Interesting find in The Needles yesterday...

[DAA]

Took the family to Moab this weekend. Had a great time. Weather ranged from awesome to "pretty good" while we were there, right up until the drive home today. Town was chock full of folks, but not many 4x4's, so we had the trails we ran pretty much to ourselves. In fact, other than a few groups of ATV's and some park Rangers, we didn't see another rig on the trails all weekend.

We have a picture hanging on the wall here at home of my Son when on the Joint Trail when he was little and my Daughter who has never been there wanted to get her picture taken in the same spot. So, yesterday we headed down to The Needles to run Elephant Hill and hike the Joint Trail.

Didn't see anyone on the E-Hill trail until we got to Devil's Lane. Right there at the intersection were some Park Service 4-door JK's and about a dozen park Rangers. They had the road blocked so we had to wait for them to move to get by and while we were waiting a couple of them came over to chat.

Turns out they were just wrapping up and calling off a search for a missing backpacker. They said they had been looking for him for a couple of days already but had gotten some new information that he had already left the park and was fine. You could tell they had been putting in a lot of miles and a lot of hours looking and were happy and relieved to be done with the search.

So, on down the trail we went to the parking area for the Joint Trail. Get started hiking up the trail. My Wife and Son were in the lead and I was bringing up the rear with my Daughter. A hundred yards before the Joint itself, I see my Wife standing there looking back at me white as a ghost. I hurry up to see what has her so spooked, and there's a dead guy wearing a backpack sprawled out right across the trail!

Right about then, the dead guy turned his head and looked at us . Guess he wasn't so dead after all. Cindy sure thought he was until he moved his head though .

Turns out we had found the missing backpacker. And man... Am I EVER GLAD we did!

He was totally played out. Dehydrated, suffering from exhaustion, exposure, hadn't eaten for a couple days, the whole nine yards. He literally didn't have the strength to sit up with his pack on. Right there where we found him was as far as he was going. And, to make a long story short, he had ditched a lot of his gear a couple days earlier to lighten his load - including his tent. And some weather was rolling in.

Young guy, real nice kid. My Wife and Daughter both decided instantly that we should adopt him .

We got him back to the Jeep and took him back to the trailhead where we found the same large group of park Rangers. They went right to work on him. Turns out he was maybe a little worse off than even I thought, blood pressure dangerously low etc. He's going to be fine though.

Don't know if we saved his life, or just spared him more suffering. He and the rangers all seemed to think we saved his life. And the kids thought finding him and bringing him out to safety was like, literally THE COOLEST THING EVER .

I just like happy endings .

- DAA

 

[bryson]

Very neat story. Good on you!

 

[gahi]

Whoa! Awesome that you found him!

 

[Spork]

Cool story :greg:

 

[Skylinerider]

Awesome!

 

[jeep-N-montero]

Wow, just shows how incompetent some rescue workers can be, that guy was very blessed you guys showed up right after they called off the search.

 

[Greg]

Awesome, good on you for being in the right place at the right time!

 

[Herzog]

Great story DAA. Gave me the chills but also a good smile.

 

[blznnp]

That's awesome man, crazy that he wasn't that far from the group of rangers. He is lucky that you an your family were there, especially since you say you didn't see many people on the trail.

 

[benjy]

Nice find! I'm sure he was grateful.

Wow, just shows how incompetent some rescue workers can be, that guy was very blessed you guys showed up right after they called off the search.

Looks like you missed this part of the story... they received bad information. I don't know if I would call rescue workers "incompetent" because they received bad information.

They said they had been looking for him for a couple of days already but had gotten some new information that he had already left the park and was fine. You could tell they had been putting in a lot of miles and a lot of hours looking and were happy and relieved to be done with the search.

 

[sixstringsteve]

The next time I think about blowing off a trip I'll remember this story.

The Joint is one of my absolutely favorite places to explore. I hope your daughter still got a chance to get her picture there. What a cool experience to share with your family. It sure sounds like you saved his life. One can only wonder what would have happened if SUWA had their way and shut down that road...

 

[bamacpl]

Way cool story!!! That's awesome!!!

 

[radred92]

That's awesome man, crazy that he wasn't that far from the group of rangers. He is lucky that you an your family were there, especially since you say you didn't see many people on the trail.

I agree, amazing that he was right on the trail when the rangers had been looking for him. You must have been meant to be there at that moment.

I bet your kids will never forget THIS trip! Saving a life is a pretty awesome thing! Very cool story!

 

[DAA]

Wow, just shows how incompetent some rescue workers can be...

If you got that impression from me, I might need to go back and edit my post or something. The impression I got, was that those folks cared deeply about his safety and were doing everything they could with the resources they had to find him. And the reason they were all at the Elephant Hill trailhead when we got back there, is because they had somehow found out their earlier info about him being out of the park and safe was incorrect and they were gearing back up to go back out and resume the search.

I have no idea what kind of info or how they got it, I didn't ask as it didn't seem important anymore. But when I said in my original post that they were "happy and relieved" it wasn't that they were just glad they didn't have to look anymore, they were happy and relieved that (they thought) the guy was safe. I could see it on their faces, their clothes, their boots etc. that those folks had been looking HARD for him - they were all dusty, dirty, worn down, etc., didn't look like any of them had gotten much rest lately.

I don't know if you know what that country is like once you start walking it. But with only a couple dozen people to search, and no idea where to start looking, finding someone in that area would have to be just incredibly difficult. The backpacker told me that he hadn't had any detailed plans of where he was going to be hiking and that he had been totally "off trail" almost the whole time. That would make an already incredibly difficult task just that much harder. Plus, and I don't want to portray this guy as dumb, because he isn't, I spent two hours in my Jeep with him and he is obviously a very smart young man - but, he was a few days into dehydration, exhaustion and exposure and his decision making had pretty much broken down. Pretty normal for anyone in his condition. He was making some really erratic and irational moves - like leaving the parking area for the Joint Trail when he didn't have the strength to get 800 yards up the trail. But that, again, could only have made finding him just that much harder.

And it's not like he was just around the corner from where the rangers were, either. Where I saw them, at the Devils Lane intersection, is most of an hours drive to the Joint Trail. Again, that is some big, rough, tough country to just go out and find somebody in.

It was pure, dumb, wonderful luck that we stumbled across him. I'm just grateful that we did. But I certainly don't think it was any lack of competence, effort or desire on the part of the people conducting the search that prevented them finding him before we did.

- DAA

 

[Jinx]

Classy response. Well done. The rescue and the post.

 

[muleskinner]

 

[SAMI]

Awesome!

 

[Thursty]

Wow, just shows how incompetent some rescue workers can be

You have no idea how many searches just like this one happen in this area and how physically and emotionally draining they are. We get a phone call from a loved one who says their family member is supposed to be hiking/camping in the area, sometimes they don't know exactly where, sometimes they do. We spend hours and sometimes days searching for this person only to receive a call saying the person has been safe with friends in California the whole time. Don't get me wrong, I would much rather have a search end this way than with finding someone's body.

My hat is off to those who participated in this search and to DAA and his family for finding the kid and saving his life. Kudos to all!

 

[jeep-N-montero]

I misread it, my apologies.

 

[glockman]

Not too many people have stories like that. Just another reason it is awesome to get out with our kids. It really makes memories they will have for a lifetime.