taking any zeroes. also consider "2 weeks" might really mean until he gets there which is usually about 2 weeks (ie it could be 16 or 17 days) and you really arent talking about fantasy land stuff at all. hard, but i bet dozens of people, if not hundreds, pull it off every year. 16 even days of hiking is 21 MPD. if he is a strong enough hiker to average that then he can probably do 25 across all of MA and a big chunk of VT and pre-glencliff NH and then drop it down to the high teens in the whites. glencliff to mt washington is what, 60 or so miles? everything before that is not consistently difficult and at times fairly moderate to easy.
really not impossible at all. very doable in fact, especially if he does it every year. (why someone would repeatedly make that hike seems odd to me, but not suspicious).
ain't like he was claiming he was hiking mass to katahdin in 2 weeks or something.
I'll take your bet that hundreds do this section in 15 days or less! 20 miles a day with no zeros and a 150,000 elevation change in June!!!!! Now, how do we get an accurate head count?
I'll take your bet that hundreds do this section in 15 days or less! 20 miles a day with no zeros and a 150,000 elevation change in June!!!!! Now, how do we get an accurate head count?
have you ever spent time hiking in that area while thrus are going by?
not the same area, but a similar one- in 2015 while in rangeley i gave an older gentlemen (probably mid 60s or older) a ride from town to the trail head. he was a NOBO thru. he had started in mid april. this was early july and he was nearly done.
i drop him at the trailhead outside rangely and then meet my shuttle to get shuttled to east flagstaff rd for my section hike south. ie, i was going to pass the guy i gave a ride to during my hike.
on my first day i went up the bigelows, slept at horn's pond. on the next day i descended. as i start to climb crocker i passed him. in about 26 hours from the time i dropped him off outside rangeley until the time i met him on the trail he had gone up and over saddle back, up and over abraham-sugarloaf, up crocker and was a good part of the way down crocker. i have no doubt he did sheffield, MA to mt washington in roughly 2 weeks.
hes far from the only hiker of that caliber i have ever met.
again, if we dont take 2 weeks as a hard and fast number and allow that maybe it might have been 16 days (which is 2 weeks counting both the trailing and leading weekends, ie, the amount of time you have off when you take "2 weeks" off from work) then we are talking about 21 MPD.
i dont care what terrain you are on. there are people. not more than just a few, who can do 21 MPD. hell, if someone were willing to be me enough money i'd go give it a crack myself.
again, is it an easy hike? no. is it some sort of impossible, clearly bogus idea? not even remotely.