Brave woman hiker's last journal entries finally revealed

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:66 isn't OLD old. She was probably injured. God, you people are such assholes.

The reports I've read of the incident do not provide evidence of this. They suggest she went off trail to pee, got lost / couldn't find it, then went in search of higher ground to try and get her help text to go through, and then at some point set up the camp where she was eventually found. The reports suggest she was at that camp a long time. They also imply she had a history of navigational issues on trail. Like many of these situations it appears to be a series of compounding small bad decisions that ultimately led to tragedy.

And please bear in mind that a lot of through-hikers (those who attempt to walk the whole AT) are not quite normal to begin with. Bill Bryson only attempted it to write a book, and he hiked a quarter or a third of it.

[Anonymous]

Has anyone here actually read her diary in its entirety? If not, stfu about what detail such as her being injured not being included. It may have been, you don't know.

[Anonymous]

OMG can't we just agree that this is very sad and while she clearly made some mistakes, it is a sad story and we all have likely made mistakes that could have been fatal and got lucky (I see people texting and driving every day...) while she made mistakes that turned out to be deadly. Also, she wasn't planning to hike solo - but her hiking partner had to get off the trail early and she decided to continue. It also doesn't sound like she just stayed in place - she tried to hike up to get a cell signal and it was in very dense woods so hard to see far in front of her. Also from what I read in "A Walk in the Woods" there are a lot of people hiking the AT, so you are less alone than in a lot of hikes (provided you stay on the trail).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You don't swim or hike alone. Now you know why

+1 I feel sad for her family, but she was foolish to hike alone. And I really think that that point should be emphasized more in articles when this stuff happens, because whenever someone goes missing, it takes a lot of resources to go try to find and rescue them.

Just like the whole "Smokey the Bear" forest fire educational campaign, I feel like there should be an educational campaign about recreational things people shouldn't do alone or shouldn't really do at all if they are inexperienced.

I don't think the comparison to McCandless is appropriate. I got the impression that guy kind of wanted to die, or at the very least, he wanted to get lost. That's a different thing entirely.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OMG can't we just agree that this is very sad and while she clearly made some mistakes, it is a sad story and we all have likely made mistakes that could have been fatal and got lucky (I see people texting and driving every day...) while she made mistakes that turned out to be deadly. Also, she wasn't planning to hike solo - but her hiking partner had to get off the trail early and she decided to continue. It also doesn't sound like she just stayed in place - she tried to hike up to get a cell signal and it was in very dense woods so hard to see far in front of her. Also from what I read in "A Walk in the Woods" there are a lot of people hiking the AT, so you are less alone than in a lot of hikes (provided you stay on the trail).

No, we can't agree. First of all, if someone dies because they were texting and driving, my reaction would be the same: they were downright stupid to do that, and they risked other peoples lives. Texting and driving isn't a "mistake." It's a conscious action that is well known to be risky not just to one's self but everyone else. Honestly, I even put that in the category of drinking and driving.

While hiking alone isn't as bad as texting and driving, it's downright foolish, even for someone who is experienced. She could have easily stopped when her hiking partner stopped. And in some accounts, the hiking partner even URGED her to and said they could do it again the following summer.

Sure, a lot of people hike the AT, but when you go off the trail, that is a different story. And even with a lot of people hiking the trail, it's still a horrible idea to do it alone.

Every time a story like this comes out, the message should be that it is foolish to hike alone. But instead, you get all of these people offering "well, I could have navigated" or "it's just a tragic accident."

No. Don't hike alone in remote areas.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand how you get lost and can't get found on the Appalachian trail. It's not that wide. If you walked in a straight line for days, you'd have to hit something. Right?

I've read that you can easily get disoriented because there are no hard and fast markers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OMG can't we just agree that this is very sad and while she clearly made some mistakes, it is a sad story and we all have likely made mistakes that could have been fatal and got lucky (I see people texting and driving every day...) while she made mistakes that turned out to be deadly. Also, she wasn't planning to hike solo - but her hiking partner had to get off the trail early and she decided to continue. It also doesn't sound like she just stayed in place - she tried to hike up to get a cell signal and it was in very dense woods so hard to see far in front of her. Also from what I read in "A Walk in the Woods" there are a lot of people hiking the AT, so you are less alone than in a lot of hikes (provided you stay on the trail).

No, we can't agree. First of all, if someone dies because they were texting and driving, my reaction would be the same: they were downright stupid to do that, and they risked other peoples lives. Texting and driving isn't a "mistake." It's a conscious action that is well known to be risky not just to one's self but everyone else. Honestly, I even put that in the category of drinking and driving.

While hiking alone isn't as bad as texting and driving, it's downright foolish, even for someone who is experienced. She could have easily stopped when her hiking partner stopped. And in some accounts, the hiking partner even URGED her to and said they could do it again the following summer.

Sure, a lot of people hike the AT, but when you go off the trail, that is a different story. And even with a lot of people hiking the trail, it's still a horrible idea to do it alone.

Every time a story like this comes out, the message should be that it is foolish to hike alone. But instead, you get all of these people offering "well, I could have navigated" or "it's just a tragic accident."

No. Don't hike alone in remote areas.

'

I think this is a little excessive. This woman seems to have had insufficient skill and left one of her protective layers behind (her SPOT). If she had her SPOT with her when this happened it would have been a very different story. It's why many solo hikers including myself carry something along those lines - personally I have the InReach that allows for 2 way texting. I also never hike without paper map and compass and have my phone set as a GPS.

There are lots of small errors in this story, but perhaps the biggest was to keep going when she was misplaced rather than backtracking to a known location. She got off trail to pee - she wasn't intentionally going miles off trail. The instant she realized she was lost she should have stopped, and if she couldn't easily backtrack she should have stayed in that spot and proceeded to use her whistle to blow the 3 whistle emergency signal every few couple minutes. She might have had to do that for a while but if you're just off trail far enough to pee you're close enough for someone to hear the whistle. And any backpacker worth their salt will stop to assist.

Is solo backpacking as safe as doing it with a companion? Of course not, but that can be said of all sorts of things. It is not however so risky that we should offer a blanket 'don't ever hike solo.'

[Anonymous]

How did no one find her in 28 days? Did her husband not report her missing??

[Anonymous]

1) you don't gain experience by never going

2) even if you have a partner, if you're both lost then you're still lost. Being partnered or solo won't change that.

3) if you're partnered and get injured and the partner hikes out for help, then you're both solo hiking now. Not sure how that changes anything.

4) stop hyperbole. You can go out solo. It has risks. So does driving your car or crossing the street or getting on a treadmill. Life is risky. Go out and live it instead of cowering in a corner.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How did no one find her in 28 days? Did her husband not report her missing??

They carried out a massive search, I believe beginning the next day when she was supposed to meet her husband, just didn't find her. They scaled back the search after 3 weeks when they hadn't found her. If you look at the stories they have a map that plots the track the searchers took and her final location - it was within a 100 yards or so.

[Anonymous]

It is absolutely sad that she died this way, but the reality is this woman had no right being out there along.According to the CNN article she had been hiking with another woman who had to leave the trail for a family emergency even the hiking partner said

"Lee told investigators that she was concerned about Largay hiking alone. Largay had a poor sense of direction and several times had taken a wrong turn. Once, Lee, who was a faster hiker and would sometimes go ahead then wait for her companion, said she had to double back and find Largay. The elder hiker had been walking the wrong direction until someone helped her get oriented."

This woman should have had enough sense to leave the trail when her partner did.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How did no one find her in 28 days? Did her husband not report her missing??

They carried out a massive search, I believe beginning the next day when she was supposed to meet her husband, just didn't find her. They scaled back the search after 3 weeks when they hadn't found her. If you look at the stories they have a map that plots the track the searchers took and her final location - it was within a 100 yards or so.

They did not use dogs?

[Anonymous]

The AT can also be dangerous precisely because there *are* other hikers on it. There are places where the AT runs through towns and a woman alone would be easy pickings. Even women with dogs are killed hiking, jogging, camping....

It is extremely foolish to hike alone for many, many reasons. I've hiked often, never, ever alone.

[Anonymous]

Apparently her hiking partner had some not so nice things to say about Geraldine in terms of her navigational skills and her reactions to prior incidents of getting lost/making mistakes. Apparently Geraldine did not know how to use a compass, and would become very easily flustered and combative.

Not brave. Pretty foolish. Still sad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OMG can't we just agree that this is very sad and while she clearly made some mistakes, it is a sad story and we all have likely made mistakes that could have been fatal and got lucky (I see people texting and driving every day...) while she made mistakes that turned out to be deadly. Also, she wasn't planning to hike solo - but her hiking partner had to get off the trail early and she decided to continue. It also doesn't sound like she just stayed in place - she tried to hike up to get a cell signal and it was in very dense woods so hard to see far in front of her. Also from what I read in "A Walk in the Woods" there are a lot of people hiking the AT, so you are less alone than in a lot of hikes (provided you stay on the trail).

No, we can't agree. First of all, if someone dies because they were texting and driving, my reaction would be the same: they were downright stupid to do that, and they risked other peoples lives. Texting and driving isn't a "mistake." It's a conscious action that is well known to be risky not just to one's self but everyone else. Honestly, I even put that in the category of drinking and driving.

While hiking alone isn't as bad as texting and driving, it's downright foolish, even for someone who is experienced. She could have easily stopped when her hiking partner stopped. And in some accounts, the hiking partner even URGED her to and said they could do it again the following summer.

Sure, a lot of people hike the AT, but when you go off the trail, that is a different story. And even with a lot of people hiking the trail, it's still a horrible idea to do it alone.

Every time a story like this comes out, the message should be that it is foolish to hike alone. But instead, you get all of these people offering "well, I could have navigated" or "it's just a tragic accident."

No. Don't hike alone in remote areas.

'

I think this is a little excessive. This woman seems to have had insufficient skill and left one of her protective layers behind (her SPOT). If she had her SPOT with her when this happened it would have been a very different story. It's why many solo hikers including myself carry something along those lines - personally I have the InReach that allows for 2 way texting. I also never hike without paper map and compass and have my phone set as a GPS.

There are lots of small errors in this story, but perhaps the biggest was to keep going when she was misplaced rather than backtracking to a known location. She got off trail to pee - she wasn't intentionally going miles off trail. The instant she realized she was lost she should have stopped, and if she couldn't easily backtrack she should have stayed in that spot and proceeded to use her whistle to blow the 3 whistle emergency signal every few couple minutes. She might have had to do that for a while but if you're just off trail far enough to pee you're close enough for someone to hear the whistle. And any backpacker worth their salt will stop to assist.
And planes fly
Is solo backpacking as safe as doing it with a companion? Of course not, but that can be said of all sorts of things. It is not however so risky that we should offer a blanket 'don't ever hike solo.'

Almost every disaster is the result of multiple factors, any one of which could have averted the situation, had it gone a different way. The trick is to figure out how to change at least one. The first rule of wilderness survival is "STOP, and THINK." I think it's like someone who can't swim who falls into the water. If they would just relax, they would float. Panic is the biggest killer. Based on other comments re: her apparent poor sense of direction, she may not have realized that she was lost until she was very far away from the trail and seriously had no idea how to navigate. (Which goes back to the fact that she, in particular, shouldn't have been out there alone.) The rescuers apparently were very close to where her body was found. Why didn't she start a very smoky campfire? Even if the woods were damp (as per usual in Maine), surely she had some fuel for a stove that she could have used to get it started?

There are parallels to the Christopher McCandless story, although I agree that he was trying to get lost. However, I do think he realized too late that he didn't want to die. The mutiple mistakes he made in preparation (or lack thereof) are well documented. However, the bus he died in is not far at all (by Alaska standards) from Park Service facilities, and a simple map would have shown him a way to get out, even over the flooded river (there was a cable over the river not far away). In any case, it's near a small airport and Park Service planes fly fairly low over it all the time as they take off and land. There were ways he could have attracted attention. The book was annoying in the way it glamorized his situation. I had read the book, but when I was in the area and realized how close he was to help, I was shocked.

My husband and I are teaching our children survival skills (through Boy Scouts and on our own). Even if those skills are never needed, the confidence it gives to a kid to know that he can survive is a wonderful gift. You must respect the wilderness, but, if you are appropriately prepared, there is no reason to fear it.