[pct-l] lost hiker update

[dsaufley at sprynet.com (dsaufley@sprynet.com)]

Exactly what we told the authorities.

-----Original Message-----
From: Pea Hicks <phix@optigan.com>
Sent: May 27, 2005 10:54 AM
To: pct-l@mailman.backcountry.net
Subject: Re: [pct-l] lost  hiker update



dsaufley@sprynet.com wrote:

> Thank you, Pea.  He was last seen further up the trail, just below Saddle Junction, to the east of the PCT, near Tahquitz Valley.  The last person known to see him gave her report to the SAR team.

i came thru that area one day after connie/alex came thru, which was may 
4- the day before the snowfall... obviously i didn't see seabreeze, but 
of course i wasn't looking for him either... there were some steep snow 
chutes *above* little tahquitz valley, but nobody had fallen there when 
i came thru... after those chutes, there really wasn't anything very 
dangerous the rest of the way down to saddle jtn. my personal opinion is 
that if something happened to him, it would have most likely been 
somewhere *north* of saddle jtn.

> 
> I'm so sorry I didn't get to meet him.  He sound like my kinda person.

he was a really friendly guy, i think with a hearing impairment of some 
kind because he talked *really* loud and never seemed to hear you coming 
up behind him. he definitely had a sailor's mouth, but in a very 
hilarious and endearing way. :)

one thing i might mention, which again may or may not be a useful bit of 
information- he had a very distinctive gait, almost like a "frankenstein 
walk," for lack of a better way of describing it... he sort of stomped 
his way down the trail, slow but consistent. i remember always thinking 
that his gait looked labored even though he was obviously a seasoned 
hiker and that was just his style of walking... i only mention it 
because as i imagine him hiking in that forceful way on the snow, 
especially without trekking poles or ice axe, it seems incompatible with 
the sort of careful, well-placed footsteps you need to get across some 
of those tricky parts without slipping.

well anyway, if there's going to be any sort of organized volunteer 
effort to go look for him, just let me know where/when. i realize 
there's been a SAR team out there, and that some folks are going out to 
look on their own, but i'd rather not just head up there and start 
looking without knowing exactly which areas have already been covered, etc.


girlscout
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