Yes he was found in New Mexico on the Hughes ranch. Sunday night I kept saying I think he's in that northern section but we all agreed we didn't think he'd ever cross the fence they knew was there because he'd obviously be leaving the park. And he knew it because there were even signs along the fence saying no hunting in the park etc…But I think desperation and the hope those tracks would be travelled by someone looking led him to cross.

His Fitbit showed 58,000 steps the first day. I haven't asked what the other days were.

What an incredible story. Relieved he was rescued.

canadianAg said:

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His Fitbit showed 58,000 steps the first day. I haven't asked what the other days were.

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For reference, I did a 50k (31 miles) last weekend and my step count was just shy of 64,000 steps.

canadianAg said:

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SURVIVING:
Thursday: dad started his hike at the dog canyon trail head. As mentioned he started in the wrong direction so he texted us those pictures with the intent of letting us know. By around 1pm he was at the junction of the Tejas/Marcus/Bush Mountain trailhead. He had ~2.5 liters of water and some snacks for the day (couple of cliff bars and peanut butter pretzels). He only had his phone for navigation. A lot of times he brings a portable charger with him but he didn't this time. And he figured even if he ran out of battery he'd be so close to the end it wouldn't matter. At the junction where we last knew he was his phone was already at 50%. He hiked the Marcus trail but missed the turn back east to the trailhead. The trail is so grown up and rarely traveled and not well maintained that he never could find the trail. He spent some time trying find it and just couldn't. He started heading East and kind zig zagging figuring he'd hit the trail eventually but he never did. He eventually came a very rough and steep canyons and had to turn back around. At one point he had encountered a 4x4 trail of some sort (we later learned this was just from a wildfire the previous year and wasn't an active road). Dad decided to follow that back north/west hoping to find the trail or something familiar. He eventually bedded down under a tree for the night and at this point is out of water and his phone is dead. He's hiked somewhere between 15-20 miles he suspects.

Friday: he barely slept because he kept getting cold and would get up every 45 minutes or so to do some exercises and warm himself up. He can see lost peak in the distance that he's already hiked to from the first part of the loop. He decides he needs to head towards it because he will have to cross the trail to get there. Or he actually gets there and there is the first part of the trail. He heads that way but can't take a direct route because there's a ridge. So he goes around the ridge still expecting to run into the trail but he still just never finds the trail. At this point, hes also getting too tired to keep hiking much more. He backtracks towards the north and finds the same 4x4 trail. He follows it to the fence boundary and follows the fence for a while back and forth trying to find anything that would point him where to go. But nothing. So he finds a little draw for the night to sleep.

Saturday: at this point he's exhausted and has put in probably close to 30 miles and didn't have food or water for some 36 hours. He crosses the fence out of the park and onto the Hughes ranch and follows the drainage for a bit but just can't do much, it's too hard to keep bushwhacking. This was a major reason he kept being drawn to that 4x4 trail and the fence line because it was so hard to get anywhere otherwise for him. He eventually can't go anymore and hunkers down under some trees in a draw.

Sunday: nights are more of the same, just cold and uncomfortable. he can't realistically travel at this point and remember helicopters are just getting started today. He does hear the helicopters and decides he's in a bad place for them to see him so he finds a nice tress in the open that he can stay shaded under and also has open area for a helicopter to see. Now Sunday is going to be an absolute gut wrenching day for him. He's mostly just moving around the tree with the shade because although the weather was excellent, he was so hot. But wouldn't you know, a helicopter appears about 100m away from him. He stands up. Yells HELP. Waves his blue jacket in the air. They don't see him and fly off…. They weren't searching that area, just lining up for another approach. I can't even imagine the devastation he felt. About 4 hours later, ANOTHER helicopter, this time he says they can't be more than 100 ft. They don't land but just hover really low, literally he's eye level with the pilot. At this point he can't stand anymore so he waves his blue jacket on his walking stick. They fly off….. he waits but no more helicopters. He knows his energy is done at this point. He throws his blue jacket so it's hanging from his tree in the hopes they'll see it and he lays down to die.

And he just waits. The thirst he says is unimaginable this whole time but he never felt hunger. He actually still had food but he tried to eat one little peanut butter filled pretzel and it was impossible and he spent 30 minutes just scraping it out of his mouth. He's started urinating more frequently and his kidneys are also starting to hurt. He literally is at the point that he just had to pee laying down but isn't even sure if he can crawl back to his spot by the jacket that he would pull down to sleep with.

We now also know why he's not getting himself visible to helicopters. He's so far away but we couldn't comprehend the level of dehydration and exhaustion he was already experiencing since it was already day 3 of water before helicopters were out.

Monday: just a continuation of Sunday. He throws his jacket back in the tree for searchers and waits to die. He knows he's pretty far gone as he can't remember songs to hymns and nursery rhymes he's known his whole life. Another helicopter shows up but once again, they don't see him. And he waits… all of a sudden he hears some trucks drive by. He yells help but doesn't think they'll hear him because he's so weak. It's the rancher and the border patrol and also a cadaver dog. And the border patrol Sargent does hear my dad and jumps out and finds him. They immediately gave him two bags of IV and the guys said they'd never seen a body absorb two IVs so quickly. He said the relief from those IVs was instant. He actually climbed into the helicopter himself.

He knows he was hours from death but that group saved his life. He went 3 days and 17 hours without water. 4 full days without food.

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Really glad he's ok and I'm thankful we have people in this state who'll put this level of effort into finding a lost hiker. Also, thank you for sharing so much context of what happened.

When your dad is fully healed, do you think he'd be willing to share his account with a bit more detail about what he was thinking, what confused him, what made sense, what he wished he had done differently and what he was glad he did? As a hiker, this is my (and my wife's) fear. I imagine most here have a pretty good level of confidence and ability when it comes to outdoor pursuits but this could happen to any of us.

I agree with Greener Acres and came back here to post this.

You pointed out a couple of things your dad did right, but he did almost everything wrong. A little divine intervention sounds reasonable. What happened to your dad happens all the time, but usually without the good outcome. One of my old partners works as a US Park Ranger and has seen it many times first hand. He has been on more than a few recovery missions, almost all were preventable.

This is a great story! Your writing of it was great (with the positive outcome). If your dad can talk about it it would be great too. This deserves a professionally edited video, even if only on youtube. Especially if the Park Service and Rescue volunteers participate.

The story is riveting and has some great lessons learned. It should be seen by anyone hiking in the backcountry, who is not extremely experienced (and some of them too). Thanks for sharing.

edit to add: I'm not in any way attacking your dad, I hike backcountry and have done it many times where I was spontaneous, no plan left with anyone and no comms. If I had ever gotten hurt I probably would have been screwed.

What was the weather like? Sounds like it was cool enough during the day that he did not sweat too much.

And yes, water is life! 2.5 liters is not enough water for the desert southwest.
Finally, when you miss the trail, your best play is to simply Stop and wait, hard as that may be to do.
Lots of other good advice for the rest of us to follow. I'm just 10 years younger than your dad, and am certain he is in better condition than me.

Thankfully the tragedy was averted in your dad's case.

Best wishes to the rest of your family as well during this trying time.

The missing woman from Houston for a week at Big Bend NP has been found alive. A lot of lessons to learn with hiking no matter how experienced one is.

Just providing a bit of an update.

You can read a small article here with some input from my dad. 'Hold on to Hope': How a Missing Hiker Survived for 5 Days in Guadalupe Mountains National Park - Outdoors with Bear Grylls

It's not entirely factual but it's relatively accurate (no search dog found him, BORSTAR found him and the ranch owners dog jumped out and stepped all over him which was kind of funny since he doesn't care for dogs that much). He also spoke with the writer before we learned a bit more information, I'll share below.

One of the things that bothered me with my dad's story was he referenced a campground close to where he eventually lost the trail. I asked if he was thinking of the Mescalero campground because that's the only campground he should've encountered but it also would've been very early into his hike. But he insisted it was the Marcus Campground. Now the thing with the Marcus Campground is it's not actually on the Marcus trail, it's instead close to the intersection where we thought dad lost the trail and headed straight north.

Well this last weekend I guess he figured out to how to access some of his mapping on his phone and could see his route at least until the phone died. So he actually turned west onto the bush mountain trail going to the Marcus Campground but never knew he got on a different trail and clearly missed the trail heading east.

https://imgur.com/a/Ed2FATV

I think he was basically just following the trail and likely didn't notice it split. I also think he referenced a sign for Marcus Campground so possibly saw the sign with no other directions on it and got confused thinking it was on the marcus trail and followed that direction without checking a map.

He eventually lost the Bush Mountain trail anyways and decided to "turn right and head east" towards the trailhead but he didn't know he was headed straight west at the time. So he actually ended up cutting a trail up north. This also explains why he thought he was found much further east than he actually was. Now there was obviously a significant amount of wandering around done up in that northern section but by the end of the second day he didn't have the energy to realistically hike back south to the trail.

Otherwise, he's doing pretty well. Still has swelling in his feet (from overuse according to the doc) but otherwise doing ok and got to spend Thanksgiving with his 10 grandkids which was extra special.

Been almost 6 months, just thought I would share a link to a podcast he did in case you're interested in listening (Rick and I). He's already done two hikes this last spring, about 20 miles over 2 days in Big Bend and a ~10 mile loop in Lost Maples, and he's actually hiking McKittrick canyon today in GMNP. This should be his last hike until the cooler weather in the fall when we'll all go hike the trail he got lost on.

Hike, Explore, Repeat: Trailblazing Texas Podcast on Apple Podcasts

Thanks for posting podcast. I also wanted to share the following info about an app that aids in rescuing lost outdoor enthusiasts.

Here is a list of the agencies that use app as well as a link


https://what3words.com/news/emergency/three-words-to-tell-us-public-safety-teams-exactly-where-you-are


Texas:
Austin-Travis County EMS
Austin Fire Department
Austin Police Department
City of Plano Public Safety Communications
Dallas Police Department
Dallas Fire Rescue
Gillespie County Communications Center
Grand Prairie Emergency Communications Center
City of Lewisville Fire Department
North Central Texas Emergency Communications District NCT911
Seagoville Police Department
Southwest Regional Communications Center
West Central Texas 911

Glad that I circled back to read this.

Well today is the one year anniversary of dad starting his hike. I suspect this is the last time I'll bump this. We had hoped to hike the trail all together but the park closed it down due to the water well at the trailhead being down. So instead we went and hiked the south rim trail in big bend which is similar in length and elevation gain and dads all time favorite trail that he's been hiking since the 60's.

I think dad came to the realization that at 72 he just can't do these 13 mile hikes anymore as it took us over 9 hours. so I don't know if we'll ever finish out THE trail but we made it clear the has nothing left to prove at this point.

https://imgur.com/a/ElucbJA