As soon as you realize you are lost, what you want to do is mark the place you are. Then walk 100 yards in one direction keeping track of that place. If you find nothing walk back to the original spot and walked 100 yards in the other direction. Again if you find nothing go back to the original spot. Do this in four directions if necessary . If you still find nothing go 200 yards in all four directions if necessary , always come back to the same spot until you find something. I’ve had to use this technique A couple of times. Very grateful that someone told it to me.
My gym teacher in 1st grade told us the same thing. He used to take us on nature hikes in the woods in the back of our school and would tell us stories about his hikes through the Appalachian mountains (he was born in Virginia in 1912). He told us that if you're ever hiking and end up somewhere in the woods that is completely silent to leave immediately before the "wildmen" get you. He was from a very rough era in history and wouldn't joke about something like that. RIP Mr. Carter you taught me a lot about the wilderness.
I have worked in the woods in the subject area my whole life as a land surveyor. Many people can't understand how she got lost. That is because they have never gotten lost. I have become disoriented in the woods and believe me, it can happen to the most experienced woodsman. The part I can't understand is how the search parties never found her. Hopefully the Maine Warden Service did a lot of soul searching and revamped their methods, procedures, and egos.
As someone who loves hiking and the outdoors and also directionally challenged like Gerry I’ve left the trail and turned back to be be like ??? I always use GPS but it’s definitely scary!
This and many trails in any woods can be easy to get lost in. maine i am about 20mins from this area and i have been lost in the woods 3 times in my life. It isnt hard at all when the sec you go off trail or for that matter even some trails all look alike woods woods woods. I will always love Maine though.
Gerry was NOT found by a govt. surveyor. Her remains were found by a hiker (trail name "Starfly") and his friend. Starfly went hiking on the AT in October of 2015 to enjoy the fall foliage and also to look for Gerry. He and his friend found her remains and her campsite. They notified the warden service and included the GPS location. They didn't hear back - and then lo and behold - the warden service claimed that this unnamed contractor "found" Gerry. There was a reward. Starfly wanted the reward to go toward a shelter to be named for Gerry. I don't understand why the authorities found it necessary to lie and not give credit to the people who actually searched and found her.
Search and rescue will yell names. That is really odd she didnt respond if they got so close. I wonder if she had a hearing aid that died or something? Also you failed to mention the weather. If it had been raining i could see how the dogs wouldnt be able to pick up her smell, there would be little trace, and maybe she was too cold to respond. This is why leave no trace is bs too. Respectfully there is no such thing and we need to leave some trace otherwise we wont be found in survival situations. Respect necture and stay alive yall 🙏🏻
The person who originally found her should prove that he found her with the GPS at a time it was sent. Then they should go and claim their money and if they have a problem, they should go get a lawyer.
When I was 12 years old, I got lost in the Woods exploring a new area. I was standing in a small creek, bed with a noticeable unique boulder when I realized I was absolutely lost. So I decided to hike in a straight line to approximately where I thought I began the hike at the edge of a road. But about an hour and a half later, I realized I had arrived back at the creek bed with that noticeable unique Boulder. Holy shit! That's when I super freaked out. Begin to hyperventilate. Turned in circles about 20 times this time, turned into the opposite direction and took off on the fastest sprint of my life. This time, rather than looking at the trees in front of me, I tried to keep my eyes on the horizon above the trees, where there is an outline of a cloud this allowed me to keep my bearing a little bit better. Fortunately, 30 minutes later, completely worn out I popped out onto the road. I didn't know. Should I turn left or right? I decided to turn left and 100 yards down the road everything was recognizable.
Thats why they tell you to stay put , ppl walk in circles due to the rotation of the earth... we were always taught, remember to break branches/mark branches on one side and remember if its your right or your left, always carry an emergency tin, we would use small coffee tins, with fish line, needles, waterproofed matches, band aids, etx u can use the tin to boil water, fishing line to fish etc
This is so heartbreaking and you can tell just by the pictures of her that she was full of life and a great person..Her smile is so genuine in each picture and it hurts me to the core that such a sweet soul had to end so tragically..RIP Geraldine
Lesson should be that do not go hiking alone if u are not experienced to move in a forest. Also gotta have a some kind of marks or use knife to mark the trees if u think u r going to wrong direction. If she had a map or could read that with compass, she would’ve survived
I feel a need to vent here. This one has personal meaning for me. My family was deeply concerned when this story hit the news, since I'm nearly the age that Inchworm was when she went missing, and because of our family history. My step-grandfather went missing on a Catskills hike, and nobody - despite an intensive effort over months by hundreds of searchers - ever learnt what happened to him. He'd left behind a wife and two little kids, one of whom grew to to become my stepfather. "If you get lost, stay put and wait for rescue. Try to signal if you can." is the only advice that far too many of us get. It's fine advice for eleven-year-old boy scouts. They're probably two hundred yards from a campground! It's only a starting point - and nobody should be hiking solo with just that advice. (Of course, the eleven-year-old boy scouts are also taught "never hike alone!" while many grown-ups do hike solo. It's irresponsible to grow beyond only part of that advice. Some specific observations about the Inchworm mystery: 200 yards from a trail is a long way in dense forest, really. If memory serves, Inchworm was somewhat hard of hearing, and voices carry surprisingly badly in dense undergrowth. Carry a whistle - mine happens to be built into the sternum buckle of my pack. If you think you hear help coming for you, you can be heard a LOT farther with a whistle than with your voice. (Aside: Don't just blast, make sure they know it's a human sound. "Shave and a haircut" isn't a bad bet.) Also, someone among the rescuers likely has a whistle and can whistle back. Carry a compass and learn how to sight with it. Even if you don't know how to do anything else with it, if you can hold a more or less consistent straight line, you can get _somewhere_ rather than wandering in circles. "Just use the GPS" is not an option, when your GPS has a dead battery. Learn map-and-compass navigation skills. (If you're around Eastern New York or adjacent New England. I'm willing go go out hiking with anyone trying to learn this stuff - and I'm competent enough to lead bushwhacks to places I've never been, so drop me a line. I live a little north and west of Albany.) Along with that, learn the basics of what to do if you lose both your map and your way. That differs according to conditions, but a good rule of thumb in the Eastern US is: go DOWN. Down goes to water. Once you have hit water, go DOWNSTREAM. Downstream goes to civilization. In the Eastern US, that's just about 100% guaranteed: down goes to water, downstream there's a road. If you hit level ground and aren't sure which way 'down' continues, whip out your you-know-what, oops, I mean compass, and just start tracking in line with the way you were going until the slope becomes obvious again. In the higher mountains you might cliff out. If you were on trail, that's not entirely bad news. (Of course, don't ever go down anything you're not sure you can't get back up! Climb back up to where you can move sideways, and start circling the band of ledges. You'll eventually 1cross either the trail you were on or another trail. Once you've found a trail, abandoned logging road, whatever, stick with it. It goes somewhere. Downhill is usually a better guess than up, since you're trying to get out of the mountains. It's a good idea to review the map at the start of a day's hiking and plan escape routes that you can follow even if your map comes to grief. Something general and simple to remember like, "there's a river a mile or two to the north, and a highway bridge downstream". If you're leading a group, make that a part of your safety briefing. If you do start traveling in order to get unlost, it's a good idea to have a notebook along. (I carry a 3x5 inch waterproof notebook. Since I photograph and write and map, I use it for field notes anyway.) Start taking notes about what you see - especially back over your shoulder - along with the time of day, so you have something to help you if you need to backtrack. If I'm hiking solo, I carry a PLB. Not a satellite communicator like a SPOT or InReach, an actual Personal Locator Beacon registered with the Federal government. It gets sent off for inspection and battery replacement at the recommended intervals. I'm pretty certain that if I light it, I'm going to be found. I carry it not so much to protect myself as to protect the emergency responders. If I buy the farm on a hike, well, it's not that many years until my time is coming anyway. But nobody should have to put their arses on the line looking for me. If they have a GPS squawk, a radio signal, and a strobe light, all telling them where I am, that should take nearly all the Search out of Search&Rescue, and Search is the difficult, expensive and dangerous part of the mission. It'll take a lot to make me light it, though. I've hobbled out fifteen miles on a sprained knee because I'm not going to call in the troops while I can still travel at all. None of this advicce would have safed my step-grandfather, I suspect. From the terrain he was bushwhacking in and the time of year he was going, I suspect that he triggered a rock slide and wound up buried. But many individual bits of it might have saved Inchworm.
I hike alone a lot in the Whites of NH and I have never really been lost because I have been on a trail. I have missed a turn and ended up on the wrong trail headed in the wrong direction. The first time it happened I was scared $h!tless and just about ran back to where I last new where I was. I had to keep talking to myself and reminding myself that I had plenty of daylight and that I was on a trail so I wasn't totally lost. Once I found what I thought was the trail, I asked a couple that was on the trail what it was to make sure that I didn't go in the wrong direction again. When I got to the car I was only 15 minutes passed the time I wanted to be back at the car. I try to hit the trail at an ungodly hour for two reasons, 1, so I can get a parking spot so I don't have to walk forever to get to the trailhead and 2 so that I have time to recover from a mistake.
Knowing how to do systematic reverse search probes to find familiar turf is something everyone should spend 30 minutes of their time learning basics for.
I've seen her story before, so sad to think she was that close to being rescued but instead died alone and scared. I can't imagine how it would feel losing someone that way.
I've read about her before as well, but I didn't see that 3 separate dog teams had been so close! It's just mind boggling that she wouldn't have heard them bumbling about in the woods so close by! That's just all kinds of wrong 🥺
I Was surprised that being military that she didn’t follow the sunrise or sunset. If she went east Off the trail that the sunset would have let her back. And I would have set the woods on fire. I am so heartbroken that she and her family had to endure this.
Read the book "When you find my body". It details the sad story and has lessons for those who get lost. 100 yards in dense woods is as good as 100 miles. Dogs may not bark if they are tracking and just following their nose. Geraldine HAD a GPS and gave it to her husband to lighten he load. She was planning only to be separated for a half day. She had a terrible sense of direction.
Was just about to comment that. 100yds is a football field. Imagine trying to hear or see someone clearly that distance. Now add dense trees and brush with birds and bugs making noise inbetween. There’s no chance.
@@mrswiggles4790 EXACTLY!!! Perhaps she bumped her damn head or something, she wasn't acting right. Surely that was out of Character!! Or maybe she ate some poisonous Mushrooms or berries that made her lose her mind, hallucinate, become incapacitated in some way.
A friend and I went on a nighttime/sunrise hike once. It was a very popular hike. But Neither of us had ever been there. We came to the parking lot and trailhead thinking we were in the right place..we weren’t. We started on a small brush trail and followed the directions we had looked up before hand. But after about an hour or so it became very apparent we didn’t know where we were. Each time we came to a split in the trail we stopped and said a prayer and then went on the way we felt good about. About 6 hrs into the hike we should have been at the peak by then. But we could still see the mountains towering over us. After another hour the trail ended. We stepped out on to a road and began looking around. My heart then sank into my gut. Up the road we saw a parking lot..with my car sitting there. We were so incredibly confused but grateful. But it was an eerie surreal feeling. We had hit about 10 different forks in the trails we were in. And came right back to where we started. We were 100% led by the spirit not knowing where we were being led.
In middle school me and my bestfriend got lost adventuring in the NW Georgia woods. He remembered his mom teaching him that the sun rises in the east and sets in the west. It helped us get a sense of direction considering we knew the sun set in front of my house and we found our way back to a road after being lost for 6 hours or so. It was scary, especially since I was scared of the dark at the time and was really worried we wouldn't get home before nightfall.
My gosh even the dogs couldn't find her. How scared she must've been. This hurts my heart. It seems incredible that three different teams of dogs were within 100 yards of her and didn't have her scent. This just seems to be one of those situations where absolutely nothing goes right. I can't even imagine the fear of knowing you're going to die and can do nothing to stop it.
If the dogs were upwind, they would have had zero scent to track. Pretty simple. Human scent (epithelial cells discarded off the human body as we move) break down fairly quickly in static, dry environments. Introduce humidity and air currents, and the cells dispurse and break down even faster. Now put an odor detection dog upwind of the source of odor and you have a 0% chance of an alert (a good find). In my personal and professional opinion, the dog handlers should have been conducting their search to meet the downwind flank and adjusting it as the conditions changed. But even that isn't a 100% guarantee. No dog, including my own K9, is 100% all the time just like no human searcher is 100% all the time.
@@scout3058 I’ve worked with law enforcement dogs and actually with a trained trailing dog, such as a bloodhound, it tracks the scent on the ground where the individual has walked. I’m not saying that the dog couldn’t pick up an airborne scent, but that’s not how the dog usually works. Start at the last place she was seen and go from there. You need a personal item to ‘scent the dog’ and I assume the husband would have such. Wooded areas, unlike urban areas, are actually better at holding the scent. It’s heartbreaking that she wasn’t found.
@Glass Half Full I'm a professional K9 handler and trainer with specialized study in odor science/scent theory. Please don't think that I am some shade tree hack making guesses. For instance, if you know as much as you think you do, you'll be able to tell me at what speed human skin cells leave the body and travel upwards, out of the collar of a shirt or jacket. I don't expect you to answer, at least not without Googling it. I can answer it for you: 18mph. I know the math on how fast human skin cells degrade in 85°, 90% humidity conditions and that doesn't factor in air movement/currents. Can you name 3 household items that a bomb dog can alert on because those items share certain chemicals that are present in certain explosives? I can. I appreciate your attempt at looking for other solutions but in this regard I am a subject matter expert among my peers. If you can tell me what a downwind flank even is without resorting to Google (I'll have to count on you being honorable) then I'll gladly give you a way to privately kessage me so we can discuss your disagreement civily.
@@scout3058 Sorry I hurt your feelings, but I’ve worked with law enforcement dogs for 30+ years and the proper dog for this particular case would have been the bloodhound for the reasons BOTH of us mentioned. I’ve also seen numerous “certified” dogs, both police and volunteer, fail in both training and unfortunately in actual investigations. A few months ago I led volunteer in a search for a man that was believed to have committed suicide in a brushy area. Law enforcement, with multiple teams of dogs, had already cleared the most promising area and we continued in other areas. One guess where the body was found. Anyway, I applaud your vast knowledge, but dogs are not a perfect tool. Though I have worked with amazing dogs, but as I tell law enforcement officers I train, “When the dogs learn to speak English, then I’ll have a little more faith in them.”
I live in New Hampshire and remembered when this happened. I also watched on North Woods Law, chronicles of her disappearance ,search and discovery of her remains. It was heartbreaking. There were so many things that could of prevented her demise. Not solo hiking, having a compass, map,whistle. I do a lot of hiking in the White Mountains, but I am not a through hiker. I am also a nurse,and people of her age can have medical emergencies that people younger can shake off. Dehydration or a simple UTI can cause mental confusion. I don't think she should of been out there alone .Solitude can be nice but not on a hike. I'm sorry I rambled on so. Thanks Kyle for revisiting her story. Hello from New Hampshire 🌲
I went solo snow hiking last year and somehow got off trail although I do a lot of solo hiking. I was lost for about a half hour until I came across some other hikers. I can say that is one of the scariest feelings for sure!
One time my wife and I took a were going down Blood Mountain, which is part of the Appalachian Trail, but we were just hiking the mountain. She likes to (still) cut straight down the mountain, or up, instead of zig zagging the trail. We cut down and sure enough came to a ledge, and it was an impossibly steep assent. We start B-lining along the ledge but there was no trail, so we had to start ascending. We hiked for only about 15 min and finally saw people! People don't realize, it freaks you out. This is a mountain I've through-hiked and regularly hike. Weird how rationality starts to escape, but ultimately it becomes an endurance issue, just keep pushing, try to stay rational, and have some luck.
I remember when this lady went missing. She had a terrible sense of direction. When her friend left the trail to go home, her husband and friend were very concerned for Geraldine alone on the trail. But to give her GPS to her husband and to not have a compass is just not wise. And if you have ever been in the woods in New Hampshire or Maine, the trees are dense, with underbrush, birds and insects that absorb any sound. 100 yards might as well be on the other side of the moon. It all comes down to the choice she made to continue solo.
@@t.l.1610 she was known about her bad sense of direction. her husband was not that keen of her doing it. and as soon as that friend had to leave her she instantly got lost.
@@ursodermatt8809 Thanks for the info. I did some reading after your replies. Ugh what a sad story. Her friend reported she was also afraid of the dark and being alone. Poor lady. Makes it even more heartbreaking.
Her trail name was ‘Inchworm’ because she made slow but steady progress. Apparently, not only did she give her GPS to her husband (foolish thing to do) but the compass she had was the size of a watch face…..a small one. I honestly believe Gerry was suffering some kind of dementia and she panicked when she became lost. Poor lady. But she obviously kept SOME wits about her to write her journal. I hope her passing was as peaceful as it could be for her.
As someone else mentioned, a simple UTI infection, pretty common as age encroaches, would lead to the kind of confusion that's hard to spot definitively both from an objective viewpoint, but also subjectively. At home, a couple of weird decisions and you'd be off to the doctor for some antibiotics. Wandering off trail to spend a penny, getting lost,... and staying put in a tent may well have been her only option.
I'm 41 and in 2019 became encephalitic and no one could figure out that a bad UTI that was asymptomatic was the source. I tried to escape my hospital room because I thought my husband hired a hospital looking place to kill me. I ripped all of my IVs out of my arm. Also, when my grandma was in an elder care facility they would call my dad saying things like, "your mother thinks there's two soldiers in her closet with a bomb". Dad would say, "have you checked to see if she has a UTI?".
Additional advice: if you are lost in the mountains in Japan, NEVER follow running water downstream. Mountain build/river systems are different here. Most rivers lead to waterfalls, steep cliffs, treacherous terrain. It is virtually impossible to find villages etc., much less climb the whole way down safely. Instead, if you are truly lost, it is advised that you climb to the peak or mountain ridge. Mountain range formation around here generally lends to clear views from the peaks and ridges. Consult the map and use your compass. Try to find the trail. I know this is also true in Taiwan (at least the don’t follow rivers part), so perhaps other East Asian/southeast Asian mountains have the same thing? Of course, best action is to do everything you can to NOT get lost…and if rescue is plausible (people know that you are in the mountain, you have gps, etc.) don’t move. Also, be prepared for anything! Safe hiking and mountaineering!
not moving is how she died and people wore looking for her, the smart thing to do is mark where you are and move a few 100 yards in one direction if you find nothing come back to your starting place and so on, if you find nothing start the process over with 200 yards and so on. If someone find's the place you've marked they'll know to wait for you or find you or you and them will eventually bump into one another.
Good Advice to not follow downstream. Once you realized you’re loss. Backtrack and use intentionally straight path and try to find familiar marks. Never distance hike alone. Have a buddy.
OK, next time I'm lost in the Mountains in Japan, I'll keep that in mind. Also, that whole following a stream downriver to find your way out is nonsense.. it's been disproven so many times as an effective method for escape.
I remember when these events were happening. There were reports that from other hikers that she appeared disoriented at times prior to her getting lost. Also, I believe that there was a report of an injury discovered after her body was found, which maybe explains why she made camp and stopped. This is such a tragic story, and even though I hike alone a fair bit, it sends a strong message about how that can be a costly decision
I read a great book on Geraldine it explained quite a lot, never anything about injuries that's must be conjecture. Yes, it's a pity her death had come to pass for certain,
The air search also got fucked up because a couple hikers said they saw “an older woman with glasses” at the next shelter- the search team assumed they must have seen Gerry, and therefore focused the helicopters toward a different area. Such a sad story, my heart really goes out to all involved ❤
That's the second time, after watching a number of these videos, that a search got waylaid because "witnesses" said they saw the lost person somewhere else. Why do search parties put so much credence into such supposed sightings?
People's decision making tends to get super poor once they're put in a scary situation... a guy from my outdoor class got lost so we did a grid pattern search for him after dark. After getting lost he had wandered to an empty/closed campground not far from our camping location, and we're sure he heard our voices, but instead of staying in relative safety he admitted he fled and ran down the road in a random direction. Luckily, he was found by one of our cars that were honking down the FS trails. He doesn't know why he didn't yell back or stayed at the campground. He just panicked and was scared, all rational thought disappeared.
In South East Asian mystic belief, some people believe there is a guardian of forest which sometime will cause you to get lost and keep circling at the same place, still hidden from the real world. I heard so many cases like this in where I come from. The authority was so puzzled each time when they found out the lost guy were at the same place the whole time but they couldn’t find him in the beginning.
On the Colorado Trail I stepped out in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom. No jacket, no GPS, no survival gear, but I did have a flashlight. I got turned around and couldn’t find my tent for what seemed like forever - even with my flashlight. It’s easy to get lost and I feel so bad for this lady and her family.
Yes. I once went hiking. Was the second time in this area. Forst time I found a nice Spot in the Forest, so sexond time I wanted to go there. Of course I didn't found it. And then I didn't know where I've had come from. I panicked for 1 min. Then took a breath And try to remember trees and branches and got out. That was scary
Inchworm's tragic story breaks my heart every time I think of it. I just can't escape the feeling that some basic survival and orienteering skills, like I used to teach Boy Scouts, could have lead to a different ending. Honor her legacy by being prepared, and helping others learn the skills to avoid a similar fate.
I read the book, “When you find my body” it was really sad. She seemed like an amazing lady. I was like you, so confused as to why they couldn’t find her but like you said the woods in some places just swallow people up. The actual map of the ground they covered in the rescue attempt was quite extensive but all around her 😭
@@dustinchen it's easy to make an insensitive comment. The world is built on consumerism as well so "trying to make money" is kinda a given. Be smarter or maybe nicer? It is about someone who died. You've shown quite a bit of disrespect in this comment but im sure you don't care lol
I've heard of many missing person cases and true crime cases, but this particular case with Geraldine broke my heart. It's maddening to think that they couldn't find her, given her location. I've gotten lost in the woods before with no supplies and I remember thinking that I was gonna die out there. She had all these supplies and backpacking knowledge but was still swallowed up in the forest. It's cases like these that convinced me to turn down a National Park internship. No matter how much experience you have, getting lost and dying in the woods is far more likely than people think. I hope her family and her friend hiking with her don't blame themselves... to know she was out there 26 days and trying to find help is just heartbreaking.
This story scares me. I did a really dumb thing and free climbed one of the rockies in BC alone back 9 years ago. It was VERY dangerous. I got to the top but shale gave out on the face and I fell 20 ft to a small ledge just before nightfall. My GPS unit wasn't working properly and the only saving grace was that I was so close to the top of the mountain on the front face. The other thing was my cell reception-without my phone, I'd be dead. K9 units and helicopters and teams were sent, and luckily after 24 hours I was found and helicoptered to the nearest hospital for my injuries. ALSO my bear spray was a godsend. The animals at night...they are terrifying.
That had to be so traumatic, oh my god. Only reading this and trying to think about what you went through in those 24hours physically and mentally makes my blood run cold tbh. So glad luck was on your side and you made it out of this alive 😢❤!
When you "lapse" in your directional awareness in the woods ... it's an unreal feeling of isolation. Burst of adrenaline, mind working overtime, so you lose your sense of time and how much area you covered in your panic. Was a preteen, hunting in the Alleghenies in PA, I went just off a logging trail and got turned around. You want to RUN and I did for a about 20 feet before I remembered my Boy Scout training. I kept looking back to where I HAD been and where I believed I came from, as I had some memory of where I went forward, but not what it looked like going back. Was able to use my that and some of my own tracks to find my way back.
This incident has long bothered me. She was so close to the AT (and the old AT path thru there). Not only did searchers miss her on their grid, but she didn’t hear any rescuers in the nearby area. So strange.
I definitely think there is something missing from this story, something she can't tell us. Did she not have a whistle? Did she not try to find her way out at all while she still had food and water. Very odd. Maybe she was doing the classic walking in circles, we'll never know, but with so many SAR if she had made noise I think they could have found her.
@@ashmaybe9634 There's a great book that was written "when you find my body" I forget authors name but it had explained much of all the questions here. There's really not anything more, other than the fact Gerry had basically run herself into the ground the first hours after being lost and simply pitched her tent and stayed there.
She had a gps tracker but left it behind. Apparently she had a compass but didn't know how to use one. I really don't think she had any business going off on her own like that. Everybody should learn from this and understand that the wilderness is unforgiving.
Very important point. All the literature says although it's well marked, hikers still need a compass. In saying this, it's still very sad. I really want to do this hike but slowly going off the idea. Especially as a solo activity.
Miss Geraldine looked so damn capable, strong and well provisioned with supplies. Yes, you're right if the searchers were later found to be around 100 yards from her it's crazy that she didn't hear them or the dogs. I can only imagine her fear and desperation. RIP Miss Geraldine, you fought a good fight.
Been in Search and rescue in Australia, and have searched and done rescues in pretty dense bush... It can be super tough to spot someone let alone a the next search and rescue person in your team. Depending on what the search coordinators were telling the searchers to do, they may not have been making a lot of sound as to not stress or scare the person who is missing (usually done for kids and extenuating circumstances) But usually there is a lot of noise from the searchers of call out the persons name. Sometimes One searcher calls out then everyone is silent and listens for a reply. Also depending on Geraldine's condition / the conditions she had been in or through, she could of been sleeping or extremely dehydrated / injured and not able to hear the commotion and people calling out her name which may make more sense why she may not have been able to hear the logging road for example or even the commotion of hikers on the trail. I feel badly for her family and for the searchers on that part of the search, as a search and rescue person there's always the Question What if I had gone that little bit more further would I have found the person?
I was hiking the Maine 4000 footers during this time, and met some of the search crew and saw many helicopters. I was surprised to come up a few weeks later and see that they were still searching for her (I was hiking sugar loaf and Spaulding so very near to where she went missing.) It was pretty fucked up to find out that she was still alive at this time. I think you've understated how terrible her decision making was, especially considering that she could have simply chosen a single direction, any direction and walked at most 4 or 5 hours to reach a road or something. My assumption has always been that she had some level of dementia or was otherwise not someone who should have been out hiking alone.
Her family admitted she could become "disoriented" in regards to direction and she did not have map and compass skills. Also her hiking buddy had recently left. Very sad to know she was so close to rescue so many times
It is shockingly easy to get lost. I once walked about 75 yards from my camp to hang my food in the dark, and in the process of getting the bag up in the tree, I lost my sense of direction. I confidently walked off in the wrong direction. I couldn't see my tent or my fire anywhere, and I got so confused since I knew my camp was close. Without my phone on me, I'm not sure I would have been able to find my camp again before daylight.
I don't go off trail, even to pee, without my compass, and I set on the compass the heading on which I left the trail, so that I can walk the back course.
@@Sadie04074 I left my tent in Shenandoah to pee, and got lost in the dark. Sat down right where I was before I could get any more lost! I spent some time sitting there in the dark before I was able to orient and find my way back.
So easy to lose your way especially if you go off trail anywhere. I hike Ohio - Pennsylvania - Blue ridge and the Smokies some. Mostly fishing etc. Sometimes just exploring. I've done small parts of AT. I tell you what - I am in the habit of trail marking along the way as a back up plan to just find your way back. Dragging a trail with a hiking stick. Leaving branches in the letter T formation. My name is Tom . Any way to mark like bread crumbs
This is very similar to what happened to my brothers childhood best friend. He was hiking in British Columbia on a mountain trail in October. They never found his body until nine months later in manning park, less than 3km from his campsite at the summit of frosty mountain. His name was Jordan Naterer.
Someone mentioned they were a surveyor. I did it for a bit too. One thing we carried was “flagging” tape. It’s just rolls of biodegradable streamer flagging. Pro tip. Carry a roll with you and leave yourself a bread crumbs. You’re not adding any weight. Better safe than sorry. Also, really learn land navigation, know how to shoot azimuths, carry a map, learn to use a compass. Stop relying on apps and phones. I was a scout in the Army for 7 years. I promise your equipment will fail. We always reverted to maps and compasses.
My Dad and I when section hiking the AT, went and found her memorial using gps coordinates from the report. It's such an unfortunate story. She was next to a stream. Follow it down and she would have ran into the logging road that leads to the trail (if she would have turned left) and if she went right, she would have ran into the Navy Training area near Redington pond.
@@tiderover6574 the stupid decision was being 68 and going for a hella long hike alone with no map or compass and a poor sense of direction to begin with. That’s what’s stupid
@@marshalwest622 nah bruh is right. wtf anyone doing off road without at least a compass. It is not central park. She died cause she was an idiot. Learn from her idiocy n don't repeat her mistakes. No compass, no map, no gps, she deserved to get lost in the woods and die for her hubris.
@@marshalwest622 I think the criticism is warranted. If you’re a vulnerable age/mental state try not to put yourself into situations that could lead to easy death. Even being in my early 20’s I’d have more fail safes in place just for this reason. You never know.
This is one of the best presentations of this story I’ve seen. Great job. With that said, I absolutely refuse to head into the back country without a compass. If I go off the trail, I know which direction I went off the trail, therefore, I know what direction to travel to get back to the trial. I also carry a roll of surveyors tape that I use to “blaze” my path when I go off trail for any reason. As I’m teaching my daughter and grandchildren to hike/backpack/camp/bushcraft/etc., these are items I won’t let them leave home without - a compass, surveyors tape, and a whistle. I highly encourage a number of other items, but without these, you don’t leave sight of civilization..! I use these same rules in a number of camps for children I am involved with. Everyone has a compass, and everyone has at least a rudimentary knowledge of how to navigate with it (and every compass has a whistle on it’s lanyard)!
This, no one has any business going out of civilization without a compass. Or at the very very least being able to find north so long as u can see the sky. I will not shed tears for morons who die cause they got lost, cause they forgot a compass
at around the time she was found I was in nearby Rangeley helping a friend clear a little family trail on private land in spring. You get into that dense forest and literally can't see 15 feet in front of you sometimes. The pines swallow the sound, so that I couldn't hear my friend hacking at a fallen log not far away. It just really is that dangerous. I make a point of looking at a map and evaluating emergency plans for this reason. Like someone else said, in New England, if you go downhill you'll find *something* and it will lead to *something* which will lead to civilization.
Another problem is we don't know how windy it was. Long story short, I used to live in the West Country and wind going through/past trees, fields, hedges etc can be deafening. To the stage that you can't hear trains approaching. I can't imagine how any of those poor people involved must feel, even now. Imagine knowing you were 1 of the teams that was so close to finding her and bringing her home, but somehow you all missed each other. It's heartbreaking. Another's problem is that we're always told, wherever we get lost, "Stay put." Don't wander off, make a shelter, make yourself easy to see and wait for rescue. She must have been so scared and eventually just the cold slip of acceptance must have just let her sleep. Hopefully. At least she was finally found and her family got closure, but Jesus, that is heartbreaking 😿
I had a very lovely conversation with Inchworm on the Horn of Saddleback the day before she disappeared. Sweet lively person, full of life and elan. Her shining face stays with me to this day. We headed back to our car and Inchworm headed north. A day or two later, the news was filled with pictures of Gerry and news of her disappearance. I was gutted. Shattered. We called the Wardens to report our sighting of Inchworm and waited. And waited . And waited. We even seriously considered joining the effort to find her. ……. Two years later……😢 Inchworm’s demise hit me hard. It was the beginning of the end of a lifetime wandering the mountains of New England for me. May Gerry’s spirit and light live on. 💜
I never met her but I was in new Hampshire going northbound when I heard there was a hiker who disappeared. She hadnt been missing for only a few days at that point
Just setting up camp and waiting for rescue may seem like a good idea, but now having heard Geraldine's story, a realization occurred to me, a realization that in hindsight seems pretty intuitive. What would you do if you were being looked for and *did* *not* want to be found? Think about what you'd do and then do the opposite. I would definitely hunker down in a dense part of the forest if I didn't want to be found, so I would do the opposite of that if I did want to be found.
Shld be mandatory to carry a good whistle. Being mindful walking in, hang a bandanna. And for petes sake, dig a sm hole do the biz and get out. Ima a lefty so I'd face my left arm toward my exit. U made really good points. I live next to a forest preserve. I love walking the creek.
Or you could just walk in a straight line until you eventually hit a linear land feature, and then follow it out. If someone is stupid enough to hike remote wilderness without a compass (and this lady seems to fit that description), then use the sun for reference. But the Darwin Award winners are out there, just waiting for their day to dumbass their way into an avoidable death.
Is it weird that she worded her letter “my husband and daughter will be happy to know I am dead-- and where you found me” Why would they be happy to know you’re dead seems suspish.
@@hebrewmama I think it’s not suspicious at all that she said that. Having a missing family member especially if they were found and no one told you is much, much worse than having a dead family member and you know exactly what happened to them.
Two miles deep in the woods is a long way. And in the Maine woods, you might not see someone fifty feet away. I can see how it happened. I too have pondered Inchworm's death. Unless I were severely injured, I don't think I'd have done what she did. I always wondered.. did she forget which direction she got off trail? If she stepped off to the left, she could have just kept walking east until she found the trail again. Even if she wasn't sure which direction east was during the day, she'd surely have figured it out when the sun came up, right?
@@TheHikingChick1 I remember reading that she was on anti-anxiety medication, which would have run out. So quite likely. And also that she had an absolutely terrible sense of direction, regularly left the shelter going the wrong way, etc. Her former hiking partner said Inchworm had relied on her for direction.
@Amy Forinash it's sad that she decided to carry on without her partner despite these factors and her limitations. Lessons for all of us. She pushed her boundaries, and sadly it didn't work out for her. 😥
I wondered the same thing. Had she remembered whether she had left the trail to the left or the right, she could have just gone due east or west to hit the trail eventually. But that's easy for me to say. A very sad story.
Moron went into woods with no compass, no map, no gps, no orienteering training at all. Moron died cause they got lost This is what happens when morons go into the wilderness
I've been lost in some canyon riddled parts of Arizona and omg the amount of fear getting lost off trail can cause! I feel really bad for her, that's not a way that anyone should die.
I'm hiking the appalachian trail right now and it really surprises me how few of my fellow hikers have any emergency plans for situations like this and even less carry physical maps. It's easier than people think to get lost though. She must have had a physical map with the apps back then. She must have found a source of water to live 26 days like she did. She had the ability to see the suns movement in the sky and surmise general east and west. And based on her husband's press briefing after they found her, he said she had no debilitating injuries until she succumbed to exposure. There is another guy that just went missing near cowrock and blue mountain last month. His name is Tony and he's 39. I hope he is found soon
I got lost coming off Redington in 2018. Luckily I was able to bushwhack back to Caribou Valley Road. At night. I don't know how I made it out other than New England hard-headedness. And thick woods is an understatement. I was not unscathed, but I made it. It is too easy to got lost in that area without proper knowledge. So many roads lead to nowhere.
That's fine advice for those without navigational skills to get themselves UNlost. The problem is that too many hikers never develop those skills, but are going into conditions where "stay put and wait for rescue" won't cut it.
@@ke9tv exactly! What needs to be taught in emergency situations is not a standardized checklist, but more of ability and preparation. For instance if she set up camp, and then everyday just walked in one direction, setting up totems to find your way back, and then the next day walk in a different direction. Eventually she would have found that logging road before being exhausted. I'm also wondering what her weather was like for the last 30 days
Thing is, she wandered around getting more lost first. Ideally as soon as she realised she didn't know the way back to the trail she should have made camp. She was probably only a few meters off trail and would have most likely been found. Since she wandered around trying to find her way back, then trying to get a signal, she ended up in a much harder area to find her. Very sad story.
A compass and a map are crucial. A flare gun too. It's so sad that she gave up trying to find her way out. And yes, how did they not find her, if she was only two miles away from the trail?! It's unreal how often this happens
even just making a fire (even when illegal it is alright to do in emergencies) can mean people can find you via the smoke (pee on the leaves if they are too dry) so it smokes nicely when the fire gets started...
Kyle, I am a retired Aerospace Engineer and Military Veteran. I have been a lifelong hiker and I too was inspired to find a solution to the problem Geraldine encountered. I have been developing a tool over the last three years to solve the problem of being in a low cell service area and not being able to actually have a message from your phone delivered. I have a dedicated server that guarantees a message like hers would be delivered to the database. Lets put out efforts together, and we will be able to prevent this type of tragedy from happening ever again. My tool will be for public use within the next three months just in time for the next Thru-hike season.
Here's an idea. If you have to go to the "br", wait until you encounter a prominent feature right on the trail (like a tall tree) that you can always keep in sight as you walk away from the trail to do your business.
So, she did what is commonly advised. When you become lost in the woods with no idea which way to go, stay where you are, be obvious, listen and wait for the searchers. In this case, with a tragic ending. Truly sad. Thanks for sharing
not anymore. most advice now is to "walk downhill" and/or follow sun (rises in east, sets in west) in same direction and keep walking. and keep yelling and making noise.
I never realized she was a flip-flopper. I thought she had started in GA. I was actually hiking in the area when they were looking for her. I checked the time stamps on the photos I took and sadly, she had already passed away by that date. I'm 65 and have gone on hikes up to 566 miles within the past 18 months so we old people can still put on the miles, but I bring an inReach with me (I'm not sure such trackers were available for her at that time) and I wouldn't go without it anymore. And I also use FarOut; a few times I have wandered off the trail, I was able to find it almost immediately.
Please be careful 🙏 on your journey 's ,I do hope u have a location device or satellite phone ,one never knows if you will ever need help one day ...happy trails tooo u
Got lost once over a decade ago, in a redwood forest in CA. Just for a couple of minutes. Was able to find my way by calming down for a while and looking at the trees for reference. No reception, no one around. Still remember that initial feeling, the dread, finding the trail.
I like your missing hiker videos, Kyle. You’re a good storyteller. Keep them coming. It’s great that you’re building awareness and also keeping the lost/deceased hikers’ memories alive. Thank you.
It happened to me one time when I was in Girl Scouts. Let me tell you, it is ~Very~ easy to get turned around in the woods and is most frightening especially if it is late afternoon, and you have no pack. I just started shrieking. My shrieks were higher pitched and louder than an ordinary yell. Because of that, I was found in a short time, and man oh man was I EVER grateful with tears streaming down my face. That night our Scout Leader taught us all very important information. --That whenever we must go off trail to use mother nature, ALWAYS go in a straight line, and break the tips off from branches and shrubs along the way!!!! Also, scuffle your feet so as to make a trail, or use dead sticks to mark your path. Furthermore, Don't go more than a couple of yards. That way you can easily find your way back.
I have been thinking, recently, that I should bring string and tie it to my pack and let it unravel behind me so I can find my way back to the trail. Technically, you are supposed to be at least 200 feet off the trail, away from any water source. 200 feet is a long way off the trail.
Remember seeing the missing posters around the are when she went missing. Absolutely rattled the Maine hiking community and totally horrified to know how close the search came to her without finding her. Still think of Geraldine every time I’m in the Rangeley area. Maine is unforgivingly wild, especially in the western mountains. Our nature is breathtaking, but it can be very dangerous. Enjoy it, but be safe out there, y’all. ❤️
This story really saddens and infuriates me. Not just because of the poor advice given, but also that this poor woman never once decided to think with her own brain and followed that advice blindly. No matter what experts you listen to, whether it be a doctors, police, vets, lawyer - always use your own head as well. Because all experts are only human and make mistakes all the time, so you need to take all advice and guidance with a pinch of salt. Everyone's situation will be different. Everyone's solution will be different too. In her case, none of her texts were going through, so she knew no-one was even aware that she was lost, or where she was. It made no sense to hunker down and do absolutely nothing at that point. If she had moved around at all, the dog teams would have been able to pick up her scent, so it's presumed that she just stayed in one spot waiting to be rescued all that time, even though she knew that her messages didn't send and nobody knew her location. But after a couple of days, a couple of weeks surely she must have realised that this "stay put" advice does not apply to her situation. Why didn't she do ANYTHING at this point is beyond me... She was not injured, she had two good legs and a brain, so why didn't she use them?... Especially when she must have ran out of supplies, thirst and hunger would have driven any normal human being to go and forage, walk and find food/water, try to find a way out, to leave markings around to increase your chances of rescue, or... anything! But she just put all her trust in this minimal "expert" advice and did nothing to help herself. Even when at some point she realised she was going to die, because no rescue was coming, she still chose to do nothing. I just don't understand what broken mentality we, as a society, are engraving onto our people. Not to think with our own brain and help ourselves, but to shut up and blindly follow orders/instructions. Yes, you should listen to expert advice, yes, you shouldn't panic and run around aimlessly, but you should also think on your own unique situation and act accordingly. She wasn't injured, she wasn't in immediate danger, she wasn't in the middle of nowhere, she knew she was not far from the trail and other people. It wasn't like her car broke down off road in the middle of the desert with nothing for thousands of miles. Then it would make sense to stay with your vehicle and not move if you know you can't survive in those conditions or walk far enough before you die. But she thought she was going to die staying put, so why didn't she adapt her course of action? (Or lack thereof) I really hope that there is more to this situation that she didn't write about, or was never discovered, like soft tissue damage to her legs/infection/psychosis/ghosts, anything that made her unable to leave her tent, because otherwise it's just so sad... There's nothing haunting about this story, it's just sad. And it really sucks because she didn't just give up on life, she had family, she wanted to be rescued. But it never occurred to her to even try to rescue herself. I don't understand this... Would ANYONE else here have done nothing as well in this particular situation? I know how easy it is to get lost in the forest, because everything everywhere begins to look the same as you're walking back, pretty much the same thing happened to me when I was a teenager. And at no point did I think "hunker down and do nothing until someone might rescue me, or I die". I don't recommend giving in to panic and running around blindly either, but at the point where you know you're going to die if you stay put, running around will actually increase your chances of survival. If you don't find a trail, or people, you might at least leave your own tracks, or find food/water. Anything. Bird's eggs, pine nuts, berries, fish, snakes, worms, you never know what can save/prolong your life. Only afterwards did I realise that the only reason I got lost at all was because of this stigma that got engraved on me - that I would die if I didn't get back to civilization ASAP. It isn't true, of course. I blame the mentality of our society and the lies that it feeds us in order to scare/brainwash us into complacency. Into believing that we can't rely on ourselves, only on society, and that we should sit and wait to be rescued, or give up, or panic if we are somehow cut off from it's easy comforts.
Many people here are of the opinion that nowadays we should just rely on technology for everything - information, location, rescue. But what if that's broken or lost as well? Above all, above thinking that you are lost and someone should rescue you, above all expert advice & anything anyone else might say to you or scare you with, you should at the very least be able to survive in the Wild to some extent. You should be able to think for yourself, find food and be confident exploring the territory, even though you have gone off trail. As soon as you stop thinking in terms "I am lost and helpless and must leave it to others" and instead start thinking in terms of "the Wild is my home and I am living here and exploring my new surroundings", you will know what to do. Even without any training you will fare better simply by turning on your brain. And I can attest to this personally, because before I got the fear and stigma drilled into me as a teenager, I went into the Great Wild several times when I was a little girl. (Before the age of 10) I randomly train-hopped my way into the deepest, wildest forests, trecked through valleys, fields and mountains. Alone. And I never got lost. Ever. All because I had not yet developed that dependence mentality and fear/limitations that come with the closing of the mind. I had no preconceptions. And although I had fear of big animals and fast water, I had no fear of starvation or getting lost. I walked, I camped, I fished. I made fire to cook with sometimes, but I mostly foraged for berries, fruits and nuts. I swam, I explored, I picked (probably endangered) flowers, I made things, I made a home that I called my "Nest". If the woods were dense and looked identical in all directions, I left "bread crumbs" - I hanged things on trees just below eye level, broke branches, drew on rocks and bark with chalky pebbles, or left "stick arrows" on the ground/against tree trunks. Having no knowledge or training I immediately realised that I need to keep turning backwards to look where I came from when wandering around. In the absolute vastness of that Wild I never once got lost. As a child I still had all my instincts & intuition & I was free & unencumbered. And I always found signs of civilization in the end. I could always make my way back when I decided to, but I never felt any pressing urgency to do so, or dependency/fear clouding my judgement. I never followed anyone's instructions if I thought they didn't make sense. My last such voyage as a child was 5 month long. And I was fine. The only thing I really feared was being spotted by humans. Because no matter how wild and vast a place is, there are humans EVERYWHERE. Hunters, foresters, miners, soldiers, shamans in their forest huts, protectors of endangered species with their rifles, even secret settlements of people hiding from modern society thinking they're undiscoverable. If you wander for long enough, it's actually very difficult NOT to come across people. I had the advantage of being small and fast and would just hide and be invisible and not moving for hours when I had to. But after returning to society I would be thoroughly drilled with horror stories about how I would die if I was alone in the Wild again. How I would get lost and not find my way back and how I would starve, or the wolves would eat me. And let me tell you that wolves are notoriously hard to even get close to, let alone see. I would drop everything and follow howling any time I heard it, but I swear to god they knew I was coming from MILES away. Not once in all my time have I seen a wolf in the Wild. Lynx, bears, black squirrels, birds that I swear have never been documented, even raccoons who shamelessly rummaged through my stuff and stole my stashes that I took great care to hide from being sniffed out by animals (under water, covered by heavy rocks), but never did I see a single wolf... But after many years of fear and dependency being drilled into my young mind - I began to believe it. And to be afraid. Even to the point where that day when I got lost as a teen. I didn't even go far, but I freaked out and panicked and I was afraid and made lots of mistakes that I would have never made if it wasn't for society slowly rotting my brain over the years. I'm ashamed to say that I was lost for only a few hours and I seriously thought I was going to die. By the time I found my way back I was broken. All the things they said were true. I would never trust myself in the Wild again. But why? I wasn't in any danger. If I had my old mentality I wouldn't have panicked or feared or made any of these mistakes. But society's brainwashing altered my way of thinking and I was convinced that all they said was true. I was convinced that I need to be afraid. The same way that this poor woman was convinced that she need to stop thinking and blindly follow orders/instructions and sit and wait for people to find her. Only my fear and stupidity began to fade after a few hours, and I adapted a new, more logical approach. What kind of broken mindset this woman must have had to not move after WEEKS, after she realised nobody was coming to rescue her and she was going to die if she stayed put - and to continue to stay put like she was advised and not think of anything - it's just beyond words. What sheep or soldier mentality are we as a society, as a civilization, engraving upon our children? Teach them to actually think with their own brain, teach them to be realistic, teach them to be brave and independent and to see through bullsh*t and lies, instead of bullsh*tting and lying to them yourselves. I thought North Korea was terrible, but it is really the same human mentality everywhere you go - someone who you are told to listen to says something and that's it - it is the word of God. Where ever you are, people just don't want to think with their own brain. Or they are so far gone they are afraid to. I'm sorry if I am blunt, it just really makes me angry what this system does to people and how they just lie down and agree with it all. Making sheep and soldiers is really beneficial. For society. But not for those poor individuals. And if you try to point it out and stand against it, the majority of these people who are themselves in this cruel and stupid system will try to shut you up and bring you down, just like my relatives did with me. How dare you not listen to what the majority is pushing. Just like 99% of those around me still do all the time, either because they think they are the experts and know everything about everything, or just because they are deluded and afraid themselves. It's almost impossible to find people who haven't been closed, brainwashed or beaten down nowadays. I keep hoping that people would suddenly overcome this and change and raise their children differently, but it only seems to be getting worse and worse as the years go by. We live in a completely brainwashed generation who think themselves clever, but never bother to think with their own mind, trust their intuition, or see truth from the lies. I wish I had someone to tell me this instead of putting all these blocks inside my head like the people surrounding me did all my life. If any people reading my comments are like this, then I'm seriously sorry if I offend anybody here personally somehow with my bluntness. I hope somebody out there hears me. I hope at least one person out there might have understood enough to change and act and think.
I’ve spent a decent amount of time hiking through dense woods with friends, and there are times where you can hardly hear friends shouting 50 or even 20 yards up, or the direction of the sound feels off because there’s so much that it’s bouncing off of. I definitely don’t find it hard to believe that she wouldn’t have heard people from 100 yards off
Looks like you've reached your mark on subs. Congrats. I just wanted to thank you for being very respectful throughout this entire video and not making things up, like A LOT of people seem to do today. As someone who's family was murdered, my family and I hear and get accused for the most disgusting things I've ever heard in my entire life. God bless her and her family. Great job telling her story. I also wanted to tell you that one of my best friends hiked the Appalachian Trail, Pacific Crest Trail, The Continental Divide and so many more. He told me some crazy stories about all of the trails, God bless this lady for even attempting this, let alone by herself. Such a sad story.
But for how long it sounds good but scary when your in a huge wooded area 🤔 your afraid of going any direction in case its taking u further away that stream could be days away from civilization
@@sophiamcnamara9851 Don't over think yourself. There are basic rules that will save your life. Razz just gave it to you. Your already lost because of your thinking, you'll get confused. Then it will get dark.
@@sophiamcnamara9851 80% of the countries population lives EAST of the continental Dividing line. If she was out West of that line in Larger Forests/Mountains, yes Then I would be fearful of just hoping to stumble upon help.
Tbh, it depends. Maybe true if no hilly slopes. Ime, few times I tried that the streams always led to some rocky waterfalls which are difficult to cross. I've heard experienced SAR folks also say the very same thing so not a given. Important thing is to mark your trail, not only for yourself but for rescuers to follow.
I live in Maine, (thru-hiker GAME 02) and went out with two friends to look on our own 8/11 for Inchworm. We went north on the AT because of an incorrect sighting by two SOBOs - turns out she had not started the climb up Lone Mt after all. Had we gone south that day we were only 1 mile from Orbeton Stream, which is exactly where I would have predicted she stopped and went off trail for a BR break. She was still alive the day we were looking; this haunts me. I followed this search from Day 1 to the day she was found that October. So SAR wasted a bunch of days searching north of Orbeton towards Spaulding. She had that large orange whistle and she was found near a water source. She seemed to have become paralyzed with fear and anxiety and didn’t know how to save herself. It’s very sad. And yes, she had a SPOT messenger which she had left behind in the motel room with her husband. If anyone needed to carry this kind of device it was her but she was concerned about pack weight since this section had to be backpacked - not slack-packed. Her search remains Maine’s largest ever.
I appreciate the care that you took in trying to be respectful to everyone involved while also reminding a neophyte hiker like myself how to avoid similar trouble. The fact that 10 years of GPS advancements and accessibility have made this tragic situation less likely to happen is a blessing sure to be supported by Geraldine’s family & friends.
Gps runs on batteries and will fail, she decided to lighten her load and have her husband carry the gps to the next spot for her. Compass and a paper map requires nothing to support em. If all u got is a gps and that is all u know about finding where u are in the world, ur gonna die just like that moron did eventually. Learn to orient. Learn the compass, learn to fix north in as many non compass ways u can, learn how to use a topo map. Between compass, topo, and gps there should be little to no chance of getting lost so long as your brain functions normally. She was a moron and died a moron
It really sad that searchers came so close to her camp site, but didn't see it. One idea I have to this type of situation would be an 'emergency string.' String should have a very bright, standardized color scheme nationwide/internationally to signal person is asking rescue. When a person gets lost and decides camp, they can unwound it different directions from the campsite. This would greatly increase the footprint and visibility of the campsite for searchers. When searchers come across the string, they can simply follow it to the campsite and hopefully locate the person in need.
Good coverage of the facts in this case, Kyle. I worked in SAR for 20 years. We used to teach (as much as possible) that, if you get lost, stop. Aimless wandering often gets a lost subject farther away from rescue. Gerry might have decided upon this since she had a lot of experience. Dog teams usually do not call out during sweeps, as they are alert for signs from the dog that the trail has been detected. The dogs are usually silent (except for heavy breathing) during sweeps. I don't know why she was unable to attract attention from the air search units, although I can tell you, it is mighty hard to spot a person on the ground from an aircraft in dense woods. This is the most tragic event that I can recall in all my years in SAR. So near...and yet, so far.
It's heart breaking for sure. I wanted to make a video on it because this story has stuck with me for many years, even before I had a UA-cam channel. Thanks for watching
Yep that's what I would do. I live in London England so no wilderness near me but still if I go into the woods I always have a good compass (Suunto or old made in Sweden Silva) somewhere with me. I'm amazed that people go on the AT with no compass or map. Then again most are reliant on tech nowadays. I wouldn't rely on any electronic device in the wilderness, they constantly screw up in day to day urban life as it is.
@@emilyeurope Use the sun alone at your own risk. Here in New England the sun can become shrouded in clouds within minutes. Often, the sun is over a ridge and out of view.
@@simonh6371 Yup. It is wise to use redundancies on the vitals...compass, paper map, back-up battery bank, water treatment, a second way to light a fire. And I always carry some extra light (lighter, rechargeable camp light) in my pocket at night lest my headlamp battery cut out while I am walking to and fro the privy or bear box, etc.. Hike enough miles with only your headlamp on your person and you could spend the night sleeping (or not sleeping) while awaiting somebody to come along with a light to lead you back to your camp site. I also leave a flashing light on my tent at night when I leave it for such trips. I have had a heck of a time finding my tent at night when I don't do this.
I'm not a hiker by any means, but being 2 miles away from a trail, coupled with not knowing which direction to walk in, to me still seems like a huge distance away from help. 2 miles is a long way.
I work in search and rescue. Granted, aquatic search and rescue, but I think the same thing applies here. You'll be looking for a dead body, who, given current ocean conditions/currents/tides, couldn't have drifted out of the area you're searching. And you can't find them. You'll have lifeguards on jetskis, search & rescue divers, helicopters w. rescue swimmers etc. searching an area of as little as 1km^2 for hours, days and sometimes even weeks. All while knowing full well you've probably passed the body dozens of times, but you just can't see it. It's like a mental blockage and I feel like the bigger the media coverage and the more eyes you've got on you, the bigger the blockage gets.
Not so much a mental blockage. Your real field of vision that you can see clearly is about the size of a coin, held at arms length. Everything else that you think you see, if an illusion created by your brain that is built based on assumption of what you expect to see and what your eyes has seen as it scans around the area.
I am in no way passing judgment here. What happened to Inchworm is tragic in the most heartbreaking way. She did her best to survive, and my heart goes out to her and her family. To support what @ke9tv said… anyone who is willing to put out the kind of money it takes to fund a long distance thru hike (or even just a day hike, but, especially a thru hike), to put in the time to buy equipment, research the trail, etc… ANYONE preparing to do that should, at a very minimum, become familiar with the very basics of land navigation techniques… basic map reading, basic compass use, how to shoot an azimuth/reverse azimuth, how to orient a map and recognize land marks and terrain… I’m talking at a VERY BASIC level here. Everything I’ve mentioned here can be learned by any person in a matter of hours or days with a minimal amount of practice by either UA-cam videos or books. Learning even the most basic tenets of land navigation could save a life in the woods, and, most importantly, it will instill a basic level of confidence in a person and help them stay calm in the moment. A calm person makes more rational decisions. Lastly, don’t rely solely on electronics. Electronics fail… electronics aren’t always accurate… electronics have batteries that die. Always have a map & compass as a backup.
I read a comment on another video and the amount of ridicule aimed at compass and map navigation by a commenter… it was incredible. According to that commenter, there is absolutely no point in compass/map. Yet that type of orientation has been used forever. He said “just keep your phone and gps charged”. I was appalled at the stupidity of that attitude and I am not a hiker.
The REI in my area has classes to learn how to navigate with a map and compass. It seems like common sense to take one before embarking on such a journey. Even with all the electronics it makes sense to carry the extra ounces for those two things.
Lesson 1: PLEASE carry a PLB or satellite communicator. This disaster would have been solved in a couple of hours if she had carried a satellite device. Lesson 2: PLEASE learn the basics of navigation before you head into wild country. She had a 2100 mile handrail to aim for but couldn't find it, and there were other major navigational features in the area that she didn't have the skills to use. Lesson 3: If you do need rescue, PLEASE set up camp in a visible position - not in a thicket like Geraldine. The rescuers were often yards away from her and still couldn't see her. My own theory is that she was suffering from dementia. It's the only way to explain her bizarre behaviour. Days before this incident a party found her walking in the wrong direction down the trail and had to turn her around. Her family denies that she was a sufferer, but I've worked in the field and it can be greatly exacerbated by stress.
I'm a ham radio operator. It's worth having a radio with you for this reason plus it's fun to set up ecomms in the wilderness as a hobby. It's pretty cool to be able to talk to people half way around the world with a little bit of light equipment. Of you are reading this and thinking "hmmm, maybe I'll get a license" I would recommend taking both the tech and general at the same time, the tech license isn't very useful. Also look up SOTA and POTA to see what is possible.
They also travel off steep ledges and down into canyons where you may not be able to climb back out of if you follow it down. You have to be very careful. And not all brooks and rivers that you encounter in the wilderness go to the sea. At least, not directly. Many of them disappear underground.
@Daemon Thorn Maine has gorges. I know of no deep canyons. This isn't the west. There is always a way around. What would suck would be hitting where another major river came together and trying to cross the smaller to keep following the large one. But in that case you probably would have already found help where 2 major rivers come together
This story boggles my mind! To imagine getting lost from just stepping off the trail to potty. Rescuers were so close to her, too. God bless her. She had to be so scared.
The Appalachian Trail Conservancy tells folks to get off The Trail by about 100' so as to leave no trace. Inchworm did just that. InchWorm was directionally challenged and had no business hiking alone. The AT is not an amusement park. Hikers die out there but that is not necessarily a sad thing. We are all terminal. The AT is not a bad place to die. Walk Well.
I remember being lost for like 5 min coming back from the privy It was super scary… I think I left my phone in the tent too, I can’t imagine how terrifying this must have been
Maine is SO dense. Like a jungle. You can yell & someone close to you won't hear a thing. Also, just a few steps off the trail & you can become completely lost. It's that dense & that crazy. Even in a place you've been a hundred times.
I got lost on the AT once. I wasn’t hiking it, just camping on Mt. Rogers just a hundred yards or so off the AT. Planned for a month, stayed a bit over 2 weeks. Went out for a day hike and got lost. Fortunately I had a compass, a map and knew my camp site, the two access/parking areas and a couple other landmarks. I hit a horse trail, followed that for a while till I hit another trail that I was almost certain led back to the main parking/access area where I started. Whereas finding my campsite, well, ya’ couldn’t get there from where I was. 😅 And I was right. Stayed overnight in a little snack area in the campground there, made the 3 hour hike back the next day.
Sad story but nice video! I've heard about this many different times but never heard as many details as you shared. This story was still very much alive in the thru hiker community this year as we made our way through Maine. So sad!
I can't imagine how scared she must have felt, especially since she wrote her farewell 2 weeks before she actually died. It is nice to be away from the world and not rely on phones, but I am certainly happy I had my phone and Inreach on the trail. Even if I put my pack down to find a bathroom spot, I will always take my GPS with me. Btw, I love the diversity of your videos! Some stories, some gear/tips/etc and lots of hiking videos. Keep it up!
Taking your GPS with you when you go off trail for the bathroom is a great idea. I do the same thing, largely because this story has stuck with me through the years. Thanks for your kind words, I'm glad you appreciate the diversity of my content!
I would advise to keep your backpack with you at all times. Leave something on the trail, like poles, hat, bandana etc… but leaving your backpack can be a dangerous mistake, should something occur that might keep you from getting back to it.. 🙈
And she was following the common wisdom that it's best to stay in one place if one gets lost. Her story shows that there are exceptions to the rule. Also, I really like this new, more mature Kyle. He's a good story teller with compassion for the people he's talking about. Who knew? I'll still watch your hiker videos, but these are a nice change of pace.
I remember that advice as a boy scout. Nowadays, I prefer self rescue. Always carry backup compass and paper maps as GPS units can fail. Had a recent trip where a power hungry app drained my phone battery such that when I needed to refer to the GPS , it was dead.
I think I was around mid 50s when, after an embarrassing incident, I realized my sense of direction is probably weakening, so ever since I don’t do risky walks or hikes, and I pay much closer attention to landmarks even when it’s necessary to park my car blocks from my destination. I never researched it, but I think there’s an innate sense of direction, and like all senses, it begins to weaken maybe around age 50, if not sooner. I wish the woman had gone with a group led by a very capable guide.
If she is hard of hearing and she had been out there for 26 days, they were out there searching for 12 days, I can imagine her voice, even if she was able to hear them, was likely weak. It may have been possible that she was unable to yell or call out unfortunately:(
I worked in the far north as a forester researching peatlands. It seems to me that preparing yourself with a compass and reviewing a topo map and/or aerial photos of the area you are hiking is the prudent thing to do. Too often novices over estimate their abilities. It seems to me that the increasing popularity and use of gps based orienteering and route following is inherently dangerous if the user has no other ability or knowledge of how to traverse.
Absolutely. A gps or cell phone app is no replacement for a compass and some general knowledge of the area and nearby road systems. If you know there’s a road to the north of you that runs east to west. And you get hopelessly lost. All you have to do is follow your compass north until you hit the road.
My brothers hiked the trail in this area and I want to also but this is scary. You know she had to have been screaming, yelling or anything...that breaks my heart that she had to endure this before she died. I only pray that hypothermia took her and not starvation ect. It's not ideal but at the end you have a sense of peace/ euphoria. I pray that her family gets peace some day🏞️🌹
14 years in SAR in the Adirondacaks. Standard operating procedure is to be making noise and calling out name of subject or just yelling back and forth among searchers. Maybe not in winter if it's been days, but in summer heck yeah the assumption that the victim is still alive. Hard to believe they came within 100 yards of the site multiple times and didn't make contact. I section hiked this section in 2019 and I was very somber as I passed through. Spend the night at Poplar Ridge lean-to and thought of her and the searchers. Lot of things had to go wrong for this outcome. No one's fault. Just a bunch of things that went wrong that all piled on top of each other.
And if I'm pinned down and have lit my PLB, you can be damned sure I'll be listening. If I hear you, you'll start hearing whistle blasts coming back at you! Thanks for all the stuff you folks do! I hike the Catskills more than the ADK's, but I've been up there a time or six (thru-hiked the NPT, done the Lake George 12 and a handful of the high peaks. Don't want to be a 46er 'coz they're being loved to death). Never had to call you guys but I'm damned glad you're there!
In my SAR experience, I can't image leaving a 100 yard gap between searchers. Granted, I wasn't there, but not leaving gaps was the first thing taught to me. I will guess they were hoping for a quick recovery..................................
It's really tragic that she didn't have a compass with her. Before she went off t rail she could have simply sighted on something, walked to it to do her business and then followed the opposite bearing to get back to the trail. Or if she had trail marking tape that she could have tied to trees so that she could follow those tapes back to the trail. It's absolutely amazing at how easy it is to get turned disoriented even just a few yards from a trail that's no longer clearly visible. After an event it's far too easy to say what might have helped. RIP and condolences to her family and friends.
Having thru hiked the AT when I was 17. At first solitude was a blessing, after a period of time though I reached out to others in friendship. I just knew that being alone was not the best thing for me. My mind began to wander, there were times that the Trail was sparsely blazed. One can get disoriented .Simple orienteering skills can save your life, learn to use a compass and how to read a map. I spent many a mile on and off the trail I have gotten " LOST " and known what it felt like to be helpless. I taught my son how to not get lost when he was about 10 years old, this lady should have left the trail called family and gone home when her friend left her in the first place. This is the main reason that I invoke all to take a buddy along on extended trail outings.
It’s sad but it goes to show how even stepping off trail to use the bathroom can be fatal. I bet a lot of disappearances are because of leaving the trails. Maybe carry a small rope or wire to tie to a tree
I got ‘lost’ leaving a road once. The road curved around at that point so when I hiked back up the road was farther than I remembered so started doubting myself. When I did find the road I was astounded that I hadn’t found it, but realized my point of reentry was farther away because I had hiked farther east than I realized.
I took a wrong turn on a hike, I thought I was following the map properly but I was wrong. Thankfully, after a boggy, rainy detour way out of my way, I got back to my car cranky, damp but safe.
There was a book written about what happened to Geraldine called When You Find My Body by D Dauphinee. It's a very well written book that I would recommend to anyone looking to hike the Appalachian Trail. There is so much Gerry could have done before the hike that could have helped her when she got lost. This was such a tragic story.
I remember this - and I have been lost a ton. I always kept going and found the trail again, but damn. Poor thing. So close. How did they miss her? Crazy.
Want to add that since I hike solo I ALWAYS have my Garmin - a literal lifesaver. SO worth the $15 a month (cheapest plan lol). I upgrade if I’m going out for a long time to have unlimited messaging - And can suspend it and reactivate it whenever. Got me out of a thigh-deep washed out mess on the NPT in May. (Not employed by Garmin, lol)
I got lost in a snowstorm in the Blue Mountains in Australia, completely turned around. But I remembered my training and trusted my compass, ("it's a precision instrument, you are an idiot") even though I was 100% sure it was wrong. I got back to the trail in half an hour. With a compass you can search your surroundings without losing touch with your camp, even at night/in low visibility. They cost $25 and weigh 50g. You can buy a GPS-Altimeter-Compass watch for $200.
I was going to add, searchers divide an area into half mile square grids. Your mission, if stuck is to fill up your square of the grid with stuff pointing at your camp. Search folk use flagging tape and a sharpie for this. A whistle and signal mirror can help. 100g the lot.
@@jeremywanner4526 snow/ski season in the Blue Mountains, New South Wales is June to October, this was Sept. I was prepped for it but even so: it was like being inside a ping pong ball. Grim.
May her and her husband rest in peace. He died in 2019 I suppose. Sending all the love and healing. I wish her loved ones the best in life and all the strength and happiness. Stay strong brave fighter. May you be remembered forever as a brave fighter who did everything she could and at such a age. More power to her loved ones..🥺❤️
10:29 NO... That's not my question at all. My question is why you would need to step more than 3 paces from the trail or at least keep it in sight to do your business. She was literally MILES from the trail. I don't know about you hiking people, but when I have to go, I have to go. Make it make sense.
As soon as you realize you are lost, what you want to do is mark the place you are. Then walk 100 yards in one direction keeping track of that place. If you find nothing walk back to the original spot and walked 100 yards in the other direction. Again if you find nothing go back to the original spot. Do this in four directions if necessary . If you still find nothing go 200 yards in all four directions if necessary , always come back to the same spot until you find something. I’ve had to use this technique A couple of times. Very grateful that someone told it to me.
Very helpful 👍🏼
Great idea, thank you for sharing!
My gym teacher in 1st grade told us the same thing. He used to take us on nature hikes in the woods in the back of our school and would tell us stories about his hikes through the Appalachian mountains (he was born in Virginia in 1912). He told us that if you're ever hiking and end up somewhere in the woods that is completely silent to leave immediately before the "wildmen" get you. He was from a very rough era in history and wouldn't joke about something like that. RIP Mr. Carter you taught me a lot about the wilderness.
Thank you for sharing
Thank you
I have worked in the woods in the subject area my whole life as a land surveyor. Many people can't understand how she got lost. That is because they have never gotten lost. I have become disoriented in the woods and believe me, it can happen to the most experienced woodsman.
The part I can't understand is how the search parties never found her. Hopefully the Maine Warden Service did a lot of soul searching and revamped their methods, procedures, and egos.
As someone who loves hiking and the outdoors and also directionally challenged like Gerry I’ve left the trail and turned back to be be like ??? I always use GPS but it’s definitely scary!
I always go with a satielle phone or areas with cell service
This and many trails in any woods can be easy to get lost in. maine i am about 20mins from this area and i have been lost in the woods 3 times in my life. It isnt hard at all when the sec you go off trail or for that matter even some trails all look alike woods woods woods. I will always love Maine though.
She was so close to the trail they probably thought she was just another person camping.
Any serious hiker with an IQ over 80 carries a compass. I guess we know where Geraldine was on the Bell Curve.
Gerry was NOT found by a govt. surveyor. Her remains were found by a hiker (trail name "Starfly") and his friend. Starfly went hiking on the AT in October of 2015 to enjoy the fall foliage and also to look for Gerry. He and his friend found her remains and her campsite. They notified the warden service and included the GPS location. They didn't hear back - and then lo and behold - the warden service claimed that this unnamed contractor "found" Gerry. There was a reward. Starfly wanted the reward to go toward a shelter to be named for Gerry. I don't understand why the authorities found it necessary to lie and not give credit to the people who actually searched and found her.
Probably because they go by the name "Starfly" rather than an actual, legal name.
Search and rescue will yell names. That is really odd she didnt respond if they got so close. I wonder if she had a hearing aid that died or something? Also you failed to mention the weather. If it had been raining i could see how the dogs wouldnt be able to pick up her smell, there would be little trace, and maybe she was too cold to respond.
This is why leave no trace is bs too. Respectfully there is no such thing and we need to leave some trace otherwise we wont be found in survival situations. Respect necture and stay alive yall 🙏🏻
whats up starflys friend
The person who originally found her should prove that he found her with the GPS at a time it was sent. Then they should go and claim their money and if they have a problem, they should go get a lawyer.
just leave it to the Gov . to screw it up!
When I was 12 years old, I got lost in the Woods exploring a new area. I was standing in a small creek, bed with a noticeable unique boulder when I realized I was absolutely lost. So I decided to hike in a straight line to approximately where I thought I began the hike at the edge of a road. But about an hour and a half later, I realized I had arrived back at the creek bed with that noticeable unique Boulder. Holy shit! That's when I super freaked out. Begin to hyperventilate. Turned in circles about 20 times this time, turned into the opposite direction and took off on the fastest sprint of my life. This time, rather than looking at the trees in front of me, I tried to keep my eyes on the horizon above the trees, where there is an outline of a cloud this allowed me to keep my bearing a little bit better. Fortunately, 30 minutes later, completely worn out I popped out onto the road. I didn't know. Should I turn left or right? I decided to turn left and 100 yards down the road everything was recognizable.
Whew!!!! Scary shit man.
Even I felt panicked reading your experience.
Thats why they tell you to stay put , ppl walk in circles due to the rotation of the earth... we were always taught, remember to break branches/mark branches on one side and remember if its your right or your left, always carry an emergency tin, we would use small coffee tins, with fish line, needles, waterproofed matches, band aids, etx u can use the tin to boil water, fishing line to fish etc
@@janicehagen2854the earth is flat and motionless.
@@nowaythatnamewastaknyour brain seems to be flat and motionless
This is so heartbreaking and you can tell just by the pictures of her that she was full of life and a great person..Her smile is so genuine in each picture and it hurts me to the core that such a sweet soul had to end so tragically..RIP Geraldine
Lesson should be that do not go hiking alone if u are not experienced to move in a forest. Also gotta have a some kind of marks or use knife to mark the trees if u think u r going to wrong direction. If she had a map or could read that with compass, she would’ve survived
I feel a need to vent here. This one has personal meaning for me.
My family was deeply concerned when this story hit the news, since I'm nearly the age that Inchworm was when she went missing, and because of our family history. My step-grandfather went missing on a Catskills hike, and nobody - despite an intensive effort over months by hundreds of searchers - ever learnt what happened to him. He'd left behind a wife and two little kids, one of whom grew to to become my stepfather.
"If you get lost, stay put and wait for rescue. Try to signal if you can." is the only advice that far too many of us get. It's fine advice for eleven-year-old boy scouts. They're probably two hundred yards from a campground! It's only a starting point - and nobody should be hiking solo with just that advice. (Of course, the eleven-year-old boy scouts are also taught "never hike alone!" while many grown-ups do hike solo. It's irresponsible to grow beyond only part of that advice.
Some specific observations about the Inchworm mystery:
200 yards from a trail is a long way in dense forest, really. If memory serves, Inchworm was somewhat hard of hearing, and voices carry surprisingly badly in dense undergrowth. Carry a whistle - mine happens to be built into the sternum buckle of my pack. If you think you hear help coming for you, you can be heard a LOT farther with a whistle than with your voice. (Aside: Don't just blast, make sure they know it's a human sound. "Shave and a haircut" isn't a bad bet.) Also, someone among the rescuers likely has a whistle and can whistle back.
Carry a compass and learn how to sight with it. Even if you don't know how to do anything else with it, if you can hold a more or less consistent straight line, you can get _somewhere_ rather than wandering in circles.
"Just use the GPS" is not an option, when your GPS has a dead battery. Learn map-and-compass navigation skills. (If you're around Eastern New York or adjacent New England. I'm willing go go out hiking with anyone trying to learn this stuff - and I'm competent enough to lead bushwhacks to places I've never been, so drop me a line. I live a little north and west of Albany.)
Along with that, learn the basics of what to do if you lose both your map and your way. That differs according to conditions, but a good rule of thumb in the Eastern US is: go DOWN. Down goes to water. Once you have hit water, go DOWNSTREAM. Downstream goes to civilization. In the Eastern US, that's just about 100% guaranteed: down goes to water, downstream there's a road. If you hit level ground and aren't sure which way 'down' continues, whip out your you-know-what, oops, I mean compass, and just start tracking in line with the way you were going until the slope becomes obvious again.
In the higher mountains you might cliff out. If you were on trail, that's not entirely bad news. (Of course, don't ever go down anything you're not sure you can't get back up! Climb back up to where you can move sideways, and start circling the band of ledges. You'll eventually 1cross either the trail you were on or another trail. Once you've found a trail, abandoned logging road, whatever, stick with it. It goes somewhere. Downhill is usually a better guess than up, since you're trying to get out of the mountains.
It's a good idea to review the map at the start of a day's hiking and plan escape routes that you can follow even if your map comes to grief. Something general and simple to remember like, "there's a river a mile or two to the north, and a highway bridge downstream". If you're leading a group, make that a part of your safety briefing.
If you do start traveling in order to get unlost, it's a good idea to have a notebook along. (I carry a 3x5 inch waterproof notebook. Since I photograph and write and map, I use it for field notes anyway.) Start taking notes about what you see - especially back over your shoulder - along with the time of day, so you have something to help you if you need to backtrack.
If I'm hiking solo, I carry a PLB. Not a satellite communicator like a SPOT or InReach, an actual Personal Locator Beacon registered with the Federal government. It gets sent off for inspection and battery replacement at the recommended intervals. I'm pretty certain that if I light it, I'm going to be found. I carry it not so much to protect myself as to protect the emergency responders. If I buy the farm on a hike, well, it's not that many years until my time is coming anyway. But nobody should have to put their arses on the line looking for me. If they have a GPS squawk, a radio signal, and a strobe light, all telling them where I am, that should take nearly all the Search out of Search&Rescue, and Search is the difficult, expensive and dangerous part of the mission. It'll take a lot to make me light it, though. I've hobbled out fifteen miles on a sprained knee because I'm not going to call in the troops while I can still travel at all.
None of this advicce would have safed my step-grandfather, I suspect. From the terrain he was bushwhacking in and the time of year he was going, I suspect that he triggered a rock slide and wound up buried. But many individual bits of it might have saved Inchworm.
Hey, thanks for sharing your family story and the tips on how to recover if lost!
I hike alone a lot in the Whites of NH and I have never really been lost because I have been on a trail. I have missed a turn and ended up on the wrong trail headed in the wrong direction. The first time it happened I was scared $h!tless and just about ran back to where I last new where I was. I had to keep talking to myself and reminding myself that I had plenty of daylight and that I was on a trail so I wasn't totally lost. Once I found what I thought was the trail, I asked a couple that was on the trail what it was to make sure that I didn't go in the wrong direction again. When I got to the car I was only 15 minutes passed the time I wanted to be back at the car. I try to hit the trail at an ungodly hour for two reasons, 1, so I can get a parking spot so I don't have to walk forever to get to the trailhead and 2 so that I have time to recover from a mistake.
Knowing how to do systematic reverse search probes to find familiar turf is something everyone should spend 30 minutes of their time learning basics for.
Great advice. Thanks for having the patience to share. I read it entirely and is good for thought.
So sad 😢
I've seen her story before, so sad to think she was that close to being rescued but instead died alone and scared. I can't imagine how it would feel losing someone that way.
so awful. I hope people can learn from her story.
I've read about her before as well, but I didn't see that 3 separate dog teams had been so close! It's just mind boggling that she wouldn't have heard them bumbling about in the woods so close by! That's just all kinds of wrong 🥺
@@musingwithreba9667she was known for her lack of survival skill. From what I’ve heard and read. Sad.
@@DemonratsRevil hard to believe the dogs didn't find her tho. SAR dogs should have sniffed her out at 100 yards. Regardless oof her skills
I
Was surprised that being military that she didn’t follow the sunrise or sunset. If she went east
Off the trail that the sunset would have let her back. And I would have set the woods on fire. I am so heartbroken that she and her family had to endure this.
Read the book "When you find my body". It details the sad story and has lessons for those who get lost. 100 yards in dense woods is as good as 100 miles. Dogs may not bark if they are tracking and just following their nose. Geraldine HAD a GPS and gave it to her husband to lighten he load. She was planning only to be separated for a half day. She had a terrible sense of direction.
She sealed her fate when she did that because she had not the skills to make it home
Was just about to comment that. 100yds is a football field. Imagine trying to hear or see someone clearly that distance. Now add dense trees and brush with birds and bugs making noise inbetween. There’s no chance.
She had a terrible sense of direction and went hiking???!!!???!? Without gps???
@@mrswiggles4790 you made a great ☝️
@@mrswiggles4790 EXACTLY!!! Perhaps she bumped her damn head or something, she wasn't acting right. Surely that was out of Character!! Or maybe she ate some poisonous Mushrooms or berries that made her lose her mind, hallucinate, become incapacitated in some way.
A friend and I went on a nighttime/sunrise hike once. It was a very popular hike. But Neither of us had ever been there. We came to the parking lot and trailhead thinking we were in the right place..we weren’t. We started on a small brush trail and followed the directions we had looked up before hand. But after about an hour or so it became very apparent we didn’t know where we were. Each time we came to a split in the trail we stopped and said a prayer and then went on the way we felt good about. About 6 hrs into the hike we should have been at the peak by then. But we could still see the mountains towering over us. After another hour the trail ended. We stepped out on to a road and began looking around.
My heart then sank into my gut. Up the road we saw a parking lot..with my car sitting there. We were so incredibly confused but grateful. But it was an eerie surreal feeling. We had hit about 10 different forks in the trails we were in. And came right back to where we started. We were 100% led by the spirit not knowing where we were being led.
God is amazing... wow praise God!!!!
Praise God for that 🙏
If you were on a trail why didn’t you just turn around and go back the way you came??
Or...you just got lucky
@@veritasabsoluta4285 definitely not lucky
In middle school me and my bestfriend got lost adventuring in the NW Georgia woods. He remembered his mom teaching him that the sun rises in the east and sets in the west. It helped us get a sense of direction considering we knew the sun set in front of my house and we found our way back to a road after being lost for 6 hours or so. It was scary, especially since I was scared of the dark at the time and was really worried we wouldn't get home before nightfall.
My gosh even the dogs couldn't find her. How scared she must've been. This hurts my heart.
It seems incredible that three different teams of dogs were within 100 yards of her and didn't have her scent. This just seems to be one of those situations where absolutely nothing goes right. I can't even imagine the fear of knowing you're going to die and can do nothing to stop it.
Murphys Law is a bitch
If the dogs were upwind, they would have had zero scent to track. Pretty simple. Human scent (epithelial cells discarded off the human body as we move) break down fairly quickly in static, dry environments. Introduce humidity and air currents, and the cells dispurse and break down even faster. Now put an odor detection dog upwind of the source of odor and you have a 0% chance of an alert (a good find).
In my personal and professional opinion, the dog handlers should have been conducting their search to meet the downwind flank and adjusting it as the conditions changed. But even that isn't a 100% guarantee. No dog, including my own K9, is 100% all the time just like no human searcher is 100% all the time.
@@scout3058 I’ve worked with law enforcement dogs and actually with a trained trailing dog, such as a bloodhound, it tracks the scent on the ground where the individual has walked. I’m not saying that the dog couldn’t pick up an airborne scent, but that’s not how the dog usually works. Start at the last place she was seen and go from there. You need a personal item to ‘scent the dog’ and I assume the husband would have such. Wooded areas, unlike urban areas, are actually better at holding the scent. It’s heartbreaking that she wasn’t found.
@Glass Half Full I'm a professional K9 handler and trainer with specialized study in odor science/scent theory. Please don't think that I am some shade tree hack making guesses. For instance, if you know as much as you think you do, you'll be able to tell me at what speed human skin cells leave the body and travel upwards, out of the collar of a shirt or jacket. I don't expect you to answer, at least not without Googling it. I can answer it for you: 18mph. I know the math on how fast human skin cells degrade in 85°, 90% humidity conditions and that doesn't factor in air movement/currents. Can you name 3 household items that a bomb dog can alert on because those items share certain chemicals that are present in certain explosives? I can.
I appreciate your attempt at looking for other solutions but in this regard I am a subject matter expert among my peers. If you can tell me what a downwind flank even is without resorting to Google (I'll have to count on you being honorable) then I'll gladly give you a way to privately kessage me so we can discuss your disagreement civily.
@@scout3058 Sorry I hurt your feelings, but I’ve worked with law enforcement dogs for 30+ years and the proper dog for this particular case would have been the bloodhound for the reasons BOTH of us mentioned. I’ve also seen numerous “certified” dogs, both police and volunteer, fail in both training and unfortunately in actual investigations. A few months ago I led volunteer in a search for a man that was believed to have committed suicide in a brushy area. Law enforcement, with multiple teams of dogs, had already cleared the most promising area and we continued in other areas. One guess where the body was found. Anyway, I applaud your vast knowledge, but dogs are not a perfect tool. Though I have worked with amazing dogs, but as I tell law enforcement officers I train, “When the dogs learn to speak English, then I’ll have a little more faith in them.”
I live in New Hampshire and remembered when this happened. I also watched on North Woods Law, chronicles of her disappearance ,search and discovery of her remains. It was heartbreaking. There were so many things that could of prevented her demise. Not solo hiking, having a compass, map,whistle. I do a lot of hiking in the White Mountains, but I am not a through hiker. I am also a nurse,and people of her age can have medical emergencies that people younger can shake off. Dehydration or a simple UTI can cause mental confusion. I don't think she should of been out there alone .Solitude can be nice but not on a hike. I'm sorry I rambled on so. Thanks Kyle for revisiting her story. Hello from New Hampshire 🌲
I went solo snow hiking last year and somehow got off trail although I do a lot of solo hiking. I was lost for about a half hour until I came across some other hikers. I can say that is one of the scariest feelings for sure!
i know the feeling. i got lost in the grocery store last week. felt like i was just walking in circles for hours.
i once got lost on some railroads that were under construction and..... that was the scariest moment of my life tbh
If you have kid's that was selfish & foolish
@@walterb3946is this a wkuk joke?
One time my wife and I took a were going down Blood Mountain, which is part of the Appalachian Trail, but we were just hiking the mountain. She likes to (still) cut straight down the mountain, or up, instead of zig zagging the trail. We cut down and sure enough came to a ledge, and it was an impossibly steep assent. We start B-lining along the ledge but there was no trail, so we had to start ascending. We hiked for only about 15 min and finally saw people!
People don't realize, it freaks you out. This is a mountain I've through-hiked and regularly hike. Weird how rationality starts to escape, but ultimately it becomes an endurance issue, just keep pushing, try to stay rational, and have some luck.
I remember when this lady went missing. She had a terrible sense of direction. When her friend left the trail to go home, her husband and friend were very concerned for Geraldine alone on the trail. But to give her GPS to her husband and to not have a compass is just not wise. And if you have ever been in the woods in New Hampshire or Maine, the trees are dense, with underbrush, birds and insects that absorb any sound. 100 yards might as well be on the other side of the moon. It all comes down to the choice she made to continue solo.
💔
I think more hikers need to improve their decision making approach
She also had already hiked 1000 miles of the AT. So I don’t think her sense of direction was all that bad?
@@t.l.1610
she was known about her bad sense of direction. her husband was not that keen of her doing it. and as soon as that friend had to leave her she instantly got lost.
@@ursodermatt8809 Thanks for the info. I did some reading after your replies. Ugh what a sad story. Her friend reported she was also afraid of the dark and being alone. Poor lady. Makes it even more heartbreaking.
Her trail name was ‘Inchworm’ because she made slow but steady progress. Apparently, not only did she give her GPS to her husband (foolish thing to do) but the compass she had was the size of a watch face…..a small one.
I honestly believe Gerry was suffering some kind of dementia and she panicked when she became lost. Poor lady. But she obviously kept SOME wits about her to write her journal.
I hope her passing was as peaceful as it could be for her.
As someone else mentioned, a simple UTI infection, pretty common as age encroaches, would lead to the kind of confusion that's hard to spot definitively both from an objective viewpoint, but also subjectively. At home, a couple of weird decisions and you'd be off to the doctor for some antibiotics. Wandering off trail to spend a penny, getting lost,... and staying put in a tent may well have been her only option.
I'm 41 and in 2019 became encephalitic and no one could figure out that a bad UTI that was asymptomatic was the source. I tried to escape my hospital room because I thought my husband hired a hospital looking place to kill me. I ripped all of my IVs out of my arm. Also, when my grandma was in an elder care facility they would call my dad saying things like, "your mother thinks there's two soldiers in her closet with a bomb". Dad would say, "have you checked to see if she has a UTI?".
She is proof that old folks should hike in pairs.
@@RandyBaumery-s4i everyone should hike in pairs!!
Additional advice: if you are lost in the mountains in Japan, NEVER follow running water downstream. Mountain build/river systems are different here. Most rivers lead to waterfalls, steep cliffs, treacherous terrain. It is virtually impossible to find villages etc., much less climb the whole way down safely. Instead, if you are truly lost, it is advised that you climb to the peak or mountain ridge. Mountain range formation around here generally lends to clear views from the peaks and ridges. Consult the map and use your compass. Try to find the trail. I know this is also true in Taiwan (at least the don’t follow rivers part), so perhaps other East Asian/southeast Asian mountains have the same thing? Of course, best action is to do everything you can to NOT get lost…and if rescue is plausible (people know that you are in the mountain, you have gps, etc.) don’t move. Also, be prepared for anything! Safe hiking and mountaineering!
Great advice 👍
not moving is how she died and people wore looking for her, the smart thing to do is mark where you are and move a few 100 yards in one direction if you find nothing come back to your starting place and so on, if you find nothing start the process over with 200 yards and so on. If someone find's the place you've marked they'll know to wait for you or find you or you and them will eventually bump into one another.
Good Advice to not follow downstream. Once you realized you’re loss. Backtrack and use intentionally straight path and try to find familiar marks. Never distance hike alone. Have a buddy.
OK, next time I'm lost in the Mountains in Japan, I'll keep that in mind.
Also, that whole following a stream downriver to find your way out is nonsense.. it's been disproven so many times as an effective method for escape.
Same in Indonesia, rivers in the mountain always lead to either waterfall or a ravine
I remember when these events were happening. There were reports that from other hikers that she appeared disoriented at times prior to her getting lost. Also, I believe that there was a report of an injury discovered after her body was found, which maybe explains why she made camp and stopped. This is such a tragic story, and even though I hike alone a fair bit, it sends a strong message about how that can be a costly decision
I read a great book on Geraldine it explained quite a lot, never anything about injuries that's must be conjecture. Yes, it's a pity her death had come to pass for certain,
@@hertribe1978
yes, had she been injured she would have texted that and noted it in her note book.
The air search also got fucked up because a couple hikers said they saw “an older woman with glasses” at the next shelter- the search team assumed they must have seen Gerry, and therefore focused the helicopters toward a different area.
Such a sad story, my heart really goes out to all involved ❤
That's the second time, after watching a number of these videos, that a search got waylaid because "witnesses" said they saw the lost person somewhere else.
Why do search parties put so much credence into such supposed sightings?
So many times people fuck up the search with bad details.
@@jeanjazThey could have seen her before she moved
her tent was also put up under a fallen tree.
People's decision making tends to get super poor once they're put in a scary situation... a guy from my outdoor class got lost so we did a grid pattern search for him after dark. After getting lost he had wandered to an empty/closed campground not far from our camping location, and we're sure he heard our voices, but instead of staying in relative safety he admitted he fled and ran down the road in a random direction. Luckily, he was found by one of our cars that were honking down the FS trails.
He doesn't know why he didn't yell back or stayed at the campground. He just panicked and was scared, all rational thought disappeared.
In South East Asian mystic belief, some people believe there is a guardian of forest which sometime will cause you to get lost and keep circling at the same place, still hidden from the real world.
I heard so many cases like this in where I come from. The authority was so puzzled each time when they found out the lost guy were at the same place the whole time but they couldn’t find him in the beginning.
On the Colorado Trail I stepped out in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom. No jacket, no GPS, no survival gear, but I did have a flashlight. I got turned around and couldn’t find my tent for what seemed like forever - even with my flashlight. It’s easy to get lost and I feel so bad for this lady and her family.
Yes. I once went hiking. Was the second time in this area. Forst time I found a nice Spot in the Forest, so sexond time I wanted to go there. Of course I didn't found it. And then I didn't know where I've had come from. I panicked for 1 min. Then took a breath And try to remember trees and branches and got out. That was scary
Inchworm's tragic story breaks my heart every time I think of it. I just can't escape the feeling that some basic survival and orienteering skills, like I used to teach Boy Scouts, could have lead to a different ending. Honor her legacy by being prepared, and helping others learn the skills to avoid a similar fate.
I read the book, “When you find my body” it was really sad. She seemed like an amazing lady. I was like you, so confused as to why they couldn’t find her but like you said the woods in some places just swallow people up. The actual map of the ground they covered in the rescue attempt was quite extensive but all around her 😭
Fiction and trying to make money. Don’t believe everything lol
@@dustinchen???
@In A Corner show some respect to the dude profiting off her death lol. you show some respect
@In A Corner what's that got to do with showing her family respect lol.
@@dustinchen it's easy to make an insensitive comment. The world is built on consumerism as well so "trying to make money" is kinda a given. Be smarter or maybe nicer? It is about someone who died. You've shown quite a bit of disrespect in this comment but im sure you don't care lol
I've heard of many missing person cases and true crime cases, but this particular case with Geraldine broke my heart. It's maddening to think that they couldn't find her, given her location. I've gotten lost in the woods before with no supplies and I remember thinking that I was gonna die out there. She had all these supplies and backpacking knowledge but was still swallowed up in the forest. It's cases like these that convinced me to turn down a National Park internship. No matter how much experience you have, getting lost and dying in the woods is far more likely than people think. I hope her family and her friend hiking with her don't blame themselves... to know she was out there 26 days and trying to find help is just heartbreaking.
This story scares me. I did a really dumb thing and free climbed one of the rockies in BC alone back 9 years ago. It was VERY dangerous. I got to the top but shale gave out on the face and I fell 20 ft to a small ledge just before nightfall. My GPS unit wasn't working properly and the only saving grace was that I was so close to the top of the mountain on the front face. The other thing was my cell reception-without my phone, I'd be dead. K9 units and helicopters and teams were sent, and luckily after 24 hours I was found and helicoptered to the nearest hospital for my injuries. ALSO my bear spray was a godsend. The animals at night...they are terrifying.
Jesus what a nightmare. 😮
@@sarahsongz282 Yes however I totally deserved it for being stupid and cocky enough to think I’d be alright … never try that stuff alone!
I'm so glad you made it! You've definitely got stuff left to do on this earth! 🙂
@@katyb2793 Awww you are so kind! People like you restore my faith in humanity 🙂
That had to be so traumatic, oh my god. Only reading this and trying to think about what you went through in those 24hours physically and mentally makes my blood run cold tbh. So glad luck was on your side and you made it out of this alive 😢❤!
When you "lapse" in your directional awareness in the woods ... it's an unreal feeling of isolation.
Burst of adrenaline, mind working overtime, so you lose your sense of time and how much area you covered in your panic.
Was a preteen, hunting in the Alleghenies in PA, I went just off a logging trail and got turned around.
You want to RUN and I did for a about 20 feet before I remembered my Boy Scout training. I kept looking back to where I HAD been and where I believed I came from, as I had some memory of where I went forward, but not what it looked like going back.
Was able to use my that and some of my own tracks to find my way back.
Wow! Happy you were able to focus and do that, especially before you got behind from no point of return! Your strategy really worked,
This incident has long bothered me. She was so close to the AT (and the old AT path thru there). Not only did searchers miss her on their grid, but she didn’t hear any rescuers in the nearby area. So strange.
I definitely think there is something missing from this story, something she can't tell us. Did she not have a whistle? Did she not try to find her way out at all while she still had food and water. Very odd. Maybe she was doing the classic walking in circles, we'll never know, but with so many SAR if she had made noise I think they could have found her.
Yetis
She was hard of hearing
@@ashmaybe9634
There's a great book that was written "when you find my body" I forget authors name but it had explained much of all the questions here. There's really not anything more, other than the fact Gerry had basically run herself into the ground the first hours after being lost and simply pitched her tent and stayed there.
I'm guessing she may have been delerious lack of food, exposure and I'd guess if she heard them she didn't have the energy to get off the ground.
She had a gps tracker but left it behind. Apparently she had a compass but didn't know how to use one. I really don't think she had any business going off on her own like that. Everybody should learn from this and understand that the wilderness is unforgiving.
Not know how to use a compass??
Very important point. All the literature says although it's well marked, hikers still need a compass. In saying this, it's still very sad. I really want to do this hike but slowly going off the idea. Especially as a solo activity.
Who doesn't know how to use a compass. It's not rocket science, jesus christ.
I too loved solo hiking, but scared theses days after learning about the people accidentally falling off the mountain, getting lost, etc and dying.
@@tyham726I like solo traveling more :c Go solo hiking where you know the trail.
Miss Geraldine looked so damn capable, strong and well provisioned with supplies. Yes, you're right if the searchers were later found to be around 100 yards from her it's crazy that she didn't hear them or the dogs. I can only imagine her fear and desperation. RIP Miss Geraldine, you fought a good fight.
Been in Search and rescue in Australia, and have searched and done rescues in pretty dense bush... It can be super tough to spot someone let alone a the next search and rescue person in your team. Depending on what the search coordinators were telling the searchers to do, they may not have been making a lot of sound as to not stress or scare the person who is missing (usually done for kids and extenuating circumstances) But usually there is a lot of noise from the searchers of call out the persons name. Sometimes One searcher calls out then everyone is silent and listens for a reply. Also depending on Geraldine's condition / the conditions she had been in or through, she could of been sleeping or extremely dehydrated / injured and not able to hear the commotion and people calling out her name which may make more sense why she may not have been able to hear the logging road for example or even the commotion of hikers on the trail. I feel badly for her family and for the searchers on that part of the search, as a search and rescue person there's always the Question What if I had gone that little bit more further would I have found the person?
I was hiking the Maine 4000 footers during this time, and met some of the search crew and saw many helicopters. I was surprised to come up a few weeks later and see that they were still searching for her (I was hiking sugar loaf and Spaulding so very near to where she went missing.) It was pretty fucked up to find out that she was still alive at this time. I think you've understated how terrible her decision making was, especially considering that she could have simply chosen a single direction, any direction and walked at most 4 or 5 hours to reach a road or something. My assumption has always been that she had some level of dementia or was otherwise not someone who should have been out hiking alone.
I also believe she had a mild stroke or first big senior moment episode !
Her family admitted she could become "disoriented" in regards to direction and she did not have map and compass skills. Also her hiking buddy had recently left. Very sad to know she was so close to rescue so many times
@@janinelargent9220 and it looks like a person with a death wish and succeeded
Stroke was also my thinking.
Also possible to get dementia-like confusion from a UTI, especially in older adults.
It is shockingly easy to get lost. I once walked about 75 yards from my camp to hang my food in the dark, and in the process of getting the bag up in the tree, I lost my sense of direction. I confidently walked off in the wrong direction. I couldn't see my tent or my fire anywhere, and I got so confused since I knew my camp was close. Without my phone on me, I'm not sure I would have been able to find my camp again before daylight.
I don't go off trail, even to pee, without my compass, and I set on the compass the heading on which I left the trail, so that I can walk the back course.
Those who have never been lost will never appreciate what you just said. I too have been lost and it is exactly as you said.
@@Sadie04074 I left my tent in Shenandoah to pee, and got lost in the dark. Sat down right where I was before I could get any more lost! I spent some time sitting there in the dark before I was able to orient and find my way back.
Airtags are a great invention
So easy to lose your way especially if you go off trail anywhere. I hike Ohio - Pennsylvania - Blue ridge and the Smokies some. Mostly fishing etc. Sometimes just exploring. I've done small parts of AT. I tell you what - I am in the habit of trail marking along the way as a back up plan to just find your way back. Dragging a trail with a hiking stick. Leaving branches in the letter T formation. My name is Tom . Any way to mark like bread crumbs
This is very similar to what happened to my brothers childhood best friend. He was hiking in British Columbia on a mountain trail in October. They never found his body until nine months later in manning park, less than 3km from his campsite at the summit of frosty mountain. His name was Jordan Naterer.
Someone mentioned they were a surveyor. I did it for a bit too. One thing we carried was “flagging” tape. It’s just rolls of biodegradable streamer flagging. Pro tip. Carry a roll with you and leave yourself a bread crumbs. You’re not adding any weight. Better safe than sorry. Also, really learn land navigation, know how to shoot azimuths, carry a map, learn to use a compass. Stop relying on apps and phones. I was a scout in the Army for 7 years. I promise your equipment will fail. We always reverted to maps and compasses.
My Dad and I when section hiking the AT, went and found her memorial using gps coordinates from the report. It's such an unfortunate story. She was next to a stream. Follow it down and she would have ran into the logging road that leads to the trail (if she would have turned left) and if she went right, she would have ran into the Navy Training area near Redington pond.
They decided NOT to search the Navy land and thats why they didn't find her alive. A stupid decision.
@@tiderover6574 the stupid decision was being 68 and going for a hella long hike alone with no map or compass and a poor sense of direction to begin with. That’s what’s stupid
@@noobovsky420 your criticism is not constructive, it is sadistic. Good luck with healthy aging if you have the courage.
@@marshalwest622 nah bruh is right. wtf anyone doing off road without at least a compass. It is not central park.
She died cause she was an idiot.
Learn from her idiocy n don't repeat her mistakes.
No compass, no map, no gps, she deserved to get lost in the woods and die for her hubris.
@@marshalwest622 I think the criticism is warranted. If you’re a vulnerable age/mental state try not to put yourself into situations that could lead to easy death. Even being in my early 20’s I’d have more fail safes in place just for this reason. You never know.
This is one of the best presentations of this story I’ve seen. Great job. With that said, I absolutely refuse to head into the back country without a compass. If I go off the trail, I know which direction I went off the trail, therefore, I know what direction to travel to get back to the trial. I also carry a roll of surveyors tape that I use to “blaze” my path when I go off trail for any reason. As I’m teaching my daughter and grandchildren to hike/backpack/camp/bushcraft/etc., these are items I won’t let them leave home without - a compass, surveyors tape, and a whistle. I highly encourage a number of other items, but without these, you don’t leave sight of civilization..! I use these same rules in a number of camps for children I am involved with. Everyone has a compass, and everyone has at least a rudimentary knowledge of how to navigate with it (and every compass has a whistle on it’s lanyard)!
Sound advice
This, no one has any business going out of civilization without a compass. Or at the very very least being able to find north so long as u can see the sky.
I will not shed tears for morons who die cause they got lost, cause they forgot a compass
at around the time she was found I was in nearby Rangeley helping a friend clear a little family trail on private land in spring. You get into that dense forest and literally can't see 15 feet in front of you sometimes. The pines swallow the sound, so that I couldn't hear my friend hacking at a fallen log not far away. It just really is that dangerous. I make a point of looking at a map and evaluating emergency plans for this reason. Like someone else said, in New England, if you go downhill you'll find *something* and it will lead to *something* which will lead to civilization.
Another problem is we don't know how windy it was. Long story short, I used to live in the West Country and wind going through/past trees, fields, hedges etc can be deafening. To the stage that you can't hear trains approaching.
I can't imagine how any of those poor people involved must feel, even now. Imagine knowing you were 1 of the teams that was so close to finding her and bringing her home, but somehow you all missed each other.
It's heartbreaking.
Another's problem is that we're always told, wherever we get lost, "Stay put." Don't wander off, make a shelter, make yourself easy to see and wait for rescue. She must have been so scared and eventually just the cold slip of acceptance must have just let her sleep. Hopefully.
At least she was finally found and her family got closure, but Jesus, that is heartbreaking 😿
I had a very lovely conversation with Inchworm on the Horn of Saddleback the day before she disappeared. Sweet lively person, full of life and elan. Her shining face stays with me to this day. We headed back to our car and Inchworm headed north. A day or two later, the news was filled with pictures of Gerry and news of her disappearance. I was gutted. Shattered. We called the Wardens to report our sighting of Inchworm and waited. And waited . And waited. We even seriously considered joining the effort to find her. ……. Two years later……😢 Inchworm’s demise hit me hard. It was the beginning of the end of a lifetime wandering the mountains of New England for me. May Gerry’s spirit and light live on. 💜
I never met her but I was in new Hampshire going northbound when I heard there was a hiker who disappeared. She hadnt been missing for only a few days at that point
Oh, it’s heartbreaking that it caused you to stop going to the woods. I can understand that though.
Thank you for bringing this to light to help people prepare for these unfortunate situations.
Just setting up camp and waiting for rescue may seem like a good idea, but now having heard Geraldine's story, a realization occurred to me, a realization that in hindsight seems pretty intuitive. What would you do if you were being looked for and *did* *not* want to be found? Think about what you'd do and then do the opposite. I would definitely hunker down in a dense part of the forest if I didn't want to be found, so I would do the opposite of that if I did want to be found.
yell, scream, band items (tent poles, hollow can from cooking . . . .)
Shld be mandatory to carry a good whistle. Being mindful walking in, hang a bandanna. And for petes sake, dig a sm hole do the biz and get out. Ima a lefty so I'd face my left arm toward my exit. U made really good points. I live next to a forest preserve. I love walking the creek.
Or you could just walk in a straight line until you eventually hit a linear land feature, and then follow it out. If someone is stupid enough to hike remote wilderness without a compass (and this lady seems to fit that description), then use the sun for reference. But the Darwin Award winners are out there, just waiting for their day to dumbass their way into an avoidable death.
Is it weird that she worded her letter “my husband and daughter will be happy to know I am dead-- and where you found me”
Why would they be happy to know you’re dead seems suspish.
@@hebrewmama I think it’s not suspicious at all that she said that. Having a missing family member especially if they were found and no one told you is much, much worse than having a dead family member and you know exactly what happened to them.
Two miles deep in the woods is a long way. And in the Maine woods, you might not see someone fifty feet away. I can see how it happened. I too have pondered Inchworm's death. Unless I were severely injured, I don't think I'd have done what she did. I always wondered.. did she forget which direction she got off trail? If she stepped off to the left, she could have just kept walking east until she found the trail again. Even if she wasn't sure which direction east was during the day, she'd surely have figured it out when the sun came up, right?
Such a great point! I wonder if panic and anxiety caused faulty decision making in this case.
@@TheHikingChick1 I remember reading that she was on anti-anxiety medication, which would have run out. So quite likely. And also that she had an absolutely terrible sense of direction, regularly left the shelter going the wrong way, etc. Her former hiking partner said Inchworm had relied on her for direction.
@Amy Forinash it's sad that she decided to carry on without her partner despite these factors and her limitations. Lessons for all of us. She pushed her boundaries, and sadly it didn't work out for her. 😥
I wondered the same thing. Had she remembered whether she had left the trail to the left or the right, she could have just gone due east or west to hit the trail eventually. But that's easy for me to say. A very sad story.
Moron went into woods with no compass, no map, no gps, no orienteering training at all.
Moron died cause they got lost
This is what happens when morons go into the wilderness
I've been lost in some canyon riddled parts of Arizona and omg the amount of fear getting lost off trail can cause! I feel really bad for her, that's not a way that anyone should die.
I'm hiking the appalachian trail right now and it really surprises me how few of my fellow hikers have any emergency plans for situations like this and even less carry physical maps. It's easier than people think to get lost though. She must have had a physical map with the apps back then. She must have found a source of water to live 26 days like she did. She had the ability to see the suns movement in the sky and surmise general east and west. And based on her husband's press briefing after they found her, he said she had no debilitating injuries until she succumbed to exposure.
There is another guy that just went missing near cowrock and blue mountain last month. His name is Tony and he's 39. I hope he is found soon
I got lost coming off Redington in 2018. Luckily I was able to bushwhack back to Caribou Valley Road. At night. I don't know how I made it out other than New England hard-headedness. And thick woods is an understatement. I was not unscathed, but I made it. It is too easy to got lost in that area without proper knowledge. So many roads lead to nowhere.
Unfortunately, she did exactly what has been advised to all of us.
Stay put, conserve energy, don't get more lost and make yourself known.
That's fine advice for those without navigational skills to get themselves UNlost. The problem is that too many hikers never develop those skills, but are going into conditions where "stay put and wait for rescue" won't cut it.
@@ke9tv exactly!
What needs to be taught in emergency situations is not a standardized checklist, but more of ability and preparation.
For instance if she set up camp, and then everyday just walked in one direction, setting up totems to find your way back, and then the next day walk in a different direction. Eventually she would have found that logging road before being exhausted.
I'm also wondering what her weather was like for the last 30 days
No fire?
Thing is, she wandered around getting more lost first. Ideally as soon as she realised she didn't know the way back to the trail she should have made camp. She was probably only a few meters off trail and would have most likely been found. Since she wandered around trying to find her way back, then trying to get a signal, she ended up in a much harder area to find her. Very sad story.
@herstoryanimated yeah, how else do you figure out your lost?
A compass and a map are crucial. A flare gun too. It's so sad that she gave up trying to find her way out. And yes, how did they not find her, if she was only two miles away from the trail?! It's unreal how often this happens
even just making a fire (even when illegal it is alright to do in emergencies) can mean people can find you via the smoke (pee on the leaves if they are too dry) so it smokes nicely when the fire gets started...
Kyle, I am a retired Aerospace Engineer and Military Veteran. I have been a lifelong hiker and I too was inspired to find a solution to the problem Geraldine encountered. I have been developing a tool over the last three years to solve the problem of being in a low cell service area and not being able to actually have a message from your phone delivered. I have a dedicated server that guarantees a message like hers would be delivered to the database. Lets put out efforts together, and we will be able to prevent this type of tragedy from happening ever again. My tool will be for public use within the next three months just in time for the next Thru-hike season.
Here's an idea. If you have to go to the "br", wait until you encounter a prominent feature right on the trail (like a tall tree) that you can always keep in sight as you walk away from the trail to do your business.
So, she did what is commonly advised. When you become lost in the woods with no idea which way to go, stay where you are, be obvious, listen and wait for the searchers. In this case, with a tragic ending. Truly sad. Thanks for sharing
not anymore. most advice now is to "walk downhill" and/or follow sun (rises in east, sets in west) in same direction and keep walking. and keep yelling and making noise.
That's advice you hear in the movies, it's not real advice.
I very much hope this is not the advice being given for survival in the wilderness.
I never realized she was a flip-flopper. I thought she had started in GA. I was actually hiking in the area when they were looking for her. I checked the time stamps on the photos I took and sadly, she had already passed away by that date. I'm 65 and have gone on hikes up to 566 miles within the past 18 months so we old people can still put on the miles, but I bring an inReach with me (I'm not sure such trackers were available for her at that time) and I wouldn't go without it anymore. And I also use FarOut; a few times I have wandered off the trail, I was able to find it almost immediately.
As a solo hiker this is concerning, for sure. Not gonna let it stop me though. RIP Geraldine.
Please be careful 🙏 on your journey 's ,I do hope u have a location device or satellite phone ,one never knows if you will ever need help one day ...happy trails tooo u
Just take a compass. Can't believe this lady didn't know that as an experienced hiker, but she didn't sound like the sharpest knife in the drawer.
Jesus Christ is Lord and he is coming back
@@JakeKoenig Why, she got lost and you think she sounds dumb?
She did what common advice tells you to.
@@Fallout3131 Common sense doesn't equal experienced & well-trained hiker
Got lost once over a decade ago, in a redwood forest in CA. Just for a couple of minutes. Was able to find my way by calming down for a while and looking at the trees for reference. No reception, no one around. Still remember that initial feeling, the dread, finding the trail.
I rlly like how respectful, insightful, and informing you are about this disappearance. definitely rare but refreshing to me 🙂
I like your missing hiker videos, Kyle. You’re a good storyteller.
Keep them coming.
It’s great that you’re building awareness and also keeping the lost/deceased hikers’ memories alive. Thank you.
getting off trail for a nature break and losing the trail is one of my biggest fears. Great video.
It happened to me one time when I was in Girl Scouts. Let me tell you, it is ~Very~ easy to get turned around in the woods and is most frightening especially if it is late afternoon, and you have no pack. I just started shrieking. My shrieks were higher pitched and louder than an ordinary yell. Because of that, I was found in a short time, and man oh man was I EVER grateful with tears streaming down my face. That night our Scout Leader taught us all very important information. --That whenever we must go off trail to use mother nature, ALWAYS go in a straight line, and break the tips off from branches and shrubs along the way!!!! Also, scuffle your feet so as to make a trail, or use dead sticks to mark your path. Furthermore, Don't go more than a couple of yards. That way you can easily find your way back.
It’s for this reason I piss real close to the trail.
I have been thinking, recently, that I should bring string and tie it to my pack and let it unravel behind me so I can find my way back to the trail. Technically, you are supposed to be at least 200 feet off the trail, away from any water source. 200 feet is a long way off the trail.
Remember seeing the missing posters around the are when she went missing. Absolutely rattled the Maine hiking community and totally horrified to know how close the search came to her without finding her. Still think of Geraldine every time I’m in the Rangeley area. Maine is unforgivingly wild, especially in the western mountains. Our nature is breathtaking, but it can be very dangerous. Enjoy it, but be safe out there, y’all. ❤️
This story really saddens and infuriates me. Not just because of the poor advice given, but also that this poor woman never once decided to think with her own brain and followed that advice blindly. No matter what experts you listen to, whether it be a doctors, police, vets, lawyer - always use your own head as well. Because all experts are only human and make mistakes all the time, so you need to take all advice and guidance with a pinch of salt. Everyone's situation will be different. Everyone's solution will be different too.
In her case, none of her texts were going through, so she knew no-one was even aware that she was lost, or where she was. It made no sense to hunker down and do absolutely nothing at that point. If she had moved around at all, the dog teams would have been able to pick up her scent, so it's presumed that she just stayed in one spot waiting to be rescued all that time, even though she knew that her messages didn't send and nobody knew her location. But after a couple of days, a couple of weeks surely she must have realised that this "stay put" advice does not apply to her situation. Why didn't she do ANYTHING at this point is beyond me... She was not injured, she had two good legs and a brain, so why didn't she use them?... Especially when she must have ran out of supplies, thirst and hunger would have driven any normal human being to go and forage, walk and find food/water, try to find a way out, to leave markings around to increase your chances of rescue, or... anything! But she just put all her trust in this minimal "expert" advice and did nothing to help herself. Even when at some point she realised she was going to die, because no rescue was coming, she still chose to do nothing.
I just don't understand what broken mentality we, as a society, are engraving onto our people. Not to think with our own brain and help ourselves, but to shut up and blindly follow orders/instructions.
Yes, you should listen to expert advice, yes, you shouldn't panic and run around aimlessly, but you should also think on your own unique situation and act accordingly. She wasn't injured, she wasn't in immediate danger, she wasn't in the middle of nowhere, she knew she was not far from the trail and other people. It wasn't like her car broke down off road in the middle of the desert with nothing for thousands of miles. Then it would make sense to stay with your vehicle and not move if you know you can't survive in those conditions or walk far enough before you die. But she thought she was going to die staying put, so why didn't she adapt her course of action? (Or lack thereof)
I really hope that there is more to this situation that she didn't write about, or was never discovered, like soft tissue damage to her legs/infection/psychosis/ghosts, anything that made her unable to leave her tent, because otherwise it's just so sad... There's nothing haunting about this story, it's just sad. And it really sucks because she didn't just give up on life, she had family, she wanted to be rescued. But it never occurred to her to even try to rescue herself. I don't understand this... Would ANYONE else here have done nothing as well in this particular situation?
I know how easy it is to get lost in the forest, because everything everywhere begins to look the same as you're walking back, pretty much the same thing happened to me when I was a teenager. And at no point did I think "hunker down and do nothing until someone might rescue me, or I die". I don't recommend giving in to panic and running around blindly either, but at the point where you know you're going to die if you stay put, running around will actually increase your chances of survival. If you don't find a trail, or people, you might at least leave your own tracks, or find food/water. Anything. Bird's eggs, pine nuts, berries, fish, snakes, worms, you never know what can save/prolong your life.
Only afterwards did I realise that the only reason I got lost at all was because of this stigma that got engraved on me - that I would die if I didn't get back to civilization ASAP. It isn't true, of course. I blame the mentality of our society and the lies that it feeds us in order to scare/brainwash us into complacency. Into believing that we can't rely on ourselves, only on society, and that we should sit and wait to be rescued, or give up, or panic if we are somehow cut off from it's easy comforts.
Many people here are of the opinion that nowadays we should just rely on technology for everything - information, location, rescue. But what if that's broken or lost as well? Above all, above thinking that you are lost and someone should rescue you, above all expert advice & anything anyone else might say to you or scare you with, you should at the very least be able to survive in the Wild to some extent. You should be able to think for yourself, find food and be confident exploring the territory, even though you have gone off trail. As soon as you stop thinking in terms "I am lost and helpless and must leave it to others" and instead start thinking in terms of "the Wild is my home and I am living here and exploring my new surroundings", you will know what to do. Even without any training you will fare better simply by turning on your brain. And I can attest to this personally, because before I got the fear and stigma drilled into me as a teenager, I went into the Great Wild several times when I was a little girl. (Before the age of 10)
I randomly train-hopped my way into the deepest, wildest forests, trecked through valleys, fields and mountains. Alone. And I never got lost. Ever. All because I had not yet developed that dependence mentality and fear/limitations that come with the closing of the mind. I had no preconceptions. And although I had fear of big animals and fast water, I had no fear of starvation or getting lost. I walked, I camped, I fished. I made fire to cook with sometimes, but I mostly foraged for berries, fruits and nuts. I swam, I explored, I picked (probably endangered) flowers, I made things, I made a home that I called my "Nest". If the woods were dense and looked identical in all directions, I left "bread crumbs" - I hanged things on trees just below eye level, broke branches, drew on rocks and bark with chalky pebbles, or left "stick arrows" on the ground/against tree trunks. Having no knowledge or training I immediately realised that I need to keep turning backwards to look where I came from when wandering around. In the absolute vastness of that Wild I never once got lost. As a child I still had all my instincts & intuition & I was free & unencumbered. And I always found signs of civilization in the end. I could always make my way back when I decided to, but I never felt any pressing urgency to do so, or dependency/fear clouding my judgement. I never followed anyone's instructions if I thought they didn't make sense. My last such voyage as a child was 5 month long. And I was fine. The only thing I really feared was being spotted by humans. Because no matter how wild and vast a place is, there are humans EVERYWHERE. Hunters, foresters, miners, soldiers, shamans in their forest huts, protectors of endangered species with their rifles, even secret settlements of people hiding from modern society thinking they're undiscoverable. If you wander for long enough, it's actually very difficult NOT to come across people. I had the advantage of being small and fast and would just hide and be invisible and not moving for hours when I had to. But after returning to society I would be thoroughly drilled with horror stories about how I would die if I was alone in the Wild again. How I would get lost and not find my way back and how I would starve, or the wolves would eat me. And let me tell you that wolves are notoriously hard to even get close to, let alone see. I would drop everything and follow howling any time I heard it, but I swear to god they knew I was coming from MILES away. Not once in all my time have I seen a wolf in the Wild. Lynx, bears, black squirrels, birds that I swear have never been documented, even raccoons who shamelessly rummaged through my stuff and stole my stashes that I took great care to hide from being sniffed out by animals (under water, covered by heavy rocks), but never did I see a single wolf...
But after many years of fear and dependency being drilled into my young mind - I began to believe it. And to be afraid. Even to the point where that day when I got lost as a teen. I didn't even go far, but I freaked out and panicked and I was afraid and made lots of mistakes that I would have never made if it wasn't for society slowly rotting my brain over the years. I'm ashamed to say that I was lost for only a few hours and I seriously thought I was going to die. By the time I found my way back I was broken. All the things they said were true. I would never trust myself in the Wild again. But why? I wasn't in any danger. If I had my old mentality I wouldn't have panicked or feared or made any of these mistakes. But society's brainwashing altered my way of thinking and I was convinced that all they said was true. I was convinced that I need to be afraid. The same way that this poor woman was convinced that she need to stop thinking and blindly follow orders/instructions and sit and wait for people to find her. Only my fear and stupidity began to fade after a few hours, and I adapted a new, more logical approach. What kind of broken mindset this woman must have had to not move after WEEKS, after she realised nobody was coming to rescue her and she was going to die if she stayed put - and to continue to stay put like she was advised and not think of anything - it's just beyond words. What sheep or soldier mentality are we as a society, as a civilization, engraving upon our children? Teach them to actually think with their own brain, teach them to be realistic, teach them to be brave and independent and to see through bullsh*t and lies, instead of bullsh*tting and lying to them yourselves. I thought North Korea was terrible, but it is really the same human mentality everywhere you go - someone who you are told to listen to says something and that's it - it is the word of God. Where ever you are, people just don't want to think with their own brain. Or they are so far gone they are afraid to.
I'm sorry if I am blunt, it just really makes me angry what this system does to people and how they just lie down and agree with it all. Making sheep and soldiers is really beneficial. For society. But not for those poor individuals.
And if you try to point it out and stand against it, the majority of these people who are themselves in this cruel and stupid system will try to shut you up and bring you down, just like my relatives did with me. How dare you not listen to what the majority is pushing. Just like 99% of those around me still do all the time, either because they think they are the experts and know everything about everything, or just because they are deluded and afraid themselves. It's almost impossible to find people who haven't been closed, brainwashed or beaten down nowadays. I keep hoping that people would suddenly overcome this and change and raise their children differently, but it only seems to be getting worse and worse as the years go by. We live in a completely brainwashed generation who think themselves clever, but never bother to think with their own mind, trust their intuition, or see truth from the lies.
I wish I had someone to tell me this instead of putting all these blocks inside my head like the people surrounding me did all my life.
If any people reading my comments are like this, then I'm seriously sorry if I offend anybody here personally somehow with my bluntness. I hope somebody out there hears me. I hope at least one person out there might have understood enough to change and act and think.
I’ve spent a decent amount of time hiking through dense woods with friends, and there are times where you can hardly hear friends shouting 50 or even 20 yards up, or the direction of the sound feels off because there’s so much that it’s bouncing off of. I definitely don’t find it hard to believe that she wouldn’t have heard people from 100 yards off
Looks like you've reached your mark on subs. Congrats. I just wanted to thank you for being very respectful throughout this entire video and not making things up, like A LOT of people seem to do today. As someone who's family was murdered, my family and I hear and get accused for the most disgusting things I've ever heard in my entire life. God bless her and her family. Great job telling her story. I also wanted to tell you that one of my best friends hiked the Appalachian Trail, Pacific Crest Trail, The Continental Divide and so many more. He told me some crazy stories about all of the trails, God bless this lady for even attempting this, let alone by herself. Such a sad story.
If you are ever in that situation just keep going downhill. Find water and follow it. All streams go to rivers, all rivers go to civilization
But for how long it sounds good but scary when your in a huge wooded area 🤔 your afraid of going any direction in case its taking u further away that stream could be days away from civilization
@@sophiamcnamara9851 Don't over think yourself. There are basic rules that will save your life. Razz just gave it to you. Your already lost because of your thinking, you'll get confused. Then it will get dark.
@@sophiamcnamara9851 80% of the countries population lives EAST of the continental Dividing line.
If she was out West of that line in Larger Forests/Mountains, yes Then I would be fearful of just hoping to stumble upon help.
Tbh, it depends. Maybe true if no hilly slopes. Ime, few times I tried that the streams always led to some rocky waterfalls which are difficult to cross. I've heard experienced SAR folks also say the very same thing so not a given. Important thing is to mark your trail, not only for yourself but for rescuers to follow.
Map and compass, and knowledge of how to use them is of huge value.
I live in Maine, (thru-hiker GAME 02) and went out with two friends to look on our own 8/11 for Inchworm. We went north on the AT because of an incorrect sighting by two SOBOs - turns out she had not started the climb up Lone Mt after all. Had we gone south that day we were only 1 mile from Orbeton Stream, which is exactly where I would have predicted she stopped and went off trail for a BR break. She was still alive the day we were looking; this haunts me. I followed this search from Day 1 to the day she was found that October. So SAR wasted a bunch of days searching north of Orbeton towards Spaulding. She had that large orange whistle and she was found near a water source. She seemed to have become paralyzed with fear and anxiety and didn’t know how to save herself. It’s very sad. And yes, she had a SPOT messenger which she had left behind in the motel room with her husband. If anyone needed to carry this kind of device it was her but she was concerned about pack weight since this section had to be backpacked - not slack-packed. Her search remains Maine’s largest ever.
The aftermath of all this can be summed up as this
Moron goes into woods with no compass, no map, no gps, no beacon
Gets lost and dies a moron
A SPOT messenger weighs 4 ounces.
I appreciate the care that you took in trying to be respectful to everyone involved while also reminding a neophyte hiker like myself how to avoid similar trouble. The fact that 10 years of GPS advancements and accessibility have made this tragic situation less likely to happen is a blessing sure to be supported by Geraldine’s family & friends.
Gps runs on batteries and will fail, she decided to lighten her load and have her husband carry the gps to the next spot for her.
Compass and a paper map requires nothing to support em.
If all u got is a gps and that is all u know about finding where u are in the world, ur gonna die just like that moron did eventually.
Learn to orient. Learn the compass, learn to fix north in as many non compass ways u can, learn how to use a topo map.
Between compass, topo, and gps there should be little to no chance of getting lost so long as your brain functions normally.
She was a moron and died a moron
It really sad that searchers came so close to her camp site, but didn't see it. One idea I have to this type of situation would be an 'emergency string.' String should have a very bright, standardized color scheme nationwide/internationally to signal person is asking rescue. When a person gets lost and decides camp, they can unwound it different directions from the campsite. This would greatly increase the footprint and visibility of the campsite for searchers. When searchers come across the string, they can simply follow it to the campsite and hopefully locate the person in need.
Good coverage of the facts in this case, Kyle. I worked in SAR for 20 years. We used to teach (as much as possible) that, if you get lost, stop. Aimless wandering often gets a lost subject farther away from rescue. Gerry might have decided upon this since she had a lot of experience. Dog teams usually do not call out during sweeps, as they are alert for signs from the dog that the trail has been detected. The dogs are usually silent (except for heavy breathing) during sweeps. I don't know why she was unable to attract attention from the air search units, although I can tell you, it is mighty hard to spot a person on the ground from an aircraft in dense woods. This is the most tragic event that I can recall in all my years in SAR. So near...and yet, so far.
What a sad story Kyle...thanks for bringing this story to light again. My heart breaks
It's heart breaking for sure. I wanted to make a video on it because this story has stuck with me for many years, even before I had a UA-cam channel. Thanks for watching
@@KyleHatesHiking you bet
Always follow a compass bearing when going off-trail. Ex.: Head dead south off the trail. Head dead north to get back on-trail.
Yep that's what I would do. I live in London England so no wilderness near me but still if I go into the woods I always have a good compass (Suunto or old made in Sweden Silva) somewhere with me. I'm amazed that people go on the AT with no compass or map. Then again most are reliant on tech nowadays. I wouldn't rely on any electronic device in the wilderness, they constantly screw up in day to day urban life as it is.
Or just look at the sun?? I personally only hike where i can use the mountains as directional markers
@@emilyeurope
Use the sun alone at your own risk. Here in New England the sun can become shrouded in clouds within minutes. Often, the sun is over a ridge and out of view.
@@simonh6371
Yup.
It is wise to use redundancies on the vitals...compass, paper map, back-up battery bank, water treatment, a second way to light a fire. And I always carry some extra light (lighter, rechargeable camp light) in my pocket at night lest my headlamp battery cut out while I am walking to and fro the privy or bear box, etc.. Hike enough miles with only your headlamp on your person and you could spend the night sleeping (or not sleeping) while awaiting somebody to come along with a light to lead you back to your camp site.
I also leave a flashing light on my tent at night when I leave it for such trips. I have had a heck of a time finding my tent at night when I don't do this.
@@chriseidam7319 Yeah that will happen with tiny mountains. I live in & around Banff National Park, not really an issue here.
Dude, seriously awesome job coming up with a new niche in the UA-cam backpacking community with this foray into trail history.
I'm not a hiker by any means, but being 2 miles away from a trail, coupled with not knowing which direction to walk in, to me still seems like a huge distance away from help. 2 miles is a long way.
The combination of hiking and horror stories is very intriguing to me. Subbed.
I work in search and rescue. Granted, aquatic search and rescue, but I think the same thing applies here. You'll be looking for a dead body, who, given current ocean conditions/currents/tides, couldn't have drifted out of the area you're searching. And you can't find them. You'll have lifeguards on jetskis, search & rescue divers, helicopters w. rescue swimmers etc. searching an area of as little as 1km^2 for hours, days and sometimes even weeks. All while knowing full well you've probably passed the body dozens of times, but you just can't see it. It's like a mental blockage and I feel like the bigger the media coverage and the more eyes you've got on you, the bigger the blockage gets.
Not so much a mental blockage. Your real field of vision that you can see clearly is about the size of a coin, held at arms length. Everything else that you think you see, if an illusion created by your brain that is built based on assumption of what you expect to see and what your eyes has seen as it scans around the area.
I am in no way passing judgment here. What happened to Inchworm is tragic in the most heartbreaking way. She did her best to survive, and my heart goes out to her and her family. To support what @ke9tv said… anyone who is willing to put out the kind of money it takes to fund a long distance thru hike (or even just a day hike, but, especially a thru hike), to put in the time to buy equipment, research the trail, etc… ANYONE preparing to do that should, at a very minimum, become familiar with the very basics of land navigation techniques… basic map reading, basic compass use, how to shoot an azimuth/reverse azimuth, how to orient a map and recognize land marks and terrain… I’m talking at a VERY BASIC level here. Everything I’ve mentioned here can be learned by any person in a matter of hours or days with a minimal amount of practice by either UA-cam videos or books. Learning even the most basic tenets of land navigation could save a life in the woods, and, most importantly, it will instill a basic level of confidence in a person and help them stay calm in the moment. A calm person makes more rational decisions.
Lastly, don’t rely solely on electronics. Electronics fail… electronics aren’t always accurate… electronics have batteries that die. Always have a map & compass as a backup.
What would the modern hiker do without a cell phone and GPS? Our 1977 PCT thru hike navigation was 100% map and compass.
well said.
@@Beertownbill many of us who are wise still take paper topo maps and compasses. 🙆🏻♀️
I read a comment on another video and the amount of ridicule aimed at compass and map navigation by a commenter… it was incredible. According to that commenter, there is absolutely no point in compass/map. Yet that type of orientation has been used forever. He said “just keep your phone and gps charged”. I was appalled at the stupidity of that attitude and I am not a hiker.
The REI in my area has classes to learn how to navigate with a map and compass. It seems like common sense to take one before embarking on such a journey. Even with all the electronics it makes sense to carry the extra ounces for those two things.
Lesson 1: PLEASE carry a PLB or satellite communicator. This disaster would have been solved in a couple of hours if she had carried a satellite device.
Lesson 2: PLEASE learn the basics of navigation before you head into wild country. She had a 2100 mile handrail to aim for but couldn't find it, and there were other major navigational features in the area that she didn't have the skills to use.
Lesson 3: If you do need rescue, PLEASE set up camp in a visible position - not in a thicket like Geraldine. The rescuers were often yards away from her and still couldn't see her.
My own theory is that she was suffering from dementia. It's the only way to explain her bizarre behaviour. Days before this incident a party found her walking in the wrong direction down the trail and had to turn her around. Her family denies that she was a sufferer, but I've worked in the field and it can be greatly exacerbated by stress.
I'm a ham radio operator. It's worth having a radio with you for this reason plus it's fun to set up ecomms in the wilderness as a hobby. It's pretty cool to be able to talk to people half way around the world with a little bit of light equipment. Of you are reading this and thinking "hmmm, maybe I'll get a license" I would recommend taking both the tech and general at the same time, the tech license isn't very useful. Also look up SOTA and POTA to see what is possible.
If you’re lost, follow the water. It goes to the sea so you’re bound to see someone well before you get there…❤
Good advice !
They also travel off steep ledges and down into canyons where you may not be able to climb back out of if you follow it down. You have to be very careful. And not all brooks and rivers that you encounter in the wilderness go to the sea. At least, not directly. Many of them disappear underground.
@Daemon Thorn Maine has gorges. I know of no deep canyons. This isn't the west. There is always a way around. What would suck would be hitting where another major river came together and trying to cross the smaller to keep following the large one. But in that case you probably would have already found help where 2 major rivers come together
This story boggles my mind! To imagine getting lost from just stepping off the trail to potty. Rescuers were so close to her, too. God bless her. She had to be so scared.
The Appalachian Trail Conservancy tells folks to get off The Trail by about 100' so as to leave no trace. Inchworm did just that. InchWorm was directionally challenged and had no business hiking alone. The AT is not an amusement park. Hikers die out there but that is not necessarily a sad thing. We are all terminal. The AT is not a bad place to die. Walk Well.
I remember being lost for like 5 min coming back from the privy
It was super scary… I think I left my phone in the tent too, I can’t imagine how terrifying this must have been
Maine is SO dense. Like a jungle. You can yell & someone close to you won't hear a thing. Also, just a few steps off the trail & you can become completely lost. It's that dense & that crazy.
Even in a place you've been a hundred times.
I got lost on the AT once. I wasn’t hiking it, just camping on Mt. Rogers just a hundred yards or so off the AT. Planned for a month, stayed a bit over 2 weeks. Went out for a day hike and got lost. Fortunately I had a compass, a map and knew my camp site, the two access/parking areas and a couple other landmarks. I hit a horse trail, followed that for a while till I hit another trail that I was almost certain led back to the main parking/access area where I started. Whereas finding my campsite, well, ya’ couldn’t get there from where I was. 😅 And I was right. Stayed overnight in a little snack area in the campground there, made the 3 hour hike back the next day.
Sad story but nice video! I've heard about this many different times but never heard as many details as you shared. This story was still very much alive in the thru hiker community this year as we made our way through Maine. So sad!
I can't imagine how scared she must have felt, especially since she wrote her farewell 2 weeks before she actually died. It is nice to be away from the world and not rely on phones, but I am certainly happy I had my phone and Inreach on the trail. Even if I put my pack down to find a bathroom spot, I will always take my GPS with me.
Btw, I love the diversity of your videos! Some stories, some gear/tips/etc and lots of hiking videos. Keep it up!
Taking your GPS with you when you go off trail for the bathroom is a great idea. I do the same thing, largely because this story has stuck with me through the years. Thanks for your kind words, I'm glad you appreciate the diversity of my content!
I would advise to keep your backpack with you at all times. Leave something on the trail, like poles, hat, bandana etc… but leaving your backpack can be a dangerous mistake, should something occur that might keep you from getting back to it.. 🙈
And she was following the common wisdom that it's best to stay in one place if one gets lost. Her story shows that there are exceptions to the rule. Also, I really like this new, more mature Kyle. He's a good story teller with compassion for the people he's talking about. Who knew? I'll still watch your hiker videos, but these are a nice change of pace.
I remember that advice as a boy scout. Nowadays, I prefer self rescue. Always carry backup compass and paper maps as GPS units can fail. Had a recent trip where a power hungry app drained my phone battery such that when I needed to refer to the GPS , it was dead.
Lol that’s if you loose your mom in the grocery store or mall
Common wisdom... if you get lost in a supermarket.
Common wisdom is to bring a compass at the very least
She had no compass, no map, no gps
She was a moron and died a moron
Don't be a moron like her
That's not common wisdom though
I think I was around mid 50s when, after an embarrassing incident, I realized my sense of direction is probably weakening, so ever since I don’t do risky walks or hikes, and I pay much closer attention to landmarks even when it’s necessary to park my car blocks from my destination.
I never researched it, but I think there’s an innate sense of direction, and like all senses, it begins to weaken maybe around age 50, if not sooner.
I wish the woman had gone with a group led by a very capable guide.
Once you start walking in circles it's bad.
If she is hard of hearing and she had been out there for 26 days, they were out there searching for 12 days, I can imagine her voice, even if she was able to hear them, was likely weak. It may have been possible that she was unable to yell or call out unfortunately:(
I worked in the far north as a forester researching peatlands. It seems to me that preparing yourself with a compass and reviewing a topo map and/or aerial photos of the area you are hiking is the prudent thing to do. Too often novices over estimate their abilities. It seems to me that the increasing popularity and use of gps based orienteering and route following is inherently dangerous if the user has no other ability or knowledge of how to traverse.
Absolutely. A gps or cell phone app is no replacement for a compass and some general knowledge of the area and nearby road systems. If you know there’s a road to the north of you that runs east to west. And you get hopelessly lost. All you have to do is follow your compass north until you hit the road.
My brothers hiked the trail in this area and I want to also but this is scary. You know she had to have been screaming, yelling or anything...that breaks my heart that she had to endure this before she died. I only pray that hypothermia took her and not starvation ect. It's not ideal but at the end you have a sense of peace/ euphoria. I pray that her family gets peace some day🏞️🌹
14 years in SAR in the Adirondacaks. Standard operating procedure is to be making noise and calling out name of subject or just yelling back and forth among searchers. Maybe not in winter if it's been days, but in summer heck yeah the assumption that the victim is still alive. Hard to believe they came within 100 yards of the site multiple times and didn't make contact. I section hiked this section in 2019 and I was very somber as I passed through. Spend the night at Poplar Ridge lean-to and thought of her and the searchers. Lot of things had to go wrong for this outcome. No one's fault. Just a bunch of things that went wrong that all piled on top of each other.
And if I'm pinned down and have lit my PLB, you can be damned sure I'll be listening. If I hear you, you'll start hearing whistle blasts coming back at you!
Thanks for all the stuff you folks do! I hike the Catskills more than the ADK's, but I've been up there a time or six (thru-hiked the NPT, done the Lake George 12 and a handful of the high peaks. Don't want to be a 46er 'coz they're being loved to death). Never had to call you guys but I'm damned glad you're there!
In my SAR experience, I can't image leaving a 100 yard gap between searchers. Granted, I wasn't there, but not leaving gaps was the first thing taught to me. I will guess they were hoping for a quick recovery..................................
It's really tragic that she didn't have a compass with her. Before she went off t rail she could have simply sighted on something, walked to it to do her business and then followed the opposite bearing to get back to the trail.
Or if she had trail marking tape that she could have tied to trees so that she could follow those tapes back to the trail.
It's absolutely amazing at how easy it is to get turned disoriented even just a few yards from a trail that's no longer clearly visible.
After an event it's far too easy to say what might have helped. RIP and condolences to her family and friends.
Having thru hiked the AT when I was 17. At first solitude was a blessing, after a period of time though I reached out to others in friendship. I just knew that being alone was not the best thing for me. My mind began to wander, there were times that the Trail was sparsely blazed. One can get disoriented .Simple orienteering skills can save your life, learn to use a compass and how to read a map. I spent many a mile on and off the trail I have gotten " LOST " and known what it felt like to be helpless. I taught my son how to not get lost when he was about 10 years old, this lady should have left the trail called family and gone home when her friend left her in the first place.
This is the main reason that I invoke all to take a buddy along on extended trail outings.
It’s sad but it goes to show how even stepping off trail to use the bathroom can be fatal. I bet a lot of disappearances are because of leaving the trails. Maybe carry a small rope or wire to tie to a tree
Always carry a personal locator beacon in case you get lost, it may save your life. Very sad case indeed, may Geraldine rest in peace
I got ‘lost’ leaving a road once. The road curved around at that point so when I hiked back up the road was farther than I remembered so started doubting myself. When I did find the road I was astounded that I hadn’t found it, but realized my point of reentry was farther away because I had hiked farther east than I realized.
I took a wrong turn on a hike, I thought I was following the map properly but I was wrong. Thankfully, after a boggy, rainy detour way out of my way, I got back to my car cranky, damp but safe.
Great story! And great narration, too. This is a fascinating but sad tale. You have a nice complexion.
There was a book written about what happened to Geraldine called When You Find My Body by D Dauphinee. It's a very well written book that I would recommend to anyone looking to hike the Appalachian Trail. There is so much Gerry could have done before the hike that could have helped her when she got lost. This was such a tragic story.
I remember this - and I have been lost a ton. I always kept going and found the trail again, but damn. Poor thing. So close. How did they miss her? Crazy.
Want to add that since I hike solo I ALWAYS have my Garmin - a literal lifesaver.
SO worth the $15 a month (cheapest plan lol). I upgrade if I’m going out for a long time to have unlimited messaging - And can suspend it and reactivate it whenever. Got me out of a thigh-deep washed out mess on the NPT in May.
(Not employed by Garmin, lol)
@@danik6393 what happened if you don’t mind me asking?!
@@Fallout3131 To me? I just get off trail because I follow deer and get distracted by views :) (Highly recommend any Garmin!)
I got lost in a snowstorm in the Blue Mountains in Australia, completely turned around. But I remembered my training and trusted my compass, ("it's a precision instrument, you are an idiot") even though I was 100% sure it was wrong. I got back to the trail in half an hour.
With a compass you can search your surroundings without losing touch with your camp, even at night/in low visibility. They cost $25 and weigh 50g. You can buy a GPS-Altimeter-Compass watch for $200.
I was going to add, searchers divide an area into half mile square grids. Your mission, if stuck is to fill up your square of the grid with stuff pointing at your camp. Search folk use flagging tape and a sharpie for this. A whistle and signal mirror can help. 100g the lot.
Good call. Always carry a compass and um... learn how to use it too!
Damn,I had no idea it snows in Australia.
@@jeremywanner4526 snow/ski season in the Blue Mountains, New South Wales is June to October, this was Sept. I was prepped for it but even so: it was like being inside a ping pong ball. Grim.
She had no business being alone out there. She was known to get lost easy..
May her and her husband rest in peace. He died in 2019 I suppose. Sending all the love and healing. I wish her loved ones the best in life and all the strength and happiness. Stay strong brave fighter. May you be remembered forever as a brave fighter who did everything she could and at such a age. More power to her loved ones..🥺❤️
10:29 NO... That's not my question at all. My question is why you would need to step more than 3 paces from the trail or at least keep it in sight to do your business. She was literally MILES from the trail. I don't know about you hiking people, but when I have to go, I have to go. Make it make sense.
Wow! Mind blowing. So many unanswered questions. RIP sweet Geraldine. You were so BRAVE!