Search and Rescue had spent over 1000 man hours in four days scouring the Holy Cross Wilderness before they called off the search for missing hiker, James Nelson. As I write this, it has been twenty-one days since Nelson struck out on the trail on Oct. 3rd. A few volunteers have been looking for him still, but no one has found a trace of him. Why? Why can’t they find James Nelson?
Some Possible Reasons Why:
A Bermuda Triangle in Colorado? -
The Holy Cross Wilderness has its host of strange and mysterious stories about people vanishing within its nearly 200 square miles of rugged landscape. It has even been termed the “Holy Cross Triangle.” The most perplexing account is that of Michelle Vanek, a 35 year old triathelete and mother of 4 who decided to climb Mt. of the Holy Cross in September of 2005. Just 400 feet below the summit, Vanek became exhausted and sat down. She and her hiking partner made plans to meet back at the main trail for the hike down, then her partner pushed on to the summit. After summiting, he hiked back down to their rendezvous point, but Vanek never showed. That began the largest search and rescue operation in Colorado history. Read More
Lost in the woods for 3.5 days because of bad directions. That’s how The Glenwood Springs Post Independent explained the plight of a physicist turned lost hiker over the first weekend in August. But the story reveals that there was a lot more going on than just bad directions. Let’s stop and take a better look at what the 50 year old Physicist did wrong and what he did right.
What He Did Wrong:
- He bit off way more than he could chew. It looks like the was attempting a self-made, 25+ mile loop in just 14hrs! I don’t care if you have good directions. When you make a plan like that, you obviously are not taking into account many things, especially weather.
- He planned on hiking out in the night. Read More
A woman became separated from her party near Leadville, Colorado this week. She spent all night in the woods on Mount Massive while maintaining contact with Lake County emergency dispatchers on her cell phone. The Fort Lewis based Special Operations Aviation Crew were in the Mt. Massive area to recover the wreckage of the Black Hawk helicopter that went down in August of 2009. The 50 year old hiker was recovered on July 29th, 2010 by the crew using a basket system on the helicopter.
As the hiking with or without a cell phone debate continues, this story provides a solid vote for the “bring your cell phone” side.
Do you carry your cell phone? Leave it at home?
