[pct-l] Death on the PCT / John Joseph Donovan

Tue Jan 26 14:36:37 CST 2010

Half Mile !

Wow, great link. 

I'm going to read it right now... but just looking at the photos... beautiful spot to camp out. (in good weather).

----- Original Message ----
From: Halfmile <halfmile at pctmap.net>
To: Don Billings <dbillings803 at yahoo.com>
Cc: Pct-l at backcountry.net
Sent: Tue, January 26, 2010 9:57:31 AM
Subject: Re: [pct-l] Death on the PCT / John Joseph Donovan

This Riverside County SAR report
http://www.rmru.org/missions/2006/2006-06-04.html
says the location was Long Valley below Hidden Fork at 4,300 feet. Not
very close to the PCT.
-Halfmile

On Tue, Jan 26, 2010 at 9:28 AM, Don Billings <dbillings803 at yahoo.com> wrote:
> Hi Dave,
>
> I'm just relating some things that I read as I don't have anything to verify the exact location of where he was found. But the couple that found
> his remains began their own saga at the upper Palm Springs Aerial Tramway. They said they were on the 1.5 mile tourist loop when they decided
> to seek out a waterfall that they heard. They said that the "mountain tends to force you to move downward." They also said they, despite being lost
> that first day, could still hear the voices of the tourists at the tram station.
>
> I know that the last people who saw Donovan mentioned Fuller Ridge, but nobody knows what he did once he passed them. One person online
> speculated that Donovan took a wrong turn which would explain the location. Others speculated that he, upon realizing the situation, was drawn
> to the lights below of Palm Springs. A ranger of the area said that a lot of lost hikers are found in a particular canyon due to that temptation to
> hike toward the lights. And the canyon apparently is really rough going. One person familiar with the area said that the canyon is "really, really
> easy to get turned out in." I saw another post that claimed his remains were located at about 4,500 foot level.
>
>
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----
> From: David Ellzey <david at xpletive.com>
> To: "pct-l at backcountry.net" <pct-l at backcountry.net>
> Sent: Mon, January 25, 2010 9:13:08 PM
> Subject: Re: [pct-l] Death on the PCT / John Joseph Donovan
>
> Wait, he was found all the way over at Hidden Creek?
>
> I always thought he had gotten lost near Fullers Ridge, not a mile and a half south of the upper tram terminal.
>
> BigToe
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: pct-l-bounces at backcountry.net [mailto:pct-l-bounces at backcountry.net] On Behalf Of Don Billings
> Sent: Monday, January 25, 2010 5:49 PM
> To: pct-l at backcountry.net
> Subject: Re: [pct-l] Death on the PCT / John Joseph Donovan
>
> I did some serious reading on the event and from what I read, nobody knew what happened because the last people to see him
> were headed down to shelter and merely advised him to do likewise as he continued onward.
>
> When he was found, his notes said that he had "taken a fall" and was unable to climb out. It sounded as if he set camp after that.
>
> As for having food, he wasn't prepared at all. He ate his final crackers while camped. He had no food provisions to last him. In fact, that
> was one of the sad aspects of the story. He celebrated his 60th birthday.... alone..... eating his last crackers.
>
> He didn't start hiking out, either. They found his body about 150 feet from his camp site and his notes indicated he was going for water.
> Someone else posted that the "water" was Hidden Creek. See pdf map file link below.
>
> He did have matches left which were used by the (lost) couple who stumbled across his camp. But maybe he died before he could use them.
> i.e. heavy wind / snow. The matches were found by the couple inside his backpack buried within/within/within bags.
>
> The sad part was that nobody knew where he was and his contacts back East did not realize a problem for about 10 days... and he was dead by
> then. They only realized he was in trouble when he failed to show up for resupply and upon checking by phone with the post office. So, he was stuck
> and he knew nobody was looking for him.
>
> One person theorized that he saw the lights of Palm Springs below and attempted to bushwhack downward. His fall may have actually broken a hip or a leg so
> that he couldn't walk. They did the usual autopsy but I didn't see any news item that reported after that aspect of the investigation. It would have been
> revealing to read that, yes, he had a severe broken bone which precluded him from helping himself.
>
> The link I'm posting here shows the area where the (lost) couple began their own 4 day survival episode. They intended to merely hike a 1.5 mile tourist loop
> which is directly outside of the Palm Springs Aerial Tram and then intentionally went off trail. So, you can see where they started... and they stumbled
> across Donovan's camp on their second day of being lost.
>
> www.parks.ca.gov/pages/636/files/mtsanjacintospmap.pdf
>
> Even the (lost) couple were in trouble despite attempting a common self rescue tactic of following a creek down hill. They were blocked, as was Donovan, at a steep "gorge."
>
> I think that there are lessons to be learned from this story, too. Thats one reason I posted it. When I was young, I never used to think about the risks of doing something solo... until I found myself in scary situations. :)  Now, I wish I could hike solo, but its just safer not to. Just like scuba diving... it better to not be alone.
>
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----
> From: Tortoise <Tortoise73 at charter.net>
> To: Pct-l at backcountry.net
> Sent: Mon, January 25, 2010 4:06:50 PM
> Subject: Re: [pct-l] Death on the PCT / John Joseph Donovan
>
> As I recall from the accounts, John had stopped and made camp. He still
> had food and supplies including matches. He could have stayed in his
> camp to wait out the storm. But for some reason he left camp and started
> hiking to ???.
>
> To me an important lesson from this affair is that if you are lost in
> bad weather and camped, stay put in camp until better weather. Then
> signal for help as soon as you can get to someplace where others may see
> you.
>
> Even if you are just lost, really lost, stay put. Staying put makes it
> easier for people to find you.
>
> At least long enough for STOPA.  Sit, think, options, plan, action.
>
> We don't know what John Donovan was thinking nor why he left camp.
> Possibly hypothermia.
>
> Tortoise
>
> Because truth matters"
>
>
>
> Don Billings wrote:
>> Paul,
>>
>> I agree that turning back would have been the prudent thing to do in John's case. From what I read, though, he routinely
>> hiked miles in the snow to and from work in his home state so he may have simply had too much confidence in his ability.
>>
>> Nobody knows for sure what went wrong or WHEN it went wrong, but I suspect he realized he made a mistake and then
>> attempted to head for safety. Being without a compass and gps in the dark and in a snow storm could have been his downfall.
>> Rather than being the most dangerous gear in his pack, he could have used the backtrack feature to perhaps find his previous
>> location.
>>
>> In any case, his hiking without compass nor gps was a mistake. I even read that the maps he had were of poor quality but I'm
>> not sure what maps were used. He was a poor man all of his life and scrimped on everything. So, if he had photocopied maps,
>> that too may have been his downfall. When you read of his life, and his low income (he didn't even have $$ for a phone at his
>> apartment)....  you have to cut him some slack. He finally found something he could do on his income/retirement that he
>> liked but he still had those lifelong habits of frugality..... but the one thing, in my mind, that nobody should cheap out on
>> is safety gear.
>>
>> The thing that struck me heavily was that after having a hard life (parents gone by age 10, etc), he stated to friends that his
>> lifelong fear in life was to die alone. So, imagine how he felt... in the snow, injured, without food, nobody knowing where he was,
>> no S&R initiated, and without the proper gear. The story just tugs at my compassion.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> ----- Original Message ----
>> From: Paul Mitchell <bluebrain at bluebrain.ca>
>> To: pct-l at backcountry.net
>> Sent: Mon, January 25, 2010 1:00:42 PM
>> Subject: Re: [pct-l] Death on the PCT / John Joseph Donovan
>>
>> With all due respect to the late Mr. Donovan, I'd chime in to say that much
>> more valuable than a compass and GPS in his situation would have been a bit
>> of caution and sense.  John took on the San Jacinto stretch with ultra-light
>> gear, 3 feet of snow on the ground and foreknowledge that a storm was
>> blowing in that night.  The other hikers who last met him had the sense to
>> descent to Idyllwild to shelter from the inbound snowstorm, yet John decided
>> to press on through serious snow into a high altitude snow storm.
>>
>> If a compass and GPS gave you the confidence to enter a mountain range under
>> those conditions, than they just might be the most dangerous gear in your
>> pack.
>>
>> - P178
>>
>> "This year the Idyllwild area has had its highest snow fall in 40 years, and
>> the area John was last seen in had approximately 3 ft. of snow and the
>> weather report, (which John knew about) for that night was that a storm was
>> coming in. Other PCT hikers came into Idyllwild for shelter from the storm."
>>
>> http://www.rmru.org/missions/2005/2005-017.html
>>
>>
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