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Thanks for posting.
What a great story! Thank you for posting that.
Whats impressive..at least in his day in age..is he has survived being married for 40 years.
I’m glad he survived... but lost for 17 days when only a couple miles from your car?!
Dipstick.
We don’t go into the local county Forest Preserves without a day pack that has food, water, and our IFAKs.
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He’s an idiot.
He’s thirsty but is tramping through rivers and waterfalls.
He’s hungry but doesn’t fish.
He’s lost but goes farther and farther away from his car and the trail. Worst, he climbs higher.
Was the sun in his eyes when he left his car? Like, hellooooo.
Something like that happened to me once. *shudders uncontrollably* Me and my friend ended up hiking 40 miles out of an area that we’d blundered into. By some luck we walked into a bunch of national forest campsites just as it was starting to get REALLY dark. Some nice guys who were fishing gave us a ride back to our car, it was like 50+ miles. We didn’t have decent jackets, hats, and only one water bottle for two people. What a nightmare!
But we got to see some amazing stuff on our hellish journey.
Great story. And reinforces the old concept. What’s on your body lets you survive, what’s on your web gear lets you do your mission, and your pack gives you comfort and do things better.
That basic boy scout knife, a firestarter, signal mirror, a ziplock bag to use as a canteen with some water purification pills, and a space blanket would nearly fit in the space of a pack of playing cards and weigh nothing.
And he sounds like very comfortable in the ourdoors, but if you are out there a lot, those personal locator satellite beacons are about 300 bucks. Sit down, press the button and wait for the rescue.
What a great story. I cannot imagine going 17 days with only a few grubs, termites, snails and millipedes to eat. Don’t millipedes and centipedes make you really sick?
I’ve got friends from the Roseburg and Sutherlin areas and I’ll send this to them.
Sunset on May 5 in Roseburg, OR was 8:19 pm. In the deep, tall forest, it’s dark a lot before that. Setting out for a 2-1/2 mile round trip on the trail at 4 pm was not the smartest thing to do. It was probably already getting dusky at 4 pm. Lesson 2 is always take some basic survival gear with you, especially when you are alone.
But good job on his mentality at least. A positive “ I WILL make it” mindset really matters a lot.
Also, the wife waiting 48 hours because she thought that was the law. (even though it is 24) When you know something is wrong call when you know that and raise holy hell. It does sometimes help.
I didn’t notice if anyone found his car at the trailhead?
When I go wandering in the Arizona desert I have an iPad with the Gaia GPS app on it. There is a breadcrumb trail that allows me to backtrack, so I’ll never get lost. My iPhone also has the Gaia GPS app on it, so I also have a backup. And unlike a map, I always know exactly where I am.
Just a guess, but I think it is likely he followed an animal trail because there was a lack of activity on the human trail.
Sounds like he was a bit naive thinking ‘Nature is Beautiful and the Forest is my Friend’.
1.25 miles is a long way into the woods.
You have work at it to avoid water in western Oregon, it is a rain forest after all, and in this article this manlet even talks about snow on the ground for Pete's sake. The stupid ass was literally walking on water. He also made the mistake of staying on a ridge with greater exposure to the elements and where there is likely to be little water and less food than in the valley bottoms.
He went into the woods with fishing gear yet he didn't fish for for food, He had a brain-fart of an idea and made a beanie cap out of his fishing bag: “I took the cover off my fishing creel, used a fillet knife to cut the creel pack and made a headcover” He cut up a good bag holding his vital fishing gear to make a beanie because every douche in Oregon needs a beanie.
We also know from that sentence that this goober also had a knife. How can you starve in western Oregon with a knife and fishing gear? This mental midget could have used the knife to dig in rotten logs for grubs to eat, dug in the dirt for roots and tubers, or, heaven forbid, there are rocks in thos mountains that when hit with the steel of a KNIFE throw sparks to start a fire.
As for getting lost the man has zero orientation skills. Rivers always flow downhill towards civilization. The Sun rises in the east and sets in the west. So does the Moon. These things are obvious if you just sit still and think about them.
I am not even going to elaborate on the fact that he carried a magnifying glass around in his wallet for 40 years and it took him over a week to remember that he had it on him.
There is hardly anywhere in wooded America that a half day’s walk doesn’t get you to a road, house, or other civilization.
17 Days?? Something’s not right.
Tough guy.
What a captivating story. I had to read the whole thing to find out if Harry lived through it. Thank you, God, for giving him one more day at a time.
And the courage and blessing to keep blessing everyone who tried to help him.
Had plenty of gear with me, found a creek head and kept it within ear shot on the way down. Found an opening, which turned out to be a cliff.....but, it provided a view of a vehicle stirring up dust on the road below.
Went back to the creek and headed down until I got to the road.
Was able to get a ride to my car about a mile away.