Inchworms Journal during 26 days lost...newest report

[WhiteBlaze]

<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="7" style="vertical-align:top;"><tr><td width="80" align="center" valign="top"><font style="font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serif"></font></td><td valign="top" class="j"><font style="font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serif"><br><div style="padding-top:0.8em;"><img alt="" height="1" width="1"></div><div class="lh"><a href="http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&ct2=us&usg=AFQjCNGm-jEZb0JNxOvcuBY7DG520IWgRQ&clid=c3a7d30bb8a4878e06b 80cf16b898331&ei=oQZGV-DOBcq28gGEhLSAAQ&url=http://news.mpbn.net/post/documents-show-geraldine-largay-survived-least-26-days-appalachian-trail"><b>Documents Show Geraldine Largay Survived at Least 26 Days Off <b>Appalachian Trail</b></b></a><br><font size="-1"><b><font color="#6f6f6f">Maine Public Broadcasting</font></b></font><br><font size="-1">AUGUSTA, Maine — Documents show an <b>Appalachian Trail</b> hiker whose remains were found last year in Maine survived at least 26 days after getting lost. During that time, her texts went undelivered because of poor cell reception. The Boston Globe reports&nbsp;...</font><br><font size="-1" class="p"></font><br><font class="p" size="-1"><a class="p" href="http://news.google.com/news/more?ncl=d0xHVbrvsHgijGM&authuser=0&ned=us"><nobr> <b></b></nobr></a></font></div></font></td></tr></table>

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[coppertex]

This is absolutely horrifying. I always found solace in the idea that she had died quickly.

[Venchka]

Note to self:
Carry sufficient fire starting materials to bring in the cavalry.

Wayne


Sent from somewhere around here.

[ChuckT]

It's probably too late to say this but can we be sure that this depiction of her situation is any more accurate than before?
I have no axe to grind except that in my personal opinion just because it appears in _any_ media publication does not assure me that the event is being accurately described.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N900A using Tapatalk

[Malto]

Wow, this is surprising. I wonder if she was incapacitated because 26 days is a long time and she was relatively close to the trail. I am guessing there was a lot of details in the texts that likely explain much of the mystery.

[Lone Wolf]

i'm thinkin' S&R didn't do a very good job searching. my opinion

[Lnj]

That is hard to comprehend. Wasn't she a very skilled hiker? So a knowledgeable hiker goes a little off trail to urinate and never comes back? And is alive for 26 days just a short trip off the trail? Very odd. I imagine her remains were in a condition that they may not have been able to determine if she was snake bitten. What could happen just a little off the trail that would keep you in one place an alive for 26 days, but not able to find your way back? I assume she had a compass, so she could keep from walking in circles. I guess no one will ever know for sure, but its terribly sad.

[illabelle]

This is disturbing to say the least. If she had 26 days of journal entries, I hope they'll release more information.

[rickb]

i'm thinkin' S&R didn't do a very good job searching. my opinion

Looks like it took a FOIA request for any of the details to see the light of day.

[John B]

Looks like it took a FOIA request for any of the details to see the light of day.

I missed the part about the FOIA in the Globe article. Did I overlook it or did you read that elsewhere?

[Lone Wolf]

Foia?......

[imscotty]

This is just terrible. This is what I feared.

I hope this news will finally put a sock in all the SERE conspiracy theorists!

As Paul Mags once pointed out, thru-hikers develop a very specialized set of outdoors skills. Being a try-hiker does not necessarily translate into being a skilled outdoorsman.

Clearly this information was withheld out of respect for the privacy of Geraldine's family. Now that it is public it is natural for us to want see what we can learn from this sad incident to help keep ourselves safe. But please, let's discuss this in a respectful manner, there has already been enough unfounded speculation in this case.

[RabbitHole]

Foia?......

Freedom of information act

[rickb]

I missed the part about the FOIA in the Globe article. Did I overlook it or did you read that elsewhere?

http://news.mpbn.net/post/documents-...trail#stream/0

[Feral Bill]

That is beyond awful.

[-Rush-]

That's really sad. I'm assuming with her survival time she must have been near a water source. Also.. seems like she wasn't prepared. It also seems like in 26 days she could have made her way SOMEWHERE. Surely she would have informed the husband in texts about an injury!?

She attempted additional texts. According to the wardens, the last activity on her phone was dated Aug. 6, 2013, the day she wrote the note asking whoever found her to notify her husband and daughter.

A compass app and some topos on her phone could have saved her life. A backup compass and map are crucial and in the 10 essentials for a reason. I see people all the time with no compass or maps. Bad idea!

[MuddyWaters]

Most AT hikers, or established trail hikers really, posess little skills except to follow a defined trail, get water from a piped source, and sleep in a shelter.
And some arent that good at that. Taking wrong trails, going wrong way, etc.
No maps, no skills, just an electronic lifeline to facebook.
She wasnt all that different.

In a way, it was bound to happen to someone.
Its possibly happened before (1983) .
No reason to believe it wont happen again someday.

[Skyline]

That is hard to comprehend. Wasn't she a very skilled hiker? So a knowledgeable hiker goes a little off trail to urinate and never comes back? And is alive for 26 days just a short trip off the trail? Very odd. I imagine her remains were in a condition that they may not have been able to determine if she was snake bitten. What could happen just a little off the trail that would keep you in one place an alive for 26 days, but not able to find your way back? I assume she had a compass, so she could keep from walking in circles. I guess no one will ever know for sure, but its terribly sad.

I would not assume she had a compass. How many AT thru-hikers do?

Also, if it was dense fog when she got lost it might explain how it all went so bad, so fast. Anyone know?

She could have left the AT to relieve herself using an old rail bed just north of the stream ford at Orbeton Stream (sounds like she left the Trail just north of there tho). If she had used that rail bed but then got lost, she could have followed that to lower ground. For NOBOs, to the right it enters a maze of snowmobile trails which would be confusing as hell. To the left, it goes to what I now know as a Navy Seal Training Facility.

I followed that rail bed to the left myself in 2003 when I needed to get some help because of food poisoning that made me horribly sick. It seemed like if I walked far enough, I would intersect ME Rt. 16 and from there could get well. Not so easy as it sounds, and not nearly as close to Rt. 16 as I had assumed.

Fortunately I had a trail map that showed some of the land "west" of the AT, but not all the way to 16. By luck I made it to a big government sign that warned me not to go any further. It didn't state why other than I was entering US government land, and being sick/weak I ignored it and bushwacked to what seemed like an old dirt road. The terrain got friendlier, but my energy level kept fading. Eventually, I passed a dilapidated abandoned cabin, and kept going. A couple hours later, some military personnel encountered me walking "west," and once they were satisfied I was not a danger to the nation, drove me to Rt. 16 where I hitched to Stratton. Got meds and was back on the Trail in three days.

If Inchworm had only found and used this road all would've probably turned out OK. According to the news report, she sought higher ground to get a cell signal and got even more lost -- that was a fatal mistake.

Lessons: Carry maps, don't rely upon cell phones.

[John B]

Most AT hikers, or established trail hikers really, posess little skills except to follow a defined trail, get water from a piped source, and sleep in a shelter.
And some arent that good at that. Taking wrong trails, going wrong way, etc.
No maps, no skills, just an electronic lifeline to facebook.
She wasnt all that different.

In a way, it was bound to happen.
Its possibly happened before (1983) .
No reason to believe it wont happen again someday.

That would be me. I think about that a lot, too. I took a course on orienteering but it was just an intro course, so I'm just marginally better than no skills at all. If I were to find myself 2 miles off the AT in the Maine woods, there would be almost nothing but blind luck that could get me back. I can follow a well marked trail, filter water, and... well, that's about it.

[MuddyWaters]

I would not assume she had a compass. How many AT thru-hikers do?

Also, if it was dense fog when she got lost it might explain how it all went so bad, so fast. Anyone know?

She could have left the AT to relieve herself using an old rail bed just north of the stream ford at Orbeton Stream (sounds like she left the Trail just north of there tho). If she had used that rail bed but then got lost, she could have followed that to lower ground. For NOBOs, to the right it enters a maze of snowmobile trails which would be confusing as hell. To the left, it goes to what I now know as a Navy Seal Training Facility.

I followed that rail bed to the left myself in 2003 when I needed to get some help because of food poisoning that made me horribly sick. It seemed like if I walked far enough, I would intersect ME Rt. 16 and from there could get well. Not so easy as it sounds, and not nearly as close to Rt. 16 as I had assumed.

Fortunately I had a trail map that showed some of the land "west" of the AT, but not all the way to 16. By luck I made it to a big government sign that warned me not to go any further. It didn't state why other than I was entering US government land, and being sick/weak I ignored it and bushwacked to what seemed like an old dirt road. The terrain got friendlier, but my energy level kept fading. Eventually, I passed a dilapidated abandoned cabin, and kept going. A couple hours later, some military personnel encountered me walking "west," and once they were satisfied I was not a danger to the nation, drove me to Rt. 16 where I hitched to Stratton. Got meds and was back on the Trail in three days.

If Inchworm had only found and used this road all would've probably turned out OK. According to the news report, she sought higher ground to get a cell signal and got even more lost -- that was a fatal mistake.

Lessons: Carry maps, don't rely upon cell phones.

At least know where you are in relation to major landmarks on maps.Harder to do that in woods than out west.
One failsafe would have been to go downhill to the stream, and follow the stream back to the AT.
She just crossed it a few minutes before.

She also was camped right next to a skidder trail supposedly. Never followed it ??? Hard to believe.