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California scout troop stumbles onto hiker lost in Sierra Nevada
San Francisco Chronicle / SFGate.com ^ | Sep 3, 2025 | By Sam Mauhay-Moore, National Parks Reporter

Posted on 09/03/2025 11:50:09 PM PDT by thecodont

Halfway into a recent weeklong backpacking trip through California’s Sierra Nevada, nine members of a scout troop and their scoutmaster came across a man standing alone in a meadow deep in the Emigrant Wilderness. He appeared disoriented and didn’t have any hiking or camping gear.

The California Highway Patrol confirmed the man was Douglas Montgomery. The group soon learned the 78-year-old was an experienced outdoorsman and former scoutmaster himself. The group also learned that he was stranded after veering 15 miles off his intended route, had lost his backpack, and had been battling hypothermia for two days.

“We started very quickly realizing that he wasn’t all right,” said Michael-James Hey, scoutmaster for Troop 26 from Santa Barbara. “He was looking really bedraggled. He’s got cuts all over his hands. He’s very unsteady on his feet, and he’s being polite, but he’s pretty out of it.”

Montgomery was on a two-week-long solo backpacking trip. Several miles earlier, he’d set his pack down and left to get a better look at his whereabouts and the trail. When he came back, he was unable to find the pack, which contained all his food, water and camping gear, as well as a GPS-enabled communication device.

(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...


TOPICS: Local News; Outdoors; Travel
KEYWORDS: backpack; ca; california; scouting; sierranevada; survival
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To: ansel12

Well life and death. 😏


81 posted on 09/04/2025 7:42:38 PM PDT by Georgia Girl 2 (The only purpose of a pistol is to fight your way back to the rifle you should never have dropped)
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To: Georgia Girl 2

Look at the history of the sexes, the males are out facing life and all the challenges of nature and the world, while women stay as safe and as close to home as possible.

Do you prefer your men timid and fearful about being alone in the great outdoors?


82 posted on 09/04/2025 7:49:51 PM PDT by ansel12 ((NATO warrior under Reagan, and RA under Nixon, bemoaning the pro-Russians from Vietnam to Ukraine.))
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To: ansel12

I think universally most people including men do not think its a great idea to remote back pack by yourself. But there’s no law against it. You are free to engage in risky behavior but it might go badly for you. Frankly I’m not sure your manly man card takes a hit if you back pack with a buddy.


83 posted on 09/05/2025 8:38:02 AM PDT by Georgia Girl 2 (The only purpose of a pistol is to fight your way back to the rifle you should never have dropped)
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To: Georgia Girl 2

Remote backpacking? Central Park isn’t really made for backpacking, you have some weird hangups about men evidently, as you keep pushing them to be more woman like, and getting more nasty as you keep obsessing with it.


84 posted on 09/05/2025 8:50:31 AM PDT by ansel12 ((NATO warrior under Reagan, and RA under Nixon, bemoaning the pro-Russians from Vietnam to Ukraine.))
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To: ansel12

I think you are kind of losing your mind over this issue. Take a few days to go on a solo remote hike and get it together. 😉


85 posted on 09/05/2025 8:55:18 AM PDT by Georgia Girl 2 (The only purpose of a pistol is to fight your way back to the rifle you should never have dropped)
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To: Georgia Girl 2

Your obsession, fear, and desire to control people comes out in your posts, you don’t just have a negative opinion on normal outdoor activities, you are insisting on compliance on this thread as you go into day 2 of your insistence.

To: thecodont
Never go on a solo back packing trip.
57 posted on 9/4/2025, 9:03:52 AM by Georgia Girl 2


86 posted on 09/05/2025 9:05:41 AM PDT by ansel12 ((NATO warrior under Reagan, and RA under Nixon, bemoaning the pro-Russians from Vietnam to Ukraine.))
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